Greetings again from Miami, where I have a new story up about Sarah Palin's appearance before the Republican governors:
The theme of this meeting of the Republican Governors Association is that, after the GOP's loss of the White House, the House, and the Senate, power in the party has now settled firmly among the nation's 23 Republican governors. If you're a Republican member of Congress, how much can you really get done? If you're the Republican president, how many days do you have left? But if you're a Republican governor -- well, you're where the action is.
And it just so happens that, for the purposes of this gathering, Sarah Palin isn't the losing vice-presidential candidate on the Republican ticket. She's the governor of Alaska, and now, just eight days after standing on stage with John McCain to concede defeat, she is here at the Intercontinental Hotel talking about the future.
"On the federal level, we are now the minority party, but let us resolve not to become the negative party" Palin told her fellow governors, along with assorted party activists and lobbyists. "Americans will be looking to their governors."
And looking for what? To hear Palin, as well as the other governors tell it, voters will be looking for future GOP leaders who are not like current GOP leaders. Here at the conference, when a speaker denounces "Washington DC," he or she is politely referring to Republicans in Washington DC. Hence, Palin said, "Washington DC leaders spent public money in disregard of the public interest, just like the opponents they used to criticize." And Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, said Americans want "the kind of leadership that you see displayed by Republican governors -- not necessarily what you see in Washington DC." The dirtiest words here in Miami are "Washington DC values."
Now that Republicans are on the outs, they have decided that outside is the place to be.
