Sarah Palin: How My Views Have Changed While Some Remain The Same

Nearly 13 years after resigning as Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin is re-entering the political arena by announcing she is running for Congress. Alaska's lone Congressional seat was held by Don Young for nearly 50 years before he passed away last month at the age of 88. 

Palin joins a list of more than 40 candidates, Democrat, Republican and Independent, who will compete in a primary which takes place on June 11th. The top four vote getters will proceed to a special election to take place on August 16th, the winner of which will serve the remainder of Young's term. The new incumbent would then have to seek re-election in the November mid-terms.

In 2008, I voted for the McCain-Palin ticket. If I were a resident of Alaska in 2022 there is no way in hell I would vote for Palin now. Of course, this is true of virtually any Republican outside of Liz Cheney and Charlie Baker (had he seen fit to seek a third term for Governor of Massachusetts). Like most Republicans, Palin embraced Trump and Trumpism and I just could not then nor can I now. Nor can I abide someone who willfully and repeatedly refuses to wear a mask in public when they have COVID.

With that said, I do think she was treated unfairly especially when she was blamed for the 2011 mass shooting in Tucson which killed six people while critically injuring former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Most of my writings for The American Spectator have been expunged, but I came across this snippet which I wrote at the time:

If (Keith) Olbermann and other liberals are somehow successful in expunging Palin from public life as a result of this horrific tragedy, it will embolden them to dismiss the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, the whole Tea Party Movement and anybody else they deem to be undesirable. But if liberals succeed in ridding themselves of the riff-raff and still cannot bring about hope and change, then who will be left to blame? Liberals get no satisfaction in taking responsibility for their own actions.  

Needless to say, my esteem of the late Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and the Tea Party movement has diminished considerably. Yet the fact remains that Palin nor any other Republican politician was responsible for the actions of Jared Lee Loughner. 

Nor was Palin expunged from public life. Palin did see fit to sue The New York Times after it erroneously connected her to the Giffords shooting in a 2017 editorial following the shooting of Republican Congressman Steve Scalise by a Bernie Sanders supporter during a practice for the upcoming Congressional baseball game. However, observers stated that Palin could not prove the NYT acted maliciously much less prove it had done her any personal or financial harm. A federal district court judge dismissed Palin's suit in February although she has filed an appeal with the 2nd Circuit Court.

As for Palin's electoral prospects, she resides in a Red state and she certainly has the most name recognition though that could work against her. I suspect she will make the final four but can foresee an "Anybody But Palin" movement among Democrats, Independents and even a few Republicans particularly supporters of Senator Lisa Murkowski. There has never been any love lost between Palin and Murkowski. The question remains if there is any love lost between Palin and Alaska voters.