Replace Michael Steele with Sarah Palin? Republicans should do it
The RNC should replace Michael Steele with Sarah Palin
With the stakes raised significantly by a sitting member of Congress and former NRCC chair joining the calls by the Axis of Evil (Bill Kristol, Eric Erickson and Liz Cheney) for him to step down as RNC chairman, and a real-live leadership challenge in the works, the completely unfounded, but Twitter-viral rumor that Steele will step down July 10th and be replaced by none other than the Thrilla from Wasila, Sarah Palin, is too good to pass up. And you know what? The RNC should go for it. It would be the smartest thing they’ve done in years … and I’m really not joking.Going back for a moment to Tom Schaller’s list of the traits that make a good party chair. They are, in brief:
1) Ability to recite the party’s current policies, and not attempt to make policy;
2) Fundraising prowess;
3) The ability to boost the morale of the base (so they give more money);
4) A certain megalomania;
5) And finally, strong links to the party machinery
On the basis of those traits, Sarah Palin absolutely fits the bill. The one thing she didn’t do is come up through the Republican machine, but then, neither did Michael Steele in any real sense. And Palin was plucked out of obscurity by the ultimate outgrowth of the party machinery — the staff of the campaign of the Republican candidate for president. Was she unqualified to be a heartbeat away from the nuclear codes? Absolutely. I think even most Republicans would concede that at this point. But Palin was qualified to do the one thing she was selected by the McCain campaign to do: motivate the GOP base.
In fact, as much as we non-wingers like to make fun of her (and I really, really enjoy making fun of her,) Sarah Palin can do three things on day one as party chair that Michael Steele will never be able to do: 1) set the base on fire with excitement; 2) attract tons of money to the RNC from large donors and small, and 3) constantly make news in the way the RNC wants it made, by attacking Barack Obama and the Democrats — relentlessly, snarkily and nasally — but without veering off message.
Ironically, the thing that makes Sarah unelectable as a presidential candidate makes her perfect for this job. She is a completely empty vessel policy-wise, and a crack repeater of talking points (written on her hand or not), which means Sarah won’t make Steele-like gaffes.
She brings the tea party wing and the neocon wing together, as both adore her.
She is so unpopular outside the party faithful (and we’re talking George W. Bush levels here…) she needn’t worry about being conciliatory. Any hope of building a broad, national base for Palin flew out the window a long, long time ago. At this point, she is free to be a purely partisan attack dog, with no worries about the future, which for her, is padded with book sales and speaking fees. Who wants to be president and face all that scrutiny when you can burrow completely into the partisan cocoon? Party chairmen need to have that freedom of action (which former DNC chairs Terry McAuliffe and even Howard Dean also had, because at the time they ran their party committee, neither harbored ongoing political ambitions, though McAuliffe eventually changed his mind — and likely paid for his exuberance as chair with a losing effort in Virginia.)
Perhaps most important of all, Sarah Palin is comfortable being her authentic self — something Michael Steele never seemed to be. She is the arch-Christian, anti-intellectual, lazy study; hawkish on foreign policy issues that she doesn’t even understand, but firmly rooted in an amorphous but all-encompassing belief that America=good, and “not-America” = bad … all the stuff that makes her the salt of the earth to the conservative base. Steele, on the other hand, always seemed to be playing a role. He was the hip-hop guy using black stereotypes to supposedly remake the GOP and attract minorities, the wanna-be policy wonk, and the baller with the private jets; but also the guy who cowered before Rush Limbaugh after momentarily criticizing him, who couldn’t get straight whether he was pro-choice or pro-life, who admitted his own party should be shunned by black people, fought the party over his own spending (see “Heckuva job, Mikey” for more) and now, is unsure that the war in Afghanistan can be won, or even should have been fought, and apparently, wanted Republican candidates to run on that theme.
On authenticity, Sarah beats Steele hands down.
