Posted on 07/10/2009 12:37:29 PM PDT by dr_who
Sarah Palin's announcement of her resignation as governor of Alaska may be the end of her political career or, as some speculate, the real beginning. What seems clear is that Palin is not conservatism's new hope but its dead end. In recent days, this has been amply confirmed by the arguments of Palin defenders, focused less on her presumed merits than on her presumed injuries at her enemies' hands.
Thus, Ross Douthat, the new conservative voice at the New York Times, hails Palin as Everywoman—living proof you can aspire to the White House without an Ivy League degree—and deplores her abuse by the political and media elites based on her "gender and social class." The message to other non-elite women with political ambitions, Douthat sums up, is: "Your children will go through the tabloid wringer. Your religion will be mocked and misrepresented. Your political record will be distorted, to better parody your family and your faith."
Yet Douthat admits that Palin's "missteps, scandals, dreadful interviews and self-pitying monologues" tarnished her role as a spunky common woman challenging the elites. But in that case, how much of the harsh treatment was due to prejudice and how much to Palin's own failings?
Yes, Palin has been the target of extremely vicious attacks (though the notion that no other politician has endured comparable nastiness would amuse Bill and Hillary Clinton). Her left-wing feminist foes have been especially rabid, mocking her in startlingly misogynistic language—"Republican blow-up doll" was one of the milder epithets—and denouncing "her pretense that she is a woman." The bizarre theory that Palin's youngest child, Trig, is really her grandson is still afloat in the gutters of the Internet.
And yes, this hostility has an element of snobbery. Former New Republic editor in chief Andrew Sullivan, currently a blogger with a bad case of Palin Derangement Syndrome, recently posted a catalogue of Palin's sins that included "white trash concupiscence."
Yet, such revolting extremes aside, some of the unpleasantness has been self-inflicted. Palin agreed to be John McCain's running mate knowing her teenage daughter was pregnant and single. (Of course, if Chelsea Clinton had been the expecting unwed mom, not one unkind word would have crossed the lips of Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter.) Nor was she particularly eager to shield Bristol Palin from the spotlight.
And then there's the matter of Palin's fitness for the second-highest office in the land. I say this as someone who initially hoped she would be an inspiring standard-bearer for conservative/libertarian feminism, a model of a woman who had it all and was a winner, not a victim.
It's not just the "liberal elites" that found Palin clueless; so did many in her own camp. Indeed, Douthat concedes she has to "bone up on the issues" if she is to have a political future. Those who believe Palin held her own debating Joe Biden forget that the McCain camp had requested a less-challenging format for that debate, with follow-up questions limited.
Palin critics on the right—George Will, Peggy Noonan, David Frum—have been slammed by the Palinistas as "haters," elitists threatened by a political star without proper intellectual credentials. Yet these same conservatives have been devout admirers of Ronald Reagan, hardly a product of the Ivy League.
Some of Palin's followers see her as the second coming of Reagan. But Reagan, despised as a "dunce" by his liberal detractors, had extensively read, written, and talked about the key issues of his day. While not an intellectual, he was a man of ideas. Palin is not known to harbor those. Her appeal is described in terms of "speaking from the heart" and exemplifying the virtues of faith and family—which is ironic, given the usual conservative derision of emotion-based liberal politics. Shortly after Palin's nomination, former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson suggested that her choice to bear a child with Down's Syndrome rather than have an abortion was an adequate substitute for a political philosophy.
If Palin does have a philosophy, it is the flip side of the class-and-culture warfare of which she has been a target. In fact, it was Palin who fired many of the volleys in this war—extolling the moral superiority of small towns and rural areas and calling them "pro-American parts of the country," mocking people who had traveled abroad as spoiled kids with rich parents.
While eschewing "victim feminism," Palin has enthusiastically embraced "victim conservatism": the grievances of cultural traditionalists who feel trampled and disdained by the more educated and influential (and often, more affluent) segments of American society. Like the "oppressed groups" of the left, these traditionalists have some valid complaints but channel them into a destructive ideology of polarization and resentment.
Such a zeal can energize the base—but also fatally split it and alienate the unconverted.
Most likely, Palin will be back. But if conservatives expect her to be their warrior princess in shining armor, they are courting defeat.
Cathy Young is a Reason contributing editor and a columnist at RealClearPolitics. She blogs at cathyyoung.wordpress.com. This article originally appeared at RealClearPolitics.
How very forgetful of you that McCain threw the election when they were winning.
I'm not voting for an all socialist big government GOP. No sell. Your arguments are illogical to core conservatism. It's that simple. There is nothing left to lose...there are no conservatives who aren't in the pocket of the DC big government socialist cabal.
I suspect that conservatives were saying the exact same thing back in the 70’s.
“Now, I can’t say that I will agree with all the things that the present group who call themselves Libertarians in the sense of a party say, because I think that like in any political movement there are shades, and there are libertarians who are almost over at the point of wanting no government at all or anarchy. I believe there are legitimate government functions.” —Ronald Reagan
Remember,
the true political battle is between
the elitists and the individualists.
It isn’t con v lib or repub v democrat.
