CNN's Jack Cafferty may end up eating more than his words if Sarah Palin is elected the next president in 2012. After outlining how a current poll indicates "Obama's best hope of winning a second term just might be Alaska's dropout governor" on Tuesday's Situation Room, anchor Wolf Blitzer warned him that there's always the chance she may end up being elected. Cafferty replied, "If Sarah Palin is the next president, Wolf, I will eat this building I'm talking to you from one brick at a time" [audio clip available here].
The commentator devoted his regular 5 pm "Cafferty File" segment to a recent Politico/George Washington University poll that found that only 38% would vote to re-elect President Obama, and 44% would vote for his hypothetical opponent. Besides these poll numbers, Cafferty noted that "by double digits, they disapprove of his new health care law. They trust congressional Republicans to create jobs more than they trust Mr. Obama."
Cafferty continued with the one apparent caveat to these poll results:
CAFFERTY: Mr. Obama's best hope of winning a second term just might be Alaska's dropout governor, Sarah Palin. If the election were held today, voters say they would back the President over Palin by a nine points. Support for Palin is weak in the Midwest, the Northeast, and almost 60 percent of voters say that her actions since quitting her job as governor have made them less likely to vote for her for president. Women voters are especially negative about Palin. Fifty-four percent have an unfavorable view of her. No other Republicans tested in this poll had such high negatives among women.
After blaming the former Alaska governor for John McCain's loss in the 2008 election, the CNN commentator concluded that if Palin were the Republican nominee in 2012, just imagine if the woman who helped bring down John McCain's campaign would help to re-elect the Democratic sitting president- go figure." Cafferty turned to anchor Wolf Blitzer and asked, "That would be the mother of all ironies, wouldn't it?" Blitzer replied by citing Jimmy Carter's loss to Ronald Reagan as a "little cautionary note," which led to Cafferty's gastronomic quip.
CAFFERTY: That would be the mother of all ironies, wouldn't it?
BLITZER: Yeah, it would be, but you know what? A little cautionary note: I was speaking recently to someone who worked for Jimmy Carter back in 1980, when they were celebrating that Ronald Reagan, an actor from Hollywood, was going to get the Republican presidential nomination. They were high-fiving each other. But guess who won that contest?
CAFFERTY: If Sarah Palin is the next president, Wolf, I will eat this building I'm talking to you from one brick at a time (Blitzer laughs) and you can sit and watch-
BLITZER: Don't say that, Jack, you never know. Politics is a crazy business-
CAFFERTY: The whole Time-Warner Center- (laughs)
BLITZER: (laughs) Don't say that. That tape- it's stuck there forever. We've got that. (both Cafferty and Blitzer laugh) Jack Cafferty, thank you.
There you have it: a plausible reason to support Sarah Palin's candidacy in 2012. Maybe that will finally cure his Palin Derangement Syndrome.
