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Palin's Rise Proves GOP Just Doesn't Care

Governing not foremost in GOP's mind

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 9, 2008 11:13 AM CDT

(Newser) – If the polls are right, Republicans are about to lose the election, and when that happens Sarah Palin "will reign as the party’s crown princess,” writes Jay Bookman in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That would be a travesty, because Palin epitomizes the reason Republicans are falling from favor: “The Republican Party hasn’t taken seriously the responsibilities of governing.”

If Republicans “simply cared as much about governing as campaigning, the country might today be reaping the benefits of great prosperity,” Bookman posits. Instead, they’ve made good on their campaign trail cocktail of tribalism, rigid ideology, and a disdain for governance, to disastrous results. Palin is the ultimate symbol of those tendencies. “This country needs a more effective Republican Party,” writes Bookman, but “Republicans have to change, and they show no sign of doing so.”

[Images (4)]

[Quotes (2)]

John McCain and Sarah Palin participate in a rally in Bethlehem, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Sarah Palin, waves as she walks across the tarmac to meet John McCain after arriving in Allentown, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, speaks at Minges Coliseum on the campus of East Carolina University Tuesday Oct. 7, 2008, in Greenville, NC. (AP Photo/Jim R. Bounds)

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If the Republicans could govern as expertly and as diligently as they campaign, the Democrats would have gone the way of the Whigs. - Jay Bookman

If Republicans designate Sarah Palin as the face of the party’s future, they will confirm the belief that they just aren’t serious enough to trust with power. - Jay Bookman

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Palin's Rise Proves GOP Just Doesn't Care