Gov. Sarah Palin is toying with the reeling leaderless Republican Party. The months-long “feud” between Palin and two GOP campaign committees that asked her and then didn’t ask her to appear at a fund raising dinner tonight is reaching new heights of absurdity.
On Saturday, Palin was told she would not be able to address the crowd at the dinner, an annual event put on by both the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. After having gotten this news, Palin was likely to skip the fundraiser altogther, Politico’s Jonathan Martin reported.
Now, though, the governor may attend after all. Greg Sargent reports that Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, who heads the NRCC, is working hard to get Palin reinvited to the fundraiser. And a Fox News report quotes an anonymous Republican source who said, “We don’t expect her… But with (Palin), you never know. She may just show up… We’ll say nice things about her… But she’s so unpredictable. She just thought she could swoop in.”
Not to be outplayed by mere Lower Forty-Eight GOP hacks, Palin has already swooped in: She did a runaround, giving an interview to Fox’s Sean Hannity that is scheduled to be broadcast during the fundraiser.
For now, Newt Gingrich is scheduled to give the speech in Palin’s place. Gingrich, of course, is a pretty good stand-in for the party’s controversial straight-talkin,’ skirt-wearin’ Alaskan leader because Palin has recently taken to plagiarizin’ Gingrich up there in the land she thought beyond the reaches of the Huffington Post’s liberal media elite. It is not!
To recap: the GOP is being forced to choose tonight between two not-great leaders who would give one not-great speech. What a night!
** A (very important) UPDATE: Palin has deigned to attend the fundraiser. Although she hasn’t been invited to speak (Gingrich after all will be delivering the speech she would have stolen), she reportedly will be “recognized in some way.” Maybe she’ll finally be awarded that NRA “Alaskan Hunter” assault rifle in a special ceremony.
