Hot Air » Blog Archive » Breaking: Palin endorses Hoffman

One note of warning: Although its congressional seat has traditionally been solid Republican, NY-23 did break for Obama last year. There is a Democratic presence there, which means there’s a risk that conservatives won’t be the only party base galvanized by her entrance into the campaign. For better or worse, some of her clout’s on the line here too, especially now that The One’s thrown in for the Democrat. Good luck, Palinistas.

Why don’t I think he means it?

Interesting, though, that bit about The Won: This is, via surrogates, a head-to-head contest between Palin and Obama. It also puts Sarah’s potential opponents - I’m talking to you, Huck and Mitt (and doesn’t that sound like something on the Saturday Morning kiddie cartoon shows?) — on notice. They now have to face the question of whether they get involved in NY-23, and if so, who do they endorse?

Since both are entirely creatures of the RNC, I expect they’ll take the coward’s way, and stay out entirely. If they endorse Scozzofava, and Hoffman, with Palin’s backing, beats her in the primary, then they take as much a beating in the party as Dede does - and Palin emerges as the biggest winner of all, especially if Hoffman goes on to win the general election against the Democrat.

Let me note something else you’re going to start seeing: The mainstream media will start to promote Palin, not because they like her, but because they believe she is the weakest candidate against Obama. This makes sense, because that is what the GOP establishment is telling them as well.

I don’t think any of the elites, Dem or GOP, understands what is now afoot in this country. They think they are playing politics as usual, but a significant segment of the United States is no longer playing at anything. They see their way of life threatened with destruction, and none of their former champions offering anything in the way of help - except for tired exhortations to vote for the same old, same old, because the SOSOs won’t dribble away their freedoms and money quite as quickly as the leftists will. To them, Sarah Palin looks like a St. Joan in shining armor.

Which is why the biggest mistake the GOP has made so far is to effectively force Palin out of the GOP tent, where she will prove to be far more dangerous to their strategies and assumptions of superiority than she would have been inside.

Inside the GOP, Palin could be seen as a loose cannon. Outside, she’s a cannon, plain and simple, as I suspect the GOP establishment will learn to its great sorrow, when it discovers it no longer has control of its single largest draw, and that being a Republican is no guarantee of a Palin endorsement or support.

You know what else? If Hoffman wins, the chin-pullers will marvel at the political acumen of her advisers, but I don’t think she decided to support Hoffman solely for reasons of political calculation. I think she did it because she thought it was the right thing to do.

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