Can you give specific examples from her speeches, written political statements, etc. that demonstrate this dreadful lack of political and general intelligence? Can you point out where she made mistakes in running the state of Alaska that are a result of the complete ignorance you accuse her of? Maybe some examples from her previous executive positions, including the non-political ones? I’d wager her resume is a hell of a lot more impressive than most of the people posting on this thread, so lay out your evidence of her intelligence deficit and lack of experience. And, why is it that the inexperienced, dumber than a post community organizer in the White House was never told that he should “stay home and raise his kids”?
I’ve never seen conservatives look so backward and hypocritical about a candidate. Specifics and facts aren’t needed when trashing Sarah Palin I guess. Just the fact that she was the parent who actually gave birth to the children is enough I guess. You’d think the woman was as stupid as Joe Biden, the way people go on about her. Fortunately, FR doesn’t seem to be representative of the level of chauvinism in the Conservative party. Or maybe it’s her clueless, uneducated ignorance that attracts thousands to her rallies and speeches.
I’m not a huge palin supporter, either. I just hate to see rabid criticism launched at someone without a shred of evidence to back it up.
RINOs won’t go quietly.
They’ll always have their noses in the air... But go they will! We will MAKE them!
Agreed.
Sure answers my question as to why these 'women' hate Sarah so darn much.
Why Elite Women Hate Palin
"If Sarah Palin is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, so am I!"
These words spoken by my friend Janet were true. But Janet hasn't put herself in Palin's position by running for office. She's made films and renovated houses, cushioned by inherited money. And since she doesn't have any kids, it's hard to say what would have gotten in the way if she'd wanted to be in politics. She didn't, though, any more than 99% of my women friends and acquaintances; she believes in cultivating one's own garden.
Most women I've talked with about Palin--all certified members of either the media elite or the just plain elite--take her nomination personally. ...
It's not so much that Palin isn't one of our own--an Ivy League type, or an Eastern preppie, or a self-made intellectual like Rice. It's not for the fake feminist reasons that "she's against freedom of choice" or "she didn't tell her daughter about birth control." (Though there is an element of hatred for her fertility, and the fact that it hasn't impeded her rise.) It's not because Palin only got a passport a few years ago and doesn't speak any foreign languages.
No, it's because Palin makes us look like the slackers we mainly are. We've had our bit of success, but we've also spent a lot of time smelling the roses. We've gone back to school to get another degree, volunteered in poor countries, devoted ourselves to a sport or a hobby. We've not had kids, or if we have, we've had one or two, and we've had nannies paid for by our work or our husbands or our inherited money. ...
RINOs won’t go quietly.
They’ll always have their noses in the air... But go they will! We will MAKE them!
“If you don’t like what you’re doing, you can always pick up your needle and move to another groove.” - Timothy Leary
She did, get used to it
Michael Reagan saying his father had risen from the grave and was wearing a dress and lipstick was not one of his finer moments, nor one of the more virtuous tributes to the late Great Communicator.
In fact, it was pretty cynical.
“...Palin detractors who can’t be reasoned with. They see themselves as “elite” and “above the rest of us>..”
CounterPunch is a Romneybot.
If she takes the reigns from Obama, that suits me fine. That’s not to say that her first 100 days wouldn’t be a total letdown or a total disaster.
Depends on whether you live and die by what the state-run media say.
Just because they say something, that doesn't make it true.
Take a breath...you’ll need it. Palin is not just a person, she is an idea. One that is lost on the sell out Republicrats.That she certainly is.
There you go again.
If Sarah Palin is not the answer...maybe you’re asking the wrong question.
snip from your interview;
Hunter: Well first, listen. The worst thing in show business is whining. I don't believe in it. There are no excuses for a campaign. While there may be reasons for losing, there are no excuses. I don't believe... We've got alot of whiners out there, but I'm a guy that got into politics on a shoestring campaign, and beat a guy who was heavily entrenched and had been in for a long time. I still believe this is the land of opportunity and it extends, it extends even to the “big” races.
Hunter: Actually, there is no monolith republican party. There is not a grand wizard that sits behind a curtain who decides who gets money and who does not get money. Who gets help and who doesn’t get help. The national committee is, as you know, basically a figurehead. Generally speaking, the head of the national Republican Party can get his wife to vote with him on most occasions and that’s about it. And I think that is illustrated by the present circumstances, the present situation.
Hunter: So there is no monolith that makes decisions. And you’ve got to get out and you’ve got to make that sale. And nobody has a right to have support from the millions of people that comprise the Republican party. You’ve got to earn it. For example, Huckabee started with a very small base and very small name recognition, but had enormous organizational capability. And he parlayed those organizational capabilities, along with a good speaking style, and I think good debate capabilities, into making a real race of it with McCain. So I think this is still a big, wide open process. And I came up way short in this process. I ran out of ammunition early, threw the ammo boxes at ‘em, but it’s all fun, and it’s all worthwhile. And I think that we drove some issues.
Hunter: So you could say the same thing about Huckabee. That he started with a small base. He didn’t have the Giuliani/McCain/Romney money supporters. Yet he ended up being the last guy standing between McCain and the nomination. And almost winning it. An argument can be made that if Fred Thompson had not been in the South Carolina primary, if he had gotten out earlier, Huckabee would have won that primary.
end snip....
Now I'm out of here as I've taken this thread off topic enough. Good luck.
Please do share with us who you would consider a leader among conservatives.
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