Posted 07:10 PM ET
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin stumps for Republican Senate candidate John Raese on Oct. 30, 2010, in Charleston W. Va. AP View Enlarged Image
Congress: The GOP establishment — and some conservative pundits — ridiculed Sarah Palin for backing rough-edged Tea Party challengers over establishment figures. Recent congressional votes prove her right.
Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell was lampooned, caricatured as a dolt and a fanatic, and accused of everything from money laundering to witchcraft during her campaign for Vice President Joe Biden's old U.S. Senate seat in Delaware this year.
What could have gotten into former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was instrumental in getting O'Donnell the GOP nod over moderate at-large Rep. Mike Castle, a former governor and shoo-in for the open seat?
Well, guess who just voted with the House of Representatives' lame-duck Democratic majority to ignore military concerns and repeal "don't ask, don't tell"? "Republican" Mike Castle did.
Guess who just voted for the Dream Act, which would have granted amnesty and instant eligibility for welfare and government education benefits to millions of illegal aliens, costing the taxpayers tens of billions of dollars? "Republican" Mike Castle did.
Charles Krauthammer, a national treasure among syndicated columnists and IBD regular, seriously questioned Palin's judgment in backing O'Donnell. "Castle voted against ObamaCare and the stimulus," Krauthammer noted in September. "Yes, he voted for cap-and-trade. That's batting .667."
But having lost both the Senate nomination and his House seat — won in November by Democratic former Lt. Gov. John Carney — the lame-duck session is lowering Castle's batting average.
It's clear that whatever eccentricities O'Donnell exhibited, none would have compelled her to vote for either of these appalling bills. Or for the half-baked New START nuclear disarmament treaty that the Obama administration is demanding the Senate blindly ratify without fully knowing what it would do, absurdly claiming that our national security lies in the balance.
Also supporting New START was Alaska's just re-elected GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski: one of President Obama's "biggest supporters in the Senate in the past week," according to National Journal.
Murkowski, the Journal Web site's Hotline On Call noted, "supported the president's position on the Senate's four biggest votes since last Wednesday," voting with fellow Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, a liberal Democrat, "in favor of the tax cut compromise and to invoke cloture on the New START treaty, the Dream Act and the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'"
Palin this year saw to it that Tea Party-backed Joe Miller wrenched the Republican Senate nomination away from Murkowski, whose corrupt father was ousted from the governor's mansion by Palin in 2006.
Liberal voters helped Murkowski win a write-in campaign against GOP nominee Miller in the general election. But Miller clearly would have voted against the Dream Act, the "don't ask" repeal and New START — while likely voting for a tax-cut extension deal.
Then there's the much-derided Sharron Angle, GOP Senate nominee for Nevada this year and another Tea Party citizen-politician endorsed by Palin. So hated was she that an ABC-TV host repeatedly used a profanity on-air to describe the gaffe-prone Angle.
But whatever the former teacher and state assemblywoman's flaws, a win over her opponent, Harry Reid, who will continue as Senate majority leader next year, might have stopped him from joining with soon-to-be ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to enact a radical postelection, lame-duck agenda.
The lesson: When Mama Grizzly roars, maybe the Beltway know-it-alls should listen.
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