Proving Her Critics Right
Posted on July 3, 2009 at 7:32 pmI’ve been trying to process this Sarah Palin decision for a few hours now and I still don’t really understand it. Like her or loathe her, John McCain’s decision, however responsible you think it was, gave a minor league politician from a state remote from the national political game a shot at, well, something.
Whether she was qualified or not to be chosen as the Veep candidate, she was chosen. Coupled with her charisma, she became a player. She was given an opportunity. She and her handlers could have used the opportunity given her to really make an impact in American politics. Whatever impact that was to be, was almost entirely up to them.
Instead, she squandered it today. Some might say she already had and maybe that’s true. But surely she has driven a nail into her political career’s coffin now — her legitimate political career anyway.
The only question is why? Did she crack under the pressure of David Letterman’s jokes and the impact of a few magazine articles? Is she about to get indicted? Is there another scandal she is hoping to avoid?
Or does she really think, or did someone convince her, that resigning an office she was only just elected to a few years ago a good way to run for President?
I mean I’m sure to many, perhaps most, the answer to the following question is a resounding “hell yeah” but can Sarah Palin really be that dense?
Not seeking reelection, that makes sense. If she intended to run for President she should absolutely not have run again. But resign?
Now her actual stated reasoning does make some sense. The constant media and ethics investigations of her are probably hurting the state of Alaska. But does she think that would stop if she won the presidency? Would she quit then if the politics affected the policy then? Is this how a leader thinks?
Then again, if she really did “crack”, is that really that bad of a thing? After all, the attacks were relentless on her. She was belittled, investigated and marginalized. If it was all affecting her family and emotional well-being too much, isn’t this the responsible thing to do?
And isn’t it also the conservative thing to do? After all, a true conservative recognizes the limits of government and the intractability of human nature. If she is going to be under seige as a political figure, and ultimately government doesn’t offer much to conservatives in the grand scheme of things, isn’t it better to go try and do something else?
Doesn’t she and her family win, in a weird way, by her quitting. Could this not be an authentic move out politics and the limelight?
Somehow, I don’t think so. I don’t think Sarah Palin much cares if she is elected President or not. I don’t even think that she cares whether the investigation into her costs the taxpayers money. And ultimately, I don’t really think she cares that much about the scrutiny to her family. Otherwise she would have simply finished her term and faded away.
What I think is that she sees the spotlight shining and she wants to cash in. She can’t do that while she is governor. This is not about the taxpayers money. This is about her money. This about getting hers before its gone, before her looks fade and her fifteen minutes are gone.
If she truly wanted to make an impact she would admit to herself that she was picked for the national stage a bit before she was ripe and that the best thing she could do would to try and be the best Governor of Alaska she could be.
She could tell the world that she did not want to be president in 2012 or maybe even ever.
You see, if Sarah Palin really wanted the heat on her to fade she could. But she doesn’t want it to. She wants to be the center of attention. That why she was a beauty pageant contestant. That’s why she was a television journalist. That’s why she ran for office.
Sarah Palin doesn’t care about statecraft or making government smaller and/or more efficient. She just wants to be the IT girl.
She doesn’t care about experience or gravitas because those are things you would need only if you wished to affect change and make a difference. Those are things you only need if you wish to hold office and steer the ship of state. Sarah Palin only wishes to ride the wave of celebrity.
Don’t get me wrong. She may very well run for president. But it won’t be to win. It will be to sell books and to embiggen her speaking fees. Politics after all can be big business. Her persona and personality is enough to get where she is going. She doesn’t need experience. Public office is nuisance at this point.
She is not selling results, she is selling a persona, she is selling reassurance.
There is a certain segment of the American public that will support her whatever it is she decides to do now. She will be a success in media and political entrepreneurship. Her speeches will be well attended, her organizations well-funded and books well bought. She will be political celebrity.
But she will not be a leader, not in any real sense. And, while some would disagree, I believe she could have been.
A political leader hopes to bring their people and principles out of the political ghetto and into the mainstream. A political leader’s aim is to capture the levers of power to mold the government and the society to serve the interests their constituency.
