Sarah Palin, the 21st Century 'It' Girl

American Thinker ^ | 6-15-09 | Jay Valentine - OP/ED

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June 15, 2009

Sarah Palin, the 21st Century 'It' Girl

By Jay Valentine

The best and the brightest on the left go into politics.  The best on the right run their own businesses.  So it is no surprise that the left is far more adept, even expert at the art of hardball politics.  And they are telling us something profound.

The left is telling us something many feel, many find as a hunch, that Sarah Palin is the most dangerous threat to the Obama administration with no close second.  The left is telling us this by their  "over the top" attacks.  Not just the Letterman assaults, but the constant barrage of grievances filed against her in Alaska.  The attacks every day on Palin for no apparent reason -- except that the left seems to see her quite differently from any Republican candidate.  A difference of kind, not of degree.

They would never do this to Romney, Huckabee or Newt, at least not to this level.  There is a clear reason -- these guys couldn't fill up a high school stadium unless they were giving out free beer.

What is the Sarah difference?  Well, it's not the issues, at least that is not all of it.  It is the charisma factor.  Charisma is not learned, it is innate.  One is born with it and no amount of training can inject it.  Jack Kennedy had it.  So did Reagan.  Now Obama.  Out of the thousands of politicians who have come and gone over the last generation, not one other person has shown "it."

Money is no longer the life blood of politics.  Charisma is.  Charisma can raise money overnight; money far beyond what a tired, inarticulate incumbent can raise from rich donors.

When you have "it," the conventional rules no longer apply.  Reagan was vilified in 1976 and few thought he could ever be president.  No matter how the liberals berated him as a "dumb actor" who made chimp movies and the actor who never got the girl, he just looked the American people in the eye, gave them a dose of common sense and it was over.  Carter went on to build low income houses and a life of obscurity punctuated by mischief.

The street fighting, world class, lifelong political experts of the left see "it" and it makes them crazy.  They went crazy for Obama; they are going crazy for Palin, although in the other direction.

Palin could fill a stadium if she were reciting a cookbook.  But she isn't.  She is delivering common sense to an electorate that is becoming ever more jaded every day with the Obama nonsense.  Miranda rights for terrorists?  $4 trillion deficit? 

Look at the blow she delivered with one phrase about "styrofoam columns" and imagine what she can do with the material Obama has recently given her.

Opposing Palin's values has no payoff for the left.  They oppose those values for any conservative.  They have to destroy her.  And that is her power because they can't destroy her. 

Whenever she chooses, she will take her first trip to Iowa to campaign for some obscure congressional candidate, and when she does, the liberal media cannot ignore the screaming crowds.  And they will not be crowds manufactured by an advance team.  They will be fired up mothers, working people who do not want to pay for deadbeats' mortgages, people who are now going to grass roots tea parties.

The television age gives "it," charisma, more power than ever before.  Charisma is magnified through television.  How else to explain how a 2 year senator few knew could derail Hillary in a few months.  How else to explain how an anti-charisma John McCain, someone television does not flatter or magnify, saw his crowds surge when Palin was next to him.  Palin, an obscure, unknown governor of our most distant and most unknown state, walked onto the national stage and ignited a burst of energy that may well have taken McCain over the top, until his Queeg-like pausing of his campaign to work on a financial crisis and then vote for a bailout.

The landscape is now quite different.  There are tens of millions of people who never voted for Obama, telling their friends "don't blame me."  There is a growing number who did vote for Obama who have lost their jobs at car dealerships, who have not found work yet even after the massive spending, and there are those who just say "...this is not the change I had in mind."

Some thought McCain would be the anti-charisma candidate against the charisma candidate and that would work.  Now we may be lining up for the common sense charisma campaign against the nonsense charisma.

The left is telling us something and they are the experts.  They are telling us not to make Palin the conservative candidate because if we do, it will be humiliating.  I agree with them and I take them at their word. 

It will be the undoing of Obama, and it may be overwhelming.

Jay Valentine blogs at jayvalentine.com.

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/06/sarah_palin_the_21st_century_i.html at June 15, 2009 - 01:24:27 AM EDT

[Billthedrill]

The left...are telling us not to make Palin the conservative candidate because if we do, it will be humiliating.

