Politics Daily

Sarah Palin Heading to Israel, Taking Path of Other GOP Hopefuls

Politics Daily Staff — 2011-03-17T12:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Republicans, Gaffes, Foreign Policy, Sarah Palin, Obama Administration, 2012 President, Governors, Barack Obama

In what has become almost a rite of passage for aspiring American politicians, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is heading to Israel, where next week she will meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and visit historic sites.

Palin, perhaps the most closely watched of all potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates, is scheduled to arrive in Israel Sunday after making a weekend speech to business leaders and politicians in New Delhi, India, the Jerusalem Post and Politico reported Thursday.

She plans to meet Monday with the conservative Netanyahu, and separately with Danny Danon, a pro-settler member of the Knesset. Palin is also expected to tour the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and visit Nazareth, the childhood home of Jesus.

As with many politicians in both U.S. parties, strong and unwavering support for Israel is nearly an article of faith for Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee. She has criticized the Obama administration for not being strong enough in backing the Jewish state in disputes with the Arab world and Iran.

Yet she also offended some Jews when she used the loaded term "blood libel" to complain about U.S. commentators who put part of the blame for the deadly shootings in Arizona on harsh right-wing rhetoric. Palin was faulted for posting a map showing vulnerable Democratic districts in cross-hairs.

Palin's trek to Israel follows recent visits by other Republicans with presidential ambitions, including Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Haley Barbour and Rudy Giuliani.

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Palin Seen More Negatively by Republicans Than Other Possible 2012 Candidates, Poll Finds

Bruce Drake — 2011-03-16T14:34:00+00:00

Filed under: Republicans, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Polls, Sarah Palin, 2012 President, Poll Watch, Newt Gingrich

If Sarah Palin is seriously considering a run for president in 2012, the latest poll on her standing among Republican candidates contains the same kind of bad news found in earlier surveys.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll, conducted March 10-13, found that among eight frequently mentioned candidates, Palin was viewed negatively by a significantly higher percentage of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents than the others. (Story; Poll data).

While 58 percent expressed a favorable view of her, those seeing her unfavorably added up to 37 percent. That's a jump from a year ago when the number of those seeing her unfavorably was 30 percent.

The only other potential candidate who came close was Newt Gingrich, who was see unfavorably by 26 percent.

Palin's 37 percent unfavorable number included those who had "somewhat" or "strongly" unfavorable opinions. Seventeen percent had a strongly unfavorable view of Palin, while all the other Republicans were in single digits in that column.

Mike Huckabee was the most popular in the poll, with 61 percent seeing him favorably and 18 percent unfavorably. Mitt Romney was next, with 60 percent seeing him favorably and 21 percent unfavorably.

The numbers for Haley Barbour, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman and Mitch Daniels don't mean much because 57 percent or more of those surveyed in each case didn't know enough to have an opinion.

A Bloomberg poll, conducted March 4-7 among all adults and not just Republicans, found 60 percent with a negative opinion of Palin.

When the Washington Post/ABC News poll of all adults conducted last December asked respondents whether they would support Palin for president or even consider it, 59 percent said they would not.

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Huckabee, Bachmann Score Highest in GOP 2012 Field on 'Positive Intensity' of Support

Bruce Drake — 2011-03-15T16:09:00+00:00

Filed under: Republicans, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Polls, Sarah Palin, 2012 President, Poll Watch, Newt Gingrich

Mike Huckabee and Michele Bachmann score the best among the field of potential GOP presidential candidates when it comes to a "positive intensity score" calculated by Gallup, but neither they or anyone else in the Republican field generates a high level of intensely positive opinions.

Gallup arrived at this measure by asking Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, in a poll conducted Feb. 28-March 13, whether they had a strongly favorable, favorable, unfavorable or strongly unfavorable opinion of each potential candidate that they recognized. The intensity score is arrived at by subtracting the "strongly unfavorable" number for those names that they recognized.

One problem with this measure is the significant differences among the GOP field when it comes to name recognition. Huckabee, Newt Gingrich (in third place as far as positive intensity), Sarah Palin (fourth place) and Mitt Romney (sixth place) are recognized by 81 percent or more of those surveyed, with Palin having the highest recognition at 96 percent.

Bachmann may hold second place when it comes to positive intensity, but that's based on responses from the 52 percent who recognize her name. Rick Santorum beats out Romney when it comes to positive intensity, but that's based on the much smaller pool of 42 percent who know his name.

The showings by Bachmann and Santorum could be explained by the fact that, although they are known by a far smaller group of Republicans, their conservative credentials make them a hit among those who know them because they are their target audiences.

Gallup didn't consider any of the scores, including Huckabee's, to demonstrate a high level of intensely positive opinions.

For the Republicans who do have high name recognition, Gallup says the challenge is to "translate that name identification into strongly positive reactions from Republican voters."

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Obama Jokes for His Supper at His First Gridiron Dinner Appearance as President

Annie Groer — 2011-03-13T11:48:00+00:00

Filed under: Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, Democrats, Republicans, Barack Obama, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Dick Cheney, Nancy Pelosi, Humor, Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin, 2012 President, Harry Reid, al Qaeda, Republic of Dish, John Boehner

Bowing to precedent -- and perhaps the advice of his 2012 campaign staff -- President Obama attended a Gridiron Dinner on Saturday night for the first time since winning the White House.

He had skipped the two previous white-tie banquets and amateur theatricals where some of Washington's top journalists spoof the political/media establishment in song, dance and ridiculous costumes. But on Saturday night, Obama duly snarked for his supper by mocking himself, potential rivals and the tradition-bound club that even in this age of Twitter and You Tube, steadfastly bars TV coverage.

