GOP Splits (further) Over Palin

by Deb Cupples |   The LA Times tells us:

"Since announcing her resignation, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been pummeled by critics who have called her incoherent, a quitter, a joke and a "political train wreck."

And those were fellow Republicans talking....

"'I can't tell you one thing she brought to the ticket," said Stuart K. Spencer, who has been advising GOP candidates for more than 40 years. "McCain wanted to shock and surprise people, and he did -- in a bad way.'

That's a typical type of reaction from some of the elite members of the Republican party.  Many ordinary Republican voters seem to see it differently:

"Consider a USA Today/Gallup poll released last week. About 7 in 10 Republicans said they would be likely to vote for Palin if she ran for president....

"'People at the grass roots see a charismatic personality who is popular with other people at the grass roots. But their horizon only goes so far as people who think like them," said Mike Murphy. The veteran GOP ad man eviscerated Palin -- a "political train wreck," "an awful choice" for vice president, her resignation an "astonishing self-immolation" -- in a column published Thursday in the New York Daily News.'" (LA Times)

In other words, the party elites see Ms. Palin one way, and the voting base (which is needed to win elections) sees her another way.

According to the LA Times article, Ms. Palin said that she would write a book and go around the country campaigning for congressional candidates.  Embarrassingly enough, said (generally Republican) do not seem to want Ms. Palin's help -- as though preferring to distance themselves from a stench.

Of course, GOP elites are largely to blame for the party's opinion split.  Last year, they hard-sold and defended Ms. Palin (i.e., helped convince ordinary GOP voters that she was a solid candidate worthy of admiration and respect). Those elites who weren't fans of Palin largely kept quiet, which only made it easier for the party to cram Ms. Palin down the throats of ordinary voters.

Now, some of those GOP elites want ordinary GOP voters to change their already made-up minds about Ms. Palin?  Good luck with that one.  Memeorandum has commentary.

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