Sarah Palin wows a tea party crowd in Iowa. But will she run?
In a rain-dampened Iowa field Saturday, Sarah Palin did what she does best: titillate the tea party faithful and the dutifully assembled media, giving a full-throated presidential stump speech, even if there is as yet no official stump.
For the most part, she spoke in generalities to the Tea Party of America鈥檚 鈥淩estoring America鈥� event in Indianola: 鈥淲e will relentlessly rage until we restore what is best about America鈥�. We are governed by a permanent political class.鈥� That sort of thing.
As much as many of the media looked for digs at the declared GOP presidential candidates, there were none. Still, one could read into her verbiage criticism of veteran lawmakers of both parties. 鈥淭hey spend, they print money, they borrow, then they leave us with the bills,鈥� she said, referring also to 鈥渃orporate crony capitalism.鈥�
QUIZ: How well do you know Sarah Palin?
鈥淓ven some conservatives run away from what needs to be done,鈥� she chided. 鈥淭hey talk in generalities.鈥�
鈥淚 want to tell you what my plan is,鈥� she said, and then proceeded to talk mostly in generalities: 鈥淓mpowerment of our states and our entrepreneurs and mostly you. No more politics as usual. Repeal Obamacare 鈥� the mother of all unfunded mandates. Get government out of the way. No more debt. Entitlement reform.鈥�
She was most enthusiastic in urging the country to 鈥渂ecome the energy superpower.鈥�
鈥淎merica鈥檚 economic revival starts with America鈥檚 energy revival,鈥� she declared. 鈥淒rill now, let the pipelines and the refineries be built. No phony green jobs.鈥�
One very specific item in Palin鈥檚 plan is the elimination of all federal corporate income taxes, plus doing away with 鈥渁ll corporate welfare, loopholes, and bailouts,鈥� which she refers to as 鈥渟ocialism for the very rich.鈥�
While there were many chants of 鈥渞un, Sarah, run鈥� from the enthusiastic crowd, Palin gave no indication of her intentions.
She鈥檒l have to decide soon 鈥� before the end of September in order to begin meeting filing deadlines, organize campaign and fundraising staffs, and prep for candidates鈥� debates, where the questions won鈥檛 just be softballs from her Fox News colleagues and the answers will have to be more than brief Twitter feeds.
In the three years since John McCain plucked her from relative political obscurity to be his vice presidential running mate, Palin has earned an estimated $9 million on her book and reality TV show. She鈥檚 paid $1 million a year as a Fox News contributor. And SarahPAC has raised some $7 million to pay for her travel, staff, and contributions to the campaigns of others.
But as Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times points out: 鈥淎s a private citizen, Palin doesn't have to disclose any of her personal income 鈥� But as a presidential candidate, she'd be under pressure to disclose more financial details, and she'd presumably have to give up charging for her speeches and her appearances on Fox News.鈥�
Then there鈥檚 her standing in the polls, which can鈥檛 be particularly encouraging.
鈥淎ll in all, most voters 鈥� 74 percent 鈥� think Palin should stay on the sidelines in 2012. Just 20 percent think she should run for president,鈥� Fox News reported on its own recent polling. 鈥淭he groups most likely to support Palin running are white evangelical 海角大神s (30 percent) and Tea Party members (28 percent). Still, majorities of those groups do not think she should run (62 percent and 66 percent respectively). In addition, 72 percent of conservatives, 71 percent of Republicans and 66 percent of independents think Palin should stay out.鈥�
But you wouldn鈥檛 have known that from her appearance before the tea party folks in Iowa Saturday, most of whom stayed around for more than an hour to shake her hand or get an autograph.
Did we mention that the event was held at the National Balloon Classic Field? Depending on one鈥檚 point of view, it was the perfect place for rising expectations 鈥� or hot air.
