The fact that the question is even being asked at this point means that Romney’s campaign has committed a serious — indeed, unforgivable — gaffe.
With six weeks to go before the kickoff of the GOP convention, no invitation to speak has been extended to the GOP’s most visible, and arguably their most bankable, name. Sarah Palin may have high negatives with independents. She may be seen as something of a lightweight by the national press and the inside the beltway GOP. And she may engender controversy for any number of gaffes and misstatements she’s made since the 2008 campaign.
But she is pure gold to the base of party activists for whom the convention is ostensibly being put on. And this unnecessary slight only reinforces the notion among those activists that Mitt Romney doesn’t care much about them and will sideline them in his administration if elected.
Sarah Palin has not yet received an invitation to speak at or attend the Republican National Convention this August in Tampa, Newsweek reported.
“What can I say?” Palin told Newsweek in an email. “I’m sure I’m not the only one accepting consequences for calling out both sides of the aisle for spending too much money, putting us on the road to bankruptcy, and engaging in crony capitalism.”
“In accepting those consequences,” she added, “one must remember this isn’t Sadie Hawkins and you don’t invite yourself and a date to the Big Dance.”
The magazine said the Romney campaign did not respond to a question about Palin’s role at the convention, but one adviser associated with Team Romney indicated that she may be prohibited from speaking under her contract with FOX News.
Palin appeared dubious, however, about that reasoning.
“It’s true I’m prohibited from doing some things,” Palin told Newsweek, “but this is the first I’ve heard anyone suggest that as an excuse, er, reason to stay away from engaging in the presidential race. I’m quite confident Fox’s top brass would never strip anyone of their First Amendment rights in this regard.”
Palin has not been one of Romney’s boosters. After appearing to favor some of Romney’s more conservative rivals during the Republican primary, she has since only offered him only tepid endorsements.
Last week, Palin said on FOX News that Romney should do more to energize the conservative base, advising him to “light our hair on fire.”
The possible sidelining of Palin is reportedly frustrating Tea Party activists, who have also been slow to accept the former Massachusetts governor as the Republican nominee.
There is no doubt that Palin made life difficult for Romney during the primary campaign. So did a lot of other Republicans, and I imagine some of them will be on the dais getting their 15 minutes in the spotlight. This smacks of pettiness, and perhaps a little jealousy. It could be that Palin will get a larger ovation than Romney and Mitt doesn’t want to suffer by comparison.
Regardless, it’s an unnecessary and ill-planned snub to both Palin and her supporters.
Speaking about giving in to leftist demonizations designed to scare off independents, as well as the concerns of beltway GOPers about religiously-enthused folks….did you hear that the Mormons discriminated against blacks until nearly the 80s?
Just curious: are any other FoxNews commentators getting invites to speak at the convention?
Smart move on Romney’s part. Sarah Palin makes EVERYTHING about Sarah Palin, and she brings the worst sorts of people out of the woodworks. The Republican Party is so much more than a bunch of whackadoos who live behind barbed wire and stockpile guns and supersized jars of Costco-brand mayo in their underground bunkers. The less Palin, the better.
You mean the kind of people who call her supporters “a bunch of whackadoos who live behind barbed wire and stockpile guns and supersized jars of Costco-brand mayo in their underground bunkers”…? Yes, apparently she does bring the worst sorts out of the woodwork.
Actually, I like Costco products a lot (try Kirkland tequila) but Palin has become increasingly repetitive and self-involved. It always seems to be About Palin, despite her protestations of super-patriotism. I for one could live without her speaking at the convention. Plenty of other people I’d rather hear from.
well said
Ricky you must want Romney to lose Big Time if he put Sarah anywhere near a podium during the convention. Maybe Ron Paul can invite her to speak at his convention – lol
Such action leads one to believe that the GOP tent isn’t that big. This type of snub is what will lead to a third party. And who will that hurt? All of us!
Sarah Palin is a flake, pure & simple. Just what of value does she have to bring to the table? I don’t blame the Romney camp one iota for not going near her. They simply don’t have much (if anything) to gain by trotting her out in Tampa.
We should consider the source, which is Newsweek, owned by the Daily Beast, employer of the likes of David Frum and Meghan McCain, and the same outfit that routinely smears Republicans while declaring that Obama is the “first gay president.” It’s possible they’re making mischief with all this just to stir up trouble.
I like Sarah Palin. Whether she gets an invitation to the big party or not is not such a big deal to me.
But if Romney does not engage everybody effectively, he will not carry the day and we will lose America. So I bet she will have some role to play.
On one hand, I can see Romney wanting to play it safe and keep Palin at arms length precisely because of the negative stereotypes that have been inaccurately heaped onto her reputation.
See the comment by “Nora” above….
I can also see his campaign having a stick up their butt over her support for his primary opponents.
But if that’s the case, hey – the primary is over.
I’d suggest someone in the Romney campaign get a clue and reach out to Palin. He needs to not underestimate the need for support from the more conservative branch of the party, and he ignores them at his peril.
November is going to be hard enough without tossing aside conservative votes unnecesarily, and Palin is singularly capable of shoring up his right flank.
Or he can just ignore the majority of the conservative branch of the party and rely on democrats and independents to win that election.
After all, it worked so well for President McCain…..
IMO, No American will vote for Obama because Romney has Sarah supporting him. However I do believe there will be Americans who will not vote for Romney if he does not use Sarah Palin in his campaign