Writing on the blank page that is Sarah Palin
Bill Kristol, the Fox commentator and editor of the conservative Weekly Standard magazine, has long been an avid cheerleader for Sarah Palin. He was touting her as a potential vice presidential pick even before John McCain plucked her from the obscurity of Alaska, and once the nomination was announced Kristol became downright giddy about her prospects.
Last fall, while others reacted with surprise and even shock to McCain’s choice, Kristol was waxing poetic. He romanticized her as “the spectre of a young, attractive, unapologetic conservatism, rising out of the American countryside, free of the taint (fair or unfair) of the Bush administration and the recent Republican Congress, able to invigorate a McCain administration and to govern beyond it.” He didn’t mention that she could also leap tall buildings in a single bound, but maybe he thought that was implied.
Time and experience haven’t lessened that infatuation. Palin is celebrated on the Weekly Standard cover this week, accompanied by a lengthy piece by Matthew Continetti that compares the 1/2-term governor to historic luminaries Andrew Jackson, William Jennings Bryant and even Ronald Reagan himself.
According to Continetti, America at this moment in its history is dissatisfied, angry and fearful. It is losing confidence in its leadership and simmering with resentment at its elites. He writes:
“All of which creates a gigantic opening for a politician to display imagination and leadership. An opportunity for a figure who will separate the good populism (championing free-enterprising individuals) from the bad (concocting loony theories and vilifying “enemies of the people”). Someone who will give voice to the millions who don’t want government aggrandizing the powerful; who don’t want government risking dangerous fiscal imbalances; who do want public policies that create the conditions for a general prosperity. Someone, in other words, who can play the same role in contemporary politics that Jackson, Bryan, and Reagan did in the past.
She lives in Alaska.”
Reading the piece, though, you come to realize that somebody central to the story is missing. That somebody is Palin herself. Continetti, like Kristol, is less infatuated with Palin the actual person and politician than he is with what Palin can be made to symbolize, what pre-written role she can be cast to play.
In that regard, Palin’s critics and supporters are actually responding in different ways to the same central characteristic. They both understand that she is undefined and raw as a leader, but one side sees that as political opportunity and the other side sees it as danger in someone seeking such high office. Her appeal is not in what she is or can do; it’s in what she embodies.
Like many Palin supporters, Continetti and Kristol also adore her for the response she draws from others. Napolean Linardatos, a conservative writer at Frumforum.com and no Palin fan, describes that phenomenon well:
“The sole legitimizing force behind Sarah Palin is the persecution that her supporters perceive that she is subjected to. It’s a movement – if we could call it that – animated by its sense of victimhood. The quantity and ferocity of criticism directed at Palin, right or wrong, is the ultimate arbiter of her worth as a political figure; what she has done, what she promised to do, what she could do, don’t seem to matter.”
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276 comments Add your comment
Normal
November 11th, 2009
10:04 am
This might be on topic, or might not…you deside.
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/vatican-looks-to-heavens-192302.html?cxntlid=thbz_hm
Normal
November 11th, 2009
10:13 am
But truthfully Jay, even I am getting tired of Palin blogs. I will concede she is a phenom, but I’m just not sure of what.
Have fun, y’all.
To any Veteran out there that I missed…Happy Veteran’s Day and Welcome Home.
bob
November 11th, 2009
10:18 am
Another Palin item ? Can you find another way to divert attention away from Obama/Pelosi. Palin lost and does not get to vote on anything other than in elections, those that do get a vote on bills in congress are the ones we should be concentrating on. Jay, if you want to talk about stupid women in politics, Palin would have a place in line behind many in congress, way behind. The first spot would be a tie between a few Cali dems.
AmVet
November 11th, 2009
10:19 am
Normal, right back at ya!
I am thrilled to stand shoulder to shoulder with guys like you, Jackie, jconservative, Curious Observer and Common Sense. Among others.
And as for the old adage “Hug a Veteran”, you can bet I’m getting mine today!
Off to pay for the occupations.
Enjoy this special day everyone…
Mrs. Godzilla
November 11th, 2009
10:19 am
I see that Fox News fact checked her the other day on the coin nonsense……
She’s come along way since her great first appearance at the RNC….
sorry to say it’s been downhill alll the way.
