Politico: "GOP Establishment" Already Plotting to Block Palin Presidential Run

Guy Benson | November 01, 2010 10:36 AM

Call me a cynic, but I find it entirely predictable that a mainstream media outlet would publish this sort of incendiary story -- unmistakably engineered to generate maximum internal conflict on the Right -- on the eve of a hugely important midterm election:

Top Republicans in Washington and in the national GOP establishment say the 2010 campaign highlighted an urgent task that they will begin in earnest as soon as the elections are over: Stop Sarah Palin.

There is rising expectation among GOP elites that Palin will probably run for president in 2012 and could win the Republican nomination, a prospect many of them regard as a disaster in waiting.

Politico could have dropped this piece after the midterms -- which, frankly, would have made a lot more sense in terms of news timing. But assessing its newsworthiness misses the real agenda behind the story: Manufacturing a divisive narrative to split conservatives and distract us from our urgent shared task on Tuesday. "Be very angry, grassroots conservatives," the story telegraphs, "Because squishy Beltway Republican establishment elites are already trying to silence your voices in the next election cycle!"

Sorry, Politico. We're not that easily manipulated.

Whether Sarah Palin decides to run for president in 2012 is a gargantuan irrelevancy on November 1st, 2010. Even if the "Republican establishment" really

is conspiring to deny her the party's presidential nomination 21 months from now, that's an issue that can be dealt with at a later date. Hell, if we really want to, we could even commence the discussion on Wednesday. But for right now, let's refuse to take the bait.

Every single Republican referenced in the article -- from Palin, to Karl Rove, to Tim Pawlenty, to Mitt Romney, to Ed Gillespie, and beyond -- would concur that the only goal at hand is ensuring an unmistakable and stinging repudiation of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid agenda on November 2nd.

Let's keep our eye on the ball and refuse to play along with Politico's transparent eleventh-hour ploy to divide the Right and depress turnout. We can debate 2012 another day.

Now, onward to tomorrow's victory.