Sarah Palin decided today that she wishes not to achieve any thing real for her constituency, for her “people.” She wishes only to have them prop her up and support her financially. That’s what I see in her decision today.
To what she has in mind now holding public office is a hindrance — so she shrugged it off to become a Jesse Jackson of the Right.
Palin will now be just another “political figure” who makes a certain constituency feel good about themselves and gets very rich doing so, but never, ever accomplishes anything on behalf of those she gives that empty political pleasure to.
Now whether she could have ever been a real national leader for conservatism or libertarianism had she chose to is a very open question.
What is clear now is that she does not wish to try.
Sarah Palin has now succeeded in becoming, if she was not already, pretty much everything her critics have accused her of being.
Comments
48 Responses to “Proving Her Critics Right”
Sarah is a cheerleader but not a governmental leader. She is all sizzle and so little steak. It was wrong of McCain to pick the hillbilly from Wasilla for his running mate. It cost McCain dearly for it. She may have a pair of ovaries but that is where the comparison ended between her and Hillary.
Sarah was not able to give one Supreme Court decision when interviewed by Katie Couric. She couldn’t even cite the Exxon Valdez case, where her state was the plaintiff. Reminder to all, she is Governor of that State. Katie, who to me always seemed like a shill for the right wing, even became exasperated with this hare brained beauty queen. McCain’s staff did so little vetting when picking a Veep that it is breathtaking.
In the beginning, I sort of felt sorry for her because I am a true bleeding heart, but once she started with the lies and division (which by the way, started at her acceptance speech) I knew the battle was on and we could take her on and bury her. Her self promotion, lies, and scandals needed to see the light of day. She is well suited for a Fox News Commentator but she is not suited to work for the people of our Nation.
Rumors about an embezzlement scandal related to a company called SBS are starting to surface, Max Blumenthal has the goods.
Perhaps the reason behind her populist appeal really was true: she’s just a normal “hockey mom” who wound up with a lot more publicity than she’d ever bargained for. The public record would seem to speak to that fact.
Then again, maybe she’s doing like Herenton: quitting her day job to focus on the future. In this economy, that sounds crazy, but then, she hasn’t been a part of our economy in nearly a year.
Regardless of her personal motives for this move, the conservative base no longer has a presidential candidate.
So what if she just doesn’t want to be in the political cesspool anymore? Our political scene has become mired in arrogance, corruption, with politicians willing to throw their mother over just to get a vote or money!
I’d much rather Gov. Palin work to see that all of the US, have access to our own energy resources, than have her enter that pile of excrement in DC.
We need fuels while the elite search for alternatives, and she knows this subject very well.
And why is this any different than Obama campaigning while he should have been sitting in the Senate doing his job?
bobc captures Palin’s appeal to the right: the politics of resentment. You know, only the “elites” search for alternative fuels.
So how is Palin going to “see that all of the US have access to our own energy resources” if she’s going to quit her job as Governor? Whatever voice she had before for domestic drilling is diminished now that she will no longer be the Governor of an oil state.
More likely, Palin couldn’t deal with being Governor while oil prices dropped and state revenues went with it. Alaska is the ultimate welfare state and when oil revenues are up, the Governor is beloved.
Even though I never viewed Palin as really a “brain” among the Republicans, in the way that a Gingrich or a Cheney arguably are, I still realized she’s no dummy either. She simply seemed to me a reasonably competent politician who could hold her own with most of those in Washington while not having a particularly distinctive or individually developed point of view. This seemed (to me) to contrast with the more developed outlook of a Gingrich or a Moynihan or a Stevenson or a Buckley.
Palin’s resignation today underscores strongly something that obtains in politics today: The newest kid on the block always gets the most torn apart because the concentration-span-deprived media — and I include the Web blogosphere and various disreputable fora — is always in haste to “sex up” anyone who “needs” defining. And the less well-known the object, the more it “needs” defining, and the more unscrupulous the “defining”. It’s no coincidence that during the campaign the ones most frequently targeted with absurd viral claims on the Web were Barack Obama and Sarah Palin. They were the newest kids on the block, so they naturally got targeted the most. Disgusting, but inevitable.
