The Republican presidential race has barely even begun to receive any news coverage, but even that level of attention is bothersome to Sarah Palin, who is used to 50% of all political news being about her unemployed life. But Palin has figured out a way to redirect some of this attention back to herself without actually stepping into the race: leaking details about how her campaign would be run, if she actually decided to do it. And so we're going to get stuff like this: IF Sarah Palin ran for president, she would base her operation in Scottsdale, Arizona, near Bristol Palin's recently purchased foreclosed meth palace.
It's not clear whether or not this was a purposeful leak to Ben Smith, but this teasing is an idea she'll probably take and run with anyway.
But back to this Arizona thing, here's why it's perfect:
Basing a campaign there would be a provocative rejection of any lingering political cost from those who connect her harsh rhetoric and Gabrielle Giffords' shooting -- a traditional refusal to retreat.
Yeah, wasn't that great? That Gabrielle Giffords almost got all of the attention herself when she was shot, but, luckily, Sarah Palin quickly found herself inserted in the story. That was a close call!
Next week we will learn Trig would be the campaign manager if she ran. The week after that, we will learn the firm that would create her campaign website would be a team of actual female grizzly bears. And the week after that, we will learn voters would still have to buy tickets if they wanted to hear her speak on the campaign trail. [ Ben Smith ]
Also from Politico:
<i>Sarah Palin&rsquo;s unfavorable rating is off the charts. The former Alaska governor&rsquo;s numbers are astonishingly upside-down, according to a new Bloomberg poll showing a 32 percentage point spread between those who have an unfavorable rating of Palin and those who view her favorably. Of the 60 percent in the poll who have an unfavorable opinion of Palin, more than half of them &ndash; 38 percent among the whole survey &ndash; said they have a &ldquo;very&rdquo; unfavorable view of Palin. </i>
Courtesy <a href="http:\/\/andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com\/the_daily_dish\/2011\/03\/voting-for-the-venti-caramel-macchiato-with-an-extra-espresso-shot.html" target="_blank">Andrew Sullivan</a> who based it on an article from John Phillips on why Palin should be the GOP nominee: <i>... If the GOP is going to lose, why not go out with an emotionally satisfying bang?</i>