Steve Skojec

Early last week, I had a chat with a well-connected Democrat who said that the inside scoop on the McCain camp is that there is a growing disagreement between Palin and McCain on strategy, and that she’s begun to pull away and form her own alliances in hopes of a 2012 run.

This individual is trustworthy, and isn’t particularly given to hyperbole. The source of this person’s rumors included right-wing pundits who are fairly well known.

Yesterday, Hot Air reported (h/t to Joe Marier) a nearly identical rumor (coming from the Times of London) to the one I heard. While they claim it’s thinly sourced (one reason why I didn’t circulate my information widely) it corroborates so closely what I heard that I think it’s too much to chalk up to mere coincidence:

Quoth an unnamed Republican consultant: “Sarah Palin is no fool. She sees the same thing [i.e. a likely defeat] and wants to salvage what she can. She is positioning herself for the future. Her best days could be in front of her. She wants to look as though she was the fighter, the person with the spunk who was out there taking it to the Democrats.” Any reason to believe that she and McCain really are at loggerheads? Well, (a) as the Times reminds us, she’s publicly questioned the campaign’s strategy in pulling out of Michigan as well as McCain’s decision not to go after Obama on Wright, (b) while Maverick’s begun inching away from the brass knuckles approach, she’s still telling people how eager the base is to see them take the gloves off, and (c) she’s famous in Alaska for not deferring to her political patrons when she thinks there’s something to be gained from opposing them. She’s built her career on it. If she wants to go out there and take it to Obama, there’s not much McCain can do except scream at her on the phone and hope she listens.

If there’s truth to the story, well, we all know what happens to a house divided.  As Obama pulls ahead again in virtually every poll, it would seem to be a wise strategy on Palin’s part to distance herself from John “train wreck” McCain who just can’t keep a good thing going.

On that note, Palin deserves our gratitude for finally calling out Obama on abortion in a way I doubt John McCain ever would:

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin attacked Barack Obama on abortion on Saturday, saying the Democratic presidential candidate has “left behind even the middle ground on the issue of life.”

Palin said she and Republican presidential candidate John McCain would be “defenders of the culture of life.” She opposes abortion in all cases except where the pregnancy threatens the woman’s life.

Alaska’s governor also touched upon common campaign themes during her speech to about 5,000 supporters in Johnstown, but she focused on children with special needs and then abortion. Palin, whose infant son, Trig, has Down syndrome, said she and McCain would make protecting such children a priority.

“Every child has something to contribute … if we give them that chance,” she said.

Palin said it was about time that Obama was “called” on his abortion views.

“Please, it is not negative and it’s not mean-spirited to talk about his record,” she said.

In the Illinois Senate, Obama opposed legislative efforts in 2001, 2002 and 2003 to give legal protections to any aborted fetus that showed signs of life. The 2003 measure was virtually identical to a bill President Bush signed into law in 2002 that unanimously passed the U.S. Senate.

Obama and others who opposed the Illinois bill said the state already had a law to protect aborted fetuses born alive and considered able to survive. They contended that the proposed legislation would have undermined abortion rights in ways that the federal law would not.

Palin called Obama’s ideas and votes on abortion “radical.”

“In short, Sen. Obama is a politician who has long since left behind even the middle ground on the issue of life. He’s fighting with those who won’t protect a child born alive,” she said.

I think this is a smart move on her part. The world knows who she is now, setting her up for a 2012 run. If she spends the next four years brushing up on national policy issues, she could be a formidabble contender on the next go-round. Obama is a socialist radical who will, if he wins (as looks likely) preside over potentially one of the most difficult times in modern American History. His policies may be his ruin - or at the very least, may strip away the veil of hope and change and charisma that whip his supporters into messianic frenzy. He will be vulnerable in 2012, and the conservative base will have far fewer qualms voting for a re-invigorated and re-educated Palin (myself included) than we would for John McCain - unless she foolishly adopts his most controversial policies instead of establishing her own.

Some have argued that a McCain loss is the best thing that could happen for Sarah Palin’s future. I think they’re probably right.