Obviously, these two are human beings and you can’t believe that absurdities like this don’t take a toll. It plainly did in Obama’s case (it’s startling how much older Obama looks today when you compare photos of him at the start of his campaign) and it appears that Palin now has gotten affected by it as well. Hence her resignation as Governor. I hope there comes a point when Palin can say “Screw you” and can laugh off all the nonsense the way Obama — eventually — did. That would be healthy for this country. I’m frankly sorry she’s not there yet.
There’s a reason why the latest survey at a Republican fund-raiser ended up with Gingrich and Cheney on top (the only reason why I set Limbaugh aside, even though he also scored well, is because he’s a celebrity and there’s name recognition in the mix, whereas Gingrich and Cheney are/have been public officials). That reason — bluntly put — is because the trauma of ‘08 has suddenly placed brains as being “in” and sound bites — viral, libelous and otherwise — as “out”. Thus, one doesn’t have to look far to see that the Gingrich/Cheney blowout at the fund-raiser was a function of their intelligence compared to most others in the survey. Intelligence is suddenly “in”. Something the media, even in their intense coverage of the fund-raiser survey, utterly overlooked. Even those few who still do not view Obama as intelligent recognize his adeptness at presenting an image of intelligence. This is one reason why Obama won in ‘08 — and it’s the chief reason why I hope to see Palin develop the intestinal fortitude to thumb her nose at the nonsense thrown her way too. It would be the final triumph of the importance of substance over sound-bite and slur.
Right now, Palin’s collapse may signify the death throes of the erstwhile power of cheap shots, slurs and sound-bites over substance. So if Palin rouses herself, turns around and suddenly starts scoffing at and ultimately ignoring the viral, libelous universe of the slur and the sound-bite altogether, that will be the triumphant dance over its grave for this generation.
And not a moment too soon.
Well, Stone. As much as you would like to blame “the media”, and as much as you would like to characterize any criticism or questioning of (a Republican) public official as “slur”, it appears that Palin has actually resigned one step ahead of an indictment, that being a secretive and corrupt official has caught up with her, that being pretty much ignorant and uninformed and incompetent actually was a problem for her in the end.
The attacks on her Down Syndrome child, Letterman promoting the 14 year old daughter as an object to be raped, her 18 year old daughter an object of scorn for not having an abortion. Regardless of Palin’s politics or whether you thought she was worthy of the office of Vice President, the glee with which the Hollywood media and the liberal press went out of their way to attack her family in the end had its toll. I don’t know of any mother who could withstand such a withering and relentless attack on her children. It is sad. I can’t believe she stayed in this long.
I wonder do you suppose that David Letterman would think it funny to talk about raping one of Obama’s daughters?
I think you’ve written and insightful piece here, but I do not see the part about Barack Obama being equally unprepared for the job.
Fact is, America has chosen an unexperienced neo-Marxist to lead with blind disregard for the unintended consequences.
I could be glad that McCain and Palin, who had the potential of destroying the GOP, for good had they been elected, actually lost were it not for the fear that the damage wreaked upon the US Constitution and the free market may not be reversible this time.
Great piece, Adam. Especially for a Friday night vacation day.
Wow, Mike - you pulled off the conservative hat trick: You lied about the basic facts of what happened, you blamed the “liberal media”, and you painted a corrupt, vindictive, and destructive political figure as the victim. Well done!
Unfortunately for you, that shit ain’t selling anymore. You’re welcome to keep trying, though. It’s always fun to see you people expecting a different result from doing the same stupid things over and over again.
Just a bit wordy, but fairly transparent. I am still amazed at the distracting power she has over her critics! The attention she has received from them did not end with the election, nor did it begin with her resignation. They write her off as incapable and then go back to the obsession. Whatever you may think of her, she has controlled the schedule of these folks! There MUST be some fresh meat out there somewhere!
We all know this is because she is heading to Nashville to become a country music star.
Shania II.
Cue Johnny Horton.
+10 Donna.
Why do people who throw the term Neo-Marxist around—have absolutely no idea what Marxism is, much less no concept of how stupid they sound saying it?