The one thing the two would have in common in the chairmanship would be a certain “new money” thirst for luxury travel and expensive clothes — something that caused embarrassment when Palin was on the McCain ticket. But unlike Mr. Steele, Sarah has now gotten her taste of riches. Through her good fortune at being picked for the ultimate reality show (running for vice president) she was able to parlay her instant fame into a million-plus-dollar book deal, and highly paid speaking engagements, something Steele has struggled to pull off. She won’t need the RNC to give her an entree into the good life. She’s already living it. That means that Sarah, for all her past ethical lapses, won’t be as tempted to syphon off donor money for personal luxuries that go beyond the pale. She can now afford to buy her own $100,000 wardrobe and rent her own NetJet. And not for nothing, but you know damned well there would be no junkets to strip joints under a Palin regime.
The one thing Republicans might have to worry about in replacing Steele with Palin would be the potential blow-back of ousting their first African-American chair. But, how to put this kindly … the Republican Party has only marginal support among Black people, with only the farthest right, nuttiest, most fringy African-Americans having any interest whatsoever in being associated with them, especially with the openly racist rhetoric of people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, and the sign-wielding horrors of the spitting, screaming, lily-white tea parties in the tent. The GOP can and should feel free to take the blowback. It should feel more like a gentle breeze. On the other hand, the teabag set will likely roar with appreciation of the party finally freeing itself of its “affirmative action” RNC pick.
And whatever news is made by the ouster of an African-American chairman will be dwarfed by the tsunami of media appreciation at the party handing them yet another reason to naval-gaze at their favorite shiny object: Sarah Palin.
The RNC needs Sister Sarah, and not for nothing, but Sarah needs to prove she can hold onto a job that requires her to show up every day, rather than just have some aide issue manifestos on Facebook. Sarah is going to go on attacking Democrats and the president whether or not she’s on the payroll, but why not put her on? It might limit her TV time (and put a cramp in her TLC-cable plans, but hey, people who enjoy the Discovery Channel don’t want anything to do with her anyway…) And Sarah’s really not all that good on TV, as her appearances on Fox have demonstrated. Better to put her on the RNC dance card. Also, we Democrats are going to keep making fun of her, regardless of her official title. You might as well milk her money-drawing and fundraising power while you still can.
It’s win-win. Republican National Committee: hire that grammatically challenged woman as your new chairman, stat!
BTW, the other end of the rumor, which may be total bunk, and based on wingers‘ inability to tell the Washington Post from the Washington Examiner, by the way, is that Karl Rove would be the replacement. Now that would be colossally stupid, but great for Democrats, who would love to run against the Party of Karl Rove in November.
And one more thing: even if the position was offered, Palin might not take it. The whole “showing up to work everyday,” buckraking for the party (rather than herself) and limiting the TV time, speaking engagements and book tours would likely not sit well with a woman who for all intents and purposes, has devoted her life to being a right wing celebrity. Being RNC chair would put Sarah a step behind in the footrace to beat Glenn Beck at the multimedia money-grubbing grifter game, and I have a feeling she would feel limited in a role as a boring party chairman. But Palin’s soaring self-regard might at least make the idea of being the Titular Head of the Republican Party tempting. If they make the offer tempting enough, salary-wise, and promise to more than make up for her lost celebrity income after a year, or even six months as “placeholder” chair, she might actually go for it.
UPDATE: (Since it’s Saturday, it must be…) Frances Martel offers up a somewhat convoluted, unified theory of Michael Steele, accidental genius … which you can read here. But Frances also serves up links to a couple of neocons who seem agree with me, that being party chairman is essentially a fundraising and cheerleading job, which in my book is pretty much what Sister Sarah is qualified for. But let’s let one of them, Kevin Williamson at The Corner, speak for himself:
Palin would be a much better RNC chairman than presidential candidate or freelance kingmaker. She’d raise tons of money and help recruit good candidates, i.e., she’d excel at doing the things Steele should have been doing instead of appointing himself Republican pundit-at-large. A Chairman Palin would help set the right tone for the Republican party without having to get herself entangled in the minutiae of policy-development, which has not been her forte.