Hef
November 11th, 2009
10:20 am
“is less infatuated with Palin the actual person & politician than he is with what Palin can be made to symbolize”, thanks again Jay well said. You could insert the name of a certain community organizer a few years years back,change the party affiliation and that statement would be spot on. Twice in one day Jay,great work.
pat
November 11th, 2009
10:22 am
Seriously, more Sarah Palin? All I want to see from her is a playboy spread.
She’s not even a politician any more, can’t you bash somebody else for a change, just to shake things up?
Truth
November 11th, 2009
10:22 am
Death… Taxes… and Jay writing another Palin story.
jt
November 11th, 2009
10:23 am
No Tarp Babies 2010.
Paul/Palin 2012.
Wilson/PreJean 2020.
Normal
November 11th, 2009
10:25 am
Jay, I told you so…
Finn McCool
November 11th, 2009
10:27 am
It’s worth having a look at bill Kristol’s background to see just how easily dismissable are any ideas coming from his brain.
Kristol received a college deferment during the Vietnam war but he was a talking head behind the Iraq war. Go figure. Just like the rest of the BushCo team.
RW-(the original)
November 11th, 2009
10:27 am
Did we really have to go from a nice Veterans Day tribute to more mindless Sarah bashing in less than two hours?
N-GA
November 11th, 2009
10:28 am
I not so much annoyed by Palin as I am by the numbnuts who think she would make a good POTUS. At least Palin is obvious about what she desires with her using her temporary notoriety to generate a lifetime of $$$.
In business we would call her an empty suit. I don’t know what real politicians would call her…..
Angry Black Man
November 11th, 2009
10:30 am
I refuse to comment on this thread because I feel that this dead horse has been beaten into a fine powderey finish.
Mrs. Godzilla
November 11th, 2009
10:30 am
Webb/Garamendi 2016
Curious Observer
November 11th, 2009
10:32 am
Time to move on. Palin lacks the intellectual heft and the experience ever to be president. She became a symbol for a while–of the good old days of the conservative movement and a promise of a restoration of conservatives to prominence. Once she reached the national stage and people started to drill down, most encountered an emptiness and even a certain tawdry stench. Obama lacked a lot of experience, but no one could deny his intellectual brilliance and his political savvy. You don’t become an editor of the law review at Harvard and beat the Clinton machine at its own game purely by making pretty speeches.
RW-(the original)
November 11th, 2009
10:32 am
Let me see if I can channel DoggoneGA
I refuse to comment on this thread
But you did just comment, ABM.
/channeling off
Man that was painful
Finn McCool
November 11th, 2009
10:33 am
Mrs. Godzi!
Webb? from VA? Sweet. Have you read his book, “Born Fightin’?” Good read.
@@
November 11th, 2009
10:35 am
Gosh, jay!!!! It’s Veteran’s Day for crying out loud. A quickie and then it’s on to Sarah. Her son is serving in Iraq…..maybe a little something about HIM?
I’ll bring my Veteran’s Day post up here. I’m in celebration mode.
Great pictorial, jay!!! From boy to man.
I LUV listening to my husband talk about his time in the service. “Mom….feel free to send home-baked cookies, but spare me the letters about how much you miss me.”
He had a high-school sweetheart when he went in too. I think they were planning on getting married. Small town…friends write about what’s goin’ on in town — BAM!!! she gets a “Dear Jane” letter from him. Of course, the fact that her Dad had previously ran him outta town at gunpoint didn’t help matters much. Her music (cello) was more important than MY GUY!!!
I came later. I’m still here. She’s been married three separate times. No great career in music as was anticipated.
I WIN!!!!!
Those pictures of Ian with his Dad were great. I couldn’t help but reflect on all the libs “trailer trash” comments. Men in tats…low grade point averages. Not up to the standards of liberals but bearing “The Standard” for America.
Libs don’t want ‘em? I’ll proudly accept ‘em just as they are.
Happy Veterans Day! Men outstanding in the field. You WERE and ARE the Best of America!
Angry Black Man
November 11th, 2009
10:36 am
RW
Tee hee hee, you got me red-handed!! Let me rephrase that; I refuse to comment about Palin.
Got a question though, how do you imbed links in your posts?
jewcowboy
November 11th, 2009
10:38 am
The New America – where mediocrity is celebrated as genius, where the intelligent and thoughtful are derided as obtuse and where anything of substance is reduced to a catch phrase.
