Kent Bush: Palin teaches Cruz a lesson in loyalty
With wild-eyed friends like Sarah Palin, who needs wild-eyed enemies?
Ted Cruz learned a quick lesson about what loyalty means to the over-amplified, star-spangled, word-salad-with-bangs from Alaska.
After endorsing Cruz for Senate and being introduced in glowing terms by Cruz at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference, Palin took the stage in Ames, Iowa to let the world know she noticed Donald Trump was ahead in the polls and she wanted people to pay attention to her again for something other than her daughter's unwed reproduction or her son's drunken arrest.
"You know what, she can pick winners," Cruz told the CPAC crowd. On Jan.19, when the rumors of Palin throwing her support behind Trump were circulating, Cruz tweeted that he loved Palin and owed his Senate seat to her. "Regardless of what she does in 2016, I will always be a big fan."
I don't even like Cruz and I felt bad for him after he was abandoned by someone he believed to be an ally in favor of a fake conservative who is blustering his way to the top of the polls. His tweet is like the response by a kid who asks a good looking girl to the prom only to be shot down. "You still look great in your dress. I hope you have a great night with your new boyfriend." That's just sad.
Palin rambled on for what seemed like hours that night spouting catchphrases and made-up words from her eight years in the spotlight and Trump's six months on the campaign trail.
She made sure she worked in some near-obscenities to make sure she stayed true to Trump's theme of non-politically correct speech.
Palin brought back her criticism of President Barack Obama for using a telepromtper and then spent 20 minutes making people wish she would.
Palin is the singular reason I voted for a democrat for president for the first time in my life in 2008. That is against my normal political trend since every other campaign I have run or been involved with has been for a female candidate. But Palin is too much of a hypocritical catchphrase machine for me to consider voting for any ticket with her on it or near it.
Take her attempt to quote Ronald Reagan, who she touts as an idol of hers even though she doesn't understand what he stood for. She said we needed more "Reaganesque power through strength" when Reagan actual believed in the ideal of "peace through strength." That is a significant difference.
But Republicans don't seem to care enough to let facts matter. They keep throwing support behind the loudest candidates and leaving the best candidates on the outside looking in. It is bad for the brand.
Now you have Palin stumping for Trump in a marriage made in heaven. Speaking of marriages, Palin also bragged on Trumps "quiet generosity." It is hard to imagine Trump for quiet anything.
Another favorite line from the speech was telling people how she really hoped people got to know Trump as a family man. Which family? His first, second or third family?
But Palin did finally get some applause when she mentioned to the crowd that one year from now, Barack Obama would be the former President of the United State. Palin has finally found a way to get Obama out of the White House, term limits.
Beyond her "Joe Sixpacks," "Allah Akbars," and "Hallelujahs" Palin's speech was more of the same. Catch phrases, dog whistles and misstatements.
From the moment she entered the political landscape in the Lower 48, she has been a speed bump for the Republican Party. By abandoning Cruz because she believes Trump is going to win, she showed why she has always had support in the party and never success.