As commander-in-chief, he signaled Marine Gunnery Sgt. Kevin Bennear, one of the club's musically gifted ringer members, to "play that song we talked about," meaning the loud and proud "Born in the U-S-A, Born in the U-S-A" refrain made famous by Bruce Springsteen.

"Some things just bear repeating," Obama said of the lyrics, as if there might be any birthers questioning his citizenship among more than 630 politicians, government and media heavyweights who packed the Renaissance Hotel ballroom for the priciest and most exclusive of Washington's press celebrations of itself. ($300 per ticket, and a fraction of the more than 2,000 expected at next month's White House Correspondents' Association Dinner).

Then, taking aim at his hosts, whose predecessors entertained their first White House guests 126 years ago, Obama ticked off the heady events of 2011 that topped old regimes elsewhere in the world and said, "Look out, Gridiron Club."

Sarah Palin's Popularity Slips to 60 Percent Disapproval Rate in Poll

Tom Diemer — 2011-03-11T16:05:00+00:00

Filed under: Sarah Palin, 2012 President, Poll Watch, Economy, Barack Obama

Sarah Palin, perhaps the most closely watched of all potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates, is viewed in an unfavorable light by 60 percent of those questioned in a new Bloomberg News poll.

Palin's numbers suggest she would face a challenge in attracting voters beyond her conservative base if she decides to run for president next year. Bloomberg's survey of 1,001 adults was taken between March 4-7 by the Iowa firm, Selzer & Co. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Within the 60 percent who disapproved of Palin, 38 percent said they had "very unfavorable" feelings about her. She was viewed favorably by 28 percent, with only 4 percent not sure how they felt. A December Bloomberg poll had Palin's unfavorable rating at 57 percent.

But the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee isn't holding back. On Thursday night, Palin told Fox News she thought union bosses were "acting like thugs" in their fight against a bill in Wisconsin taking away public employees' collective bargaining rights. Labor leaders should "turn down the rhetoric and start getting truth out there so nobody gets hurt," she said.

There was good news for President Obama in the Bloomberg poll: 45 percent said he had a "better vision" for the nation's economic future than the Republican opposition. One-third (33 percent) of the sample preferred the GOP approach, and 22 percent didn't like either or weren't sure.

Watch Fox' Sean Hannity's interview with Palin.

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Sharp Partisan Divide Over Government Role in Fighting Obesity, Poll Finds

Bruce Drake — 2011-03-08T13:58:00+00:00

Filed under: Polls, Sarah Palin, Poll Watch, Congress, Michelle Obama, Tea Party

The campaign against obesity launched just over a year ago by Michelle Obama has attracted its share of criticism and derision from conservatives such as Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Michele Bachmann.

Bachmann accused the first lady last month of trying to create a "nanny state" because of her proposal to encourage breastfeeding as a way to reduce the childhood obesity problem. Palin told conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham last November, "What [Mrs. Obama] is telling us is she cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, for their own families in what we should eat." And Limbaugh recently called her a hypocrite for preaching good nutrition habits but tucking into a meal of chili short ribs on a recent skiing trip.

(Not all conservatives share those negative views. On some of the Sunday talk shows last month, Mike Huckabee and Chris Christie, both politicians who have wrestled with their own weight problems, defended Mrs. Obama's anti-obesity efforts).

But a new Pew Research Center poll, conducted Feb. 22-March 1, makes clear that Republicans and adherents of the tea party movement are strongly against government involvement in efforts to tackle weight issues.

Americans overall support a "significant role" for government when it comes to reducing obesity. Fifty-seven percent say the government should be involved compared to 39 percent who disagree, with 3 percent undecided. That said, the public does not think the fight against obesity should be a top government priority, with only 19 percent of those surveyed saying that it should.

However, 57 percent of Republicans say the government should not be involved, and the percentage is a little higher among those who describe themselves as conservative (61 percent).

Sixty-five percent of those who agree with the tea party movement say the government should not play a role.

Seventy-one percent of Democrats favor a government role, as do 57 percent of independents.

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Mitt Romney: How Long Can He Steer Clear of GOP Craziness?

David Corn — 2011-03-08T05:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, 2012 President, Deep Background, Newt Gingrich

Mitt Romney, the sort-of second-place finisher in the 2008 Republican presidential sweepstakes, is taking a different approach this year. Rather than trying to create an early splash, Romney is taking his time in declaring a presidential bid and, as The New York Times puts it, "is operating in a cautious, low-key fashion . . . with limited news coverage." The conventional view is that the former Massachusetts governor is doing so to avoid becoming the official front-runner -- a position that would place a large bull's eye on his back. But there may be another reason: He doesn't want to live in Crazy Land. And at the moment, the GOP nomination contest is chock-full of crazy.

A brief recap:

- Mike Huckabee, on a campaign book tour last week, focused on two messages: President Obama is really a Kenyan at heart who attended madrassas, not Boy Scout meetings, when he was a lad, and that's why he doesn't like the West, and Natalie Portman's engagement pregnancy is of national concern. When Americans are worried about the economic future of the nation, Huckabee was slight bit off-topic.

- In an absurd mini-drama last week, Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, and his aides put out conflicting signals about his 2012 intentions, signaling he would announce a presidential run, then that he would set up a committee to explore whether he should run. Finally, he held a press conference to declare . . . that he and his third wife, Callista, had set up a website dedicated to "exploring whether there is sufficient support for my potential candidacy." The bare-bones website had but one page: a sign-up page for potential supporters. "It was ridiculous," a former Gingrich aide told me. "This showed just how undisciplined and chaotic he can be. Not qualities you look for in a president. It was amateur hour." (By the way, months before Huckabee got into the act, Gingrich claimed that Obama's "Kenyan anti-colonial mindset governs the president's actions," which he claimed were "authentically dishonest" and "factually insane.")

- Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), a self-proclaimed tea party leader who says she's contemplating throwing her tricorne into the race, went on "Meet the Press" and once again declared that the Obama administration is a "gangster government." No matter what the question was, her answer was the same: Obama had supposedly hidden $105 billion in the health care bill. Once again, she looked more like a cult member than a possible commander-in-chief. (A few months ago, Bachmann falsely charged that Obama's five-day trip to India would cost $1 billion; the price tab was about 5 percent of that.)

- Tim Pawlenty, who once upon a time was a moderate Republican governor in Minnesota (who kind of supported the Wall Street bailout and backed cap-and-trade climate legislation), has been trying to transform himself into Mr. Tea Party and declaring that if he is elected he will repeal the repeal of the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy that prohibits out-in-the-open gays and lesbians from serving in the military (meaning he wants gay and lesbian GIs back in the closet).

- And there's Sarah Palin and all her utterances -- the latest being an attack on anti-union Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie that didn't make much sense to conservatives. She also picked a fight with comedian Kathy Griffin. (Dave Letterman wasn't available?)

Who'd want to be lumped with these folks and all this nonsense? If Romney were in the race officially -- rather than proceeding with a low-flying operation -- he'd be grouped together with these other candidates and have to respond to their antics. Gov. Romney, do you think President Obama is a covert Kenyan? Gov. Romney, is Obama a gangster president? Gov. Romney, would you reinstate 'Don't ask, don't tell'? Gov. Romney, who's right -- Sarah Palin or Chris Christie? Sarah Palin or Kathy Griffin?

There's no way Romney could answer these sort of queries without either risking coming across as a wing-nut to independent voters or potentially ticking off right-wing voters who will make up much of the GOP primary electorate. (Romney already will have plenty of trouble explaining the mandates-imposing health care system he created in Massachusetts and his previous flip-flops on critical social issues.) As conservative columnist George Will noted the other day, Romney and other serious candidates are in jeopardy of nuttiness by association: "the [GOP] nominee may emerge much diminished by involvement in a process cluttered with careless, delusional, egomaniacal, spotlight-chasing candidates to whom the sensible American majority would never entrust a lemonade stand, much less nuclear weapons."

On Monday night, the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition held a forum for Republican presidential candidates. Who bothered to show? Gingrich, Pawlenty, former Sen. Rick Santorum (who's running as the social conservative candidate), former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, and former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain. At the event, Gingrich assailed Obama's "secular, socialist" agenda. (Gov. Romney, do you think the president is a socialist?)

No wonder a Romney spokesman said, "He's not yet a candidate, so he's not doing a candidates' forum." Staying out of the race (in an official sense) keeps Romney out of the line of fire. It also allows him to maintain his distance from Republican looniness. At least for now. Eventually he's going to have to parachute into that hot zone, for the only path to the GOP nomination is through that Republican valley of weirdness.

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Sarah Palin's Parents: We Sleep With Guns After Death Threats

Christopher Weber — 2011-03-07T14:27:00+00:00

Filed under: Sarah Palin, 2012 President, 2012 Elections

Sarah Palin's father says he and his wife have taken to sleeping with guns after the family started receiving death threats.

In an interview with BBC News, Chuck Heath said a man recently sent him and his wife, Sally, photocopies of a receipt for a gun he had bought, along with with a photocopy of a one-way ticket to Alaska.

The man was later arrested by the FBI, but Palin's father said the incident rattled the family.

"We sleep with the guns," Chuck Heath said in the interview at his home in Wasilla, Alaska, where Sarah Palin was mayor.

Palin's mother, Sally Heath, admitted to the BBC that she has concerns about the safety of her daughter and grandchildren now that Sarah Palin is in the national spotlight.

"She knows how I feel, that it's risky," Palin's mother said of her daughter's potential presidential candidacy.

In other Palin news, Politico reported the former Alaska governor slammed comedian Kathy Griffin as a "bully" for her jokes at the expense of Palin's family.

In her standup, Griffin has taken frequent shots at Palin's daughter, Bristol. She teased the younger Palin for apparently gaining weight during her stint on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."

Lack of a GOP Front-Runner for 2012 at Odds With Republican History

Bruce Drake — 2011-03-07T11:51:00+00:00

Filed under: Republicans, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Polls, Sarah Palin, 2012 President, Poll Watch, Newt Gingrich

Although the contest for the GOP presidential nomination may seem far away (for all except those gearing up for it), there has been a lot of comment about the potential Republican field, ranging from those who regard it as weak to the fact that no one has emerged yet as a front-runner, at least according to polls.

Gallup says that situation is not typical. In reviewing its polling dating back to 1952, Gallup notes that in every presidential year up until now, there was a clear front-runner at this stage of the campaign and that, in most but not all cases, the front-runner won the nomination.

There have been a few twists and turns in that general pattern. It may have faded from memory now, but in 2007, Rudolph Giuliani was way out in front in Republican preference polls, leading John McCain by 42 percent to 25 percent in February of that year, with the remainder of support spread among other candidates or undecided. Giuliani faded fast after making the mistake of skipping the early primary states, and McCain, who had been the presumed front-runner aside from the 2007 poll, got a scare when Mike Huckabee went from a blip on pollsters' radar screens to winning the Iowa caucuses.

