That's what Matt Lewis suggests in a column today at Politics Daily: that conservatives' heads will tell them to vote for Mitt Romney in the 2012 primary, but that their hearts will tell them to vote for Sarah Palin. It might feel better for conservatives to vote for Palin as an emotional favorite, and, since it's historically difficult to take down an incumbent president, Lewis asks the philosophical question: "If you're going to lose anyway, is it better to lose atop the horse you really want to ride?" It's a different question altogether who conservatives would actually want to be president; emotionally, even, and putting aside their respective chances of winning, Palin might not be tops in that regard.
Palin could be an emotional favorite for a different reason: conservatives
would want to watch her campaign. If it's about inflicting injury on
Obama and the Democrats, she probably packs more of a punch than
Romney. Just watch her speech at the Republican National Convention,
and notice the conservative daggers shooting out of her eyes. That's the magic conservatives may want to recapture in 2012--if for no other reason than to go on the attack.
I heartily agree with most of this, except for hte claptrap that conservatives want Romney in their "heads."
We want Palin in our hearts and in our minds. It may be a few Wall Street money-grubbers who want Romney, but they're not real conservatives, anyway. We want Palin because 1) she's not a liberal wuss like Romney; 2) she's a fighter; 3) she's got a real chance of beating Obama, and Romney does not; and 4) she'd be a leader as President and as the standard-bearer of our Party, whereas Romney is only looking out for Romney and his Wall Street cronies.
We don't need a stuffed-suit phony in 2012 - or ever. We need someone with passion.
Oh please, Please, PLEASE...
...make Sarah Palin the 2012 Republican Nominee.
...both sides can agree on this at least ... for very different reasons.
Something is funny: I get the impression that conservatives think liberals fear Palin. We certainly don't. We fear waht a Palin presidency would look like. But we in no way fear the Beast herself. Almost every liberal I know is hoping and/or praying that she is the nominee, because only the GOP Believers truly think that she will wipe the floor with Obama. All the libs want her to be the nominee because they know that will not happen.
Romney as the head choice would be akin to Kerry--"well, he seems like he could be elected." Except he can't nail down the evangelical base on account of the devil worshipping thing.
But mostly this piece sounds like Chris begging conservatives to go ahead and give Palin a shot because there will be soooo much more to write about if its Palin instead of someone boring and capable of carrying out an interview.
Please do not vote for Palin. She was such a lightweight intellectually during the campaign that I felt sorry for her.