By Nicole Coulter
To: David Brooks, GOP know-it-all
From: Me, Palin Fan
Re: This Week
On Sunday's This Week with George Stephanopoulos you called Sarah Palin a "joke" and predicted GOP primary voters will not vote for her in 2012 because she's a "talk show host." Gee, I didn't realize she'd signed a contract to host anything. But I guess that means that alas, poor Gov. Mike Huckabee, our current 2012 frontrunner, is also disqualified. Thanks for the information. I hope the good pastor realizes he doesn't have a prayer now, according to you. How come the electorate didn't get the memo in 1980 and '84 that they weren't supposed to vote for a talk show host, you know, that crazy two-term president who hosted General Electric Theater during the 50s and 60s? What a mistake that was, huh?
All things being equal, those of us who adore Sarah Palin are more inclined to see Palin going into radio, you know, the weekly radio address she'll give as President of the United States.
Having already sold out the first printing (1.5 million copies) of her highly anticipated memoir before its release, Palin sure seems destined for greatness. Indeed she will be visiting a few studios as a much sought after guest. (I can't remember another former VP candidate drawing this much attention, can you?) Despite being called "irrelevant" by important people like you, she is embarking on what will (no doubt) turn out to be the best-attended and most widely covered political book tour ever.
The tour comes on the heels of Palin's busy summer and fall where in a Reaganesque manner she jumped into key policy debates with well-referenced and much discussed op-ed essays in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal , National Review, and Facebook. She raised awareness of the cap-and-tax scheme, and the bureaucratic nightmare of Obamacare, attracting a little bit of blowback in the process. Quite a few people seem interested in what she has to say: her "circulation" of nearly one million "subscribers" on Facebook rivals the total paid circulation of The New York Times and surpasses the viewership of many of the evening cable news shows (except Fox, of course). She even got paid for speaking to international investors. While Obama was apologizing for America to the U.N. in September, Sarah Palin gave a well-received speech in Hong Kong touching on economics, national security, and human rights.
In light of all this, Sarah Palin doesn't seem like a joke -- or a talk show host -- or an actress. She seems like a citizen politician going places and doing important things.
And, if I may say, your condescending and misogynistic attitude toward Sarah Palin typifies what is wrong in this country. Sarah Palin is a credible future candidate because she was the VP candidate for the Republican party last year, for crying out loud. She has just as much right to run for president as any other candidate. She need not seek elite pre-approval to throw her hairpin in the race. She was a popular and effective governor who actually implemented many of the policies advocated by your beloved Bob McDonnell, the guy who has done nothing yet except win an election for governor.
In case you missed it, Sarah Palin won election as governor, too, three years ago. She was the youngest governor ever elected in her state, and the first woman. Why don't we check back with Governor-elect McDonnell in three years to see if his actions matched his campaign rhetoric, huh? I have no doubt they will. But getting elected is sometimes the easy part, would you not agree? Don't leaders actually have to accomplish something or is it just important that they say the right things (and have really nicely creased pants)? Because by most accounts Sarah Palin achieved 95% of her policy initiatives -- in less than three years in Juneau. She has a stellar track record on fiscal policies that McDonnell should emulate not the other way around.
In addition to looking outside your cloistered Beltway reality, Mr. Brooks, you also should not ignore the wisdom of Gwen Ifill, noted liberal "talk show host" and rumoured Obama supporter. On today's program she warned you not to underestimate the power of the women's vote. You would be wise to heed her advice. I am a Republican woman who supported Hillary. There are many Hillary supporters still fomenting over Obama's razor-thin victory (some say defeat) in the Democratic primaries. If Sarah runs the kind of pragmatic reform-minded campaign that she successfuly ran in her governor's race, do you honestly think women won't turn the next election? Since we've already broken the racial barrier, do you not believe women are thinking: it's our turn now? If you dont' see that, well, you're not paying attention.
Moreover, if you don't think GOP primary voters will vote for Sarah, I just don't know how you can call yourself a credible Republican pundit. Palin rallies attracted 20,000 to 60,000 people last year. Heck, she attracted 20,000 to upstate New York seven months after she was supposed to slink back to Alaska in ignomy and defeat. Even the far leftwingers admit that Sarah engages the conservative base! Did you see what Chris Matthews, Mr. Tingle-Up-The-Leg, said about Sarah this week? He said "Watch out Romney. Watch out Pawlenty. Sarah's coming."
Finally, I'm just one person, but there are millions who feel exactly like me. If you'd ever care to visit where some very smart, articulate, witty conservatives hang out, try Conservatives4Palin. We laugh a lot there, especially at people who mock talk shows while appearing on a talk show. Unintended irony? And we don't take kindly to pompous airheads calling our heroine a "joke" ... I think you'll eventually discover, most likely, that the joke's on you.
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