'Feelings Thermometer': Michelle Obama Ranks 'Warmest' With Voters, Pelosi 'Coldest'

Bruce Drake — 2011-03-07T06:30:00+00:00

Filed under: George W. Bush, Republicans, Mitt Romney, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Ron Paul, Polls, Bill Clinton, Michael Bloomberg, Sarah Palin, Poll Watch, Harry Reid, Michelle Obama, Newt Gingrich, Mitch McConnell, Barack Obama, John Boehner, 2012 Elections

Everyone is used to the familiar "horse race" poll that tells us who is out front when it comes to a campaign, but Quinnipiac University has a different measure for some of today's leading political personalities: namely, who ranks the "warmest" and "coldest" on a "feelings thermometer"?

The winner when it comes to warmest? First lady Michelle Obama, with former President Bill Clinton close behind. The coldest? Sarah Palin and Nancy Pelosi. (Actually, Harry Reid ranks right in between them, but more later on why his result doesn't count as much).

The way Quinnipiac did this poll, which was conducted among registered voters Feb. 21-28, was to ask those surveyed to "choose any number between 0 and 100. The higher the number, the warmer or more favorable you feel toward that person, the lower the number, the colder or less favorable." The pollster then calculated a mean score for each.

But possibly a more bracing result for some of the politicians than being seen as "cold" was the measure of how little some of them are known nationwide, despite the relentless coverage they may get in Washington.

Quinnipiac asked respondents to say if they did not know enough about the person to rate him or her. The list of "least knowns" was topped by many of the Republicans who are considering making a run for president in 2012: former ambassador to China Jon Huntsman (84 percent don't know him); Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana (78 percent); former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota (67 percent); Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi (65 percent); and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania (63 percent).

Now, back to Harry Reid. He may be the Senate majority leader and was much in the news last year because of his high-profile re-election contest against tea party favorite Sharron Angle, but 37 percent do not know enough about him to express an opinion. That's much less the case with his company at the "cold" end of the list - Palin, who is unknown by only 4 percent, and Pelosi, unknown by 15 percent.

At the other end of the thermometer, first-term Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who has been a hit on the speaking circuit lately, ranks as the third warmest, but 55 percent don't know enough about him, compared with Mrs. Obama (4 percent), Bill Clinton (2 percent) and President Obama (everyone knows him).

While Democrats feel almost equally warm about President Obama and Bill Clinton, Republicans are fonder of Clinton: His mean "temperature" among them was 41.5, compared with 30.4 for Obama.

The temperatures for Palin and Pelosi are a measure of how polarizing each is. Palin is seen warmly by 63.8 percent of Republicans while Pelosi gets a score of 58.2 from Democrats. But the feelings they inspire in members of the opposite party are cold indeed: Palin gets a 15.6 from Democrats and Pelosi gets a 13.1 from Republicans.

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Sarah Palin's India Trip: Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela Have Made Same Journey

Suzi Parker — 2011-03-06T22:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Trade, Sarah Palin, Woman Up, International, Barack Obama, 2012 Elections

The jokes are already flying as Sarah Palin prepares to embark on a trip to India later this month, and more are surely to come. Will she rock a sari? Perhaps guest star in a Bollywood movie? Or bathe in the Ganges for a photo op?

Palin has been invited to give the keynote address, "My Vision of America," at the two-day India Today conclave in New Delhi, an event hosted annually by the magazine since 2002. The March 18-19 event is sponsored by global business heavyweight Aditya Birla Group, a billion-dollar metals company, along with a bevy of industry co-sponsors.

The news came in late February via her cybermessenger, Rebecca Mansour, who tweeted: "Governor Palin will be travelling to India next month." Neither Palin nor Mansour has expounded on the details of trip.

Representatives for India Today did not return e-mails about Palin's trip. India Today is the country's most diversified media group, with interests in magazines, newspaper, television, radio, Internet, books and music.

It is unclear if she is getting paid to appear, but Palin usually charges upwards of $100,000 for such speaking engagements, according to various news accounts.

Palin has traveled outside the United States only a few times since Sen. John McCain chose her as his running mate in 2008. At that point, she had only traveled to the Middle East to visit U.S. troops. Since then, she has given a speech in Hong Kong and visited Haiti alongside Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham.

An article by the magazine on the conclave website states: "Her visit to India has generated immense buzz in U.S. political circles over if she will run for president in 2012. Palin is reportedly shy of traveling abroad but her keynote address at the India Today Conclave 2011 is seen as an attempt to articulate foreign policy where she was found wanting in her 2008 bid for V-P, say some experts."

New York Sun columnist Pranay Gupte describes the gathering as the "biggest private-sector megaphone in the world's largest democracy."

Palin will certainly have plush accommodations and the chance to mingle among international intelligentsia.

The event will be at the Taj Palace Hotel New Delhi, which sits on "six acres of lush greens in the exclusive Diplomatic Enclave of the city," and is only 10 minutes from the airport, "well equipped, offering simultaneous translation in five languages."

India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, will deliver the opening keynote address at the event themed "The Changing Balance of Power." Other speakers include feminist writer Germaine Greer speaking on a panel titled "Can the Burqa Co-Exist With the Bikini?" and Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei, who gives a dinner keynote on "The New Middle East."

For a governor who served only 31 months in office, Palin is in fairly auspicious company.

In the event's inaugural year, Al Gore spoke, and the next year Bill Clinton appeared. Since then, special guests have included Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Colin Powell, Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Afghanistan President H. E. Hamid Karzai, and Hillary Clinton, who spoke when she was senator of New York.

Some Palin critics have said that her trip is a slap in the face to key 2012 states, like Iowa and New Hampshire, and her absence from those venues signals that she is not running for president.

