I mean, really. I know she can be entertaining in a perverse sort of way, such as in one looks at her with a kind of macabre fascination; but when will the people on the right wing who are serious about addressing this country's problems inform the Palin dupes that the joke is over?
I have never seen a more shocking joke of a serious national political figure in my life. I mean, I get that she taps into the populist frustrations of a certain terrified and angry right wing, but there is fundamentally nothing at all redeeming or attractive about Sarah Palin as a viable governing authority.
My friends on the right wing, almost all of whom are equally embarrassed and appalled by her, constantly tell me how disastrous Palin is to the values and ideals they believe in and hold. So, in that sense, I'm not really worried about Palin's chances in any head-to-head election with Obama (or any other Democratic candidate); but I am, shall I say, more than worried about what the Palin phenomenon is revealing about our culture.
I though conservatives loathed the idea of victim-politics; but it's abundantly clear that victimization is all that Palin is about. In fact, she's the noisiest and most blatantly pandering caterer to the victimization and resentment culture that this country has seen in a long while. Doesn't that become weary to conservatives after a while? I'm just askin' ...
I'll admit since reading her autobiograpy I have warmed to Palin considerably on a personal and political level. I think she has an important role to play in the conservative movement and I don't want her to go away. I'm not embarrassed or apalled by her, I just don't think she is Presidential material.
ReplyDeleteIt is looking increasingly likely that she will run, and if she does I believe she's got a good shot at winning the Republican primary. Her odds of winning the general election aren't very good, at least not against Obama's current polling numbers, but if his unfavorables get in the 60% range (which would put him on parity with Palin) it could turn into a horse race.
So to me the real question is: could Obama be polling that poorly between now and November of next year? I think it's unlikely, but just barely so. Consider that Bush had a 63% approval rating in June 2003 vs Obama's 50% approval rating right now (per Gallup) and Kerry (a candidate about as unlikeable as Palin, albeit for wholly different reasons) came very close to beating Bush a year later.
Ultimately, if the choice is between Palin and Obama, I'll choose Palin... but neither one is very likely to lead our nation to come to terms with the harsh truths that it needs to face.
For that job, at this point, I like Tim Pawlenty. Unfortunately for him, the GOP seems to have lost interest in white men. I joked (but only sorta) with a friend the other day that if Pawlenty had the exact same record, resume, and demeanor he currently holds, but instead was a hot lesbian Hispanic... he'd be the frontrunner by a wide margin.
"I have never seen a more shocking joke of a serious national political figure in my life."
ReplyDeleteWell, if we just limit the pool of shocking jokes to politicians who ran for Vice President in one election cycle and then tried to win their party's nomination for President during the next cycle, you tell me who's a bigger joke, Palin or this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dm7IvEyl8U&feature=related
Eric - Yes, that preening Edwards is a joke (and I have to admit that I didn't always think that way about the man, but I didn't know him like I do now). But here's the difference: now that the cat is out of the bag about the farce that is Edwards, he's toast; but the farce that is Palin, which is abundantly evident to any who really look at her, makes her golden among a certain bunch of people. We know who Palin is now and how she operates. We know how she plays the victim card at the slightest criticism. We know that she not only lies, but can't even admit to an error when she fumbles and bumbles. We know that her curiosity about the world is almost nil. We know that she glories in her celebrity and cares almost nothing about policy or issues -- at least not in any deep and meaningful way beyond sound bites. And in spite of all that, she makes many people, and even some smart people like you, buy the snake-oil she is selling. I just don't get it. I promise you, Eric, if there were a liberal candidate (or political personality) who pranced and danced and behaved like Palin, I'd be just as appalled and turned off by such a farce.
ReplyDelete