Has the base found it’s champion?

: Image via Wikipedia

Dr. Clouthier, in an op-ed over at Pajamas Media, makes the case that it has. And that champion is Sarah Palin.

She’s shown that one doesn’t need the press (ie – the state-run media) to get a message out.

First, she has, since stepping down as governor, started to communicate with the people not through the press but around the press. In other words, she’s speaking directly to the people through social media. She has had a couple well-timed and well-placed op-eds that have helped define policy arguments. However, most of the time she’s talked to the people via social media. (It should be noted that she’s been silent on Twiiter for some time — something I hope she’ll change soon.) This has had the benefit of letting the press know that she does not need them. Rather than go the Obama route and deny what is perceived as the one “enemy” to her aims, Sarah denies nearly everyone. And why not? The press trashed her with risible lies. Why give a dying breed ratings when she can reach the people herself?

Then there’s the underestimation of her power by her own party.

They underestimated her star power. They misjudged her almost as badly as the left did; they thought she was just some feather-headed lightweight who would be nice arm candy for John McCain. She’d win the women vote because women are so stupid; ovaries are enough to win them over was the idea. Turns out that Sarah Palin was formidable because of the strength of her ideals, not just because of the strength of her beauty. And don’t forget the strength of her spine. This gross miscalculation has put the Republican Party at odds with their one star candidate.

Not surprising considering it underestimated how ticked off its own base is at it.

The Republican establishment made another miscalculation last year. They underestimated the resolve and force of the tea party movement. These folks are ticked. They are angrier at the Republican establishment than they are at President Obama and his Marxist minions. In fact, this trouble was brewing all through the presidential campaign and even before. It all started, really, with the notion of “compassionate conservative” — an idea both insulting and inherently false. Conservatism is compassionate. Conservatism is something to be proud of, not something to hide.

So the Republicans have seemed as stunned with the tea partiers as the tea partiers are stunned at their party. The grassroots folks have had it. They’re tired of being disrespected. They’re tired of being told to pipe down and go along to get along when the candidates the party picks stink and then lose. (Source: Sarah Palin Strikes Back – Pajamas Media)

They’re also looking for a champion who can help steer the Republican Party back to its conservative roots. By going against the establishment this week, Sarah Palin showed she is that champion. She’s willing to stand up for conservatism when the elitist establishment won’t. Unlike the Republican establishment she realizes what needs to be done to take this country back.

Perhaps that’s why Josh Painter over at Texas for Sarah Palin made this point recently.

Call Sarah Palin a political child of Reagan, one of his disciples, a soldier in his army or whatever allegorical device works for you. The bottom line is the same: Reagan showed everyone how he led his revolution, but many seem to have forgotten. Not Sarah Palin. She has studied Reagan’s blueprints and committed them to memory. She’s the contractor who can win the bid to reconstruct his coalition. All she has to do is submit it. The construction workers are ready to get on with the job. (Source: Sarah Palin: Political Progeny of Ronald Reagan – Texas for Sarah Palin)

The question is will the Republican Party listen to Sarah Palin and its base, now that a champion has drawn the line-in-the-sand? Will it finally wake up and start choosing conservatism over Democrat Lite?