Sarah Palin defends Newt against "cannibal" GOP

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin waves during a Tea Party Express rally Sept. 5, 2011, in Manchester, N.H.

/ Getty Images

Sarah Palin hasn't jumped into the GOP race, but in her latest Facebook post the former running mate of John McCain and Tea Party icon stated that Newt Gingrich is being kneecapped by the Republican establishment.

"We need a fair primary that is not prematurely cut short by the GOP establishment using Alinsky tactics to kneecap Governor Romney's chief rival," she wrote in her post titled "Cannibals in GOP Establishment Employ Tactics of the Left." 

The "Alinksy tactics" refer to Gingrich's the works of Saul Alinsky, a community organizer famous for his 1971 book "Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals." In his victory speech following his win in the South Carolina primary, Gingrich described the centerpiece of his campaign as American exceptionalism versus the radicalism of Saul Alinsky, who is a proxy for President Obama in Gingrich's campaigning.

The Washington Examiner's Philip Klein contends that Gingrich is a practitioner of Alinsky's rules.

"... if any candidate is using Saul Alinsky's playbook in this campaign, it's Gingrich himself."

"In his seminal 1971 work, "Rules for Radicals," left-wing community organizer Alinsky laid out his method for instigating change. Many of the tactics he spoke about -- such as exploiting resentment and pitting oneself against the establishment -- have become a central part of Gingrich's strategy for securing the Republican presidential nomination."

Palin sets up the battle for the Republican party as one between the GOP establishment and the "Tea Party grassroots and independent Americans who are sick of the politics of personal destruction used now by both parties' operatives with a complicit media egging it on."  

Palin recognizes a kindred spirit in Gingrich.

"I am sadly too familiar with these tactics because they were used against the GOP ticket in 2008. The left seeks to single someone out and destroy his or her record and reputation and family using the media as a channel to dump handpicked and half-baked campaign opposition research on the public. The difference in 2008 was that I was largely unknown to the American public, so they had no way of differentiating between the lies and the truth. All of it came at them at once as "facts" about me," she wrote.

In her role as a Fox News commentator, Palin said: "Look at Newt Gingrich, what's going on with him via the establishment's attacks. They're trying to crucify this man and rewrite history and rewrite what it is that he has stood for all these years."

Among the Republican establishment, former Kansas senator and GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole gave blunt critique of Gingrich. In a letter issued by the Romney campaign, the 88-year-old Dole wrote that Gingrich as the nominee would "have an adverse impact on Republican candidates running for county, state and federal offices."

More than 70 House and Senate members have endorsed Romney, but only a handful have sided with Gingrich. Republican New York Rep. Peter King labeled Gingrich "too erratic and "too self-centered." New Jersey Governor and Mitt Romney surrogate Chris Christie has called Gingrich an "embarrassment" to the Republican party.

In a recent campaign stop in Florida, Gingrich said, "I think the Washington establishment is going fight me every steps to the nomination. And I think they are going to say whatever they have to say."

Earlier this month, the former Alaska governor said she would vote for the former House Speaker in the South Carolina primary if she could, though she stopped short of a full endorsement. In the wake of that comment, Gringrich told CNN that he would ask Palin to take a major role in his administration if he is elected president.

"Certainly, she's one of the people I'd call on for advice," Gingrich told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "I would ask her to consider taking a major role in the next administration if I'm president, but nothing has been discussed of any kind. And it wouldn't be appropriate to discuss it at this time."

[Wizstars]

Cannibalism, Sarah? Really? Who in their right mind would eat santorum? Although it might be pretty good on a pious-baloney gingrich.

But go ahead, Sarah, keep on supporting these losers. The more you do, the more you marginalize them and yourself. In the end, you become the nobody you deserve to be.

[Cru09]

...And this is how you know Gingrich is a hazard: Cain and Palin back him.

[noloyalisti]

Boy, I hate to actually agree with anything that Caribou says but the mainstream GOP is just such a bunch of slaves answering to Wall Street and the Top 1%. They have proven time and time again that they hate America and everything it stands for.

[notreich]

Right Sarah Palin. Who is this Bob Dole? What does he know? He's just like these Republican establishment types like scores of other Republican politicians, columnists like George Will, Reagan administration officials like Elliot Abrams and Pat Buchanan, who call your pal Gingrich, "erratic, unstable, grandiose" just to mention a few. You call these people RINOs and not the real Republicans? You think you and your Tea Party loons like Bachmann, Trump, and Perry are going to be the new Republican establishment? Right after Christine O'Donnell is elected Queen and arrives for her coronation on her broom.