Yeah, Tina Fey may mug at the camera a few times on SNL. I'm so afraid.

The Left is doing this to themselves. Without the constant ridicule she'd be just another Governor; with it she's the frontrunner by default. I made that point to a friend day before yesterday who scoffed at the notion she was being treated any differently from any other politician. "Oh, yeah?" I asked him. "So how many children does the Governor of Washington have?" Stone silence. (It's two, incidentally).

Sarah Palin is not running for President. Yet. And three more years of this is three more years of free publicity. I'm not going to try to talk them out of it.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Who else on the right does the left go after with such mouth frothing intensity, other than Sarah Palin?

If they were running, the left would go after Lt-Col (ret) Oliver North, Curtis Sliwa, and perhaps Rush Limbaugh just as hard and with just as much vitriol. And they would certainly score points because none of these three have any political or corporate experience — whereas Sarah Palin has it in double-handfuls.

Bobby Jindal, perhaps? They’d go after him hard, too.

The right isn’t short of talent: not by a long shot. It just hasn’t been deployed intelligently since, well, since Reagan’s time. Although GWB did a very good job, to be fair.

[Habibi]

“things that make me upset is referring to Governor Sarah Palin as a “girl””

Well, you musn’t let that get to you. This sort of misogenism is cookbook liberal election fare. You can take offense if you wish, but you’ll be in a straight jacket by the time the elections rolls around. Take all of this “arm waving” with an eye to its street theater roots.
None of this is personal, or even real. It’s simply an exercise over who the left wants to destroy today.

Personally I’m not sure Palin is the one. I think she’s working that out right now. Is she a worthy successor to Reagan? Remember, Reagan’s communicative powers may well have been exceeded by his intellect, though no one knew that before the election. What concerns me, is that we’re not seeing other Republicans testing out the waters. We should have some more choices, but the Republican party seems to be somewhat rudderless at present. No matter, she’s an interesting possibility if no one else steps forward.

[hattend]

Charisma can raise money overnight; money far beyond what a tired, inarticulate incumbent can raise from rich donors.

Especially when a majority of it comes in from overseas with no accounting of from whom and how much.

It's good to be king.

[TheFourthMagi]

Actually, most Americans are against the Iraq War.

It is a losing issue at the ballot box.

[EDINVA]

“They would never do this to Romney, Huckabee or Newt, at least not to this level.”

The writer forgets Newsweek and Time after the ‘94 elections .. “The Gingrich Who Stole Christmas” etc ... Newt was a threat then and they were determined to take him down .. and they did (with a lot of help from Newt himself).

[2ndDivisionVet]

Here are some of David Letterman’s sponsors:

Aveeno https://www.aveeno.com/contact-us.jsp;jsessionid=ICzq9MKfCJMvYNQPalV7EWJ+CJY

Canon http://www.usa.canon.com/templatedata/AboutCanon/ciwofloc.html

Citibank https://online.citibank.com/US/JRS/portal/contactus.do

Downey (Owned by P&G) http://www.downy.com/en_US/contactus.jsp

Hellman’s https://secure.hellmanns.com/contact_us.aspx

Lexus (Owned by Toyota) http://www.lexus.com/contact/

Nissan Motors http://www.nissanusa.com/apps/contactus

Rogaine http://www.rogaine.com/men/contact-us

Ambien CR https://contactus.sanofi-aventis.us/default.aspx

bing.com (Owned by Microsoft) https://feedback.discoverbing.com/default.aspx?mkt=en-us&productkey=bingweb&brand=&&locale=en-US&P1=dsathome&P2=&P3=0&P4=&P5=5462F211BC1D4717B52B5B14CB670F99&P6=Needham,%20Massachusetts&P7=Original&P8=&P9=42.285999/-71.233001&P10=24902.0&P11=&P12=&searchtype=Web%20Search&optl1=1&backurl=http://www.bing.com:80/?FORM=FEEDTU&scrx=1

Chase https://www.chase.com/ccp/index.jsp?pg_name=ccpmapp/shared/assets/page/contactus

