Well ... what do we have here?
Besides the obvious, Sarah Palin has won yet another poll, there's a bigger story to be told.
Recently we've reported:
Sarah Palin Wins January Townhall.com Straw Poll Decisively
Post CPAC Straw Poll: Sarah Palin And Allen West Are "Winning The Future" … Big Time!
And,
Sarah Palin Crushes All Comers In American Spectator Straw Poll
While not scientific, by any stretch of the imagination, they were legit polls with layers of security to keep anyone from spamming the polls. [why is why Ron Paul didn't win] They are also significant because tens of thousands voted in both the Townhall and the American Spectator polls. Significantly more votes than were cast at the recent CPAC event. Just a taste over 3000 of the nearly 11,000 who attended bothered to vote in the CPAC straw poll. The post CPAC straw poll Hot Air conducted had about the same participation.
In addition to these three polls, both Ace of Spades HQ and the Right Scoop ran polls as well. Sarah won those handily too.
This brings us to the newest, which comes to us via National Review Online. There's a bit of drama involved, but first the results:
FINAL RESULTS:
Sarah Palin ............24 %
Mitch Daniels ..........19 %
Chris Christie .........17 %
Ron Paul ................9 %
Mitt Romney .............7 %
Herman Cain .............4 %
Newt Gingrich ...........4 %
Tim Pawlenty ............4 %
Michele Bachmann ....... 3 %
Haley Barbour ...........3 %
Mike Huckabee ...........2 %
Rick Santorum ...........2 %
John Thune ..............2 %
Jon Huntsman ............1 %
Gary Johnson ............1 %
23,160 votes were cast.
Anyone who reads NRO knows it's become the "paper of record" for the GOP establishment. Not only do a bunch of squishes write for National Review, they also push squishy candidates over principled Conservatives. As candidates like Mitt Romney continue to be shunned by the Republican base, the Republican elites are scrambling to find their perfect "anyone but Palin" candidate. This reminds us of 1980, when the country clubbers were going nuts trying to find their "anyone but Reagan" candidate.
Since all of the Ruling Class' favorite "Republicans" are just a disaster waiting to happen, their media buddies in D.C. are pushing what amounts to a "flavor of the week" candidate, hoping one will stick.
NRO's editor, Rich Lowry threw this poll up, after having much of his staff write fawning, even glowing, stories about Indiana's Governor Mitch Daniels. Lowry was pushing this poll hard too. A funny thing happened on the Forum though. It seems that even readers of the National RINO weren't having it! Even though Lowry was shilling for Daniels, and talking up his lead in the poll, Sarah Palin was coming on strong.
Then Rich did something that destroyed his credibility. As Tammy Bruce tweeted:
Girl Wins, Panic Ensues MT @neilflagg Yesterday Lowry was pimping NR poll; 2day he shut it down, no mention of results http://bit.ly/gmOhW5
That's right, with no fanfare, or mention of the results, Rich just quietly shut his poll down, without announcing the results to his readership. Of course, his readers aren't stupid, and he was called out, as you will see in the link above.
This is the real story here, not the fact Sarah Palin has won yet another major straw poll. Frankly, Lowry's poll doesn't have the integrity built in as does the Townhall, Hot Air, and American Spectator polls. While those polls had layers of security, Rich's poll had none. So take the results as you will.
The fact the Republican establishment is trying so hard to create a narrative that Sarah Palin is somehow not the legitimate favorite among the party base, even if it means destroying their own credibility, is the story. We've seen some chicanery like this in other polls as well.
As we noted in our report on the American Spectator poll, most of these sites are either openly hostile to Palin, or go out of their way to post negative stories, ignoring many of the positive ones. And their readership blasts them for it too!
It says something that despite an editorial decision to push an establishment candidate, over an actual Conservative, at so many of these top so-called "conservative" websites, the readers are able to cut through the BS and see the truth.
This is encouraging. It proves Conservatives can think for themselves, and won't allow little elites in Washington, or New York City, choose their candidate for them, as has happened in the past.
Not this time.
Too much is at stake.
Shame on Rich Lowry for pulling a stunt like this.
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