Saturday, July 30, 2011

How Sarah Palin turned me into a moderate

Click graph to see where YOU stand on issues.
To be honest, it was not just Sarah Palin, it was the whole motley crew; including Rush, Levin, the Tea Party, DeMint, O’Donnell, Miller, Bachmann, and others.

And to be honest again, I have not really changed into a moderate. I agree with these people most of the time. I’ve always been conservative, and I’m not about to change now. However, recent events have caused me to wonder if the conservative side of my party has gone a little nuts:

-the constant innuendo/accusations about the birth/background of Barack Obama

-NY23, as OJ so fondly remembers.

-the twin train wrecks of O’Donnell and Miller

-the disparaging remarks of people like Levin, Rush, etc. about Republicans and conservatives, who have dared to slightly disagree with or criticize Sarah Palin. The most recent example of this is Laura Ingraham–who was highly supportive of Palin for years, but has now been thrown under the bus.

-websites such as HotAir and AmericanThinker which have now become Palin-worship-only sites. The constant snarling about good people like Brown, Pawlenty, Daniels, Romney, Christie, Krauthammer, and anyone else who is viewed as an obstacle to Sarah Palin, is so unhelpful. The other day, there was actually a front page article at AT about how Boehner is the most dangerous man in America.

-the overuse and misuse of RINO/CINO designations.

-the third party threats by Sarah Palin, Donald Trump and others.

-the ‘you will be primaried out if you don’t tow my line’ threats.

-the latest debacle in the House, where members of Congress---who appear to be perfectly rational---threw common sense out the window and held out for entirely unachievable goals. As RW said, he wants to ‘go down swinging’.

Well, I don’t want to go down swinging, I want to win. We won’t win every battle, but we can win the war if we play it smart. Unfortunately, sometimes the GOP seems incapable of doing so. It is curious how willing some are to throw the baby out with the bath.

A house divided against itself cannot stand. I imagine that Obama smiles every time the GOP engages in a new civil war. We need to stand united, and not let any single group within our ranks hold the rest hostage. Please do not misunderstand me: I'm not saying that these people should not have a place at the table. They have made great contributions. But sometimes they begin to think they own the place, and that the rest of us don't matter.

I’m all for towing the line on conservative principles, until it becomes counterproductive. Those are the times when we need to take whatever progress we can find, and live to fight the next battle.


Please check us out on Facebook and If you like what you see, please "Like" us. You can find us here.

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with you whole heartly.... they don't understand one simple fact.... Palin caused her own problems by being so inept.... she simply is nit qualified to be President.

Palin's political career is over... anyone following her is only going to hurt themselves politically.

Anonymous said...

Anon, I agree with you that Palin has caused her own problems.

I meant this to be a general statement about all of these people, and the direction of the party. Palin just happens to be one of the ringleaders, which is why I used her in the title.

-Martha

J said...

I agree with your article 100%.

I am tired of leading conservative leaders bashing good, smart and intelligent Republican men and women simply because they do something they don't like.

It angers and embarrasses me to no end to see mindless and stupid articles about how certain conservative politicians are traitors, RINOs, and dangerous.

Its not just Sarah Palin and her Palinbots but Ron Paul and his Paultards that have this narrow, singular minded approach to our world's problems.

Anonymous said...

J, you said it better than I did.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

I am not a Conservative or Republican but I have great empathy for the moderates. The right has been hijacked by an inept fringe-element leaving the thinking-man MOR conservative with NO representation. Another view may be that the GOP chose to co-opt these people for their own use, but it has backfired horribly. I will tell you that I had very little interest in politics until after 2008, it was the emergence of Palin and Tea Party that pricked my ears. I could sense true danger to the US and its politics as they advocated what is almost civil war. Look at what we have been left with. Their single-minded ignorance is a true threat to all, left or right.

BOSMAN said...

Great post Martha.

I consider myself conservative but more important than that, I consider myself a Republican.

One of MANY VOICES in our party.

I don't want or expect everyone to agree with me on every issue. What I do know, is that MORE REPUBLICANS will agree with me on issues than Democrats.

Knowing this, my goal is to make sure we win in 2012. Hopefully the Senate, House, and PRESIDENCY. We'll need NUMBERS and a LARGE TENT and welcome mat to accomplish this.

Anonymous said...

We're on the same page, Bos--as I believe most Republicans are.

Thanks so much for the graphics. Perfect!

-Martha

Corep said...

when i was younger we called this group of people the John Birch society. They were so far right as to be considered extreme fringe elements.

