Posted on 07/06/2009 7:38:31 PM PDT by lpmorrow
SARAH PALIN, UNBOUND
by Laurie Morrow and Ed Morrow
Striving mightily to stay at the head of the torch- and pitchfork-bearing mob pursuing the Monster Palin, Maureen Dowd, in her latest column, has added a new charge to the standard assaults on the Alaska Governor. On top of being too folksy, too pretty, too dull-witted, and too conservative, Palin is crazy. Miss Dowd knows this is true because she read it in Vanity Fair. Using a fashion magazine notorious for its anti-Republican bent as her medical authority, Dowd cattily describes Palin as “one nutty puppy.” She diagnoses the Governor as a pathological narcissist lacking in empathy and driven by delusions of grandeur with a hunger for admiration. Apparently, there was no mirror in the room as Dowd wrote this.
Dowd appears to have a problem with strong women. When, while seeking the Presidency, Hillary Clinton’s eyes welled a little misty during an interview in Portsmouth, N.H., Dowd made a similar attack on her. Hillary was being tossed aside by the party to which she had devoted considerable portions of her life in favor of a more promising newcomer and had good reason for a moment of sadness, but Dowd, who did everything in her power to help dispatch the former First Lady to the ash heap of history, accused her of “breaking down,” having “crack[ed] with exhaustion,” and with being “weirdly narcissistic.”
While presenting herself as a modern feminist, Dowd just doesn’t seem to get it. For her, feminism is a device for advancing her career that can be tossed aside when she wants to attack some other career woman she doesn’t like. Unfortunately, Dowd’s subjective feminism is common in the mainstream media, who attribute Palin’s resignation to an array of antifeminist stereotypes: Palin resigned because she is fragile and cowardly, incapable of taking criticism like a man; because she lets personal matters intrude on her public responsibilities; and because, as Dowd would have it, she’s an emotional, “incoherent,” “breathless,” hysterical woman.
Were members of the media to look more dispassionately at Palin, they might conclude that her resignation is a coolly calculated political strategy.
It seems unlikely that Palin resigned in response to the outrageous treatment she and her family have received, although her doing so would be understandable, given the bizarre viciousness of the attacks against her, her teenaged daughters, and even her handicapped baby. Sparing no effort to smear Palin and her family, the media industriously reports every rumor it can unearth, and when these accusations turn out to be baseless, only search harder for different dirt. They then castigate Palin as not tough enough for politics.
Perhaps we should be asking: how tough should Palin have to be? Should a politician be expected to blandly accept attacks on her character, intelligence and integrity? Should she just smile patiently when her husband and children are insulted? Should she accept, as part of the job, that her family will have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending her against one groundless, politically motivated charge after another? Are only those willing to consider the Governorship a kind of suicide pact for themselves and their families tough enough for the job?
While removing herself from office will not stop these baseless attacks, Palin’s resignation will at least make them less easy for the press to justify and their political motivation more apparent. Polling indicates that the public, though mixed in its assessment of Palin, believes she has been unfairly treated by the media. More of the same media treatment will reinforce this belief.
As Governor, Palin has been criticized for having national ambitions that would take her out of Alaska too often and that would distract her from her dutes. This issue will no longer be available to her critics once she’s no longer Governor. Freed from the constraints of public office, Palin will be able to travel as she wishes, promoting her forthcoming book and assisting fellow Republican candidates with fundraising, at which she has proven unusually effective.
Palin’s book is apt to be a real page-turner. As a former professional journalist, she knows how to craft a story. Her private journals will provide the kind of details that lend accuracy, immediacy and life to a text. As a private citizen, she will be able to speak more freely about her experiences than she could as Governor. She’s got a good story to tell, about a working-class woman who rose to high office through diligent effort and who has something to say to fellow working-class Americans, an audience considerably larger than Dowd enjoys.