And Williamson agrees that Palin being polarizing is immaterial to the RNC chair’s job. As he puts it, “better to have a polarizing chairman than a polarizing candidate,” and I’ll bet lots of GOPers would much rather have Ms. Palin waving the pom-poms in 2012 than taking the field.
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11 Responses to “Replace Michael Steele with Sarah Palin? Republicans should do it”
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Good analysis; but is Sarah willing to do fundraising for the party without $100,000 per speech for herself?? (Although that market might be drying up soon.) Not to mention her FoxNews moola. Can Sarah learn where Ronald Reagan actually went to college?
After trying a loose cannon African-American, maybe they should find a tea-party friendly Hispanic gay or lesbian.
Or maybe they cshould be honest with themselves and hire an old white guy.
Well said… though in their case, the old white guy would probably be a closeted man with four kids and a very unhappy wife.
Perfect! Larry Craig for party chair!!
Ever see ELMER GANTRY? When Sister Falconer dreamily and excitedly says, “…my OWN tabernacle!!!!”
$ister $arah won’t be doing anything for the team, that would cramp her $100,000.00 a pop style.
Her faithful don’t believe it but she wouldn’t lift a finger for them unless she got paid.
Has anyone seriously considered putting Joe Watkins up for the job?? Palin will not give up the money. Watkins adds Washington experience and TV/Radio savvy. He’s well liked among party insiders and a growing constituency of conservatives. He most recently ran for Lt. Gov of Pa. and was seriously considered until the party went in another direction….
I know Joe Watkins a little bit (Rev. Joe, he is…) and while I completely disagree with every word that comes out of his mouth, besides “hello,” he’s a very nice guy, a disciplined communicator, and would be really good at the job. For those reasons, he won’t be picked… Besides, replacing one black guy with another would look too much like pandering…
Well, well, well have we all got our panties in a bunch! Why do are bunch of commie lefties so interested in Sarah Palin being RNC chair? Scared much? Afterall can’t be all too pleasant watching a simple hockey mum beat the “greastest living president” like a rented mule daily. can it?
Let me tell you all something, you nutcases, Sarah Palin WILL NEVER be RNC chair. SHE DOESN’T NEED IT, SHE DOESN’T WANT IT. She’s got bigger agendas and if you all can’t comprehend that, then I guess you all still smoking that hopeychangey stuff.
SHE’S COMING FOR CAPTAIN KICK-ASS!
Joy shave your moustache and your pits! You’re dripping of jealousy!
I mean Sarah Palin having hot, sweaty, mind-boggling, passionate sex with that hunk of a man Todd, those strong hands grabbing and feeling doing all sort of bondage stuff. Slim and fit as ever as an anorexic Paris Hilton even after having five beautiful children.
While you (Joy) slaves night and day in pilates classes trying to shift a little of that flab around your waist and cellulite infested thighs all the while drowning your man-hating sorrows in coffee-latte.
Hmmm, hmmm, Sarah Palin has she got it all. Hate that bitch /s
You fantasize about Sarah and Todd Palin’s sex life with that much specificity? Down to “bondage stuff?” Ewww… I think you should warn people before shaking hands.
Reid, you are a total moron! You are a typical leftist nutcase who is jealous of Sarah for many reasons, not to mention her great looks. And calling Glenn Beck a television grifter? Glenn Beck is exposing the truth about Nobama and those marxist clowns that the puppeteer Soros has surrounded him with. And Sarah kicks him in scrawny ass on a regular basis, and that is one reason we love here!
Not all conservatives (myself included) are as easily fooled as Randall22000 above! Sarah Palin is a attractive moron…Kathleen Parker, conservative National Review columnist and former Palin supporter summed it up best in the “Palin Problem”!
A message for Sarah…DON’T EVER SEND ME ANOTHER E-MAIL ASKING ME FOR MONEY TO HELP PAY FOR YOUR LEGAL DEFENSE FUND…HERE IS A SUGGESTION…USE YOUR OWN D**N MONEY TO PAY FOR YOUR BILLS GRIFTER!!! I DO NOT SUPPORT YOU ANY LONGER, SARAH!