Sarah Palin can roll around in the $7-11 million she will get for her autobiography, but it will never help her overcome her use of her children as props for her voracious vice presidential ambitions. Her children became subject to maligning by the media because Palin put them out there.
Just to clarify a few points. I am a wholehearted and hopeful supporter of Obama. He strikes me as a figure with a keen grasp of the issues involved at this critical moment in our history. I also admire the way he is able — despite a barrage of unseemly attacks on the Web and elsewhere, including “viral attacks” — to keep his mind clear and focused and to stay as calm as he has for the tough days that lie ahead.
When I cited the similar barrage of slurs that came Palin’s way, I was deploring ludicrous slurs like the notion that Trig wasn’t her own child, the general (unflattering) scrutiny given her family generally, the fun that was habitually made of her personally on matters well outside her political philosophy (which I do consider fair game, since I have many disagreements with her on this score myself), and so on. These personal slurs were not taking issue with her political views; these were personal attacks spurred on by an objection to her political views; a different thing, and just as deplorable as the viral e-mails circulated against President Obama.
There have also been other inaccuracies here on this forum since I last wrote in: just as one example, Letterman’s joke was aimed at Bristol, Palin’s 18-year-old daughter, not Willow(sp.?), her 14-year-old daughter. Since it was perceived as having been aimed at the latter, Letterman, justifiably appalled on his own at such an unintended construction, chose to apologize for a clumsy joke whose target was so unclear (for a variety of reasons).
Sincerely,
Stone
Her poll numbers have continually dropped from 86% to 54%. The Senate-House Dinner muting her over Newt was a serious wake up call for her. Interesting rational she gave of “lame duck” governors collecting a paycheck. At any rate, glad to see her go.
I have surfed dozens of the national websites since Palin resigned, but ACK’s quick essay above wins the prize for “Most Insightful Commentary Posted On The Same Day That A Media Event Happened.”
And that’s what Palin’s resignation was — a media event in which she announced her choice of self-enriching celebrity status rather than the tough work of actually governing.
Louie
Acctually I think that palin’s goal was not to do what McCain, Hillary, and Obama did.
Take pay for an office while she was preparing and running for another office.
The VP Gig was a 2 month deal, not that intrusive to her duties as Governor.
Obama, Hillary and McCain were in the POTUS race upto over a year.
Obama missed 80% of his Senate Votes
Hillary missed 74% of her Senate Votes
McCain missed 68% of his senate votes
while running for office.
There is no way they represented their constitutants.
I think Palin is truely wants what is best for her state, and that is not a part time governor, and a full time canidate.
In Fact it is what Obama, hillary and McCain should have done. They collected their senate salaries and reaped the from the benifits of being senators, while not doing the duties of their positions.
They would just run back to DC and Vote on the “Poltically visiable” Votes, while ignoring 3/5ths of their duties.
Acctually it shows a huge insite to Palin’s integrity.
o do think you pegged it pretty well with your comments ACK –
“She just wants to be the IT girl.
She doesn’t care about experience or gravitas because those are things you would need only if you wished to affect change and make a difference. Those are things you only need if you wish to hold office and steer the ship of state. Sarah Palin only wishes to ride the wave of celebrity.”
And Joe, if you read the comments and this article, there are many who are just suckers enough to oblige her. Well done Sarah Palin critics!
Don’t know where you are pulling these so called facts from, TN Volunteer? Obama only missed 24% of votes in the Senate. Here’s the link:http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=400629
This shows people can govern and campaign at the same time. Most people that is. Palin can’t even speak coherently. She makes W look like a genius.
One thing Palin did quite successfully is expose the left for the hate-mongers they are, i.e. spaz and friends.
I’m curious to see if anything comes out of the SBS story SB mentions or what the deal. I don’t think she has, or had, a realistic shot at the presidency.
Hey, Sandy, how’s that stimulus package doing from the genius president we have now?
Most the Repub party apparatchik wanted her gone, plain and simple. Shes shrewd enough to snap to her eventual fate, and is taking the money. Its the smartest decision she will ever make.