A good book and a successful effort helping fellow Republicans will increase Palin’s appeal. If the mid-term elections increase Republican power, Palin will be given much of the credit for it, as Newt Gingrich was credited with Republicans gaining control of the House in the 1980s. She will emerge as the Party leader Republicans are seeking.
Come 2012, Palin’s critics may well wish she had remained bottled up as Governor of Alaska.
Laurie Morrow, Ph.D., a former English professor and talk radio show host, is president of Morrow Public Relations. Ed Morrow is an author and illustrator.
I'd have to say it will be more like Sarah Palin Unleashed.
Dowd is one sick woman.
DIST. REPRESENTATIVE PVI
AZ-1 Ann Kirkpatrick R+6
AZ-5 Harry Mitchell R+5
AZ-8 Gabrielle Giffords R+4
AR-1 Marion Berry R+8
CA-11 Jerry McNerney R+1
CO-3 John Salazar R+5
CT-4 Jim Himes D+5
FL-22 Ron Klein D+1
FL-24 Suzanne Kosmas R+4
GA-12 John Barrow D+1
HI-1 OPEN (Abercrombie) D+11
IL-11 Debbie Halvorson R+1
IN-2 Joe Donnelly R+2
IN-9 Baron Hill R+6
IA-2 Dave Loebsack D+7
IA-3 Leonard Boswell D+1
LA-3 Charlie Melancon * R+12
NJ-3 John Adler R+1
NM-1 Martin Heinrich D+5
NY-13 Mike McMahon R+4
NY-19 John Hall R+3
NY-25 Dan Maffei D+3
OH-16 John Boccieri R+4
OH-18 Zack Space R+7
OR-4 Peter DeFazio* D+2
OR-5 Kurt Schrader D+1
PA-3 Kathy Dahlkemper R+3
PA-4 Jason Altmire R+6
PA-10 Chris Carney R+8
PA-11 Paul Kanjorski D+4
PA-12 John Murtha R+1
TX-23 Ciro Rodriguez R+4
VA-11 Gerald Connolly D+2
WI-8 Steve Kagen R+2
34 DEMOCRATS
0 REPUBLICANS
DIST. REPRESENTATIVE PVI
AL-5 Parker Griffith R+12
CO-4 Betsy Markey R+6
FL-8 Alan Grayson R+2
GA-8 Jim Marshall R+10
IL-14 Bill Foster R+1
MI-7 Mark Schauer R+2
MI-9 Gary Peters D+2
MS-1 Travis Childers R+14
NV-3 Dina Titus D+2
NH-1 Carol Shea-Porter R+0
NH-2 OPEN (Hodes) D+3
NY-20 Scott Murphy R+2
NY-24 Michael Arcuri R+2
NY-29 Eric Massa R+5
NC-8 Larry Kissell R+2
OH-1 Steve Driehaus D+1
OH-15 Mary Jo Kilroy D+1
TX-17 Chet Edwards R+20
VA-2 Glenn Nye R+5
VA-5 Tom Perriello R+5
http://cookpolitical.com/charts/house/competitive_2009-07-06_15-47-32.php
just a few projects to get Sarah started ....
“She diagnoses the PRESIDENT as a pathological narcissist lacking in empathy and driven by delusions of grandeur with a hunger for admiration.”
All fixed. :)
More projection from Mo Do. (Man, this woman needs to get laid and fast, but I fear there’s not enough latex on the planet to make that happen, LOL!)
Great article. It appears Dowd was home and alone on July 4th when she penned her pathetic hit piece.
Ohhh...I thought this was a picture post
“...Dowd was home and alone...
Where were her kids?
Whose kids are those with Dowd and Douglas?
She has none.
That is Catherine Zeta Jones.
Of course. The old eyes were playing tricks. Dowd has never had any children.
I’ve read that MD has a drinking problem that was cured recently...
She discovered the funnel!
They can't possibly do that; they're all suffering from PDS. ;o)
LOL! So true!
Dowdy, the incontinent and bat-sh!t crazy old snag, cattily describes Palin as “one nutty puppy.”
There, fixed it...
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