And considering that the top historical performance by a third-party candidate in a presidential election was the ultra-charismatic former president Teddy Roosevelt in 1912 (and he garnered only 27% of the popular vote), that would make Sarah Palin's chances about slim and none -- with slim locked tightly away somewhere in a backwoods Mississippi $hithouse.Hell, I think that the likely unelectable Christine O'Donnell has a better chance of winning the Delaware Senate race than Palin has for the presidency. Yet, "It Could Happen" is tonight's inexplicable headline in the UK's The Independent (link at bottom).
And so why am I so negative about Palin's chances? Well, look up unelectable in Webster's dictionary, and you're likely to find her Belmont Stakes pic (above) right beside the likes of Howard Dean, Pat Buchanan and Teddy Kennedy in 1980. Palin has significant negative numbers amongst members of her own party, and I've consistently seen her running behind the likes of boring retreads like Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee in polling regarding potential 2012 GOP candidates.
But forget about the damn GOP. We Independents decide your elections, so you better also take a look at us. I think a decided majority of Independents would have trouble ever bringing themselves to vote for Palin for president. I look at myself: As much I look forward to voting against Obama in 2012, the GOP still must put up a candidate that I can stomach, and Palin ain't it.
And I've never been a Palin hater by any stretch. I have respect for a lot of what she's accomplished in terms of turning her 15 minutes of fame in 2008 into a bona fide celebrity status and new, enormous wealth. I don't think she's stupid, but I also don't think she possesses nearly the right mentality to be president. I'm afraid that I could never vote for her for that office. She just doesn't have the "right stuff," you might say.
Not that I could ever vote for Obama, because I most definitely could not. Instead, if it's him vs. Palin, I'm voting third party -- any third party candidate -- just as I usually do and have done for years in presidential elections.
But methinks never you mind, all you GOP Palin haters: Because not only do I think she's unelectable in a general election, I think she has virtually no chance of ever winning the GOP nomination for president in the first place. (See my second paragraph above). Nope, the only thing I think you repub folks might have to fear would be a Palin third party run in the almost certain event that she fails to win the GOP nomination.
The odds of such a run are small, but they are there. Although I do think it very unlikely that even a deranged right-winger like Palin would embark upon a course of action like that, which would be certain to hand Obama re-election in 2012. But when the huge ego of a celebrity politician is involved, who the hell really knows for sure, no?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/madam-president-it-could-happen-2084673.html
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