RW-(the original)
November 11th, 2009
10:38 am
ABM,
Take a look here and see if it makes sense.
Of course here you can just paste the url and it becomes a link.
joe matarotz
November 11th, 2009
10:41 am
Is Sarah Palin unfairly pilloried by the Liberal media? Absolutely.
That being said, there are a lot of libs I’d vote for instead of her. She is clueless. She might (or might not) be a nice person, but she is clueless.
Exhibit A: “You can see Russia from my house”. The media jumps all over that statement. Camera crews are sent to her house to prove that you cannot see Russia from her house. She was using hyperbole. She does not know what hyperbole is, therefore she is unable to downplay the statement and expose the media for the bloodsucking scum that they are. Clueless.
Angry Black Man
November 11th, 2009
10:43 am
RW
Thanks, lemme give it a good old try.
Navajo Code Talkers break silence for Veterans Day
Here’s a group that I would love to sit and hear stories from. I didn’t hear about them in history class, but I did know about them before the movie “Windtalkers” came out.
RW-(the original)
November 11th, 2009
10:43 am
“You can see Russia from my house”.
joe,
I’m sure most of your comment is facetious, but Sarah Palin never said that, Tina Fey did.
jconservative
November 11th, 2009
10:46 am
The first time I ever heard/saw Palin was in June 2008. The Supreme Court had just dismissed a major portion of the jury award to Alaska in the Exxon Valdez case. Palin held a news conference and just blasted the US Supreme Court, really raked them over the coals.
Flash forward to the Couric interview on CBS. She was asked what Supreme Court case besides Roe she disagreed with. She could not name a single case. I crossed her off my list that day. I remembered the case, but she did not.
RW-(the original)
November 11th, 2009
10:46 am
Good job, ABM.
One thing you should know about Yahoo links though is that they expire fairly quickly so if you ever want to save the link for later you should try to get back to the original source. For some odd reason the same thing goes for WaPo links unless you link to the printer friendly version.
N-GA
November 11th, 2009
10:47 am
I can’t resist. Here is Jon Stewart catching Faux news manufacturing news by using film clips to make a D.D. rally appear bigger than it really was. Can you believe it? You can’t believe ANYTHING they say! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/11/jon-stewart-catches-sean_n_353447.html
@@
November 11th, 2009
10:48 am
If I may be so bold? I’m was catching up downstairs and NORMAL? You’re starting to sound like the blog’s SUPER NANNY!
And Kamchak? Why must you insist on being such a tattle tale?
jay?
If you have evidence to the contrary, provide it. If you can’t, duty and honor would require you to apologize, but I won’t make that a requirement myself. Let’s see if you act like you talk.
Uhmmmmm…..know what I’m sayin’?
Doggone/GA
November 11th, 2009
10:48 am
For those who don’t know, here’s what Sarah Palin ACTUALLY said: “In her Sept. 11 interview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson, Sarah Palin had this to say about Russia: “They’re our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.” Nina Shen Rastogi in Slate
N-GA
November 11th, 2009
10:49 am
That would be a “D.C.” rally…
jewcowboy
November 11th, 2009
10:49 am
Thank goodness we have true patriots in this country like Republican Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn. During the Bush years the man never met an Iraq spending bill he didn’t like (and never figured a way to offset the price), and now that those soldiers have come home in pieces, won’t lift a finger to help their caregivers.
His press statement explaining his actions, “Coburn has the courage to stand up for veterans, their children and grandchildren “by demanding that Congress not write another multibillion-dollar hot check that puts future generations in even deeper debt.”
I’m sure that is great comfort to severely wounded Iraq veteran Eric Edmundson, whose father had to quit his job and go without his own healthcare to care for his son.
That’s how you take care of our soldiers. At least in people who think like Tom Coburn.
Angry Black Man
November 11th, 2009
10:49 am
RW
Thanks again, I’m beginning to get the hang of this. Who knows, I might have to upgrade from angry to disgruntled or even irritated.
