Conservatives attacks on Sarah Palin

Colbert King:

The recent attacks on Sarah Palin by establishment conservatives make her Democratic opponents seem like wusses. The prospect of a Palin presidential candidacy in 2012 has obviously spooked the GOP elite. But do they have to be so mean?

"What man or mouse with a fully functioning human brain and a resume as thin as Palin's would flirt with a presidential run?" MSNBC "Morning Joe" host and former Florida Republican representative Joe Scarborough fumed in a Politico guest column this week.

" 'A-LASK-ahhhh - I love this state like I love my family.' Except that [Palin] didn't give her family up after governing for two-and-a half years, so that she could get a Fox News contract, and make 100 grand per speech, and write two books in a year, and drag her entire family onto a tacky reality show." That from the conservative Weekly Standard's Matt Labash last week.

"After the 2008 campaign, [Palin] had two things she had to do. She had to go home to Alaska and study, and she had to govern Alaska well. Instead, she quit halfway through her first term and shows up in the audience of 'Dancing with the Stars' and other distinctly non-presidential venues," sneered my Post colleague George F. Will on "ABC This Week with Christiane Amanpour" on Sunday.

Things have reached the point where Foxnews.com contributor John Lott asked in a column, "Why Does the Media Love to Pick on Palin?"

Well, it's not all the media, and the hardest hits are coming from conservatives. They are questioning her judgment, and some think she's, well, low on smarts.

In defending Ronald Reagan against a Palin putdown of the former president as "an actor," Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal: "The point is not 'He was a great man and you are a nincompoop,' though that is true."
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The recent attacks on Sarah Palin by establishment conservatives make her Democratic opponents seem like wusses. The prospect of a Palin presidential candidacy in 2012 has obviously spooked the GOP elite. But do they have to be so mean?

Take that, Saint Sarah of Wasilla.

But are the attacks fair?

...
While not a fan of Palin, King goes on to defend her political skills and appeal to voters. Sometimes the things that people like me like about Palin get lost in all the noise of defending her against bogus allegations and insults.

First, I like her energy policy. She has articulated an all of the above approach that includes lifting the strangulation on domestic production of oil and gas. Her foreign policy supports our efforts to defeat a wicked enemy. On the economy and taxes she is consistent with what most conservatives and most Americans think is the correct policy.

So what is the problem? Some people see her as unelectable and there fore they are trying to discourage her and her supporters. I do not think that is likely to work. She has shown a resilience that has confounded her critics on the left and will survive her critics on the right. Those who want to oppose her need to stop the insults and start dealing with policy issues. I think they will have a tougher time on that score, but that is what the campaign should be about.

I should note that most of these insults are not coming from potential competitors for the nomination. They have been wise enough to hold their fire so far.
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