It is an undoubted truth that Sarah Palin has been the subject of a seemingly endless series of media attacks. The best riposte to that surely, is the truism that "one attacks that which one fears most" (no matter how often one repeats, ad nauseum, the statement that the subject of the attack is 'irrelevant").
That said the post reproduced below by Andrew Malcolm, stands out amongst the few fair minded, if not supportive articles on Palin this year. As the election campaign draws to a close attention will turn, as that is the nature of a four year election cycle, to 2016.
If Romney loses, then they qualities Palin possesses, which are so acutely discerned and reported on by Malcolm, would surely make her amongst the front runners should she decide to challenge in 2016.
An outstanding article worth repeating and congratulating Mr Malcolm on.
Sarah Palin has been generally laying low these past several months save for her regular guest shots on Fox News and Fox Business and carefully-calibrated op-ed commentaries on a wide variety of current subjects released on her Facebook page.
It can be a good life not running for anything. Ask Mike Huckabee. You can talk about what you want to talk about. Not talk about what you don't want to discuss. Life isn't a blur of airplane hangars and cellphone flashes at your every move.
With two daughters in tow, Palin emerged from Alaskan hibernation this weekend to headline the year's top conservative political event, the Conservative Political Action Conference in a sprawling Washington hotel the size of Rhode Island.
You may have heard Sen. Rand Paul spoke on behalf of his father. Rick Santorum made his family stand on-stage behind him for the entire speech; hard to smile genuinely that long.
Newt Gingrich trudged through a long list of things he will do when he becomes president, which he won't.
Stuart Stevens, Mitt Romney's chief political strategist, worried in advance that his candidate's speech was too serious. But it was just right for his audience and thousands of hopeful conservatives spread through two spillover ballrooms. Breaking News: Romney even cracked a joke! More on this in upcoming posts.
No wonder CPAC saved Sarah for last. And adjourned the conference during her applause.
No one in their right mind would go on-stage after Palin's political palaver. People who dislike or fear her are incapable of seeing or admitting it. But that doesn't diminish the reality that Palin is a rare political celebrity and, therefore, an unharnessed power to be reckoned with within the GOP for the foreseeable future.
We're not talking about her running for any office. We're talking about her influence, her enduring proven ability to attract and then ignite a crowd -- even before anyone sees her. The CPAC buzz was electric all-day. Impatient "Sar-ah! Sar-ah!" chants broke out during preceding speakers.
She has the ability to speak about issues that profoundly bother the audience in common ways and words that listeners instantly recognize and wish they had thought to say just that way. Watch in the video below of her full CPAC speech for how this church-going mother of five mocks Obama's Winning the Future program with an almost off-color aside. And prompts shared laughter, not shock.
She gets immense unspoken credit for withstanding an amazing amount of abuse and keeping on ticking. Palin punches have power, like her elbows beneath the basket in high school athletic days. One supporter said to me, as if it was the highest contemporary compliment possible, "She fights like a girl!"
Most politicians these days talk to their audiences or, worse, at them. Even the Real Good Talker, who made his name on a 2004 convention speech and has been giving too many ever since. Governing is hard work. Campaigning is tiring, but much easier. So, he has been and will be campaigning, blaming others as usual.
Obama's standard fundraiser remarks have become tired, repetitious collections of recited pleas for $upport that few would voluntarily pay $35.80 to hear, let alone $35,800 per plate.
Instead, instinctively Palin doesn't speak at or to audiences. She speaks for them. She tells them what they've already accomplished through the tea party, for instance, and what they can accomplish this year and beyond if united. It's empowering and invigorating, no longer burdened by the attacks of enemies, she need play no defense. The audience hears that she knows them and eagerly becomes hers. To criticize Sarah is to criticize them.
It's a refreshing phenomenon to watch politically when compared to the current bipartisan cast of characters trying to communicate publicly in this presidential election year. Fascinating, as on either side the ones who are running aren't connecting. The one who isn't, is.
Excerpting Palin speeches loses the flow, the knitting together of her thoughts with the audience's. Even television filters the electricity of listening in the same room. The best we can do for now is provide her full speech on video.
P.S. After his CPAC speech, Santorum and clan walked off the stage. After theirs, Romney and Gingrich stepped down to shake hands with front-row members for a few minutes. Good moves.
After hers, Palin got a standing ovation. She waved for two minutes then plunged into the audience. Moving slowly like a mini-mob from one side of the vast ballroom to the other to accommodate the waves of well-wishers with hands outstretched and cellphones poised. Some sections spontaneously sang 'Happy Birthday' for her. And she was thrilled every time.
Sarah Palin did this for the better part of another hour, longer actually than her speech. TV was oblivious, the crews coiling their wires to go home as she continued shaking and touching hands on the ballroom floor below.
But it probably doesn't matter. The defeated 2008 VP candidate is washed up, don't you think?
Read More At IBD: http://news.investors.com/politics-andrew-malcolm/021312-600932-sarah-palin-cpac.htm#ixzz2Ali19726
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