GOP urged to 'stop Palin'
SMU Political Science Professor Cal Jillson says "Republicans feel that Obama is eminently beatable in 2012, but the establishment wing of the party just does not believe that Palin can do it."
By Sheldon Alberts
Postmedia News
The knives have started to come out for Sarah Palin in the Republican Party.
With the former Alaska governor now actively exploring a White House bid in 2012, establishment Republicans have begun urging party leaders to begin a Stop Palin movement aimed at preventing her from romping to the Republican presidential nomination.
Describing her alternately as "maniacal," "dopey" and "hated by millions," former Florida congressman Joe Scarborough and longtime GOP strategist Ed Rollins this week called into question Palin's fitness for office, telling fellow Republicans she stands no chance of defeating President Barack Obama in a head-to-head contest. . .
They reflect a broader -- but still largely unspoken -- fear among Republican insiders that Palin's substantial popularity among grassroots conservatives and Tea Party activists will only continue to build unless there is a concerted effort to check her momentum.
"I think Republicans feel that Obama is eminently beatable in 2012, but the establishment wing of the party just does not believe that Palin can do it," says Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "What is at the bottom of this is that Democrats salivate at the prospect of Palin as the Republican nominee in 2012. There is a wing of the Republican Party that feels she is unprepared for the campaign and cannot be an effective challenger, will appear inexperienced and, in fact, ignorant up against Obama."
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