Dear Sarah Palin:
I am glad to see that you are making the rounds promoting your new book. No, I haven’t read it yet, but I plan to. I’m a fan, you see. A year ago I was telling people that as far as I was concerned the Republican ticket was mccain/PALIN! I was fascinated by your story, impressed by your principles and captivated by your looks. When the press turned on you and did everything possible to destroy you, I raised my fist in righteous anger and used the tiny voice of my blog to defend you.
Your introductory speech at the Republican National Convention was stellar. I was excited. I found myself actually wanting to go vote, something that was not the case a few days earlier when the only Republican in the race was the man who gave us the “McCain/Feingold” travesty among other betrayals of conservatism.
I must admit your interview with Katie Couric concerned me. You say now that you thought that it was going to be a less combative interview, and that concerns me as well. I certainly knew that Katie Couric had a singular goal in that interview and that was to destroy you. You certainly should have known that. Overall that was the low point of the campaign for me, but you bounced back and renewed my optimism.
I wasn’t happy to see you resign your Governorship. I understood the reasons behind it, but I can’t say that I was completely unmoved by the charges of “quitting” and “selling out” to, well, take the time to write a blockbuster money-making book. Still, I was and am a fan. I admire your story and your plain-spoken willingness to confront your opponents. I am particularly glad that you have not let up on your effective criticisms of Barack Obama.
I think you have promise. I think you’re a lot smarter than most people think you are. I think you have the ability and the opportunity to be whatever you want to be. But still, I’d like to offer you some advice. It’s only worth what you paid for it, but here it is all the same.
Stop blaming the media. Yes, I know it is red meat for your fans. Yes, I know it is mostly true that they have been unfair to you. But it is not effective for you to call Obama on his tendency to blame his troubles on George W. Bush and then turn around and blame your troubles on the media. The best way to fight the media is to simply ignore them anyway. You have bigger, more important battles ahead than getting a few punches at the media every speech.
Start building an actual platform. Publicly state a set of core principles that you believe are important for you and this nation to follow, and then demonstrate how those principles are turned into policies. It is one thing to criticize Obama. You have to provide an alternative.
Hire the best and brightest conservative intellectuals you can find. Create a think-tank atmosphere. Lead them into becoming a group of policy defining change agents. Publish white papers instead of Facebook comments.
Woo the Republican leadership who are wary of you. I know the tendency is to “show them a thing or two.” But you need them more than they need you. And they need you badly. Bring them into your circle of influence and learn how to turn them from critics to supporters. Do the same thing with the “intellectual” conservative pundits who express skepticism. If you can win David Frum and Peggy Noonan, you can win the heart of this nation.
Be yourself. You’re a very engaging, likable woman. You have a natural charisma I haven’t seen in a Republican since Reagan. The more you allow yourself to be yourself, the more difficult it will be for your enemies to trip you up. People recognize sincerity when they see it, and you simply radiate it when you are being yourself. Do not underestimate how powerful a tool for change that can be.
I have high hopes for you. I think you can do great things for this nation. Please don’t let me down by becoming just another power broker in a fractured party.
Sincerely, CosmicConservative
10 users commented in " Open letter to Sarah Palin "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackKeep hammering the “lame stream media.” Our other conservative leaders have been soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo successful by attempting to play along and/or ignore them. Pick your shots, but, IF YOU ARE ASKED, be honest.
Don’t build a platform — yet. Keep preaching VISION. Keep supporting conservatives over party (when applicable). Keep giving interviews and answer the questions. Then, about a year before the next election, put out your BOOK with your vision for America.
Work on language. “Passion” instead of “ambition.” Work on articulating your message in typical middle-American speak, rather than your sometimes difficult to understand stream of consciousness. Do NOT hire “experts” or anyone else to “groom” you. NOONE is “qualified” to be President. Not a person on the face of the planet. You already know how to surround yourself with people who can implement your vision. All you need to do is work on how you put your message out…you need NO help on the content of the message itself.
4) Keep up with the refrain, “I’m a conservative AND I’m a Republican. I support the Republican PLANK. I do NOT support Republicans who do not support that plank.” Keep plugging away at YOUR message. YOU have the audience. YOU have the followers. The party machinery is MEANINGLESS to you. If their message is in line with yours, then fine. If not, stay on YOUR message.
5) Yep. Be yourself.
Write your own dang letter.
Heh.
I get the impression that many people believe that Palin isn’t “smart.” She is. Or, she’s at least as smart as Reagan or Bush. The most important value for a politician is likability. That overcomes a LOT (as Obama should teach us).
You simply don’t get where she got without being smart. And, frankly, she is, by all accounts, a bulldog and a quick study. (You don’t give that convention speech with that kind of lead time without being a quick study.)
And, she’s a LEADER. She engenders the love and loyalty of those who support her. They TRUST her.
And, she has a VISION. Like Reagan. One that she believes in the core of her being. When she talks about her beliefs, she SHINES.
The WORST mistake she could make is to start surrounding herself with party hacks or “experts” who try to “groom” her.
She doesn’t need to know every dang detail about every dang thing. What she NEEDS is a sharp mind and an unshakable view of what she wants for America. THESE will guide her on what she should do on any given subject, in the greatest part.
