Sarah Palin Attacks Republicans Attacking Newt Gingrich

In Which Mr. Alinsky Makes Another Appearance

What is it with Conservative Republicans and Saul Alinsky.  Mr. Alinsky was a not particularly well known or successful organizer during the mid 20th Century in Chicago whose works and fame have long since vanished from the national culture.  But Newt Gingrich continues to bring his name up, apparently believing that by linking President Obama to a person with an eastern (communist?) Jewish sounding name is sufficient to get votes for himself and votes against Mr. Obama.

Now Sarah Palin (remember her?) is calling tactics by Mr. Gingrich’s opponents in the Republican party “Alinsky” tactics.

“The Republican establishment which fought Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and which continues to fight the grassroots Tea Party movement today has adopted the tactics of the left in using the media and the politics of personal destruction to attack an opponent,” Palin wrote. “What we saw with this ridiculous opposition dump on Newt was nothing short of Stalin-esque rewriting of history. It was Alinsky tactics at their worst

Do Ms. Palin and Mr. Gingrich know that no one, and we do mean no one, has any idea who Mr. Alinsky was, that he has been dead for over 40 years and that the only real regeneration of his tactics was with the Tea Party in 2009 with their disruptive attacks on politicians during the health care debate.  Do they care, probably not, after all Alinsky is just a foreign sounding name they can use to tar their opponents.

Ms. Palin is on firmer ground (yes that is relatively speaking, nothing Ms. Palin has ever said has had a really firm foundation) invoking Stalin.

Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) sharply criticized the Republican Party “establishment” for using what she called a “Stalin-esque rewriting of history” to tar Newt Gingrich as he fights for the GOP presidential nomination.

But in the end she, along with most politicians pulls her punches, and doesn’t name names.

She did not call out Gingrich’s critics by name, but two of the most prominent in the last week have been Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who tapped Palin as his running mate four years ago, and Bob Dole, the party’s presidential nominee in 1996. Palin defended Gingrich, saying that while he is an “imperfect vessel for Tea Party support,” he “fought in the trenches during the Reagan revolution.” 

As for Mitt Romney, he is again assuming the mantle of the anointed, and is returning to full campaign mode against Mr. Obama.  Having Sarah Palin as a critic, priceless.