What's Sarah Palin going to say in her big speech on Saturday?
Indications are that Sarah Palin will sound increasingly like a presidential candidate at the Iowa tea party rally, with barbs aimed at both GOP rivals and Obama. But a formal declaration is apparently not in the offing.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks as she is interviewed by Sean Hannity of FOX News at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines earlier this month.
Charles Dharapak/AP
On Saturday Sarah Palin is giving a big speech to an Iowa tea party rally, if you haven鈥檛 heard. What鈥檚 she going to say?
One thing she鈥檚 apparently not going to say is that she鈥檚 running for president. At least, she won鈥檛 say that directly. She鈥檚 hit back so strongly at pundits who predicted she might announce at the Iowa meeting that it鈥檚 hard to imagine her backing down now.
That said, reports indicate she鈥檚 going to use this forum, before people who might be her core supporters, for a two-pronged political offensive of the sort a presidential candidate might make.
First, she may try to outflank potential Republican primary opponents by portraying herself as the most genuine political outsider. According to National Review Online, she鈥檚 going to mention Washington鈥檚 for instance. Hmm, who might be a member of that? Maybe ... Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) of Minnesota, another tea party favorite? Bachmann is a three-term US lawmaker, which by some people鈥檚 definitions might make her a career politician.
Palin will also offer a 鈥渟erious critique of crony capitalism,鈥� according to National Review. Might that be a bank shot aimed at Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the new GOP frontrunner? He鈥檚 sometimes accused of steering state contracts to campaign donors, back home.
We鈥檙e not saying Palin will mention Bachmann and Perry by name. What we鈥檙e saying is that she could be laying the groundwork to explain why she is a different choice than other insurgent-like candidates. She might say she鈥檚 the true, original maverick.
The second prong of her political thrust here will be aimed at President Obama. No surprise there 鈥� last week Palin tweeted 鈥淚鈥檒l be talking about this and more on September 3,鈥� and included a link to a titled 鈥�Obama Lies 7 Times in 2 Minutes.鈥�
(Interestingly, most of the 鈥渓ies鈥� mentioned here are promises by Obama to make the government more transparent and to eliminate earmarks and sweetheart deals. Maybe that will fit into the whole 鈥渃ompromised political class鈥� thing.)
What鈥檚 the central thing Palin will criticize about Obama? We鈥檒l give you a hint 鈥� it starts with 鈥済overnment鈥� and ends with 鈥渟pending.鈥�
Earlier this month on her Facebook page Palin posted a about the US having its credit rating downgraded by S & P, and we鈥檙e pretty sure she鈥檚 going to be drawing on the themes included therein. In a pecan nutshell: we鈥檝e got too much debt, and sooner or later the financial markets will extract an awful toll for that.
鈥淲e need to get serious about our deficit. No more accounting gimmicks. No more cuts in 鈥榦ut-years鈥� that never materialize. The permanent political class in DC might be fooling themselves with these Enron-like accounting games, but they鈥檙e not fooling the world鈥檚 capital markets,鈥� Palin wrote.
That sounds to us like it鈥檚 aimed at the GOP establishment as well as Democrats. Does it sound like that to you?
(Interestingly 鈥� and this is a complete aside 鈥� Palin鈥檚 Facebook posting quotes Bob Dylan鈥檚 famous line 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.鈥� Dylan scholars say that this is the single in Supreme Court and other legal rulings in history.)
Palin鈥檚 appearance Saturday will be carried live on C-SPAN, by the way. She鈥檚 scheduled to begin at 11, Central Standard Time.