Georgia GOP Congressman To Palin: “Butt Out” Of Primary Races

Doug Mataconis · · 2 comments

Congressman Jack Kingston isn’t too thrilled about the idea of Sarah Palin endorsing Republicans in primary races:

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) on Wednesday said he was perplexed by Sarah Palin’s endorsement in Georgia’s gubernatorial race and hopes the former Alaska governor stays out of future primaries. “What she’s doing is dividing the Republican Party at a time when we don’t need to be divided,” said Kingston during an interview with “America’s Morning News,” a Web radio show sponsored by the conservative magazine Human Events. Palin endorsed Karen Handel in Georgia, who narrowly lost to former Rep. Nathan Deal. Handel finished within 0.4 percent of the vote but on Wednesday chose to concede. “Why Sarah Palin decided to get in the race is beyond me,” said Kingston. “I don’t know why she feels compelled to get into primaries all over the country, but fortunately Georgia voters are doing their own thinking on things like this.” “Everyone in the race was solidly conservative, and Sarah Palin comes in and endorsed the moderate,” he said.

Kingston’s remarks don’t make very much sense to me, and it leaves me in the odd (for me) position of defending Sarah Palin.

For one thing, if “everyone in the race was solidly conservative,” as he contends, then what was the harm in Palin endorsing Handel. I didn’t follow the race that closely but to call Handel a moderate is really quite odd.

Second, Palin wasn’t the only one who endorsed in the Gubernatorial Race. Mitt Romney also endorsed Handel. Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani endorsed the eventual winner Nathan Deal.For some reason, though, Kingston focuses his ire on Palin, which seems odd because it’s quite clear that her endorsement, and her Monday campaign appearance in Atlanta, did absolutely nothing to help Handel in the runoff against Deal.