e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics

Watching Conservatives Revolt against Palin Online

September 29th, 2008

When a conservative national columnist, particularly one who had defended Sarah Palin at length, calls on the Republican vice presidential nominee to resign for her own good and that of the country, it gets noticed. But here’s another thing to watch — the comments on Palin-related stories posted on major news sites online. And here’s what I’m seeing more and more of, in this case posted on a Fareed Zakaria article:

Palin needs to be replaced, immediately. Both conservatives and liberals have acknowledged this openly and repeatedly - not from any ideological bias, but from a deep-rooted concern for our country.

As a Republican, I am embarrased by the postings on this board. Any poster here that defends the unmitigated ignorance that Palin has displayed repeatedly does not have the interests of the GOP in mind. We once were the vanguard of political thought. We’ve become the intellectual equivalent of a Jerry Springer guest - attempting to shout down anyone who disagrees with our embarassingly flawed positions.

Of course, of course, we can draw the most limited of conclusions from website comments, since the people who leave them are both functionally anonymous and not a representative sample of the population. But illuminating nonetheless — Palin may have excited social conservatives, but what about those Republicans with OTHER priorities? How fired up are THEY going to be about voting on November 4th?

– cpd

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