Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

"I'm sure that all the other Palin supporters will do everything they can to help Ed succeed."

I'll help him all that I can. Which way did he get in?

I commend you, Professor. "For me or against me," is even scriptural. I am tired of nuance and sophistication.

Professor, I've been following your blog for a while now and I suspect there is precious little we'd disagree on, but Michele Bachmann is NOT ready for prime time. Her answers are slow and wooden when questioned. She cannot deviate from the talking points without making me wince. Ed Rollins is the least of her problems.

I'm also with you. I "unliked" Michelle Bachman's facebook page and posted on my facebook (to my family and friends, obviously) why I did it. I WILL NOT support her as long as Ed Rollins is on her team. He is divisve, he is bitter, and not only does he spit in the face of Palin supporters but of all real conservatives with these attacks that weaken the Republican candidates.

I unliked her page already.

She hired him knowing who and what he was.

That told me all I needed to know.

I'll make it even simpler .....the enemy is not each other ( Republicans ) The enemy is obama and only obama I will not support Republicans who bash the party or other Republicans .....simple enough. We have enough to do to boot obama's goofy ass out of the white house

I absolutely agree on this point. Palin and Bachmann will both have a hard enough time being bashed by the media and the Libs. Standing together while making their own case for their strengths in leadership is a much better strategy than merely denigrating the rest of the field. In fact, the best Republican strategy is for all of the candidates to be very respectful of their peers and the end result will be unified support of a well qualified candidate going into 2012. Don't do the Dems job for them.

I don't know about this one Prof. Jacobson.

Yes, Rollins did open up with a shot across the bow to Palin, which was in bad taste given her support base and the fact that neither Palin nor Bachmann have announced a run yet.

However, on the other side of things there IS something to be said for having the guy who ran the national campaign that won the 4th largest landslide of electoral votes in history (Reagan [1984] following only Washington, Monroe and Roosevelt [1936]), the first successful campaign to unseat a sitting Speaker of the House (Tom Foley) and the 2008 win of Huckabee of Iowa on a shoe-string and a piece of chewing gum (see my other post today about Ethanol, the FairTax, and Democrat shenanigans of party crossing in open primaries).

I like Palin. I think she would make a fantastic president. But her negatives right out of the gate are so high as to give me a nose bleed. Rollins knows that, and he has no scruples about using it, because he subscribes to the "win" theory of election politics. Plus, it kind of lets Bachmann play good-cop to Rollins' seemingly "attack dog" stance.

Ultimately I think some of it is Rollins' personality, and some of it is political theater. But honestly, I don't see him going anywhere.

I don't see him winning any friends at all for Bachmann and I think he has already cost her thousands of voters who would have selected her if Palin is not in the race. I haven't seen a single post any where where someone said --I was not a Bachmann fan until Rollins came along. Has anyone else seen one?

I can't cite chapter and verse, but Rollins has been a bitter bomb thrower for a long time now. 1984 is ancient history. As soon as I heard that Bachmann had hired Rollins, I struck her off my list--and she had been on it. Even before he attacked Palin, I knew I couldn't trust Bachmann's judgment because she put him on her team. I will never vote for someone in a primary who has Rollins on his or her team. It would be very hard for me to do it in a general.

You really think Rollins deserves ANY credit for 1984? Reagan versus Mondale? MONDALE?!

Chuck Skinner makes fair points, but in my view Ed Rollins represents all that is terribly wrong with mainstream Republicans. His public bomb throwing against fellow GOPers disqualifies him from working with any candidate seeking Tea Party support. That Bachmann didn't know this, or take it into consideration, tells me she is an amateur and won't be anyone I could support during the primary season. She's now on the same list with Newt. Embarrassing to watch self-destruct.

Since they're paying attention to you and I can't find an email access point that looks like it might not be controlled by minions of ED, I'm going to say what my reaction to what this ex-Democrat operative has to say as a representative of Ms. Bachmann:

WHAT THE PROFESSOR SAID!

To Ed Rollins (D) Shy thead:
STFU AND GTFO!

WE don't appreciate ex-Dem operatives (no matter how big a donor list they bring with them) using Republican campaigns to cast aspersions on the ONLY Republican that's actually kept their promises and made a difference in the political and economic disaster that's occurring in D.C.

If you keep this moron, you lose my vote (if Sarah doesn't run)!

Bachmann was crossed off my list when I heard that her people were saying that she was like Palin ... but with brains. This was BEFORE Ed Rollins came on the scene. That Bachmann did not smack down her people was entirely instructive. At that point, she became persona non grata with me, and I'll not support her at all.

Yes.

I admire you for staying this long professor. She already lost me. When she hired Rollins she lost any credibility with the Tea Party. She's just another Washington insider against "We the People."

Bachmann's people in IA and SC, and probably other states as well, have been engaging in Palin-bashing long before Rollins showed up. Bachmann hired Rollins knowing full well that Rollins has engaged in Palin-bashing for the last 3 years, and has even bashed Bachmann herself as well.

When Bachmann first started making noise about running, some said that she was just a stalking horse for Romney or some other establishment candidate, hoping to syphon votes away from Palin. I dismissed that idea then, but now it looks like they may have been right. I believe Bachmann to be nothing but a political opportunist, with no legislative accomplishments, who has latched onto the TEA Party just to advance herself.