What this far right group fail to understand is the same thing as the far left groups fail to understand. It is that this is a right of center country. Its not a left or a right but mostly a middle of the ground country. They view the word compromise as a bad thing and would prefer contention as a policy means.

And as to RW's "lets go down swinging" approach that is so common on the far right of our party, well i ask-
How is that approach to the election of 2008 treating you today?

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the article, Martha!! Some of that info I was not aware of such as American Thinker since I have not visited there lately. That was pretty much due to the fact there would be Romney bashing. A number of comments I made in support of Mitt...never posted. I, of course, "commented" on that and pretty much have not been back. It is a shame because they did have some thoughtful articles.

I wonder how popular Sarah would be....and Michele....if they looked like........well, much less attractive?? (didn't want to single out another less attractive woman!) What if they had to go more on accomplishments, record and message?

corep said...

one other thing. I AM a Conservative and I am tired of having to defend my Conservative credentials to this group that consists of libertarian minded, very social conservatives, merged with a modicum of religious underpinnings that feels it has the "authority" to mandate what we are as GOP.

Anonymous said...

Great article Martha! I especially agree with your points about the overuse of RINO accusations and the smearing of anyone who doesn't agree with, not only what the goals are, but HOW we achieve them. I actually heard Levin (whom I like) as smearing Charles K and others who see the Presidency as the goal as "pseudo conservative". I've definitely become less enchanted with most of talk radio. Does that mean I've become more moderate? I don't think so, it just means a certain segment of my party and ideology has become less tolerant.

Great article.

MikeZ

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your comments, and I definitely agree!

-Martha

Anonymous said...

Quote of the day:
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.” -Sinclair Lewis

Ellie

Anonymous said...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fJIrmcJi2yU/TjKhmg3CZhI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/k6zBA8ccKPI/s1600/Sarah%2BPalin%2BGod%2Bcartoon.jpg

enjoy!
Ellie

Anonymous said...

Wow, just wow. To make her point, Ellie quotes from Sinclair Lewis who was an avowed socialist and atheist. Thanks Ellie for showing us your true colors and for making a good counter argument to Martha's article. Please, go vote for Obama again.

DanL

Revolution 2012 said...

Excellent Post Martha.

I personally think the Tea Party leadership is getting out of hand with these debt ceiling issues.

They need to back off and keep their collective mouths shut while these talks are going on. Especially their so-called spokespeople.

Anonymous said...

Martha,

A good alternative to your title would be "The Devil Made Me Do It."

I do mostly share your disgust with the purity test that the tea party crowd wants to exact on the GOP.

But your argument really is almost without merit to those of us who know you are so obsessed with Palin that you have embraced Trutherism. And you have the unmitigated gall to list Birthirism as your first reason to cut the ties with the far right. Just shameless.

Otherwise I agree with you.

DanL

Anonymous said...

Gee Danny, I really never knew the political leanings of Mr. Lewis. But heck, knock yourself out with hating me! the feeling is not mutual, btw.

Anonymous said...

Count me as one who also agrees with you.

The Republican leadership has always publically encouraged and treated the tea party movement with respect, but look how they treated Boehner...they embarrassed and weakened his leadership, and in the process weakened the Republican party....

It's as nobody can disagree with the Tea Party.....But, I hope instead of the regular apologies, Laura Ingraham, Krauthammer, Kristal and even John McCain stand up to them this time.

Anonymous said...

corep, your right palin and bachmann support is all about the sex appeal. If palin or bachmann were to look like susan doyle, i doubt they get the attention and as much supporters as they do.

Doug NYC GOP said...

Martha,

Very well written and you capture what I have been feeling about Talk Radio (most notably Rush and Levin - Hannity still tries to be mainstream) for some time now.

Both Rush and Levin can be spot on certian topics, especially when laying out the "big picture." Hoever, thier continued intolerance of those who wander, ever so slightly, off their reservation is ridiculous. Rush lost serious cred with me, when he stated Romney was "committing policial suicide" by endorsing McCain, yet he gives Palin a pass for doing the same thing. Rush also rated Palin an 8 on his conservative preference scale, with everyone else coming in at a 6 or less. In the world of Rush/levin, there is only Palin.

Laughable.

Like Bosman, I am a conservative Republican. I could be calling myself 'Doug NYC Conservative" but I didn't. I like my party.

This dragging of everyone through the talk radio mud is getting old real fast.

Anonymous said...

I am also extremely conservative, but I have been forced to realize that I am often viewed as a RINO by people who are "all or nothing" in political thinking.

