Posted on 06/14/2011 10:21:22 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Since her national debut in August 2008, the mainstream media has been determined to destroy Gov. Sarah Palin. Journalists flocked to Alaska to dig up dirt. They spun smears about book bans and rape kits. Some even indulged conspiracy theories about the birth of her son. They showed no interest in her outstanding record.
They kept going after her long after the 2008 election, blaming her for the Tuscon shootings–and attacking her for defending herself.
But now her assailants must face reality. After poring over thousands of emails from Palin’s term as governor, the mainstream media has been forced to concede that Palin was a conscientious, transparent, and effective public servant.
The pending release of Steve Bannon’s documentary on Palin, The Undefeated, bolsters that narrative. Above all, Palin’s mere persistence has forced some journalists to realize that their strategy of smears has failed.
So the mainstream media has invented a new meme with which to attack Sarah Palin. It started with Joshua Green’s article in the Atlantic a few weeks ago, in which he lamented “The Tragedy of Sarah Palin.” Green wrote:
As governor, Palin demonstrated many of the qualities we expect in our best leaders. She set aside private concerns for the greater good, forgoing a focus on social issues to confront the great problem plaguing Alaska, its corrupt oil-and-gas politics…. And she succeeded to a remarkable extent in settling, at least for a time, what had seemed insoluble problems, in the process putting Alaska on a trajectory to financial well-being.
However, Green argued, Palin went wrong after 2008. She let her “worst impulses” take over. She “let herself be distracted by the many grievances she harbored against a wide range of enemies.” She “obsessed over her image, even more than most politicians.”
In this revision of revisionist history, the good Palin, which the mainstream media tried to suppress, somehow morphed into the bad Palin of their own creation.
A few conservatives have bought into this “Palin 2.0” meme. “How did a likable, consensus-oriented governor become such a divisive figure?” asked Michael Gerson this week in the Washington Post. (His colleagues know the answer.)
The truth is that there is no “Palin 2.0.” Sarah Palin today is the same woman she was then, albeit with more battle scars (many in the back). She has not changed her political principles or tactics. The same themes that leap off the screen in The Undefeated–her ethics, her fiscal conservatism, her commitment to the public interest–remain her creed today.
It was not Sarah Palin that changed in 2008, but the government and the media.
When the financial crisis struck in September 2008, Sen. John McCain suspended his presidential campaign and raced to Washington to join then-Sen. Barack Obama and President George W. Bush in passing TARP. Right or wrong, that policy erased the major philosophical difference between Obama and McCain on the limits of government. Palin had to defend the bailout, though it ran counter to her own principles and policies.
McCain’s ineffective response to the crisis was the most important reason he lost the election. Yet even before the ballots had been cast, several senior McCain staffers began blaming Palin. They fed a mainstream media narrative about Palin and her personality, rather than admitting their own mistakes. Palin was indeed the victim: of bad politics and of bad policy, neither of her choosing, both of which she later disavowed.
Afterwards, Palin didn’t become more extreme, or more petulant. Rather, she remained true to her principles in a world where Democrats and Republicans had united to pass one of the most dramatic government interventions in our history, and the mainstream media celebrated each new expansion of federal power.
“We Are All Socialists Now,” Newsweek declared. But we aren’t, and she isn’t, and that’s why the Tea Party started, and Sarah Palin endured.
We’ll soon know if there will be a Sarah Palin 2012. But we already know that Palin 2.0 is a contrivance by the mainstream media to avoid the irrepressible truth about her–and about America.
The Sarah Palin of The Undefeated is the same Sarah Palin of today. True, she has had to fight to defend herself and to remain both conservative in principle and positive in perspective. Thank God she–and Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain, for that matter–still knows how to fight.
excellent!
“If she runs I’ll support her.
Michele B. seems like an opportunist who’s more comfortable criticizing Palin then Romne.....”
I understand that you favor Sarah Palin. I also really like her. She drives the liberal news media crazy, which tickles my fancy. However, where do you get the notion that Michele Bachmann is an opportunist? She’s a strong woman, a fierce Conservative and is her own self, not a clone of Sarah, not a political adversary to Sarah, but more of a political soulmate of Sarah. I see no good coming from bashing Michele Bachmann so as to somehow raise up Sarah Palin. Sarah does not need to have anyone raise her up. She’s a big girl with strong political instincts. She has proven she can push back against the naysayers.
Lay off of the bashing of Michele Bachman, please!
I won’t “bash” Michele, but I AM disgusted about her hired gun, crackpot Ed Rollins, trashing Sarah, and Michele not apologizing. If she has something negative to say about Sarah, it seems gutless to have a surrogate say it for her. Bob
I’ve been thinking about the Primary debates with Sarah included, once she announces.
The only thing I can see is the true Conservatives complimenting each other and attacking mittens.
I cannot wait until Sarah announces. The entire world will EXPLODE!!
I have a bag of change, with some singles, just waiting for Sarah to give the word GO!
I’m not impressed with the GOP field at this point. Rick Perry looks like someone I could get behind if he runs. Governor Perry may be the dark horse if Palin does not run. I also agree there would be tidal wave of support for Sarah Palin. It seems there are alot of people just waiting on the side lines to see if she gets in. I would think she needs to make a decision by let’s say July 4th. Couldn’t pick a better day than that could she? We’ll see what happens. But I like the idea of a Governor running instead of a Senator. Governors that have proven they can put their house in order as Governor Palin and Governor Perry have demonstrated. Regardless who gets nominated it will have to be a time when we all have to come to together and fight like hell to keep Obama from getting elected. I’m not talking just voting but actively campaigning and doing what ever we can to prevent four more years of this President that is hell bent on bringing this country into the George Soros new world order. If Obama wins it’s bye bye Miss American Pie. This will be the most important election in the history of the United States.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.