"I know, presidential candidates like to travel abroad to boost their foreign policy credentials. And Palin needs those credentials badly," wrote Andrew Cline, the editorial page editor of the New Hampshire Union Leader. "But I find it hard to believe that, presumably less than a year from the primary, someone who makes a trip to India a higher priority than a trip to New Hampshire is a serious presidential candidate."

But hold on, say some political watchers, who argue Palin has time to go to India and still be a powerful 2012 player.

Dr. Lara Brown, assistant professor of political science at Villanova University, tells Politics Daily: "The first thing that comes to mind is that she is preparing for a presidential run. Presidential aspirants typically travel internationally before the invisible primary season gets under way."

Brown notes that Nixon was one of the first to do this after losing his 1960 presidential bid against John F. Kennedy and his 1962 loss to Pat Brown in the California gubernatorial race. He traveled to Europe, Japan and Vietnam where he hosted press conferences and met with leaders.

"Foreign travel gives the candidates a broader perspective on the world and allows them to talk in a more informed way about foreign policy," Brown said.

While it is unclear whether Palin lobbied for a spot on the conclave ticket or the group reached out to invite her, India is an interesting choice of country for her to visit. The Obama administration has given keen attention to the South Asia republic. The first White House state dinner the Obamas hosted was in honor of the Indian prime minister and they visited India just three months ago.

It's also a smart trip politically because Indian-Americans have increasing clout in the American political process. Republican Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, who Palin supported, is the daughter of Indian immigrant parents as is Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, also a Republican.

The Indian American Conservative Council (IACC), a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that supports conservative, pro-business values, has praised her visit. "It is only fitting that Palin travel to New Delhi since India is an economic partner with the United States, with both nations benefiting from $50 billion in annual trade, along with mutual cooperation in the global war on terrorism," IACC chairman Dino Teppara said in a statement.

Palin could use the conclave platform to counter many of Obama's viewpoints, and she is going into friendly territory. India likes female leaders, such as the powerful Sonia Gandhi, president of the Indian National Congress, the lead party in India's coalition. Gandhi is the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1984.

India media reports frequently on Palin and her family. A Google search covering the period from Jan. 1, 2010, to Jan. 1, 2011, turns up 2.4 million hits pairing Sarah Palin and India, most of them from Indian media. Palin's trip to India could be just political curiosity on both her part and the country's movers and shakers. But it could be a diplomatic springboard into the 2012 presidential waters.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated how long Sarah Palin was governor of Alaska. She was governor for 31 months, not 18 months.

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Huckabee Narrowly Leads the GOP Presidential Pack Among Fox News Viewers

Bruce Drake — 2011-03-06T09:41:00+00:00

Filed under: Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Polls, Sarah Palin, 2012 President, Poll Watch, Newt Gingrich

The news last week that Fox News had suspended the contracts of two prospective GOP presidential candidates -- Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum -- left open the question of when and whether similar action would be taken on two other much-mentioned prospects, Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee.

So, with so many possible Republican prospects in the Fox ranks, Gallup asked this question: Who runs best among Fox News listeners given that the network's critics say the political preferences of Fox and its audiences tilt pretty clearly to the GOP.

The winner of the Fox "presidential primary" is Huckabee who tops the list for regular Fox viewers at 18 percent, followed by Mitt Romney at 17 percent, Palin at 13 percent and Gingrich at 13 percent. Santorum was way back at 3 percent, according to the poll conducted Feb. 18-20. The margin of error is 3 points so no one in the top four is too far apart when it comes to viewer support. Gallup defined regular viewers as those who tune in four to five times a week.

Gingrich suffers the biggest gap of the potential candidates between his level of support among Fox News viewers compared to the Republicans who are non-viewers, with only 6 percent among the non-viewers compared to the 13 percent among Fox regulars.

Thirty-eight percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they watch Fox News four to five nights a week. Seventeen percent watch two or three nights a week, 11 percent only one night a week and 33 percent don't watch at all.

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Sarah Palin's Triple Whammy: Chris Christie, Barack Obama and Bill O'Reilly

Suzi Parker — 2011-03-05T15:23:00+00:00

Filed under: Budget, Sarah Palin, Tea Party

In front of an Alaskan backdrop of mountains and a lake, Sarah Palin had a busy, busy night on television Friday. She found time to tweak a fellow Republican, dismiss the president, and scold a top-rated Fox News talk show host.

Palin opened by questioning New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's toughness and attacking President Barack Obama for naivete. After that, she preached about cutting various government programs to Bill O'Reilly before advising him not to interrupt her. All in a night's work.

On America's Nightly Scoreboard, host David Asman informed Palin that Christie had told Fox Business News that he didn't see any politician as inspiring. "Do you?" Asman asked Palin.

"Heck yeah, I am so thankful for all these common sense conservative politicians to serve and cut for the right reasons," she said. "And with all due respect to Governor Christie, you know he has no choice but to cut budgets because he's broke, his state is broke. What courage really is, is in the face of having a surplus when you have opportunity to spend, spend, spend other people's money, and you still choose to rein in government to let the private sector soar."

Palin said as governor she trimmed Alaska's budget, although it had a surplus. She put a hiring freeze in place, reduced earmarks by 86 percent and vetoed the largest amounts of spending in the state's history, she said.

Without mentioning potential 2012 Republican candidates by name, Palin said, "I find inspiration in tea party patriots [and] those with common sense who aren't playing a lot of games."

On the same show, she said President Obama didn't understand the labor situation in Wisconsin because he is "so inexperienced in the private sector and in goverment, and in actually running anything and making any kind of budget."

She added that Obama has a "naive and destructive and terrifying anti-oil agenda" that "is going to bring our nation to our knees -- and his agenda must be stopped."