Normal
November 11th, 2009
10:52 am
@@
November 11th, 2009
10:48 am
Thank you, one does what one can…
Boogers for the Children Fund
November 11th, 2009
10:52 am
“The sole legitimizing force behind Barack Obama is the persecution that his supporters perceive that he is subjected to. It’s a movement – if we could call it that – animated by its sense of victimhood. The quantity and ferocity of criticism directed at Obama, right or wrong, is the ultimate arbiter of his worth as a political figure; what he has done, what he promised to do, what he could do, don’t seem to matter.”
Same thing could be said for the kenyan! Oh…it has!
RW-(the original)
November 11th, 2009
10:53 am
Flash forward to the Couric interview on CBS. She was asked what Supreme Court case besides Roe she disagreed with. She could not name a single case. I crossed her off my list that day.
jcon,
I seriously doubt she was ever on your list, but it’s a fine line doing interviews as a VP nominee. The McCain folks may have muzzled her on that case.
RW-(the original)
November 11th, 2009
10:54 am
ABM,
Don’t go with irritated. I think IBM might take issue.
Thankful for vets
November 11th, 2009
10:55 am
How about the blank page that is Joe Biden?
He plagarized part of a speech during a campaign.
He basically snapped at a reporter and said he was smarter than the reporter.
In last fall’s compaign, he spelled the 3-letter word “job” as “j o b s”.
He gushed about how President FDR went on TV to soothe Americans after the onset of the depression.
Granted, he is a great spokesman for the “Hair Club for Men”, but is pretty much an empty suit.
RW-(the original)
November 11th, 2009
10:55 am
@@,
If normal knew of amvets antics going all the way through his days as huge he might have a different perspective. Too bad some people think history began when they joined it.
Doggone/GA
November 11th, 2009
10:58 am
“The McCain folks may have muzzled her on that case.”
Why would they muzzle her? The case was decided and part of history. What could she say that would have any effect either way? Or she could have just mentioned it. After all, she was only asked if there were cases she disagreed with.
it’s along the lines of the actress who was asked: “Do you remember the most embarassing thing that every happened to you?”
her answer: yes
Normal
November 11th, 2009
10:58 am
RW-(the original)
November 11th, 2009
10:55 am
I doubt it. I have certain beliefs and one of them is never call a fellow Veteran a coward no matter what you think of his ploitics. That is not an honorable thing to do.
getalife
November 11th, 2009
10:59 am
Quitters never win but she is cashing in.
FightTheSmears
November 11th, 2009
11:01 am
What I would like to see if why the media’s infatuation with Obama continues to this day. What on earth experience did he have prior to running for president? His 2-month stint as a senator certainly doesn’t qualify. And his prior state-level experience doesn’t either.
At least Palin governed a city, and then overwhelmingly won the election for governor (not to mention her experience in running a business, another thing Obama has never done). I’m just wondering why the outrage against her wasn’t there in 2006 when she was running for governor, if she was so “unqualified” to do anything…at least in your eyes.
Doggone/GA
November 11th, 2009
11:04 am
“I’m just wondering why the outrage against her wasn’t there in 2006 when she was running for governor”
In case you haven’t noticed, governor of Alaska is not a national elected position.
FightTheSmears
November 11th, 2009
11:04 am
I think what you need to do is write another story called…”Writing on the blank page that’s Barack Obama” (Considering no one has actually done a job of finding out who this man really is)
FightTheSmears
November 11th, 2009
11:06 am
“In case you haven’t noticed, governor of Alaska is not a national elected position.”
Gee, thanks for pointing that out. I guess you didn’t get my point (as a typical liberal often doesn’t).
Let me make it simple for you.
If people thought she was so unqualified to do anything, why did they vote her as governor in the first place.
GET IT NOW?????
getalife
November 11th, 2009
11:07 am
FightTheSmears ,
Obama is the President and Sarah is a quitter cashing in in a book.
There you go.
Now you know.
N-GA
November 11th, 2009
11:08 am
I’m not a bit surprised at the silence of the Faux apologists here. “Fair and balanced” my butt!
jewcowboy
November 11th, 2009
11:08 am
FightTheSmears,
“What on earth experience did he have prior to running for president?”
Well, for starters, it didn’t take him 5 years and 5 schools to get a Bachelors degree in communications from the University of Idaho.
Angry Black Man
November 11th, 2009
11:09 am
RW
Didn’t think about IBM. Maybe agitated, that way I’d still be ABM.