Palin Compares Herself to Reagan
Politico reports:
Speaking to a group of well-connected Republicans at a private dinner in Florida this week, Sarah Palin implicitly addressed questions about her own electability by noting that critics also said Ronald Reagan couldn’t win in 1980, three attendees told POLITICO.
Palin, at an event organized by the conservative magazine Newsmax, told the right-wing crowd that those who don’t have the same convictions will always say a true conservative can’t win.
Pointing out that the knock on Reagan was that he was also too far to the right, the former Alaska governor repeatedly invoked the 40th president and conservative icon, at one point citing the quotation he was most fond of: that America is a “shining city on a hill.”
“I think she sees herself as heir to Reagan,” said one attendee.
Her invoking of the Gipper at a closed-door gathering illustrates that Palin is, at the very least, thinking through how she’d make her case if she pursued the presidency. And combined with the recent revelation of an e-mail her husband, Todd, sent to Alaska Senate hopeful Joe Miller excoriating him for not saying Palin was qualified to be president, her private comments make clear that the 2008 vice-presidential candidate wants other Republicans to take her seriously as a White House prospect.
Trying to divine her intentions — does she just want to stay in the presidential mix to build her brand, or is she actually running? — is difficult. But the mere act of meeting with the sort of Republican donors, strategists and activists who fund and advise presidential campaigns is telling.
Palin did not talk directly about a White House bid at the event, held Wednesday at the famed Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach.
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