Repeat visitors may notice that the Palin blogroll list is gone.This was at the request of the Palin blogs manager as they felt my most recent post "It's All Over For Palin" was negative, defeatist (specifically where I stated that Palin "had reached a point of decline from which there may be no recovery"), gives succor to Palin's enemies and leaves the Palin blogs open to ridicule.
It was felt that my critique would have aspects selected by Palin's opponents which would be publicized and would tar the whole Palin supporting blogs with the brush of ridicule and that my critique did not have substance because it was based on media polling.
I take no personal umbrage and respect the incredible dedication the Palin bloggers have shown, especially the major sites which provide a fascinating and highly informative treasure trove of videos, press reports, first hand reports, rebuttals and analysis. In the light of which I was happy to remove the blog list as requested.
There remains however a significant gulf between what I perceive as the worldview of the Palin blogs who support the removal request and my own views of Palin support. If the Palin movement is not to end as all the other populist movements of recent history- those of Buchanan, Perot, Wallace (Henry and George ) Anderson, Jackson and numerous others, it must broaden its appeal to include Independents, disaffected Democrats and most importantly Republicans of the centre.
Unless the aim is to be a pressure group which will dissolve when its aims are met to some degree, or prove impossible to meet, there will be little chance of gaining political power to effect the desired changes.To achieve political power the potential voting pool must increase beyond the solid core which is currently a minority.
It is not a good sign I believe for my, what I considered realistic, positive, open eyed and mature review of where I see the Palin movement at this point in time, and where it might be headed, to be cast into the wilderness. It is exactly the open door, big tent shape that allows such a friendly critique to be voiced, that the Palin movement must embrace if it is to grow.
I addressed the concerns raised about my post as follows:
Apparently my saying Sarah Palin has reached a point of decline from which there may be no recovery is defeatist.The operative word is "may" and I made it clear that there is a road to recovery but it may be long and arduous with no guarantee except sweat and toil to paraphrase Churchill whose example of political struggle I gave in my post
Supporting Palin requires a "positive tone". How that is defined except in general terms is impossible to say given many points of view but if steadfastly held to it is restrictive and in the end could lead to a robotic, toe the line outlook. I believe in a big tent Palinism which is strong and mature enough to allow positive criticism and realism.
I seemed to be confirming "talking points"-I believe I presented absolute facts, whether one likes it or not the graphs in my previous post point to a reality which it would be wrong to ignore much less question. To advise that what I wrote hurts more than helps is again, a matter of opinion-those who criticised Churchill in the "wilderness years" for going against his party were shown to be on the wrong side of history.
If you look at the last paragraph (of my previous post) you will, I trust see where I am coming from. Basically the easy days are over and the "Sarah Palin" ( I see I should have put SP in parentheses in the title to make my point clear in retrospect) of the times when all was in a happy sphere for supporters of wide eyed enthusiasm is over.The new, hard slog phase has commenced, the criticism has moved beyond the easily brushed off "she's an idiot" phase to a deeper level where her life's positions are under attack by those of a more intellectual level.
It is a call for supporters to also rebuttal at a deeper, philosophical, issue by issue based level. The forward view of the post is positive but calls for a new realism.
I have always tried to make my support analytical and the blog theoretical if I can and the issue of the day merits it-I appreciate this can be taken in a manner I have not meant. I believe that all Palin supporters are all on the same boat but perhaps we see the course charts differently.
We may disagree on the finer points of navigation, and which way the wind is blowing but should at this point posses the maturity to not care what the opposition thinks of what we say, and the wisdom to appreciate each others point of view, to allow that we might not be right all the time, and to carry as many passengers on this voyage to make the point of destination the shining city on the hill.
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