REPLIES TO THE CURRENT QUESTION

Our question last week was:

What is Sarah Palin's future in the Republican Party?

Here are your answers.  The name of a writer is included only if he or she actually placed a name at the end of the message.  Otherwise, we assume the writer wished anonymity and "name withheld" is inserted.

There is an unstated assumption in this question; that being, the answer isn't "Serve honorably as Vice President for 4 or 8 years under the leadership of President McCain and then an additional 8 as President."  

Taking the pessimistic view that the current election has already been stolen by the media and presented on a platter to Senator Obama, a view that I don't hold with any certainty, a second answer is required.  First, she needs to complete her term/terms as Governor of Alaska without losing sight of who and what she is.  Her value as a politician hinges almost entirely on the fact that she isn't one in the inside the beltway sense of what a politician is.  If she can retain her fundamental honesty and decency, with the increased name recognition she now has, she will be a formidable opposition force during the reign of King Barack.  It is likely that Senator McCain will go back to the Senate and serve out his time without providing the dynamic leadership that the Republican party will require to regain its place at the table.  Governor Palin can provide that leadership by becoming a voice for that part of America that hasn't been seduced by the Obama mystique.  Sort of a Mad Max on the right.

Don Newell

As an unabashed fan of the Governor Palin I hope she becomes a prominent voice in the Republican Party.  Despite the slings and arrows arrayed against her by not only the MSM but Republican elitists as well, she has withstood the onslaught with grace.  Let us not forget that this is a savvy politician who took on the corruption of her own state party and triumphed; who shrewdly rewrote the rules that finance Alaskan government while at the same time providing the citizens of Alaska with a windfall tax rebate.  The shame is that she has been totally mishandled by the McCain organization.  The fact is she is the most able executive of the four people running.  She is also the most trustworthy.  She could be our Margaret Thatcher.  

But, I fear the elites will never let her become the great leader she can be.  She is too much of a threat. When even a Peggy Noonan finds her threatening it is clear there is a cadre of eastern educated elites really do believe they are entitled to run the country regardless of whether they are liberal or conservative. The good news is we have Bobby Jindal waiting in the wings.  

(name withheld)

I for one would like to see her in a future prominent role, but, let’s face it, she does not fit inside the beltway. And since this is probably John Mc Cain’s “last hurrah," I doubt the staid old party boys will abide someone with a fresh outlook. This is the party that shot themselves in the foot when they had a chance to really do some good and get back to conservative principles. But what did they do?  Spend, spend, spend, and they tied themselves to shady characters - thus the title “culture of corruption” that lost them both houses of congress.
 
Once the governor looses her sponsor in McCain, who is the only Republican with the guts to challenge the status quo, she will be cast aside. This will be a shame.
 
Tom Bullock
West Covina, CA

Vice President from 2009 through 2012.  President from 2013 through
2020.  Chief Justice of the United States thereafter.

Frank Drouillard
Novato, CA