Is Palin pulling a Trump?

The Magic 8-Ball is clear on one thing: Sarah Palin will never be president. One doesn’t need magic to divine this truth, however. Poll after poll shows she is increasingly radioactive across large swaths of the voting public – as in pre-2008 Hillary Clinton unpopular. And yet, she flirts. So, what’s her game – will she run for the 2012 GOP nomination, or is she pulling a Trump to stay in the headlines?

With former governor Mike Huckabee (leader of the 2012 pack) out of the race, Palin may see this as her moment. Social conservatives, who gravitated to Huckabee, would be Palin’s for the picking. Also vying for those voters will be Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum. No worries for Palin on that score. She’s the big dawg and they are but fleas.

As for Mitt Romney (struggling to be seen as the field’s frontrunner), a Palin candidacy would be his worst nightmare. Her star power and ability to raise tons of cash is competition he absolutely does not need. The combination of name recognition and fundraising prowess was the one thing he had going for him.

Poor Mittens. He’s a far weaker candidate than the Beltway press seems to grasp. He’s the king of flip-floppery, has the charisma of a cement block and is viewed with great suspicion by the party’s social conservatives. Palin could be the anti-Romney they’ve been looking for.

The rest of the Republican field will get very little attention if Palin runs. This must drive that other boring governor, Tim Pawlenty nuts. His campaign is already going nowhere at the speed of light. With Palin in the race, he just becomes another interchangeable white guy.

I believe Sarah Palin will run for the 2012 Republican nomination. Why wouldn’t she? She has everything to gain by it no matter the outcome. There’s no way she (queen of the mammoth ego) would turn away from the possibility of being the first female to run for president on the Republican ticket. There’s also no way she’ll turn down all that free publicity (and wardrobe!); not to mention all the cash to be made down the road.

For Palin it’s not about actually winning or serving a greater good. It’s about keeping herself in the spotlight and feeding her greed. Look how she bailed on Alaska after only two and a half years into her first term to pursue the almighty dollar (book, TV deals). Her campaign slogan should be “Show Me the Money!”

With such a pitiful GOP field, I can see her winning her party’s nomination and then losing badly to President Obama in the general election. It’s all good, though. To Palin, losing a presidential race is actually winning!

Wonkette spanks Palin for crashing biker rally for vets

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

As usual, Sarah Palin is all about celebrating some Sarah Palin! Those crazy kids at Wonkette are busting her out for crashing the "Rolling Thunder" biker rally for veterans on Sunday:

Happy Memorial Day! It is time to honor America’s War Heroes, meaning Sarah Palin. America’s favorite snowbilly grifter showed up Sunday at “Rolling Thunder,” a non-partisan organization which raises awareness of veterans’ issues through the display of motorcycles that run on Muslim-Arabian fuel.

Snowbilly grifter... that's even better than Caribou Barbie!

Hillary Clinton: Vanity Fair's Woman of the World

 Illustration by Edward Sorel.

Jonathan Alter's new Vanity Fair piece on Hillary Clinton looks interesting. Alter's a great reporter. And love her or hate her, the Secretary of State and former First Lady is a fascinating character. The teaser says it all:

Her lightning-rod years behind her, Hillary Clinton is an administration star and a formidable, low-maintenance secretary of state. As she grapples with the Arab Spring, Jonathan Alter steals quality time with the ever airborne diplomat in chief.

I used to loathe her. That was based on my belief that she was untrustworthy and of bad character. While I always saw her as wickedly intelligent, I believed her motives to be deeply suspect. Her support for the invasion of Iraq and all things Neoconservative proved me right. It was her well-earned downfall. Had she displayed the same courageous intellectual independence Barack Obama did by opposing the invasion, she probably would've won the 2008 Democratic nomination.

That was then, this is now.

Since her defeat, she's done an admirable job dusting herself off and moving forward. I've been impressed by her joining Team Obama and putting her formidable talents to good use as secretary of state. She's done a great job so far in that post. And thankfully, the animosity I used to feel for her has disappeared. Somewhere along the line following the 2008 primaries, I think Hillary's motives became truer than they have ever been. And that accounts for much of her current success.

GOP to Newt: Suck it!

