Sarah Palin is demeaning the legacy of GOP presidents and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough wants Republicans to "man up" and put a stop to it. "Republicans have a problem," wrote Scarborough in a column for Politico. "The most-talked-about figure in the GOP is a reality show star who cannot be elected. And yet the same leaders who fret that Sarah Palin could devastate their party in 2012 are too scared to say in public what they all complain about in private."
"Enough. It’s time for the GOP to man up."
"Everybody knows that Palin is a busy woman. The former half-term governor of Alaska stays so busy these days that one wonders how this mother of five manages to juggle her new reality show, follow her eldest daughter’s dancing career and launch her latest frenetic book tour while still finding the time to insult a slew of revered presidents and first ladies," the former Republican congressman observed.
Palin is considering a run for president but the idea is "dopey," according to Scarborough. Barack Obama's political biography looks like Winston Churchill compared to Palin's, he said.
"Adding audacity to this dopey dream is that Palin can’t stop herself from taking swings at Republican giants. In the past month alone, she has mocked Ronald Reagan’s credentials, dismissed George H.W. and Barbara Bush as arrogant 'blue bloods' and blamed George W. Bush for wrecking the economy," Scarborough continued.
Near the end of October, Palin compared herself to President Ronald Reagan while defending her TLC reality show.
"[T]hose standards have to be high for someone who would ever want to run for president like, um, wasn't Ronald Reagan an actor?" Palin asked Fox News' Chris Wallace "Wasn't he in Bedtimes for Bonzo, bozo or something? Ronald Reagan was an actor."
"Sounding like every left-wing politician and media elitist who ridiculed Reagan for decades, Palin sneered that she could be president if the actor from 'Bedtime for Bonzo' managed to do so," Scarborough complained.
Reagan wasn't the only Republican president Palin belittled. After former First Lady Barbara Bush told CNN's Larry King that she wished Palin would stay in Alaska, the former Alaska governor shot back that the Bushes were "blue bloods."
"I don't want to sort of concede that we have to get used to this kind of thing, because I don't think the majority of Americans want to put up with the blue-bloods -- and I say it with all due respect, because I love the Bushes -- but the blue bloods who want to pick and chose their winners instead of allowing competition to pick and choose the winners," Palin told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham.
Scarborough accused the former vice presidential candidate of "channeling Ann Richards" by attacking the Bushes.
"Maybe Richards and Palin were right," Scarborough said sarcastically.
"Maybe poor George Herbert Walker Bush was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Indeed, he was so pampered growing up that on his 18th birthday, the young high school graduate enlisted in the armed forces. This spoiled teenager somehow managed to be the youngest pilot in the Navy when he received his wings, flying 58 combat missions over the Pacific during World War II. On Sept. 2, 1944, 'Blue Blood' Bush almost lost his life after being shot down by Japanese anti-aircraft fire," he said.
"I suppose Palin’s harsh dismissal of this great man is more understandable after one reads her biography and realizes that, like Bush, she accomplished a great deal in her early 20s. Who wouldn’t agree that finishing third in the Miss Alaska beauty contest is every bit as treacherous as risking your life in military combat?" Scarborough asked.
"Palin is not a stupid woman. But like the current president, she still does not know what she does not know. And she does know how to make millions of dollars, even if she embarrasses herself while doing it," Scarborough added.
"If Republicans want to embrace Palin as a cultural icon whose anti-intellectualism fulfills a base political need, then have at it. I suppose it’s cheaper than therapy."
"But if the party of Ronald Reagan, Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio wants to return to the White House anytime soon, it’s time that Republican leaders started standing up and speaking the truth to Palin," he concluded.
