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Look, we all know that Scarborough makes his professional home at MSNBC, and that he spends most of his time talking to the Beltway insiders who wear their contempt for Palin proudly as a badge of their intelligence and sophistication.
But come on. The piece makes no sense.
First, exactly who is supposed to confront Sarah Palin? John McCain? Michael Steele? Most of the GOP'ers whom Scarborough would, presumably, advise to take on this task command nothing like the loyalty and support that Palin engenders.
Second, what exactly are they supposed to say? "Don't even think about running for President!"? "Stop disrespecting the Gipper"? (Or, more honestly, "stop embarrassing me!"?).
Given the facts above, it would constitute the height of presumption for anyone to do what Scarborough demands. What's more, where the precedent? Anyone who read "Game Change" knows that Harry Reid and other prominent Democrats feared Hillary Clinton would be unable to win the presidential election, and recruited Barack Obama in part for that reason. I can't recall anyone insisting that such electioneering be done publicly.
So how does Scarborough know that no such dialogue is going on behind the scenes again, this time on the GOP side?
And if he is truly serious about averting a Palin run -- rather than simply scoring points among his media buddies and the left -- surely he knows he's going about it in the worst way possible. Such open calls for her retreat make it ever less likely that Sarah Palin will ultimately step aside.
Do I agree with everything Sarah Palin says or does? Not by a long shot.
But running is her right -- whether Joe Scarborough or anyone else likes it or not.
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