Republican Field Set

Well, it looks like the Republican nomination race is set. Yesterday Chris Christie decided not to run and today, Sarah Palin also thought it wasn’t such a good idea.

I am actually glad both of these two are not running, but for different reasons.

I am not a fan of Gov Christie. While I do enjoy the heck out of the videos that pop up every so often, generally him taking some poor sap to school, I think he is too progressive/liberal on a couple of key platforms. I outlined my concerns in a post yesterday.

I do think that he was able to think this decision through and understand that while the press might be his friend right now, they would stop at nothing to tear him down. The issue raised about his weight more than likely gave him a taste of what he could expect.

I am a huge fan of Sarah Palin. I remember very clearly being quite pleased when John McCain announced her as his running mate in 2008. Not a lot of people had heard of her at that point, but since I traveled to Alaska several times in 2008, and make it a policy to follow local news, I was able to get a feel for her political philosophy. I liked the fact that she was no nonsense, and took on whoever needed a butt kicking (Rep or Dem).

But for her, and her family’s, sake I am glad she decided not to run. Never in the history of American politics has there ever been a more polarizing figure. Almost from day one the main stream media tried to tear her down. While the record of another complete unknown, this one from Illinois, was hardly given a second glance, enough reporters to fill a small airline were sent north to Given Palin the once-over.

To make matter even worse, once the press discovered that Palin couldn’t be had (her composure is remarkable), they took after her family. Todd and cheating allegations, Bristol’s child, and even Willow couldn’t be a kid without the press hanging them out to dry.

This evening, while discussing this with my better half, she asked me if I thought Palin not running was a good thing. She also happens to like Palin. Anyway, I told her that if she were Palin (their viewpoints on a lot of things dovetail) and I were her husband, I would ask not to run because the family has been through enough already. Whether the treatment from the press was a significant factor or not, I think they made the right call. And you know that the Palin’s will not admit the press played any part of their decision.