Palin and the ABP crowd

(Once again, I was busy yesterday and failed to post. We'll just settle for 28 posts in 28 days for All Palin February.)

In recent weeks, a somewhat humorous trend has developed. Many establishment types have been trying to take down Sarah Palin. However, they cannot attack her directly because that would just make them look petty; Palin has the highest approval rating of any of the candidates within the GOP (76%). Swayed by the lamestream media or by their own elitist tendencies, the establishment is desperate to find a strategy to subvert the will of the base by preventing her from running and winning. We call them the Anyone But Palin crowd.

They've propagated the lie that she's stupid or inexperienced. That hasn't held up. They've tried ignoring her. People pay attention to her anyway. They've promoted a string of failures in her stead (Daniels, Christie, Romney, etc.). Daniels called a "truce" on social issues, increased deficits under Bush, and caved to the unions on right-to-work. Christie supports cap and trade, is weak on illegal immigration, and condones radical Islam. Romney was the first to implement socialized healthcare, supported abortion, and flip flops around more than a fish out of water. He even changed the paperback version of his book to try to make Romneycare look better! Rick Santorum tried attacking her directly, criticizing Palin's ability to handle politics because of her kids (he has 7 to her 5). His remarks were immediately seen as sexist and backfired rather quickly. And today they've simply resorted to hoping she doesn't run. Nothing they have tried has worked.

Finally, someone in the establishment is giving up. Jennifer Rubin, token "conservative" at the Washington Post, finally admits that none of their candidates have succeeded.

All of that leaves many Republicans wondering, "Is that it?" Periodically, a wave of optimism rolls through the electorate. Chris Christie will run! Umm, doesn't seem so. Paul Ryan will change his mind? Eh, he doesn't seem anxious to put his young career on the line so soon.

Republicans, at the end of February, have no officially declared candidates (other than businessman Herman Cain). They have no frontrunner. They have no obvious late comer who could swoop in to wow the base. In sum, rather than too many candidates, as the punditocracy predicted, they have too few. The search goes on.

Admittedly, her article contains many flaws (Palin is probably running, and is probably the front runner, and will indeed swoop in to wow the base - don't know how she missed that one!), but at least she has the courage to admit what the establishment can't quite bring themselves to say yet. All of their candidates are flawed.

There is Nobody But Palin (NBP).