What to do about Iran? Simple. Israel is our friend. Iran is our enemy. Protect Israel and stop Iran from acquiring nukes. How to do that? That’s what the military commanders and intelligence community is for. Get it done.
What to do about Afghanistan? Simple. If we allow that country to fall back into the hands of the Taliban, then it’s just a matter of time before we get hit or Pakistan falls or both. Make sure that doesn’t happen. How? That’s what military commanders are for.
What to do about the debt? Spend less than we take in. Cut taxes, especially capital gains. Supply side, free market principles. How much to cut? Where? That’s what economists are for.
What to do about energy? Independence is better than dependence. Drill, baby, drill! Free market principles.
Etc. Etc. Etc.
That’s what I meant by no one being “qualified” to be President. No one knows what will confront the President, and no President is capable of managing every aspect of … everything.
He/she needs VISION and the certitude of purpose to implement that vision. She has that.
He/She needs to be able to articulate that vision to the country. Do what Reagan did and what Bush didn’t. She can do that.
Unfettered, I think that, in a short time, she will have won over a significant number of “haters.” She’s at around 50% approval now, right at what Obama’s at.
And, she has three years…
Gonna be interesting….
My letter is not recommending that she be “groomed” quite the opposite. It is recommending that she bring in thinkers and doers and LEAD them according to her principles and beliefs, but let them work out the details. That’s what Reagan did. I’m telling her to be the “big picture” person.
I’m also not telling her to kowtow to the Republican leadership. I’m telling her that she’s not going to be anything but a footnote in history if she keeps ignoring them. She NEEDS them because they represent the risk averse portions of the Republican Party. If she can’t win them over, she will never win over the independents and democrats she needs to win anything. As I said, if she can’t pull Peggy Noonan and David Frum to her corner, she can’t do anything but be a fringe player.
Well, we’re going to have to disagree on the Frums and Noonans of this world.
They are worse than useless. They are detrimental to the Republican party.
It’s simply too early to begin a “brain trust.” You only do that after you ANNOUNCE, or just prior. You can JOIN such a trust (such as the Governor’s Association she was a valued member of) but you can’t CREATE one.
It’s presumptive. Almost like getting a Cabinet together.
As to the notion that she needs the Republican party, of course, I disagree. They need her.
She’s a kingmaker right now. In 2010, a word from her will make the difference in many primaries. Add to that her fat PAC and she’s a formidable force in her own right. If she begins to actively campaign for someone….you saw those lines, some over 1000 strong, waiting to get her BOOK….(300,000 sold, the first day…)
The Republican Party better wake up. The conservatives want their party back.
And, frankly, I don’t know if Palin wants to RUN. She may be content to affect policy and party for now. If she believes that being a “kingmaker” behind the scenes is what would better serve America, then that’s what she’ll do. And, of course, she doesn’t need the Republican Party for that.
But, the Party better beware her. She ain’t playing.
As long as Palin can rake in the contributions, she should use them to create a working group that offers real alternatives. She is a huge contribution machine. Use that to start creating a brain trust now.
There is nothing that Sarah Palin can do that would generate any more hostility from her enemies. Not doing it because its “presumptuous” is a silly objection when to the minds of most Democrats and most of the Republican elites, it’s “presumptuous” for Palin to write an entry in her own Facebook account.
This is how you wake up the Republican Party. You force them to recognize that you are serious, that you have real solutions and that you are building a political machine.
You may be right on the “brain trust” notion. As to the “presumptuous” part, I was more directing that at those who could be swayed, but weren’t yet in Palin’s camp. Right now, there’s about 10% who haven’t decided to hate/love her…
But something along the lines of Newt’s group…
Dunno. When someone like Newt forms a “brain trust,” the assumption (based on his education, speeches, writings, and general history) is that he’s the “brain” in that trust (or, at least a large part of it). Ideas are expected from such a man.
But, the hockey mom? The assumption would be that she’s setting up her own group of tutors, attempting to learn something to correct her knowledge deficiency, in effect, highlighting and magnifying the existing impression that she ain’t all that smart.
Dunno.
Drax:
The general consensus in the media and on the left was that Reagan was a puppet to his “brain trust.” That wasn’t true, but Reagan didn’t give a fig for what the media and left thought, he drove his group towards his own goals and I’m sure he felt that the constant underestimation of his own mental capability was more a benefit than a detriment.
I like Sarah Palin. I liked her from the get go. I think her national political abmitions are doomed though. She doomed herself the minute she hitched her wagon to McCain.
For those independents and swing voters whose minds aren’t made up – they’ll get a pounding of misanthropic nonsense her entire campaign. Somehow it will be OK because Palin’s “evil,” or “just wrong” or whatever other excuse the elites use to justify their “good for me but not for thee” actions. Anyway, I’d say her political chances are somewhere in between those of Dan Quayle and Oliver North. That is, there’s an outside chance, and a lot of people like what they say. There’s just too much history there.
[...] Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Posted in February 7th, 2010 by CosmicConservative in Politics Remember when Sarah Palin quit her governorship and I wrote her an open letter? [...]
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