Ford http://www.fordvehicles.com/help/contact/

Hotels.com http://www.hotels.com/faqs.do?reqType=getQuestions&cmsFaqId=

Listerene (Johnson & Johnson) https://www.listerine.com/contact-us.jsp;jsessionid=o9dUC7PE892Iut-YH7ibH32Z1Wk

Mazda http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/emailMazda.action

Old Navy (Owned by The Gap) http://oldnavy.gap.com/customerService/info.do?cid=3332&mlink=5151,1004621,3&clink=1004621

Samsung http://www.samsung.com/us/info/contactus.html

T-Mobile http://www.t-mobile.com/Contact.aspx

Also if you haven’t yet filed a complaint at the FCC:

http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm

Channel and time: CBS at 11:30 p.m. Monday June 8th (rape joke), Tuesday 9th (prostitute joke)

CBS Feedback;
http://www.cbs.com/info/user_services/fb_global_form

[HiTech RedNeck]

Or, we could put it, to The HIMness. The HIMness itself is a puppet creation with no appreciable mind of its own.

[HiTech RedNeck]

If we can’t get anyone else of conservative stature to approach the GOP Prez ticket for 2012, say Jindal, it’s gonna have to be her. In these times, we can’t afford a “who sucks more” contest to give us Four More Years Of Obama.

[ballplayer]

It was about Hating America his entire life and getting his chance to get EVEN . REPARATIONS

[rabidralph]

Bank it!

[snowrip]

Actually, most Americans are against the Iraq War.

Wrong.

In poll after poll, the overwhelming majority of Americans want to see the war finished (as in "won"). The fools who are "against the war" and would have us withdraw are, thankfully, few in number.

[Rappini]

What some folks refuse to understand is if we don’t fight the Terrorists and be victorious on their Turf then we will be fighting them on ours.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Yep, the governor has the “X” Factor fer sure, something sorely lacking in all the other GOP contenders. You should see and hear her in person! The cameras do NOT do her justice!

[GraceCoolidge]

You know, I just saw a screen shot of the top 10 list with the flight attendant crack, and something else jumped out at me that I hadn't noticed before. It also said on her trip to NYC, Sarah Palin also "finally met one of those Jewish people Mel Gibson's always talking about."

Unbelievable! I think "those Jewish people" is a phrase Reverend Wright prefers, not one used by Sarah Palin!

[ken21]

ditto.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

They would never do this to Romney, Huckabee or Newt, at least not to this level. There is a clear reason -- these guys couldn't fill up a high school stadium unless they were giving out free beer.

[ponygirl]

Have delt with a few loons earlier on FR who don’t want to see a Conservative like Gov. Palin win. They are pushing their no win third party loons. These trolls are the Democrats best friend.

I'm not convinced those trolls are true Repubs or even FReepers. I think they are trolls sent by the left to try and plant the seeds of negativity about Palin. They've done it for every other candidate. They're the "Seminar Callers" of Free Republic.

[ponygirl]

Unbelievable! I think "those Jewish people" is a phrase Reverend Wright prefers, not one used by Sarah Palin!

And if we don't stop them, the phrase will soon be attributed to Palin, not Letterman. Just like everyone now thinks she actually said she could see Russia from her house.

[Vigilanteman]

For the record, Joe Biden had two freaking years of experience as city council member for New Castle, Delaware while he was elected to the U.S. Senate back when McCain was still a guest at the Hanoi Hilton.

Biden is supposed to be the face of experience in Obummer's administration. They told us that he was specifically picked to appeal to our key demographic in southwest Pennsylvania-- blue collar, Roman Catholic and many retired people because Biden was actually raised in Pennsylvania.

The actual result:

With two weeks notice of a mid-day rally, Biden could not even fill a medium-sized high school gym in our county seat. The media would not even show crowd shots because there were so many empty seats. All they would show were shots of the "amen chorus" behind the speaker and describe the crowd as "about 500." Most of the 500 were press and the "amen chorus" bussed in for the free event.

Meanwhile, Sarah had over 3000 people turn out with 24 hours notice to a 6 a.m. airport rally about 10 miles away. What few press covered the event couldn't beleive the contrast.

When the votes were counted, Obummer barely cracked 42% in a county which Mondale carried in the Reagan landslide of 1984.