Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was in New Hampshire on Labor Day, speaking at a tea party rally in Manchester. As has become a common theme in her public appearances, though, the failed 2008 vice presidential candidate floated out a few teasers about her status as a possible 2012 contender, foremost of which was a vow to not simply sit on the sidelines in the coming political fray.
“We’re not going to just sit back on the couch and throw stones from afar,” she told the crowd of Palin diehards and the genuinely curious. According to the New Hampshire Union Leader, a booth was also set up where volunteers accepted contact information from Palin supporters just in case she decided to run for president.
But if that is the case, and she eventually offers her plans as to whether she will run for president or not (sometime before the end of September, she has stated on several occasions), what would she do?
Why, she would throw stones — just not from afar.
The answer as to what Palin would do if not busy campaigning for the Oval Office herself is simpler than it seems. She would most likely continue to do what she has been doing since being nominated by Sen. John McCain as his running mate in 2008: Throwing stones at Barack Obama in public forums throughout the nation.
Although she could do so by sitting on her couch in Wasilla, Alaska, her ability to draw audiences, generate enthusiasm, and mobilize potential supporters and voters would be an asset to the Republican Party and whichever candidate she might choose to endorse for the presidency.
In short, Palin would become the Republican Party’s chief stone thrower, something she has been accustomed to doing for quite some time, taking to Facebook, Twitter and Op-Ed pages of major media publications to target Democratic Party and/or Obama administration policies, pieces of legislation or political positions.
She presented the New Hampshire tea party gathering a sampling of her stone throwing prowess, at one point hurling a hard shot at the “economic fantasy that President Obama is engaged in,” telling the crowd of around 500 that reversals in domestic policy had to be made.
After criticizing Obama’s policies on health care and runaway spending, she turned to promoting his contenders, getting in another shot at him at the same time. She said America needed to hear from candidates “who can do more than just talk because we’ve tried that, didn’t we voters? Been there, done that with a candidate who can just talk but doesn’t have any kind of record of accomplishment and success, successfully reforming those things that are wrong.”
Of course, among those contenders might be included the former Alaska governor herself. But things are looking bleak for a potential Palin 2012 presidential run. A recent Fox News Poll indicated 71 percent of Republican voters and 66 percent of Independent voters thought that Palin should not enter the presidential race.
Some analysts, like former White House chief political adviser Karl Rove, predicted an announcement over Labor Day weekend (or soon thereafter), but Palin’s camp seemed to take exception to such talk and even hurled a rock or two at members of her own political party.
Still, as for the present, Palin remains noncommittal as to her intentions. Except for where she stands on throwing stones, that is.