Goo Fish
Judith Warner on “The Mirrored Ceiling”
Why does this woman -- who to some of us seems as fake as they can come, with her delicate infant son hauled out night after night under the klieg lights and her pregnant teenage daughter shamelessly instrumentalized for political purposes -- deserve, to a unique extent among political women, to rank as so "real"?
Because the Republicans, very clearly, believe that real people are idiots. This disdain for their smarts shows up in the whole way they’ve cast this race now, turning a contest over economic and foreign policy into a culture war of the Real vs. the Elites. It's a smoke and mirrors game aimed at diverting attention from the fact that the party's tax policies have helped create an elite that's more distant from "the people" than ever before. And from the fact that the party's dogged allegiance to up-by-your-bootstraps individualism -- an individualism exemplified by Palin, the frontierswoman who somehow has managed to "balance" five children and her political career with no need for support -- is leading to a culture-wide crack-up. . . .
One of the worst poisons of the American political climate right now, the thing that time and again in recent years has led us to disaster, is the need people feel for leaders they can "relate" to. This need isn't limited to women; it brought us after all, two terms of George W. Bush. And it isn't new; Americans have always needed to feel that their leaders were, on some level, people like them. . . .
There's a fine line between likability and demagoguery. Both thrive upon manipulation and least-common-denominator politics. These days, I fear, this need for direct mirroring -- and thus this susceptibility to all sorts of low-level tripe -- is particularly acute among women, who are perhaps reaching historic lows in their comfort levels with themselves and their choices.
Judith Warner on “The Mirrored Ceiling” Read More »
Sarah Palin’s Speech
Fred Hiatt on Sarah Palin's speech:
There was a flutter of attention when McCain campaign manager Rick Davis told a group of Post reporters and editors yesterday that his team was having to rework the vice presidential acceptance speech because the original draft, prepared before Gov. Sarah Palin was chosen, was too "masculine." While we all wondered to ourselves what might make a speech masculine or feminine, no one batted an eye at the underlying revelation: that the campaign was writing the nominee's speech before knowing who the nominee would be.
Never mind the prehistoric days when a politician might be expected to write his or her own words; speechwriters have been around since long before television. But traditionally their job was to channel their bosses' thoughts and ideas into poetry, or at least comprehensible English. Nowadays, apparently it's naive to expect a speech even to reveal something of the essential views or character of the speaker. Instead, campaigns -- not just the McCain campaign -- draft their speeches with an eye to which demographic groups need to receive which messages, and then we in the media rate the speeches based on how well we think they hit those targets.
So when you watch Sarah Palin tonight, expect to learn something about how well she handles a Teleprompter. Expect to learn something about the McCain campaign's assessment of its political standing with women, or working families, or social conservatives. Whether you're learning what Sarah Palin really thinks or feels is anybody's guess.
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Bumiller: “Disclosures on Palin Raise Questions on Vetting Process”
Aides to Mr. McCain said they had a team on the ground in Alaska now to look more thoroughly into Ms. Palin's background. A Republican with ties to the campaign said the team assigned to vet Ms. Palin in Alaska had not arrived there until Thursday, a day before Mr. McCain stunned the political world with his vice-presidential choice.
Although the McCain campaign said that Mr. McCain had known about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy before he asked her mother to join him on the ticket and that he did not consider it disqualifying, top aides were vague on Monday about how and when he had learned of the pregnancy, and from whom.
While there was no sign that her formal nomination this week was in jeopardy, the questions swirling around Ms. Palin on the first day of the Republican National Convention, already disrupted by Hurricane Gustav, brought anxiety to Republicans who worried that Democrats would use the selection of Ms. Palin to question Mr. McCain's judgment and his ability to make crucial decisions.
At the least, Republicans close to the campaign said it was increasingly apparent that Ms. Palin had been selected as Mr. McCain's running mate with more haste than McCain advisers initially described.
Bumiller: “Disclosures on Palin Raise Questions on Vetting Process” Read More »
Who Chose Palin?
This should be our refrain, our only talking point about the selection:
Who chose Palin?
Well, it certainly wasn't John McCain.
Who Should Apologize to Bristol Palin?
The rumors that Trig Palin was actually the son of Bristol Palin were started last spring by Republicans in Alaska that don't like Sarah Palin. None of the well-trafficked left-wing bloggers ran with this rumor. It appeared in diaries submitted by users and on lower trafficked blogs that are not usually associated with the blogosphere. We used good judgment and respect in not racing off to push unfounded rumors affecting a 17-year old girl. Andrew Sullivan is not a part of the left-wing blogosphere. He is a reformed Republican.
But more offensive than this false charge that the 'leftosphere and their pals in the MSM' pushed this rumor is the idea that 'decent Americans of all political stripes [should] respect their wish to keep the young couple out of the news.' It is the Palins that decided to put the young couple in the news. And not just the news. This will become a topic of discussion in every country in the world. Everyone will now know that Bristol Palin had underage, out-of-wedlock sex, and became pregnant. They'll know it in Buenos Aires and in Khartoum. They'll know it in Ho Chi Minh City and they'll know it Saskatoon. That's not the fault of the 'leftosphere' or the fault of Andrew Sullivan. It's the Palins fault for accepting the nomination to be vice-president. Bristol Palin is going to have a baby in December or January. Did they think the world wouldn't notice? . . . .
This is an invasion of stupidity into the body politic. John McCain probably never asked whether Bristol Palin was pregnant because that would be rude. He probably asked, "Is there anything else that you can think of that might embarrass the campaign?" And the Palins probably furrowed their brows and thought very hard and then said, "Nope, nothing we can think of."
But even if they did tell John McCain that their seventeen year-old daughter was pregnant and then decided to wait until Hurricane Gustav made landfall to divulge that information, it still isn't our fault that sheepherders in New Zealand will know all about little Bristol's premarital sex. That's their fault for not protecting their daughter.
Who Should Apologize to Bristol Palin? Read More »
Josh Marshall on Troopergate
We rely on elected officials not to use the power of their office to pursue personal agendas or vendettas. It's called an abuse of power. There is ample evidence that Palin used her power as governor to get her ex-brother-in-law fired. When his boss refused to fire him, she fired his boss. She first denied Monegan's claims of pressure to fire Wooten and then had to amend her story when evidence proved otherwise. The available evidence now suggests that she 1) tried to have an ex-relative fired from his job for personal reasons, something that was clearly inappropriate, and perhaps illegal, though possibly understandable in human terms, 2) fired a state official for not himself acting inappropriately by firing the relative, 3) lied to the public about what happened and 4) continues to lie about what happened.
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Alaska Reform Champion Sarah Palin
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin began building clout in her state's political circles in part by serving as a director of an independent political group organized by the now embattled Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.
Palin's name is listed on 2003 incorporation papers of the "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group that could raise unlimited funds from corporate donors. The group was designed to serve as a political boot camp for Republican women in the state. She served as one of three directors until June 2005, when her name was replaced on state filings.
Palin's relationship with Alaska's senior senator may be one of the more complicated aspects of her new position as Sen. John McCain's running mate; Stevens was indicted in July 2008 on seven counts of corruption.
-- Matthew Mosk on washingtonpost.com's The Green Zone weblog, September 1, 2008.
Alaska Reform Champion Sarah Palin Read More »