I think you’re very close to it, Mack - I think by 2012 the Republican Party will look very different than it does today - she needs to cash in - now - while there’s still the debate. I don’t think she’s clever enough to be leaving *before* a scandal. She’s headed to NY, or DC, or LA. Wouldn’t shock me if she didn’t establish residence in some secure GOP district and run for Congress, or Senate in 2010 …
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/02/obama.missed.votes/
Sen. Barack Obama has missed the most votes of any Democratic presidential hopeful in the Senate over the last two months, including a vote on an Iran resolution he has blasted Sen. Hillary Clinton for supporting.
The Illinois Democrat has missed nearly 80 percent of all votes since September
That is September 2007, when he announced he would run for POTUS.
You cannot represent your state if you are only voting about 1 time out of every 5 votes.
Mikey, Unless she resigned for her family,
I think she is going to lower 48 to kick Butt.
She has a 76% Favorable rating among REpublicans and 46% among Independents.
To paraphrase, those who misquote history are doomed…
Sarah Palin ignorantly MIS-quoted General Douglas MacArthur in her resignation speech, claiming that MacArthur has once said, “We’re not retreating. We’re just advancing in another direction.”
Palin was cluelessly quoting U.S. General Oliver Smith, who was speaking about a Korean War 55-mile retreat/survival march in which his men suffered 30 percent casualties. Here’s a good blog piece on this point:
http://dagblog.com/politics/sarah-palin-resignation-somethings-rotten-state-alaska-783
Unless there is some sort of serious scandal there. I think she’s going to run for President in ‘12. Just look at the number of comments on this thread and on the newspaper threads. The other two top contenders for ‘12(Mitt Romney and Huckabee) don’t come close to generating this must interest from all of us political junkies. As Obama showed, interest pays off in terms of votes in the primaries. Sure she has ticked off the GOP insiders in Alaska(Murkowski’s,Stevens and Young). But lets be real….those fools deserve everything she gave them. The RINO’s in DC hate her but those people will never control the GOP after their guy went down in flames last November.
Yes, Louie, we need intelligent politicians, like Obama, who refer to the Cinco de Mayo as Cinco do Quatro, who sends Air Force One on fly-overs of New York, who can’t get through a news conference without a teleprompter, who makes jokes at the expense of the Special Olympics, who gives cheap, incorrectly formatted DVDs to the head of state of our greatest ally, who bows to Saudi royalty, who refers to the non-existent Austrian language, who proposes to double the national debt in one year and again in ten years. Your hate is showing.
Yes, we’re in the best of hands.
LOL - WHO’s hate is showing??
Louie,
You might do a bit of research before you start using such words as “cluelessly quoting.” And you might do more research than just a leftist blog.
MacArthur is indeed credited with the quote used by Palin. The quote you reference is similar but different. I easily found it on several sites for famous quotes. But then, I am sure you believe that if it doesn’t come from the reliable Left (sic,), it cannot be trusted.
Sandy wins the Derangement Cup: “Katie [Couric], who to me always seemed like a shill for the right wing . . .”
The first part of the essay was excellent, noting Palin’s stated reasons for resigning actually make sense, both for Alaska and her family. The second half is simply armchair psychoanalysis.
Mrs. Palin quit college 5 times before getting her degree — in journalism, ironic for someone who demonizes the press and interviews so badly.
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/sarah-palin-education-advocate/
Why quit as governor? Those sports metaphors at the end of Palin’s speech explain it.
She has a contract with the WNBA.
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/great-decisions-2009/
Listen, I’m definitely one of Palin’s critics, but there is one point I don’t see anyone talking about here.
It is physically impossible to run for president while holding an elected office in Anchorage, AK. Not difficult, impossible. A Senator could do it, but not a governor. The same holds true for the Governor of Hawaii. You would literally have to campaign from a plane, air-dropping campaign materials onto unsuspecting voters’ heads like they were wartime relief supplies.
While I think it would be the Most Awesome Thing Ever if Caribou Barbie or Bible Spice or whatever we’re calling her these days campaigned from the belly of a C-130, it would be a long way from shooting Bullwinkle from the side of a chartered helicopter.
“Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.” - Douglas MacArthur
Kleinheider has nailed it with this thoughtful assessment of the whole Sarah Palin. I agree one hundred percent with this picture of her. She is in it for the money and the clebrity, not the substance or leading her country.