[awenshok]

Given that 30% of the RepubliKKKan party spouts religiosity, luvs gunz, wears camo and cooks meth in a doublewide, it isn't unlikely that the ultra-cons represented by SPalin would surface now. Hopefully, the demonstrated success of the Tparty in disrupting DC and the RepubliKKKan KKKontrolled KKKongress will result in more of the morons holding seats in Washington.
Or can you think of an easier way than self-inflicted demise to bring about the end of the RepubliKKKan party?
HATERS UNITE!!! YOU GO SARAH!

[Lawrence1972]

Gingrich is not on enough state ballots to win the nomination. Why would anyone vote for or endorse him? Maybe they don't know. Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are the only two that can possibly win mathematically. Just saying.

[noloyalisti]

There is a reason they call them the Government of Pigs Party.

[thebob-bob]

Sarah's right. Any self-respecting TEA party member, rightwing conservative or Evangelical is selling out everything the believe in if they vote for Romney. I suggest that they just stay home and send a message to the Republican Establishment that they can't take your votes for granted anymore. What do they think you are, sheep?

Obama 2012!

[Lindag10]

Great idea.

[zenia5]

by JV1970 January 30, 2012 1:22 AM EST
notreich Can you PROVE that? What you're accusing her of is adultery. I know that she did commit adultery once in the past but, as far as anyone knows, it only happened once. There is no way that you can prove that Palin has committed adultery more than once and I don't care what you've read on the internet. If you don't have absolute, indesputable and documented PROOF of what you're saying then what you're saying is nothing but crap and you're committing libel!
------------------------------------------
Soooo, tell us JV1970....does this mean you have been spurting a lot of "crap" and "committing libel" when you have consistently stated, and vigorously agreed with, slanderous untruths about the President of the United States? All misinformation that you "read" on the internet and has proven to be all lies? When you and your birther buddies tried to keep the lies circulating? You of all people should certainly NOT be accusing anyone of libel, LOL!

[JV1970]

IF, and that's a BIG IF, I committed libel in the past doesn't mean that you or anyone else should!

[Lindag10]

JV: just loves telling others what to do, but doesn't feel ANY need to apply her "rules" to herself. LMAO

[Cajun_Dude]

Sarah should go back to fishing in Alaska. Her earlier supposed platform of family values is crowned by an admitted adulterer. Newt has had as many wives as the other three GOP contenders put together. As far as the "constitutionalists" go, Newt is closer to treason than some grandiose supporter of the constitution. He has clearly stated that if he does not agree with a Supreme court decision, he would ignore it and instruct his attorney general to ignore it. If he rejects the concept we have long accepted as a cornerstone of our government, what is next? If he says he can ignore a supreme court decision, why should I follow it? Why should I accept HIS interpretation of the law? This concept is a fundamental undermining of the basis of our society.

Hearing the GOP constantly ridicule "Obamacare" shows where they are in this game. As a chokepoint on the GOP road to the White House, all GOP candidates have to pledge to King Grover that they will not support or allow any raise in taxes for the rich.
An even more ominious pledge is that they are all committed to blocking any health care for the poor. Sarah is a leader in this, but she is also the only presidential candidate who has received the benefits of single payer health care. When she was young, her mother took her across the border to Canada to get some medical care from the Canadian Health system when they were short of funds. Now that she's rich from her book sales, she can now turn her back on the poor in order to keep her taxes low.
Santorum was callous enough to include his own daughter in a pointed reference to health care. I don't know how he pays for his daughters medical needs, but he vaguely stated how "Obamacare" would threaten his daughters life. Santorum, you selfish jerk!
There are many people with no health care at all, or who was refused health care because of pre-existing conditions (like birth defects). This is a hallmark of what President Obama has pushed to fix, but you are against any health care for the poor no matter what, and consider that some kind of religious principle.
When all GOP complain about the debt, but consider the solution lower taxes for the wealthy, when one leader says the Supreme court is subservient to him, when another GOP candidate rails against President Obama helping people go to college because it gives them a lot of liberal ideas (!), When a super-wealthy candidate is for lower taxes, and the GOP faithful dutifully backs him because he's a "job-provider". I wonder how many jobs his millions stashed in the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, etc. are providing???