April 17, 2010

Palin Charms in Canada

On Tax Day in the United states, Sarah Palin was in Hamilton Ontario Canada, doing a hospital fundraiser.  She made a generally positive impression.  That's not really surprising, she's a charming person and speaks well, if colloquially.  But we're talking about Canada here.  The same place Anne Coulter was threatened and prevented from speaking.  Fortunately, Canada is not a monolithic, homogeneously liberal culture.  The protesters at her speech were, well - one guy. 

According to the Toronto Star, a very liberal paper;
A lone protestor outside the event with a tambourine and a sign that said “Honk 4 Our Health Care,” was the only spoiler during the festive atmosphere that greeted Palin Thursday.
The former Alaskan governor was given celebrity treatment at the charity dinner where some VIP guests had paid $1000 to get their pictures taken with Palin and a signed copy of her book, Going Rogue.
Blogger's Note: I was unable to attend, being short of the $1000 ticket by about $1000, or the dinner ticket of $200 by roughly the same ratio. Nevertheless, I have read her book.
Canada, known in health care discussions for its government-run system, is not universally approving of its supposedly Utopian system.  As Business Week reported on the Palin visit,
Cora Miszuk, a Hamilton businesswoman, said before Palin’s speech that she agrees with her stance on health care.

Her husband received better treatment in the U.S. than Canada, where he was forced to wait in pain in an emergency room for three hours, “while they treated a street person,” Miszuk said. “If he wasn’t treated in the U.S., we would never have known what the problem was.”
Palin's theme in her speech, although unrecorded, and apparently touching on many subjects centered around standing up for being ordinary.  Apparently it resonated;
"It's just so refreshing to have someone like her in Canada," said Burns, a steel factory worker. "Her voice represents me. She represents pro-life, pro-family, pro-community."

Burns said Palin makes sense out of politics.

"She's so basic, so common sense," he said. "I'm a blue-collar guy and she understands me."
If it resonates in Canada, if she can reach blue collar workers in a country with already socialized health care, it's no wonder she resonates with Tea Party faithful.  While Romney may look like the favorite candidate right now for the GOP 2012 ticket, Palin should definitely not be considered out of it.  Despite the long odds attributed to her by the punditry, she's amassing an amazingly large war chest, and her personal negatives have moderated and should moderate further, despite the continuing media hit pieces borne of an intense dislike.

Palin will continue to garner likability with her upcoming series on Alaska and continued exposure via personal speaking appearances. Counting her out for 2012 is a mistake.

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