Here you go, Mikey baby. Of course, I know you live in denial.
A quote from the feminist blog to which I linked, “Of course, the first answer you’ll get if you ask feminists why they hate Sarah Palin is that “it’s because she ____” — and then fill in the blank with the lie of choice: made rape victims pay for their own kits, is against contraception or sex ed, believes in abstinence-only, thinks the dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago, doesn’t believe in global warming, doesn’t believe in evolution, is stupid and can’t read, etc., etc., etc., etc.
But none of those things is true. None of them.”
Keep laughing, hate monger.
Hey thanks for the trip down memory lane … had to look it up:
recently released budget documents show that Sarah Palin directly shifted the cost of the rape kits from the police department to the victims in her budget for fiscal year 2000. If what a former city council member told CNN is true, that “Palin would review each department’s budget line by line,” then she either knew about the funding shift and approved it or was negligent in her role as state executive.
But to the bigger question - I don’t hate Sarah Palin. I don’t agree with her. I don’t mind pointing out areas of disagreement. I haven’t called her any names, and neither did the previous poster you assaulted with ‘hate monger.’ If a politician can’t take the heat, they need to get out of kitchen … which, I do believe she did.
She has both the right and the left off balance and scares them both.
She is the only politician on the national scene that reflects the views of the people.
Her reasoning why she is stepping aside, to save taxpayer money and distraction resonates with we the taxpayers that are tired of pols using our money and the system to carry out their agenda.
She had more experience and accomplishments then all three of the others combined yet the media carried out and is carrying out a campaign of personal destruction against her because they know she represents the voice of the people and that makes her dangerous to the business as usual crowd on both sides.
She is in essence a third party canidate within the system.
She is the poster child for the womans lib movement if they were really serious and not just lefty fronts.
So what if she just doesn’t want to be in the political cesspool anymore? Our political scene has become mired in arrogance, corruption, with politicians willing to throw their mother over just to get a vote or money! Bobc you are so right. And what amazes me is that their beloved O-man has us mired up to our asses and elbows in a trillion plus dollar debt, giving away our money for abortions and God only knows what else, and all these whackos can focus on is Sara Palin. And idgaf writes: “Her reasoning why she is stepping aside, to save taxpayer money and distraction resonates with we the taxpayers that are tired of pols using our money and the system to carry out their agenda.” I’m a simpleton and I got it. I don’t blame her for stepping down. Even if she only pursues motherhood, that is a greater accomplishment than screwing millions of Americans the way O-man is doing it.
Don’t call me Mikey
the hospitals have GYN kits aready in stock, why do you want to pay for the same kits twice, and collect the same specimens twice. and put the Rape victim through the Same Cervical exam twice after the violation of Rape.
Agree with the piece, but disagree that she’s done w/ trying to win an elected office.
She’s using Nixon 1962 as a model - counting on the vox pop to have a short memory. (but conveniently failing to see that 1962-Nixon had vastly more experience than she does today).
Between now & then, she’ll work hard to get GOP candidates elected & to keep her profile high. But waiting in the wings for a 2016 presidential bid.
..& you know who I think is really rooting for that scenario to play out like that? Bob Corker.
Sarah is what she is, and that is mother and wife, that is about it. She does not need to get back in policical life, she is not prepared in anyway to take the big boys on.
I agree with what TNVolunteer73had to say about Sarah Palin: “I think Palin is truely wants what is best for her state, and that is not a part time governor, and a full time canidate.”
If the left think she is so dumb, why are they so obsessed with her?
Here i a guy that has it right
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/sarah_palin_roger_stone/2009/07/06/232562.html?s=al&promo_code=82D9-1
The commentary and most of the replies are a bunch of crap. She is who she is, and that’s a person with some insight to real life outside every move being political. I’m sure she knows there’s no way she could run for President, but there is room for her to enter the political dialogue of policy for this country! Most of the critics that despise her lack of a Yale degree, lack of personal wealth, and being a pro lifer, would like to silence her. Their pettiness may prevaile, I hope it does not.