Also at "A Point Of View"
Former White House functionary Obama's Chief of Staff William Daley wrote
Former White House functionary Obama's Chief of Staff William Daley wrote
"The GOP's dysfunction all started with Sarah Palin"
"Anyway you look at this if Daley really believes that Palin started all of this, then he has to admire Palin for having this much power over people. Trump and Carson would be right where they are today with or without a Sarah Palin in this world. With that said, it looks as though Palin has an admirer in Daley for assigning this much finesse and charisma to one woman who he believes changed the course of stuffy-shirt history!
It can be reasonably stated that what drove Mr.Daley to such ill tempered silliness was the frustration felt by many leading Democrats at the near neutering of his party by the conservative right, with Palin in the vanguard, since Obama became president.
That President Obama's freedom of action outside of executive orders has been just about curtailed is the result of the landslides in the mid-term elections which gave control of first the House and then the Senate.
That Governor Palin has been a major force in both landslides, through her Tea Party activism and support, and her endorsement of a multitude of genuine conservative candidates who not only won their primary battles but the general election campaigns is obviously an irritant to the left. A phenomenal record of 21 of 23 Palin endorsed candidates were elected in the 2014 mid-terms alone.
Beyond Congress the massive switch to the GOP across the country is remarkable with the Democratic Party having full control (Governor and both state houses) of only seven states;
Under President Obama, Democrats have lost 900+ state legislature seats, 12 governors, 69 House seats, 13 Senate seats. That's some legacy. That Daley sees the GOP in "dysfunction" in light of the actual condition of the political environment speaks volumes.
Beyond Palin's endorsement record, her bringing into Congress (and state governments) so many conservative men and women, including a number representing various ethnicities, may be one of her most lasting achievements. When in due course the candidates she helped to power have moved on what will remain will be a vastly changed Republican party whose transition began with her 2008 vice-presidential campaign.
Before Palin was chosen as McCain's vice-president ticket partner the GOP was viewed by many (especially with McCain as the nominee) as the party of "old, white, male, privileged elites". Palin's selection dramatically, and immediately, changed at least two elements of that meme.
For the first time the Republican's had, at the second highest level, a young, female candidate from a self-reliant rural family. The GOP and America would never be the same again. After Palin's breakthrough the GOP chose a Black, Michael Steele as their Chair in a further indication of change.
The Republicans lost, which had nothing to do with Palin, rather it was her invigorating the party and bringing in conservative activists which, given the economic collapse, kept the result remarkably close. What happened next, with Palin's substantial input, saw the near complete transformation of the party and the start of it's near total dominance of American political life outside of the presidency.
President Obama's overreach, his administrations misreading of his "mandate" saw the reaction of the new "Tea Party" conservative patriots who rose up in massive numbers demonstrating their opposition and, vitally, setting up political structures to fight back in the ensuing mid-term elections.
It is indisputable that Governor Palin was in the forefront of the Tea Party revolution in no little way in bringing to prominence her endorsed candidates, both in giving a major boost to their primary campaigns and their subsequent general election wins.
Palin's endorsed candidates in 2010 (as illustrated) and 2014 included Kelly Ayotte, Nikki Haley, Ann Marie Buerkle, Renee Elmers, Allen West, Marco Rubio, Martha Roby, Diane Black, Mary Falin, Joni Ernst, Tim Scott, Ted Cruz, Mia Love. Numerous of these candidates, absolutely, owe their elections to Palin's endorsement. In the 2014 mid-terms an astounding 21 of 23 of Palin endorsed candidates were elected.
Apart from the strong conservative element Palin has brought into congress (especially the GOP House "Freedom Caucus") the effect on the wider view of the GOP from the partial list of women/ethnicities elected above is obvious. The GOP pre-Palin was viewed as a stale, monolithic, old White person's party, that is now the view of the Democratic party.
The first Black senator Tim Scott of South Carolina from the deep South since reconstruction and the first Lt. Governor of Kentucky (and the first Black to win any statewide office) Jenean Hampton are both conservative Black Republicans.
Two of the current GOP candidates for president are Hispanic and one is a woman for the second election in a row. Governor Palin's endorsement and relationship with the Black and Hispanic candidate community is at the pinnacle of a sincere and dedicated level (See "Palin and "Racism" a Photo Essay").
In summation Daley's article should, rightly, have been titled
"GOP's functionality all started with Sarah Palin."
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