Wearing the same fleece and faux fur jacket, Palin appeared later on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" to discuss future plans for government entitlements such as Social Security. "Yeah, entitlement programs have to be reformed," she told the host. "They are going to eat our lunch. They will certainly consume our entire federal budget by 2035. unless we reform."

Palin cited Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan's plan, "A Roadmap for American's Future" as one way restrain Social Security costs. She said his proposal "can nail it quite accurately, as when he talks about age 55 being a cut-off age" in the future for traditional Social Security payments.

Ryan's plan would preserve the existing Social Security program for those 55 or older but offer workers younger than 55 the option of investing more than one-third of their Social Security taxes in personal retirement accounts.

Palin chastised the hard-charging O'Reilly for interrupting her: "I really apologize that up here in Alaska we have this four-second delay so it's not an easy exchange to try and get my point across to you if you interrupt." O'Reilly let her make points on raising the retirement age and the possibility that safety net programs for the poor will have to be reduced.

"If we had a robust economy here and all across the country then we wouldn't have to be looking at these insolvent entitlement programs that, yeah, when we start pulling the plug on some of them there is going to be a shared burden across the country," she said.

Watch Palin's interview on budget-cutting.

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Mike Huckabee Holds Strong Lead Among Conservative Christian Bloc

David Gibson — 2011-03-04T21:25:00+00:00

Filed under: Republicans, Mitt Romney, Religion, Mike Huckabee, Polls, Sarah Palin, 2012 President, Disputations, Conservatives, Newt Gingrich, Barack Obama

Mike Huckabee has been making waves lately for his comments about Natalie Portman's out-of-wedlock pregnancy and Barack Obama's "anti-colonial" boyhood, but a new poll shows the former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential hopeful still seems to be the hands-down favorite of conservative Christian voters who will be critical to securing the nomination.

The survey from the Barna Group, a leading Christian research organization, also indicates that Huckabee could go toe-to-toe with all Republican challengers, and he would be the toughest foe for President Obama in November 2012.

Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor, is strongest among evangelical Christians -- the 7 percent of the population that Barna defines by the strictest criteria of traditional faith and biblical literalism -- with an 88 percent favorable rating, followed by former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, with a 79 percent favorable ranking.

The field tails off considerably from there among evangelicals, with Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney -- who are widely expected to be among the first to throw their hats in the ring -- clocking 57 and 56 percent favorability ratings, respectively.

President Obama registers a meager 6 percent approval rating among this group, and an eye-opening 94 percent unfavorability rating.

Among "born again Christians" -- a pivotal and largely Republican-leaning group in the last three elections that Barna describes as "considerably less conservative than its evangelical subset" -- Huckabee still leads, with a 58 percent favorability rating. But Romney surges to a 49 percent positive ranking, just behind Palin at 53 percent. Gingrich polls at just 43 percent among born again Christians.

Among all Republicans, Palin and Romney post 69 percent favorability scores, but Huckabee is just behind with a 68 percent favorable rating. Gingrich generated a 62-32 positive-to-negative score among members of his party.

Spread across all voters, the numbers for the leading GOP candidates reflected other recent polls, as Huckabee still led, with 44 percent of adults holding a favorable view and 38 percent a negative view of him, followed by Romney, at an almost even 40-39 favorable-to-unfavorable ratio.

But the numbers for Palin (36 percent favorable) and Gingrich (32 percent favorable) fall off sharply from there.

An analysis by the Barna Group, which is led by evangelical Christian George Barna, concludes that while Obama stands "a better-than-even chance of being re-elected . . . Mrs. Palin would be the easiest opponent for him to defeat, while Mr. Huckabee would be the toughest adversary."

The numbers also suggest, however, that Huckabee's greatest electoral challenge could be securing his own party's nomination. In 2008, Huckabee's support among religious conservatives propelled him through the primaries, but he still finished second to John McCain.

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NRA Credits Sarah Palin for Boost in Female Membership

Christopher Weber — 2011-03-04T18:23:00+00:00

Filed under: Guns, Sarah Palin

The National Rifle Association says it has Sarah Palin to thank for a 20 percent jump in female membership.

Calling it the "Palin effect," the NRA's Diane Danielson told the Daily Mail that the former Alaska governor's vocal advocacy of gun rights is helping the group teach "10,000 new women a year to shoot, and making more girls want to take up hunting."

Palin, the GOP vice presidential nominee in 2008, has bragged about her ability to field dress a moose and was often seen hunting on her reality television show.

"Firearm manufacturers are gearing their products towards women. They're scaling down stocks, and shortening trigger-pull lengths for our shorter fingers," Danielson told the Daily Mail.

During a speech to NRA members last year, Palin said the only reason President Obama and Democratic lawmakers aren't trying to limit gun ownership rights is the fear of a political backlash.

"Don't doubt for a minute that, if they thought they could get away with it, they would ban guns and ban ammunition and gut the Second Amendment," Palin told the annual NRA gathering in North Carolina.

She urged some 9,000 NRA members to "stop them in their tracks" and slammed critics who might dismiss her as an "NRA gun-nut chick."

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Most Americans Are Moderates -- and Thus Invisible

Mary C. Curtis — 2011-03-02T23:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Democrats, Republicans, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Obama Administration, 2012 President, Woman Up, Independents, 2010 Elections, Michelle Obama, Tea Party, Economy, Barack Obama, 2012 Elections

Most Americans want a compromise on the budget standoff, the polls say. They want strict controls to halt illegal immigration, but they want lawmakers to keep their hands off the 14^th Amendment, which grants automatic citizenship to anyone born on American soil, including those whose parents are on that soil illegally. Americans hurting the most are the ones who see hope ahead, not surprising since they have the most to lose when hope is gone.

