The Real Sarah Palin Steps Forward and Goes Off Script

Given that it looks like the 2016 Presidential race is starting to heat up, at least from the Republican perspective, I thought that a brief look at the recent musings from a 2008 GOP candidate was in order.

Let's open this posting with a quote from Ms. Palin at CPAC 2013 when her teleprompter seemed to be functioning:

While many of America's politicians are reliant on teleprompters to keep them on message, a performance by Sarah Palin at the recent Iowa Freedom Summit gives us a prime example of how badly things can go wrong when a teleprompter fails:

In case you don't really care to listen to her entire speech, Ms. Palin's "free association" really hits its stride around the 26 and 28 minute marks.  This performance begs the question "What would come out of the mouths of politicians if they weren't supplied with an ample inventory of talking points?".

Here's what Palin-fan Byron York had to say about the 2016 Presidential race and its "Palin problem" and her performance at the Freedom Summit:

"First, Palin embarked on an extended stream-of-consciousness complaint about media coverage of her decision to run in a half-marathon race in Storm Lake, Iowa in 2011. She then moved on to grumbling about coverage of a recent photo of her with a supporter who had made a sign saying "Fuc_ you Michael Moore" in reaction to the left-wing moviemaker's criticism of the film "American Sniper." Then it was on to Palin's objections about the social media ruckus over a picture of her six-year-old son Trig standing on the family's Labrador Retriever.

It was all quite petty, and yet the complaining took half of Palin's allotted time. She then proceeded to blow through her time limit with a free-association ramble on Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, the energy industry, her daughter Bristol, Margaret Thatcher, middle-class economics — "the man can only ride ya when your back is bent" — women in politics, and much more. It would be hard to say that Palin's 35-minute talk had a theme, but she did hint that she is interested in running, although there are no indications she has taken any actual steps in that direction.

"Long and disjointed," said one social conservative activist when asked for reaction. "A weird speech," said another conservative activist. "Terrible. Didn't make any sense."

"There was a certain coarseness to her that wasn't there before," said yet another social conservative who noted that some in the crowd were uncomfortable with Palin declarations like, "Screw the left in Hollywood!" (It's not that they like the left in Hollywood — just the opposite — but the crudeness of Palin's expressions turned them off.)

...By the time Palin finished speaking, it was hard for anyone to believe she truly is "seriously interested" in running for president."

Let's hope that Mr. York is right and that we don't get a rerun of 2008.