Well, the usual suspects have been at it again in trashing Governor Palin. We had Jennifer Rubin, the resident ‘conservative’ at the Washington Post today, and Steve Schmidt and Matthew Dowd over the weekend. Schmidt went on Bill Maher’s show, his new BFF, and acted like, well, Steve Schmidt. No other explanation is needed. Dowd did his usual hit on This Week and felt it necessary to lie about her. He stated that CPAC has no credibility in inviting Governor Palin to speak because she wasn’t even competent enough to keep her FOX contract. Oh, where to begin. Everyone knows the Gov was offered another contract with FOX, but she declined it, as she wanted to head in another direction. Yes, Dowd is a tool, but I’m willing to bet he has heard of the internets, so he knew this, as well. So, we can only conclude he is a dishonest, classless jerk. But, what do you expect from a liberal, Vichy Republican who was mesmerized by Obama in 2008?
This latest round of attacks on the Gov got me thinking. You can really tell a lot about someone by who they seek approval from. So, this begs the question, whose approval are these people seeking? I think the best way to answer that question is to summarize DC culture. It has been said for years that DC is Hollywood for ugly people. In turn, it has been said that Hollywood is just like high school. Therefore, I think it’s safe to say that DC is just like high school. There are the cool kids, and those who are there want to sit with the cool kids in the cafeteria. Instead of wanting to be invited to the popular kid’s epic 5 keg bash while his parents are in Europe for 2 weeks, these people in DC want to be invited to one of Carl Bernstein’s lame wine and cheese parties in Georgetown or to a dinner party at Paul Krugman’s on the Upper West Side. And we all know that to be in the good graces of this crowd, you have to behave and think a certain way. Being a conservative is out of the question. You can be a Republican, but you you have to be ‘reasonable.’ You have to be moderate, not subscribe to any labels, and if you trash conservatives like Governor Palin, you may just get a bid into their club. In fact, you may get fast-tracked.
So, why do the Schmidts, Dowds, and Rubins want the approval of people you and I wouldn’t spend five minutes minutes with even if someone paid us eleventy billion dollars? Insecurity probably has something to do with it. Lack of principles and a core probably has something else to do with it, too. Some many people are in that town, for money, publicity, and access to power. As Governor Palin has said, what most of us see as a cesspool, they see as a hot tub. Conservatism is a threat to that, so someone like her has to be stopped. The PPC did the same thing to Reagan, so she is in good company.
Now, let’s contrast Governor Palin to these yahoos in DC. Whose approval does Governor Palin seek? Well, when she was a public servant, it was the people she was serving. Since July, 2009, when she has been out of office, it has been the people she speaks for- us. There is her own story in Going Rogue how when she was Mayor of Wasilla, she would call a constituent once a week and ask them what kind of a job they thought she was doing. She didn’t ask the machine how she was doing. And, she famously declared in her 2008 RNC acceptance speech that she was not going to DC to seek the approval of the elites and PPC, but to serve the people of this county.
I think there are two great recent examples of how Governor Palin has stayed true to who she is, and not sought the approval of the wrong people. The first is when she ran for Governor. We all know she ran against the establishments of both parties. When she became Governor, she stayed true to that. We have all seen what happens to some when they get to office. They talk a great game when running, but they change when they get there. They want to be part of the in crowd, so they don’t rock the boat, in fear they won’t be admitted to the club. Then they start thinking, ‘hey, a little government growth isn’t so bad. All my new friends are saying that.’ Governor Palin never fell victim to that. She continued to rock the boat and do what she said she would do when she campaigned. When everyone around her was spending money like a drunken sailor, she cut spending. That was not what the cool kids were doing, but she never cared about their approval, anyways. She was serving the people.
The other example is when she left office. Many in the conservative DC establishment were calling to give her advice on what to do next. Clearly, they wanted to groom her and make them one of their own. A lesser person would have said ‘how great is this?! The popular kids like me!’ She didn’t do that. She said thanks, but no thanks. And I really think it’s because she would not have been able to live with herself if she did, even though that would have been the easy way out for her. They were going to try to turn her into something she was not, and she would have been betraying the people she has advocated for for the past 2 decades. It takes guts, moral clarity, and a comfort in one’s own skin to reject overtures from the in crowd, especially when they are making you promises and whispering sweet nothings in your ear. I’m glad she has stayed who she is. As I said, you can tell a lot about a person by whose approval they seek.
Great post!
Bump that to the top