Perennial presidential wanna-be Newt Gingrich finally had a good (meaning gaffe-free) week. Unfortunately for him, it was followed by a new survey released by Public Policy Polling revealing what many of us already know: He is very unpopular even within his own party.
The poll shows 38 percent support for Gingrich among Republicans; while 45 percent view him unfavorably. That's no small number. (Among Democrats, he is viewed unfavorable by 80 percent.) Even Sarah Palin, who fled office after only two and a half years into her governorship, scored higher than the former Speaker of the House with 55-37, respectively.
The combination of past and recent bad press and negative polling numbers beg the question, what makes Gingrich think he has any chance of winning the Republican nomination - sheer ego the size of Mt. Rushmore?
I'm no expert in statistics, but the Magic 8-Ball never lies. Gingrich stands about the same chance of winning the nomination as he does in winning the gazillion dollar lottery. One would have to be a complete fool to run on those odds.

Desperation city

According to a CNN/Research survey of Republican voters, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani edges out former governors Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin for the top spot in a hypothetical 2012 matchup. Giuliani received 16 percent support to Romney's 15 percent and Palin's 13 percent.

AP Photo

Of course, this is but one survey. But the results are head scratching. How so? Let's jump into the Wayback Machine and return to the run-up to the 2008 GOP primaries. Giuliani, still milking his glorious 9-11 wave of  popularity for what it was worth enjoyed some of the highest poll numbers of the pack, thanks to the breathless Beltway press hyping him incessantly. According to the Chatteratti, his expertise in national security made him the candidate to beat.
Giuliani's campaign got off to a rocky start. There were many questions about his sordid personal life and his current wife's past. He also failed miserably to connect with voters on the trail. This must've been all too apparent to his staff because they proceeded to run the most bizarre primary strategy known to mankind: blow off the early primary states and take it all in Florida. Yah, that turned out real well. His campaign flamed out famously before it ever began.
The point to this post is simple. There is such a horrible void in the Republican field today, voters are still thrashing around, looking for "the one." I can all but guarantee to those who took this poll and other like-minded voters, Rudy Giuliani is not going to be the next Republican nominee. Granted, there is no candidate in the current GOP crop who can claim to be the 'national security guy'. Perhaps that could give "America's Mayor" a new footing, but I highly doubt it.
The Magic 8-Ball says Giuliani would be a fool to waste his time and money on such a ridiculous quest. Here's hoping his ego doesn't get the best of him.

Obamas get a royal reception from Queen Elizabeth

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrived in London today to kick off their official state visit. They were greeted in high style by Queen Elizabeth II and husband Prince Philip. The warm welcome included a private tour of the palace, a meeting with Prince William and Kate Middleton and a 41-gun salute. Such a visit is a rare honor for a U.S. president.
Historically, the Queen hosts one or two heads of state per year.
The Obamas will attend a state banquet held in their honor. On Wednesday, President Obama will give a rare address to both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall. This occasion is usually reserved for British monarchs. Normally, the heads of state are recieved in the Queen's Robing Room or the Royal Gallery.
Former U.S. presidents Ronald Reagan (1982) and Bill Clinton (1995) gave their speeches in the Royal Gallery. The last state visit by a U.S. president was George W. Bush in 2003.

(Photo: John Stillwell/The Associated Press)

Pawlenty pardoned serial child molester in 2008

Wow. This is disturbing. I don't think I like Tim Pawlenty's judgement.

According to Kase Wickman at The Raw Story... Reporting by Minneapolis City Pages' Nick Pinto brought to attention a pardon then-Gov. Pawlenty granted to a sex offender in October 2008, which is sure to haunt the candidate throughout his campaign: the man Pawlenty pardoned was later arrested again for molesting his daughter more than 250 times in an eight-year span, including six years prior to his pardon.

Jeremy Giefer served 45 days in prison in 1994 after being convicted of statutory rape. However, because he married the then-14-year-old girl and stuck around to father the child they conceived together, he begged the state for an extraordinary pardon, which would no longer require Giefer to report himself as a sex offender.

The board — which includes the Minnesota attorney general, the chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, and the governor (Pawlenty, at the time) — voted unanimously to pardon Giefer.

The damning details came in November 2010, when Giefer was again arrested on counts of sex with an underage girl — this time with the daughter he had conceived with Susan before his first rape charge.