Sarah Palin

By Alan Fisher in Americas on October 19th, 2011
Phot by EPA

The US Republican Party is trying very hard. It wants to beat Barack Obama in the US Presidential  election 13 months from now; it believes with the economy in the mess it’s in, with unemployment rising and people finding every day a little bit harder, that the man who won the last election at a canter is vulnerable. They believe he can be a one-term president.

They just can’t agree who should be the candidate.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has tried before and failed. This time he has led the polls for a while, but still the Republicans cast around looking for other figures who are chased and hounded for days only to announce that it’s not for them this time.

We have flavours of the month. Michelle Bachmann, the Congresswoman from Minnesota, has been very popular with the so called Tea Party activists, the right wing of the Republican movement who so adored Sarah Palin.

By Camille Elhassani in Americas on October 26th, 2010

With less than one week to go before voters line up at precincts across the nation to cast their ballots for congress, candidates and their surrogates are blasting the airwaves and rallies because in races this tight, every vote counts. But a new poll out by Gallup found the widest enthusiasm gap among voters since the 1994 wave swept 54 Democrats out of office in the House of Representatives.

Bill Clinton was president then, and is trying this year to prevent a repeat of 1994. He's barnstorming across the country for embattled Democrats. By November 2, Election Day Clinton will have made more than 100 campaign stops. Vice-President Joe Biden and First Lady Michelle Obama continue their efforts as well.

Republicans have Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain out on the stump in places like California and West Virginia. And Sarah Palin continues to put her muscle behind Tea Party candidates.

By Cath Turner in Americas on February 5th, 2010
Tami and Robert Kilmarx, who say they quit Tea Party Nation in disgust

The Tea Party movement is driven by two powerful emotions: anger and fear.

The groups are angry about big government, big spending, big taxes and progressive policies under the Obama administration.  And they're fearful of losing their values, their freedom and their rights.

Dozens of Tea Party groups have popped up across the United States, and you can see their strength in numbers when they co-ordinate mass rallies and protests.  And now we're starting to see their power on the political scene.  Once they decide to throw their weight behind a candidate, the Tea Partiers have proven they're capable of influencing an election outcome.

Most Tea Partiers want to stay politically separate from both the Republicans and the Democrats but their values and beliefs naturally align them more to the Republicans.

By Rob Reynolds in Americas on November 17th, 2009
Photo by AFP

Back in the spotlight, former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin sat down with talkshow queen Oprah Winfrey on Monday, promoting a new autobiography and perhaps relaunching her political career.

In a mostly rather bland interview, Winfrey, a vocal supporter of Barack Obama in 2008, asked few probing questions, instead spending much of the hour-long show discussing Palin’s family life, relationship with husband Todd, and experiences as the mother of a baby with Down Syndrome.

There was little talk of policy, with Palin offering up such vague but patriotic-sounding nuggets as: “I'm gonna fight for whats good for America from a different plane and that’s what I am doing.”

Palin’s folksy style energised conservatives in last year’s campaign. Her blockbuster speech was the highlight of the otherwise grim gathering of Republicans at the National Convention in St Paul, Minnesota,

By Rob Reynolds in Americas on August 22nd, 2009

August is the steamiest of months and normally a somnolent time in the US.

Vacations, county fairs, trips to the beach, days by the lake, grilling hot dogs on a stick - these are the happy trifles that Americans have come to expect at summer's end.
 
But this year August has been the month of rage.
 
In made-for-television "town hall meetings" across the country, grey-haired white men and women in t-shirts stand and hurl abuse at their Congress members and senators, snarling and shouting - their eyes popping apoplectically and choking with anger.

People have waved signs depicting Barack Obama, the US president, as Adolf Hitler with a toothbrush moustache, or with a hammer and sickle on his forehead.

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