According to polls that measure such things, Americans want their politicians to work together and to listen to the voices and opinions of the people, including people with differing views on solutions to the nation's problems. If, after a short-term solution expires, the government shuts down because of disagreement on the federal budget, the American people would blame congressional Republicans and the Obama administration equally, sensing not principled opposition but rather, political gamesmanship.

When it comes to social issues as political cudgels, gay marriage doesn't appear to be as divisive as it was just a few years ago, as Americans, including young evangelicals, are easing their opposition to such unions.

So what's with all the yelling, the lines drawn in the sand?

In Wisconsin, protesters in support of maintaining bargaining rights for public-sector unions have moved into the Statehouse, as Democratic senators moved out. Gov. Scott Walker is warning of layoffs when he's not taking calls from a faux David Koch. And an activist website has gummed up the works with its own protest of Walker's actions.

Meanwhile, a new poll says that though they question the power of labor unions, most Americans oppose taking away some of the collective bargaining rights of public-employee unions, and almost as many oppose cutting the pay or benefits of those workers.

These fights are framed in meanness. It always seems to come down to working people -- worried about falling further behind -- fighting one another over scraps.

This push and pull of common-sense reflection vs. loud bickering has invaded quarters once left alone. Michelle Obama can't get consensus for a benign platform of encouraging healthy eating and exercise; she's attacked by Sarah Palin, Rep. Michele Bachmann and Rush Limbaugh, who won't be satisfied until she subsists on tree bark and spring water. (His comparing her unfavorably to Sports Illustrated swimsuit models is just bizarre, as if he'd have a chance with either.)

Mike Huckabee, probable GOP presidential hopeful, would get credit for defending the first lady's initiative if he had not erroneously claimed that her husband, President Obama, was raised in Kenya.

One wonders how the first lady's support of military families will be turned into a negative, though I have confidence that someone will find a way.

But even as the volume is turned up and self-interest becomes paramount, those often characterized as the most intransigent can see all sides.

At an event headlined by the above-mentioned congresswoman from Minnesota, it was clear that true believers talk softly with nuance when given the chance. In the extremely red, GOP-controlled state of South Carolina, at a recent meeting of the S.C. Federation of Republican Women in Columbia, Bachmann was greeted like a rock star. As she ticked off the programs she had just voted against funding -- NPR, cap and trade and Planned Parenthood -- applause filled the room.

In conversations afterward, though, tea party and GOP activists expressed reservations about, for example, her emphasis on social issues. "I'm not like most Southerners that way," one woman told me, sounding very much like another Southern woman I had just talked with who had wished Republicans would talk less about faith-based political policies.

Another woman, who had worked in government before retiring, admitted -- quietly -- she thought that government could sometimes be a force for good. She had seen it work, she told me. Though she thought her views would be heresy in that room, her views support polls that show Americans want to reduce spending, but don't want to cut programs. That's a contradiction, to be sure, but no one ever said the logic reigns when the choices are tough.

People who loved Bachmann's energy were not yet convinced she should run for president in 2012. "I want to hear more" was something I heard a lot. Their ambivalence didn't negate the earlier cheers in the big room for sure-fire, red-meat lines. But it made the story more complicated than the usual headline or cable-show rant.

As the nonstop, never-ending campaign heats up from now until forever, will men and women speaking of compromise in reasonable tones drown out the hard-line partisans on every side? It will be up to the voters and the candidates they choose to reward and punish. In the 2010 midterms, the middle was the worst place to stake a claim, though every poll indicates that's where most Americans live.

Talk about a contradiction.

Click here to follow Mary C. Curtis on Twitter.

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Tucker Carlson Insults Sarah Palin; Bristol's Book Deal Is Real

Sandra Fish — 2011-03-01T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Gaffes, Sarah Palin, Woman Up, Conservatives

It's the month of March, time for Dana Milbank's month of silence about Sarah Palin to end, and the Palin family is helping him by getting back in the news.

First, there's Bristol Palin's upcoming book.

Then, there's Daily Caller Editor Tucker Carlson's snide tweet about Bristol's mom, the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate, that's generating plenty of heat among conservative women and Palin supporters.

We'll go with the controversy first.

Sometime last night, Carlson tweeted this: "Palin's popularity falling in Iowa, but maintains lead to become supreme commander of Milfistan"

'Ignore Sarah Palin Week': Website Encourages Looking Away

Tom Diemer — 2011-03-01T12:46:00+00:00

Filed under: Republicans, Humor, Media, Sarah Palin, 2012 President

A liberal group, apparently frustrated with all the attention its nemesis keeps getting, is promoting "Ignore Sarah Palin Week," urging like-minded souls to change the channel or surf to another Web page whenever the ubiquitous former governor of Alaska pops up.

Left Action said it has collected more than 32,500 pledges from partisans willing to take part in the effort, which began Sunday.

"You betcha we're ignoring her," the website announced, mimicking Palin's folksy dialect. "We've tried debating her, arguing with her, boycotting her, voting against her, and yet . . . she keeps coming back. Much like a vampire or a nasty fungus."

Despite the unflattering references, Left Action told those taking the "pledge," that "We wish only the best for Sarah Palin and her family. We just don't want her to be president, and we just want to take a week off from paying attention to her. . . . Have fun in the comments but keep it nice, and no threats -- even in jest, okay?"

Washington Post Columnist Dana Milbank took a similar tack last month, vowing that he would not write about the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate for the entire month of February.

Palin commands extraordinary media attention, seemingly without even trying hard as she confines most of her newsy comments to Facebook and Twitter postings or appearances on Fox News. Yet she is covered by the mainstream media with the kind of intensity normally reserved for a politician in high elective office. She has toyed with the unceasing speculation as to whether she will run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

Left Action describes itself as a "network" of more than 1 million activists "fighting for progressive causes."

