David Frum does not like Sarah Palin. He hasn’t liked her pretty much since he heard her name, or at least since he laid eyes on her, or at least since she was nominated as V.P. candidate, or at least since she didn’t go away and hibernate in Alaska.
David Frum Republicans also do not like Sarah Palin. Never did, never will.
So the latest criticism of Palin by Frum borders on the absurd, Is Palin Alienating Israel’s GOP Friends?
By Israel’s GOP Friends Frum means the Republican Jewish Coalition. I have no problem with the RJC, but Frum’s argument that Palin alienated the RJC by not booking her trip to Israel through the RJC appears to be wishful thinking by Frum:
Over the months since November 2008, the RJC had repeatedly offered to organize an Israel tour for Palin. They have repeatedly invited Palin to speak at their meetings. As a member of the RJC board, I know that Palin’s team engaged in extended conversations about these invitations. Yet they were abruptly shelved. The RJC organization learned that its invitation would not be accepted the same way everybody else did: by reading the newspaper.
Why? We cannot know for certain. But we do know this: Some members of the RJC board — including me, and one or two others — have publicly said critical things about Palin.
The seeming result: Palin decided the RJC was dead to her.
Which is of course her prerogative.
But normally candidates are in the business of adding to the number of their friends — including converting former non-friends into new friends. Candidates seek to broaden their basis of support. They are more interested in future successes than in past irritations.
Successful candidates are strategic. They may hold grudges, but they do not reveal their grudges. And they do not act on their grudges against their own best interests….
As I mentioned, I’m an RJC board member myself. I’ve been a Palin critic, but until now most of my colleagues have disagreed with me. Yet, once again, Palin seems to focus her energy on proving her critics right.
Even as a non-fan, I have to say: It all seems so sadly unnecessary.
Sorry, but I find it hard to believe that the people at the RJC — other than the Frum Republicans — really are so upset that Palin’s private trip after her stop in India was organized by Palin.
Really, are the folks there so petty that they will let their egos get in the way, as Frum suggests? I think Palin’s unwavering support for Israel, and the symbolism which accompanied the trip, will count for a lot more than how she booked her trip.
Alex Pareene at Salon.com picks up on the Frum criticism (emphasis mine):
Sarah Palin can’t even do the routine Israel trip without pissing off some important would-be ally. This is more evidence that if Sarah Palin is serious about running for president, she’s not going about it in the traditional — which is to say “professional” — manner. It’ll just be her and her crack team of loyalists, led by Todd, against the establishment and the world.
Pareene gets the “pissing off” part wrong, but the non-traditional part right.
Palin cannot lose the support of the Frum Republicans, because the support never was there to begin with.
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