Harry Truman gave them hell. Sarah Palin gives them agita.
The Associated Press unleashed 11 fact checkers on her new book, Going Rogue, for a thoroughly tendentious critical examination. Newsweek, the influential liberal magazine of opinion, published a cover piece damning her to the outer darkness, balanced by another piece damning her to the further-outer darkness. The conservative-leaning New York Times columnist David Brooks called her “a joke.”
It’s September 2008 all over again. All the same players are lining up to put a good hate on Sarah Palin. She’s like an isotope designed to course throughout our politics and culture, lighting up press bias, self-congratulatory liberalism, Christianity-hating secularism, and intellectual condescension wherever they are found.
The contempt of her enemies only increases the ardor of her fans. Palin is the most divisive woman in America, supplanting a Hillary Clinton who is losing her electric political charge as Barack Obama’s mostly irrelevant secretary of state. First, Palin divided Democrats and Republicans. Then she divided the conservative commentariat. Finally, she divided the McCain campaign itself, which devolved into an ugly internal war over its vice-presidential nominee.
Palin takes her title from a McCain aide’s description of her refusal to abide by every tittle of the campaign script. The most entertaining parts of her breezy, readable book are when she takes up the long knives herself and plunges them into the McCain aides she believes mishandled her, or trashed her anonymously after the campaign.
Major political candidates don’t typically name and shame staff in their memoirs, but Palin is doing it under extreme provocation. The “Was Sarah mishandled?” debate will endure as long as anyone cares about the 2008 campaign. Almost every particular is disputed by someone or other in the McCain camp. It’s fair to say this: Yes, the campaign had a hugely difficult task in taking Palin from 0 to 60 mph on the national stage, but it handled it badly — and, in the end, gracelessly.
Palin has lived to tell the tale because going rogue is now her operating principle. Her base of support is so intense, she doesn’t need supply lines into the political or media establishment. She transformed her Facebook page into a must-read organ of conservative opinion by lobbing “I can’t believe she said that” rhetorical bombshells. No political consultant would ever approve of her M.O.; for Palin’s purposes, no political consultant could possibly improve on it.
Palin is as much a cultural phenomenon as a political one. If that’s a strength, it’s also a drag. It’s not easy for a cultural lightning rod to win the White House. Just ask Hillary.
Political detox is possible, of course. Richard Nixon wasn’t the red-hunting vice-presidential candidate of 1952 when he ran for president in 1968; Bob Dole wasn’t the partisan hatchet man of his 1976 vice-presidential campaign when he took on Bill Clinton 20 years later; Jerry Brown won’t be the New Age “governor moonbeam” of 1974 when he runs for governor of California again next year. These transformations were the work of decades, though, and Palin no longer occupies the Alaska governorship, where — prior to her national ascension — she governed as a center-right pragmatist.
But why should Palin change? She represents less a philosophical strain on the right than an affect and a demographic. What makes her otherwise orthodox conservatism different is the plain-spoken, combative way she expresses it and the constituency she attracts. Her supporters identify with her populist, unaffected vibe and tend to be disaffected with politics as usual — they’re Palin Perotistas. A drastic image makeover would only drive them away.
Republicans need these voters more than ever given the roiling grass-roots revolt against Obama’s governance. Without them, they can’t get a majority; they’d be doomed if they were ever to slide into a splinter party. If Palin is their voice and channels their energy productively, she’s part of the Republican answer to Obama, no matter what presidential politics ultimately holds for her. There’s an upside to rogue.
Friends, there is a danger hiding in practically every home, office and school. It masquerades as a harmless office supply but in reality, it has the ability to make people mentally unstable, disable a school system, and virtually bring a small town to its knees. It's known as (cue scary music), the post-it note.
As a resident of Plainfield and frequent walker on our excellent trail system, I have often wondered what the laws are concerning the marked pedestrian crosswalks throughout town. So I talked to the Plainfield Police Department.
Mitt Romney went into the wrong line of work. If only he had been a lecturer in constitutional law, he wouldn't have a business record vulnerable to distortion by a desperate incumbent president.
Now that the Obama administration has officially sided with corrupting man-wife marriage to also mean two men or two women, it's time for Christians to reflect on what's going on in the culture. To be sure, the measure must pass certain hurdles to be the secular law of the land. And, if the Republican candidate wins come November, there may be a further delay in its implementation. But don't count on it.
I'm back from a few shows at the security theater.
I slogged my way through four airports this past month, and played my interactive role in that daily, multi-billion-dollar production brought to us by the federal government with the colossally misleading name of "airline security."
President Barack Obama insists that he didn't announce his support for gay marriage out of political considerations. He's right. He did it out of self-regard.
Is that smoke? I think I smell something burning. Something is definitely scorched. Did someone just burn a ham or did Patricia Krentcil, a.k.a. "tanning mom" just walk into the room?
U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar - vanquished by age, longevity, barrel bottom congressional approval ratings, and an aggressive opponent in Treasurer Richard Mourdock - seemed to be bridging a divided party when he took the stage shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday as the magnitude of the 61 percent to 39 percent landslide against him registered.
The Cleveland Five are a sad-sack collection of wannabe terrorists if there ever was one. The amateurish young men who plotted to destroy a bridge outside Cleveland last week give the impression of needing the attention of a guidance counselor as much as a federal prosecutor.
Human remains may be embedded in the mud of the North Atlantic where the New York-bound Titanic came to rest when it sank 100 years ago, a federal official said.
Commentary
Sarah Palin’s roguish charm
BY RICH LOWRY
Harry Truman gave them hell. Sarah Palin gives them agita.