Obama is an idealogue--an inept one at that. There are plenty on the left who are equally as rabid and controlling as anything we have on the right. Yes, some of them are even violent. We should never forget that this is true, although the press will always focus on the Right's problems and virtually ignore the Left's.

Still, I support Romney for President. I realize that he is more of a pragmatist than an idealogue. I want him to have the House and the Senate, because I believe there will be the greatest chance of reform if we give him the votes to make reform happen. Congress has control of the money, but the President can point them in the direction he would like them to go. If the President makes sense, many will follow.

AZ

Anonymous said...

Dan, Ha ha. I was wondering how long it would take for someone to call me out on my own hypocrisy--considering how I've ripped on Palin for years now.

But I listed birtherism first, because the list is mostly chronological, not because it was the most important. (And BTW, the only thing I said about trutherism is that the pics and story don't make sense.)

Thanks for all the great comments, everyone.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

Martha,
Excellent post, and for once, everyone seems to be on the same page. It seems we all see Sarah and the rest of right wing fringe as a huge danger to America.

Keep up the good work, I have truly enjoyed your post and all of the excellent comments

dd

Anonymous said...

Now we await for RW to show up and defend the queen by dropping a few F-bombs and rudely attack anyone who questions the queens authenticity.

Pablo said...

Excellent article, Martha!!!

Anonymous said...

What a shocker....Pablo enjoyed this article. I'm sure he disagreed with the part about ".... these people should not have a place at the table. They have made great contributions." I would imagine that Pablo would be all for purging the GOP of them.

A.J.R.

Pablo said...

AJR,

I am somewhat of a hypocrite on that. I would love it if the Republican Party was more moderate and mainstream. But I also realize that I am a minority in the Republican Party. So I would be content if you guys would just let us eat from the scraps that fall from the table every now and then.

Anonymous said...

Pablo,

So you admit that you would gleefully purge Tea Party supporters from the Republican Party? What a shocker!!!

BTW.....the GOP bends over backwards for the moderates. You almost always get your way and when you don't you cry like babies.

A.J.R.

Thomas J. Zaleski said...

Martha: You cite: Mark Levin, Rush, etc, all true conservatives.

I was lifelong friend and Student of William F. Buckley, Jr the founder of modern conservatism.

TP chose poorly with Angle and O'Donnell and NY 23. Most TP are NOT lifelong conservatives. Far too many are frustrated and angry about our current debt, gov, etc. Too MANY are FAILURES as citizens and not just TP members.

It is failure of citizenship our most basic and sacred duty that has brought us to this point. Point of no return? Perhaps.

Thomas J. Zaleski

Chuck Norton said...

What about the train wreck of Marco Rubio and all of those new House members. Oh wait..

You mention that Levin and Rush attack those who say bad things about Sarah Palin, but you forget to mention that they trash her personally and/or use broad brush attacks, not on substantive policy positions; and that is what Rush, Sean, and Mark have a big problem with.

On issue per issue and policy per policy most conservatives agree on 80% plus of them, so to attack any prominent conservative, Sarah Palin included, in a way that is not substantive is to attack all conservatives.

Also...

What I find interesting is that any plan that would actually have a real chance of preserving our AAA credit rating was painted as extreme.

We should not let pundits move the Overton Window and decide what is extreme and what is not.

There will be many impacts to losing AAA, including the US Govt having to pay so much more interest on the debt every year that the savings from debt ceiling agreement (to only increase spending by $7.4 trillion over the next ten years instead of the base line $9.5 trillion) will be used up.

Marco Rubio said that his line in the sand is to have a solution that actually fixes the problem. When preserving our AAA credit is considered “extreme” there is something very wrong with someone’s perceptions.

Anonymous said...

Chris Christie said he's tired of dealing with the crazies, who isn't?

Anonymous said...

Mark Levin is to Ronald Reagan what Jesse Jackson is to Martin Luther King, Jr.

That's called an analogy, they took them off the SATs.

Anonymous said...

Paul Revere did not ride from town to town ringing bells to warn the British. He was warning the colonists. The British were told after he was captured.

Palin was wrong and her supporters went on wikipedia and other sites to change the Paul Revere page. What great Americans.

Koolaid ~> Aisle 3

Anonymous said...

Paul Revere rode the fastest horse they could acquire because he was out past British Marshall Law imposed curfew and could be shot on sight.

And you don't understand the Koolaid drinking meme. That is about giving all your money to others, and then hoping they'll take care of you in every way afterwards.

Koolaid drinkers give up their will to the collective.

ObamaCare is an excellent example of drinking the Koolaid.