Sarah Palin's 'mama grizzlies' have tough summer: Is she losing her touch?
Sarah Palin has endorsed conservative candidates in dozens of Republican primaries this year. But her chosen office-seekers have been mostly unsuccessful. Has Sarah Palin lost touch with the Republican primary voters who make up her base?
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Indeed, frustration with Palin has seemed to be growing, as she has waded into state races and challenged the national party's preferred candidates.
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She has defied Republican campaign committees' picks in favor of longshots, such as investor Brian Murphy in Maryland. Murphy is running against former Gov. Bob Ehrlich in the Sept. 14 primary.
Ehrlich publicly brushed off that surprise endorsement, saying it was "not terribly relevant to anything that we've planned to do or are going to do."
Palin remains a unifying figure – for Democrats.
She is a favorite target of mockery for her messages on Twitter using colorful language such as "cackle of rads" and "refudiate." EMILY's List, a political organization that aims to elect women who back abortion rights, this week launched a "Sarah Doesn't Speak for Me" campaign in the hopes of building its membership as well as painting Palin's candidates as extremists.
"We didn't want Sarah Palin's voice to go unchallenged," said Stephanie Schriock, the organization's president.
The group recorded a Web video of women dressed as bears who repeated similar themes.
Palin responded ó by Facebook, of course – with the folksy sarcasm that her supporters find refreshing and her detractors find grating. "First, ladies, it's hard to take a critic seriously when they lecture you wearing a bear suit," Palin said, following that with a putdown invoking two of her five children. "I'd love to know where you got those get-ups. Halloween is just around the corner, and Piper and Trig would look adorable as little grizzly bears."
She's joined another presidential prospect, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, in backing Joe Miller's longshot challenge to Republican Sen. Murkowski in Tuesday's Alaska primary. Miller is also endorsed by the Tea Party Express, a California-based group that's been hitting the airwaves and holding rallies. That group claims at least partial credit for upset wins in other states – Sharron Angle in Nevada and Mike Lee in Utah.
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