The Associated Press unleashed 11 fact checkers on her new book, Going Rogue, for a thoroughly tendentious critical examination. Newsweek, the influential liberal magazine of opinion, published a cover piece damning her to the outer darkness, balanced by another piece damning her to the further-outer darkness. The conservative-leaning New York Times columnist David Brooks called her “a joke.”
It’s September 2008 all over again. All the same players are lining up to put a good hate on Sarah Palin. She’s like an isotope designed to course throughout our politics and culture, lighting up press bias, self-congratulatory liberalism, Christianity-hating secularism, and intellectual condescension wherever they are found.
The contempt of her enemies only increases the ardor of her fans. Palin is the most divisive woman in America, supplanting a Hillary Clinton who is losing her electric political charge as Barack Obama’s mostly irrelevant secretary of state. First, Palin divided Democrats and Republicans. Then she divided the conservative commentariat. Finally, she divided the McCain campaign itself, which devolved into an ugly internal war over its vice-presidential nominee.
Palin takes her title from a McCain aide’s description of her refusal to abide by every tittle of the campaign script. The most entertaining parts of her breezy, readable book are when she takes up the long knives herself and plunges them into the McCain aides she believes mishandled her, or trashed her anonymously after the campaign.
Major political candidates don’t typically name and shame staff in their memoirs, but Palin is doing it under extreme provocation. The “Was Sarah mishandled?” debate will endure as long as anyone cares about the 2008 campaign. Almost every particular is disputed by someone or other in the McCain camp. It’s fair to say this: Yes, the campaign had a hugely difficult task in taking Palin from 0 to 60 mph on the national stage, but it handled it badly — and, in the end, gracelessly.
Palin has lived to tell the tale because going rogue is now her operating principle. Her base of support is so intense, she doesn’t need supply lines into the political or media establishment. She transformed her Facebook page into a must-read organ of conservative opinion by lobbing “I can’t believe she said that” rhetorical bombshells. No political consultant would ever approve of her M.O.; for Palin’s purposes, no political consultant could possibly improve on it.
Palin is as much a cultural phenomenon as a political one. If that’s a strength, it’s also a drag. It’s not easy for a cultural lightning rod to win the White House. Just ask Hillary.
Political detox is possible, of course. Richard Nixon wasn’t the red-hunting vice-presidential candidate of 1952 when he ran for president in 1968; Bob Dole wasn’t the partisan hatchet man of his 1976 vice-presidential campaign when he took on Bill Clinton 20 years later; Jerry Brown won’t be the New Age “governor moonbeam” of 1974 when he runs for governor of California again next year. These transformations were the work of decades, though, and Palin no longer occupies the Alaska governorship, where — prior to her national ascension — she governed as a center-right pragmatist.
But why should Palin change? She represents less a philosophical strain on the right than an affect and a demographic. What makes her otherwise orthodox conservatism different is the plain-spoken, combative way she expresses it and the constituency she attracts. Her supporters identify with her populist, unaffected vibe and tend to be disaffected with politics as usual — they’re Palin Perotistas. A drastic image makeover would only drive them away.
Republicans need these voters more than ever given the roiling grass-roots revolt against Obama’s governance. Without them, they can’t get a majority; they’d be doomed if they were ever to slide into a splinter party. If Palin is their voice and channels their energy productively, she’s part of the Republican answer to Obama, no matter what presidential politics ultimately holds for her. There’s an upside to rogue.
(c) 2009 by King Features Syndicate
Friends, there is a danger hiding in practically every home, office and school. It masquerades as a harmless office supply but in reality, it has the ability to make people mentally unstable, disable a school system, and virtually bring a small town to its knees. It's known as (cue scary music), the post-it note.
May 18, 2012
As a resident of Plainfield and frequent walker on our excellent trail system, I have often wondered what the laws are concerning the marked pedestrian crosswalks throughout town. So I talked to the Plainfield Police Department.
May 18, 2012
Mitt Romney went into the wrong line of work. If only he had been a lecturer in constitutional law, he wouldn't have a business record vulnerable to distortion by a desperate incumbent president.
May 18, 2012
And now, hold on to your hats because it's time for ...
Dentists In The News!
May 15, 2012
Now that the Obama administration has officially sided with corrupting man-wife marriage to also mean two men or two women, it's time for Christians to reflect on what's going on in the culture. To be sure, the measure must pass certain hurdles to be the secular law of the land. And, if the Republican candidate wins come November, there may be a further delay in its implementation. But don't count on it.
May 15, 2012
I'm back from a few shows at the security theater.
I slogged my way through four airports this past month, and played my interactive role in that daily, multi-billion-dollar production brought to us by the federal government with the colossally misleading name of "airline security."
May 14, 2012
President Barack Obama insists that he didn't announce his support for gay marriage out of political considerations. He's right. He did it out of self-regard.
May 14, 2012
Is that smoke? I think I smell something burning. Something is definitely scorched. Did someone just burn a ham or did Patricia Krentcil, a.k.a. "tanning mom" just walk into the room?
May 11, 2012
U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar - vanquished by age, longevity, barrel bottom congressional approval ratings, and an aggressive opponent in Treasurer Richard Mourdock - seemed to be bridging a divided party when he took the stage shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday as the magnitude of the 61 percent to 39 percent landslide against him registered.
May 11, 2012
The Cleveland Five are a sad-sack collection of wannabe terrorists if there ever was one. The amateurish young men who plotted to destroy a bridge outside Cleveland last week give the impression of needing the attention of a guidance counselor as much as a federal prosecutor.
May 11, 2012
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Human remains may be embedded in the mud of the North Atlantic where the New York-bound Titanic came to rest when it sank 100 years ago, a federal official said.
April 16, 2012 3 Photos 3 Stories
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