Sarah Palin defends Michele Bachmann, jabs Rick Perry

AMERICA, having been reduced to bankruptcy and social disintegration by a messiah, is now in urgent need of a saviour. That is why the presidential election of 2012 is so important. It is also why the failure of any towering champion of authentic conservative values to emerge so far looks ominous. Yet there is no good reason to write off an effective challenge to Barack Obama at this stage; it is all still to play for.
The declaration of his presidential candidacy by Rick Perry, governor of Texas, has brought most of the likely contenders into the ring. Conventional wisdom holds that he and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney are the Republican front-runners,


which is probably true for the time being. Perry's announcement came too late for him to feature in last Thursday's debate in Iowa, which exposed his competitors to the most intensive media scrutiny so far.


It was enough to confirm the effective elimination of Jon Huntsman Jnr, formerly Obama's ambassador to China, whose most useful function was to illustrate the irrelevance of the Republican establishment in the Tea Party era. Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota, whose campaign has been lacklustre, launched a fierce personal attack on local favourite, congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who responded strongly, so Pawlenty probably did himself no favours.


The other candidates reinforced their anonymity, apart from two GOP big beasts: Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul (only marginally GOP). Paul allowed his libertarian instincts to displace his conservative credentials: expressing indifference to Iran becoming a nuclear power was carrying conservative isolationism a tad too far. Gingrich is formidable too; but he has about him the aura of Republican history rather than contemporary politics. Yet both these older mavericks have intellectual credentials that belie the notion the Republican Party is short of talent; when sycophantic Beltway commentators describe Obama as an "intellectual", it is a euphemism for socialist. Meanwhile, the aggressively non-intellectual Sarah Palin is still teasing the media about her intentions.


The man they have to oust, Obama, currently enjoys a Presidential Appeal Index rating of -22. Pro-Obama activists make much of the fact that younger Democrat voters still support him; but Rasmussen polling also shows they now have less enthusiasm for him than any other age group. In voting terms, in that demographic, that means most of them will stay at home. Among other indicators, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd is trashing the president - the closest parallel cultural phenomenon in this country would be Polly Toynbee denouncing Labour. Yet, although the one-man disaster area in the Oval Office commands personal ratings that make him about as popular with Americans as George III, polls show a generic Republican candidate enjoying only a narrow lead over him in voting intentions for 2012.


Palin called the comparisons "so passé," calling it "ridiculous" for people to make an issue of the fact that "there may happen to be two women in a race."


"It's kind of even a sexist notion to consider that two women would be kind of duking it out," she added. "No. If I'm going to duke it out I'm going to duke it out with the guys and the gals."


Palin also criticized Newsweek magazine over its Bachmann cover, which featured an unflattering photograph of Bachmann and the headline "the queen of rage."


"I've had my own experience with Newsweek because they put me on the cover wearing running shorts which was quite ridiculous too," she said. "I think that the headline is really worse than the picture. 'The queen of rage.' Because I don't think normal, everyday, average Americans, you can ask them around here, if they think that she's the queen of rage. Not at all."


Asked if Newsweek was trying to make a woman look bad, she replied, "I think that they're trying to make a particular candidate look bad right there, not necessarily having to do with her gender, but just trying to make a fiscally-conservative candidate look bad."


At left, Palin at the state fair surrounded by reporters and others.
Palin also took a subtle shot at Texas governor Rick Perry, who is entering the presidential race on Saturday. Perry is sometimes dismissed as "weak governor" by virtue of the way his state's government is structured, and Palin seemed to draw pout that distinction when asked to contrast their records.


"You have different functions in the state of Texas and the state of Alaska in terms of governing powers from the governor's office," she said, "So it's tough to compare what the executive duties are. We have a very strong governor's office... but, he's a great guy and I look forward to seeing him in those debates."


Palin later added that it will be "great" to have Perry in the race.


Palin also said Thursday's presidential debate in nearby Ames was "great" in part because the candidates took shots at each other.


"I thought it was a great debate, they certainly took some gloves off, which is good for the electorate," she said. "Good to hear the ideas and positions articulated quite aggressively. That's what I appreciate.