I wonder what the good people of Alaska think about Sarah Palin's plans for her future.
Caribou Barbie must never have heard the expression "dance with who brung ya." Because according to an ABC News interview transcript, she is "absolutely not" planning to go back to Alaska if she and John McCain lose on November 4th. You know, Alaska, where her house is, where her family lives, where her husband works. And oh yeah... where she is the governor.
BLITZER: And this just coming into the "Situation Room," the Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin now speaking out openly about her intentions in 2012 if, if she and John McCain were to lose this contest next Tuesday. In an interview with ABC News, Sarah Palin is now saying, she would be interested in remaining a serious national political figure, going ahead to 2012. She was asked what happens in 2012 if you lose on Tuesday, would you simply go back to Alaska? Elizabeth Vargas of ABC News asked her and Palin said this, and I will read it to you verbatim according to an ABC News transcript: "Absolutely not," Sarah Palin says. "I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we've taken, that ... that would ... bring this whole ... I'm not doin' this for naught," and that is a direct quote from Sarah Palin. Clearly, leaving open the possibility that she would be interested in leading the Republican Party in 2012 if she and John McCain were to lose this presidential contest right now. Let's go to Dana Bash. She has been covering the McCain campaign reaction from the rather blunt statement from Sarah Palin that she would in fact be interested in leading the Republican Party going forward after Tuesday if they lose?If the McCain campaign is "speechless," as they should be, imagine how the citizens of Alaska feel about the obvious contempt that their governor feels for the job they elected her to do.
BASH: I just got off of the phone, Wolf, with a senior McCain adviser and I read this person the quote and I think it is fair to say that this person was speechless. There was a long pause and I just heard a "huh" on the other end of the phone. This is certainly not a surprise to anybody who has watched Sarah Palin that she is interested in potentially future national runs, and she is being urged to by a lot of people inside of the Republican Party if they do lose, but it is an "if" and people inside of the McCain campaign do not want any discussion that has an "if" in front of it six days before the election, they don't want any discussion at all, any kind of hypothetical talk about running for the next time around. So certainly, this is not at least initially being received well inside of the McCain campaign.
BLITZER: I am not surprised, not surprised at all. It is one of those "wow, she is talking about 2012 if we lose," that is not supposed to be something that you say. You are supposed to say, "well, I'm not looking ahead, I'm not looking ahead only to Tuesday," and those are the talking points she's supposed to be saying, but she is obviously blunt and she is looking ahead if something were to happen on Tuesday that she wouldn't be happy with.
Absolutely not, she says about returning to her job, her state, her home if she and McCain come up short on election day. What breathtaking venality. What a shocking expression of pure, single-minded ambition.
But perhaps I am too harsh. Perhaps Palin's reluctance to return to The Land of the Midnight Sun is understandable. "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm," the old saying went, "once they've seen Paris?"
By that token, how you gonna keep 'er up on the steppe once she's seen Neiman and Saks? Once she has ridden in motorcades, escorted by dozens of Secret Service agents? Once she has spoken to tens of thousands of adoring fans hanging on every folksy syllable?
I guess you ain't.
Of course, if Palin doesn't go back to Alaska on November 5th (assuming she and McCain lose), I don't know how she plans to pass the time between now and 2012. Does she imagine she'll be able to mount a successful candidacy from a sinecure as a Fox "News" political analyst? Or as a senior fellow at AEI? Or as the new host of Dancing with the Stars?
Take a tip from Bobby Jindal, Governor Palin. When he was asked if he wanted to be McCain's running mate in the months prior to your selection, he always answered, "I've got the job that I want." It served a couple of purposes. First, it didn't make him look too eager. Next, it left him enough flexibility to accept the job if it was offered. And very importantly, it communicated his dedication to the people of Louisiana who elected him their governor. You see, Governor Palin, Americans prize loyalty. We like people who demonstrate the right priorities.
Getting so star struck that you're not even willing to go back home and finish your job is the opposite of demonstrating the right priorities. It is the opposite of loyalty. It makes you look striving and desperate. It is not attractive.
And it is not presidential.
[h/t C&L]
