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published by blogadmin on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 13:23

David Frum believes that Matt Labash's Weekly Standard review of Sarah Palin's new reality show, which Labash dismisses as a narcissistic venture not befitting of a potential White House aspirant, as evidence of "the Republican establishment’s increasingly frantic search for ways to stop the Palin for President campaign."

Frum is on to something here: If Palin is going to be stopped -- and she absolutely can be -- it will have to come through the handiwork of conservative media outlets and opinion leaders. For more than two years, we've seen the effect that consistently critical coverage from the "lamestream media" -- not to mention overt hostility from just about every left-of-center commentator -- has had on Palin's poll numbers; the GOP base has rallied around her, while just about everyone else has turned against her. Thus, she is right now a very viable candidate for the GOP's presidential nomination in '12 -- even as her image with general election voters is so negative that she'd be in position to blow a winnable for her party as its nominee.

The problem for any establishment Republican who wants to make this point now is that he or she is likely to be branded a sellout. Remember what happened to Karl Rove when he dared to do his job -- he's supposed to be a political analyst for Fox, remember -- and suggested on the air that Christine O'Donnell's nomination in Delaware meant that Republicans would probably lose a Senate seat they had been set to win when Mike Castle was the frontrunner? He was right, of course, but the GOP's base wasn't interested in hearing it, and Rove got no cover from any of the voices that the base now listens to. Within a day or two, he was backtracking and pledging his loyalty to O'Donnell.