Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Palin's Op-ed: Right Message, Wrong Messenger

The climate change bill is one of the most dangerous pieces of legislation to come through Congress in a long time. Aside from being an economic destroyer that will raise taxes on everyone, it massively extends the reach and power of the federal government. In many ways it is a attack on personal freedom far worse even than Democratic healthcare proposals. As such, defeating it should be a top priority for the GOP.

During the presidential campaign, the one area in which Sarah Palin seemed to have a fair amount of policy knowledge and expertise was on energy. Her op-ed pretty much states the obvious, but doesn't even scratch the surface of all the problems with the cap and tax bill. Even so, I see that some on the right are glad to have her speaking out on the issue. I'm not.

Palin lacks credibility with most people outside the hardcore GOP base. Republicans cannot defeat this bill alone. They desperately need the support of moderate Democrats. Having a polarizing figure like Sarah Palin leading the fight against cap & trade could be counterproductive. Are moderate Democrats going to want to be seen as allying with Palin on policy? Somehow I doubt it. Palin taking the point on this issue will give the left ammunition to pressure moderate and conservative Democrats to toe the Obama line. This issue is too important. Republicans would be best served to work quietly behind the scenes with reasonable Democrats to kill the bill in the Senate.

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