I damn near lost my breakfast when I pulled up the Oregon Catalyst site this morning and glanced at the item headlined: “Oregon’s Top 2012 Presidential Picks.”
Under the headline was a bar graph showing the percentage of support for each of 10 likely or possible 2012 presidential prospects. Topping the list was Sarah Palin, with an astonishing 31%. In the Number Two spot was former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 24%, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney running third at 21%.
Bringing up the rear, in descending order, were former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Arizona Sen. John McCain, and some guy named Barack Obama.
I knew Oregon, like the rest of the country, had undergone a shift to the right in the last election, with Republican governor candidate Chris Dudley almost knocking off Democrat John Kitzhaber and the Republicans taking control of half of the state legislature. But if 31% of my fellow Oregonians want Sarah Palin to be the next president, I figured I’d better look for a more liberal state to live in.
Like Texas, maybe.
I felt better after reading the small print, which informed me that the numbers came from “a straw poll of approximately 400 taxpayer activists” taken by the Taxpayer Association of Oregon PAC, a right-wing, anti-tax organization.
Pretty typical of conservatives, I thought, to take a poll of themselves and present the results as representing the whole state. And perhaps typical of the thinking of the Palinistas was this anonymous comment: “I like Sarah’s new show on TLC, she’s got great legs too.”
Well, they’re not bad for a 46-year-old woman, but I wouldn’t call them great.
This article appears in Nov 18-24, 2010.
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Whew, you scared me there for a moment. 🙂
And, I would have to admit, she’s got nice legs for a 46-year-old woman.
Not everyone in this state is a far left liberal or a far right republican. However to have you stand for one side so strongly maybe you should leave. Then maybe this state will be governable with out you here.
Yea just what we need in the white house, a quitter. She quit governing Alaska to make more money doing speeches. Just left and didn’t look back. To me that tells me she is not a stable enough person to be President of our Unitied States. And you can bet she doesn’t write her own speeches…..she is still as dumb as a box of rocks.
“Independant”: Only 37% of Americans approve of Sarah Palin and only 17% strongly approve of her (see http://www.politicususa.com/en/sarah-palin-approval-rating) so maybe YOU and her other adoring Tea Party fans should leave. Go set up your own country someplace and make her your emperor, or whatever.
PS: If you want to call yourself an INDEPENDENT at least learn how to spell it.
I thought you were supposed to be a person that reports the news, not somebody that takes sides. You are supposed to be impartial. In your columns the public should not be able to tell if you are far left or far right. They should read a dead center article about what is going on in the world today, without your slighted view in it. You are part of the problem, not part of the solution. I dont give a dang if its left or right or independent, as long as its good for out country. I am an AMERICAN, not a republican or a democrat. I want to pick up a newspaper and read the news for once, not somebody’s opinion.
The website even comes with a spell-check function! LMAO!
“American”: “I thought you were supposed to be a person that reports the news, not somebody that takes sides. You are supposed to be impartial.”
No, I am not. This is a blog. It is not news reporting. It’s an expression of my opinion, like a column. I’m a progressive in my political views, I have never made a secret of it and I make no apologies for it. If you want “straight news” you need to look elsewhere.
Current TParty = GOP co-oped by Koch Bros, etc.
While the Dems have got Soros.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmzH5hlsGfo&feature=grec_index
Wake up, Left vs Right is a LIE. New boss same as the old boss.
It’s you/me/US vs The corporations.
I am an independent voter though I vote more conservative than liberal. Sarah Palin is not worthy of the time it takes to write this, much less be a representative I would choose. The woman is a ego driven brainless moron that has not to date, nor will she ever accomplish anything deserving of the American peoples trust.
Big Woop! She could not even tell the truth about the so called “road to nowhere” fiasco in Alaska. She not only did not handle the situation correctly, but actually received the full funding for this misadventure for the state of Alaska, did not complete the project, and all of this was at the cost of the American Taxpayer! She wasn’t even capable of fulfilling her obligation to the people of Alaska to complete her term as Govenor. You can go ahead and support her, but the majority of voting people will not. Oregon needs to dump Palin!