Folo Tom Diemer on Twitter http://twitter.com/tomdiemer

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GOP White House Hopefuls Need to Get Real About Libya, Egypt and Obama

Jill Lawrence — 2011-02-26T18:35:00+00:00

Filed under: Bush Administration, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Obama Administration, 2012 President, International, Newt Gingrich, al Qaeda, Analysis, Barack Obama, Egypt Crisis

Try this thought experiment. It's Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011, and President Sarah Palin is delivering a speech on Libyan dictator Moammer Gadhafi's murderous response to dissidents protesting his government. It's time, she says, to "speak out for the long-suffering Libyan people" and "the victims of Gadhafi's terror." She says she's talking to NATO allies about a no-fly zone "so Libyan air forces cannot continue slaughtering the Libyan people." Libya, she adds, is "a brutal enemy of America."

A day later, Libyan forces board a ferry trapped in the Tripoli harbor because of rough seas, and capture nearly 200 Americans trying to flee. Some are government employees and their dependents; all are now hostages in a land of escalating violence and turmoil.

Are We Returning to the 'June Cleaver' Era? (And Would June Stand for What's Going On?)

Joanne Bamberger — 2011-02-25T21:26:00+00:00

Filed under: Health Care, Sarah Palin, Woman Up, Culture, Congress, Conservatives, Tea Party

Ever since the 112th Congress was sworn in last month, there's been a seemingly endless barrage of news about lawmakers trying to take away many of women's hard-fought rights, so much so that I feel like Mr. Peabody's WABAC machine has deposited me on June Cleaver's 1950s doorstep.

Morning after morning, I hear reports about those who want to cut funds for access to contraception and screenings for breast and cervical cancer that American women of all political persuasions get from Planned Parenthood. Conservatives protest the use of pre-tax dollars for breast pumps, claiming it's an unnecessary tax break for working mothers who need to stay in the workplace to support their families and pump healthy breast milk for their infants.

States like Minnesota are trying to repeal fair-pay laws and local governments are cutting Head Start funds, saying young children should be educated at home (which, by the way, would also help trim budget deficits).

And then there is HR 3, better known as the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," backed by over 200 members of Congress who wanted to limit the federal dollars available for rape victims to only those who have been "forcibly raped," in essence taking us back to the days when teen boys talked about how girls really mean "yes" when they say "no." The furor over such a proposal made some of the bill's proponents back down, saying they would remove that "forcible rape" language. But according to a variety of sources, including the office of Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), who heads the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, three weeks after that announcement, the language still hasn't yet been removed from HR 3. While some expect that to eventually happen, it doesn't change a subsequently introduced bill by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) that would allow hospitals to refuse to perform medically necessary abortions, even if the woman's life is at risk.

Put all those things together, and I can't help but sense an effort to re-create the June Cleaver era, when motherhood was a woman's prime directive and reproductive health issues were only whispered about in suburban neighborhoods over coffee cake and Maxwell House.

It's all making me see my life, and my daughter's, in the black-and-white retro world of the Cleavers' Mayfield, USA, and not in an "Isn't nostalgia great?" way. Whether the effort is a coordinated one or not, it still feels like Republicans are seeking as many ways as possible to get women out of the workforce and back into a pre-"Feminine Mystique" mode.

There are budgetary arguments to be made in opposition to many of the proposed cuts and changes in policy -- the resistance isn't just to a seeming conspiracy to turn back the clock. But certain comments can only be evaluated by the Duck Principle -- something that walks and talks like a duck is clearly a duck.

And so it's hard to ignore what happened recently in Frederick County, Md., where commissioners voted to cut over $2 million dollars in Head Start funds. Head Start is a federally funded program that promotes school readiness for 3- and 4-year-old low-income children -- a program that would seem to be in our country's best interest, especially in light of other countries around the world that spare no expense on children's education. But two commissioners suggested that cutting those dollars was also an important statement about mothers' social priorities. Republican Commissioner C. Paul Smith, who has 12 children, justified his vote this way:

"As many of you know, I had a lot of kids and my wife stayed home at a significant sacrifice in those early years, because she knew she had to be with those kids. I know everybody isn't able to survive doing that, but clearly if we can strengthen marriage, we can decrease the number of children we have to reach."

If all of these efforts pass in a perfect legislative storm, we could find ourselves in a 21st century version of that June Cleaver universe, one where women, like my own mother, had fewer reproductive rights, fewer opportunities to work outside the home, were expected to be there when the kids got home from school, oversaw homework and made dinner, all with a smile and no complaints about their own ambitions or wishes to help support their families financially.

Conservatives sometimes invoke "Leave It to Beaver" as a pro-family image. But when I think about June -- chopping vegetables in the kitchen while Wally and the Beaver get into mild trouble and Ward handles the manly duties of going to the office and grilling -- I don't think she would necessarily embrace today's Republican agenda.

Yes, she was focused on raising her children and getting dinner on the table, but within that construct, she wielded influence in her home, took a largely hands-off approach to raising two sons, and seemed to have a "live and let live" attitude rather than a doctrinaire approach to living. She was a common-sense, straightforward kind of gal who, if she lived in today's world, wouldn't buy into policies that give women less say about their bodies, their children, or their reproductive rights.

And if June disagreed with any of today's lawmakers on issues that impact women's lives, she -- or at least Barbara Billingsley, in her "Airplane" incarnation -- just might take them on with some late-in-life bad-ass jive.

You can follow Joanne Bamberger on Twitter and Facebook.

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