Is Palin the Rev. Jackson of the GOP?

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By JEREMY D. MAYER | 4/20/09 4:18 AM EDT Text Size:


Republicans have a big problem coming up: Sarah Palin.
Photo: AP




Republicans have a big problem coming up: Sarah Palin.

How can a telegenic woman with a fervent following in the party, fundraising skills and a greater ability to fire up a Republican audience than any other GOP politician be such a liability? It’s not just because she’s unelectable as a presidential candidate.

Many leading Republicans and Democrats are, for one reason or another. The problem is, Palin doesn’t know she’s unelectable, and neither do her followers.

If she and her Palinistas have to find out this hard truth on the 2012 primary campaign trail, it will be bad news for the GOP.

It’s precisely what Democrats went through from 1983 to 1992, when the specter of Jesse Jackson hung over the presidential hopes of the party.

Like Palin, Jesse Jackson was the best crowd rouser in his party. No Democrat until Bill Clinton, with the possible exception of Mario Cuomo on his best night, could compete rhetorically with Jackson.

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