Sarah Palin's Diehard Supporters Are Scaring Republican Pundits
Nobody wants Sarah Palin to run for president, except for every Democratic political operative and a persistent twenty-ish percent of the Republican electorate who only want her. Of course, she probably won't. But Republican pundits really want her to clarify that decision soon, if only to silence her supremely irritating fans.
Ann Coulter joined Laura Ingraham on Fox News last night to discuss Palin's latest pretend mini-campaign tour, and then trash her. "She's become sort of the Obama of the Tea Party," Coulter said, in one of the more stinging phrases a Palin supporter could ever hear. "She's just 'The One' to a certain segment of right wingers. And the tiniest criticism of her... I think many of your viewers may not know this. No conservative on TV will criticize Palin, because they don't want to deal with the hate mail."
Hmm... "they don't want to deal with the hate mail." This sounds a lot like the years-old dynamic between Republican commentators and cultish fans of a certain other, more gold-standardy politician. What's that old galoot's name again? Maybe RedState editor and secret Republican overlord Erick Erickson can remind us:
For the past year, Palin fans have become an online fixture with more venom and insanity than the most rabid Ron Paul fan. They have not evangelized on behalf of Sarah Palin trying to lead people to Sarah Palin, they have freaked a lot of us out. [...]
Sarah Palin is a great person. She's a great fighter. She draws in awesome attention and rallies a crowd. She has some terrific and loyal supporters I don't want to lump in with the loud voices largely now disconnected from political reality. Ron Paul is the same way. But at some point, Sarah Palin has to take some responsibility for her supporters as Ron Paul must for his. Palin's dragging out the tease on her decision has compounded the problem and we've reached a breaking point.
Gotta say, we at Gawker don't get much hate mail for our commentary on Sarah Palin. But the way Coulter and Erickson describe the tone of Palin supporters' hate mail circa mid-2011... well, we want to get a bite of this apple. Hey, Palin supporters! Over here! Sarah Palin sucks and she'll never be president. Beg to differ?