Why is the left terrified of Sarah Palin?
A supporter of Sarah Palin waits at a book signing in Grand Rapids, Michigan on November 18 (Bill Pugliano/Getty)
Of course, you’re going to say you’re not. And maybe that’s true. But that’s what it looks like from here.
Let me say at the outset that I didn’t vote for the ticket with Palin for VP (didn’t vote for the other ticket, either – haven’t voted for a Republicrat in a loooong time), and for numerous reasons she would never, ever get my vote for president. (I’m especially terrified of people who think their god has a plan for them. )
But I don’t hate her. And I’ve got lots better things to do than take cheap shots at her.
So I have to ask: What’s with the incessant stream of vitriol from the left? Why does almost every blog I read, every forum or message board I visit, along with many updates by my friends on Face Book, contain anti-Palin diatribes, snipes, or links?
You’re only helping her, folks. You’re selling more books for her and raising her profile and making her look like a viable alternative to the current yahoos in office. And more, you’re creating sympathy for her. With independents dropping off the Democrat wagon, I’d think this would be the last thing you’d want to do.
And that Newsweek cover. Meacham, what were you thinking? I don’t know if it’s sexist, but it’s certainly out of context. And I can’t imagine anyone not firmly in the anti-Palin camp looking at that and thinking its purpose is anything but to demean and diminish. I, as someone who would never vote for her, found that embarrassingly obvious. I can only imagine how centrist fence-sitters reacted.
Being off the left-right grid, I can sit back and scratch my head while I watch the show. Gotta say: “Have gun, will shoot foot” is a befuddling and bemusing tactic.
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A: Because the last time the Republicans served up a ludicrous moron as a presidential candidate, he was elected to two terms in the White House.
“ludicrous moron” generates heat but no light. I think the emotional, over-the-top personal attacks on Bush (remember “Where’s Lee Harvey Oswald when we need him?”) not only solidified his base, but pushed many undecided into his camp. It hasn’t ye reached that level with Palin, but you could be setting the stage for a repeat.
In response to another comment. See in context »I’m not a Democrat, never have been, so I can’t speak for them or liberals.
I’m a southern woman, independent. I think a Palin-Beck ticket would produce extreme popcorn shortages from which the nation may never recover. Seriously, there isn’t enough popcorn for all of us to say “Hey ya’ll watch this, and pass me some popcorn”. The phrase that come to mind is “a mess”.
Independents may be deserting the Democrats. That doesn’t mean we think the Republicans are a valid alternative. The Dems aren’t living up to promises and acting like their own opposition party, which also crates shortages of popcorn. We are staying home again, and having cynical political drinking games to console ourselves with the fact that neither party is competent.
The problem isn’t Palin. It is who supports her. Everyone in large southern families has plenty of relatives that think the world will end in two years, but the black helicopters will come for them before that and croc shoes and snuggies are the best thing since sliced bread. It wasn’t until Schwarzenegger that most realized California was an actual state and not a foreign country where the hippies all came from (and go back to in the winter). They are embarrassing, but family. This is the Palin demographic.
*crates = creates, typo
It’s not Sarah Palin that sane people are afraid of, it’s people like the knucklehead waiting to get their copy of her book signed in the photo above.
We fear the starry-eyed celebrity worship of Palin by ill-informed xenophobes who share the same dangerously narrow minded, anti-intellectual world view she espouses that want to enshrine it in the White House for 8 years.
On the up side, Sarah Palin is probably the best thing to happen for the Democrats’ continuing electoral good fortune since Medicare.
Holy crow – great to see you on my fave blog Dr. Wilson! You actually wrote me a response to fan letter on your novel _The Keep_ way back when I was a kid. Hope you’re having a little success.
Re the subject matter, Newsweek got it right. Anyone with human genes knows instinctively what Palin is: the bimbo who’s smart about stupid things. The Runners World pic alluded to the truth before, why not now? We were gonna get gam shots anyways, fer crissakes.
Very best of luck in your blogging sideline.
I was going to write a long response, but I think Jon Stewart pretty handily took care of this (by now boilerplate) questioning of the motives of Palin’s critics yesterday.
No one on the left is terrified of Sarah Palin. She almost singlehandedly lost the election for McCain. She’s as popular a national punchline as she is unpopular an actual politician. There is no chance in hell she’ll get closer to the presidency than she did in 2008. We only talk about her because the media is covering her non-stop.
As far as that sexist cover, Media Matters, Digby, Atrios, and many other lefty blogs have all made comments slamming Newsweek’s stupidity in choosing that shot. That’s more an example of the triviality of the mass media than any indictment of the left.
Yeah, I know. “When you peel back the pretty-shooty layers of the Palin-onion, there’s no onion” – Jon Stewart. I couldn’t agree more. But that’s not enlightening because it’s true of 99% of the folks in congress. Peel away their layers and you find naked ambition. I’m simply asking why the Dems (and a number of Pubs too) resort to name-calling (”know-nothing bimbo” comes to mind) when she’s so vulnerable on the issues.
In response to another comment. See in context »It’s a little ironic to call Stewart’s point “unenlightening”and then follow it up with a generic blanket description of Congress that borders on meaninglessness. Yes, a lot of members of Congress are corrupt and stupid, but some are much more than others – and that margin means a great deal to our politics and our lives. Degrees matter! People aren’t concocting reasons to disdain Palin more than the average politician. She makes the case every time she opens her mouth.
In response to another comment. See in context »Dr. Wilson,
As a liberal and a Democrat, I am thrilled to death my Sarah Palin, she did more to help get Mr. Obama elected than any other Republican (except Mr. Bush). She has not a serious thought in her head and could not ever get elected president but she scared independent voters to death. If she did run in “Oh Twelve” I hope she gets the nomination because nothing would go further to re-electing Mr. Obama than that.
Ah HA! Thank you, David, for answering my question. The left is only =pretending= to be afraid. They’re =trying= to raise Palin’s profile and create sympathy for her so she’ll win the nom in 2012, when they’re sure they can defeat her. BRILLIANT! (Have I said how much I love conspiracies?)
In response to another comment. See in context »Dr. Wilson,
Who on the left is pretending to be afraid? Maybe a year ago when there was actually the smallest chance she might actually be elected to be one heart beat after the oldest first term president in history some might have been worried, but now? The woman is a joke, she does not have a serious thought in her head and can hardly string the words together to make a coherent sentence. No, no one I know is afraid, or even pretending to be afraid.
In response to another comment. See in context »It’s good to see Newsweek keeping their promise to be a ‘thought leader.’
http://www.foliomag.com/2008/newsweek-mulls-dramatic-drop-circulation
First of all, you’re not allowed to treat any group as big and heterogeneous as “the left” as some sort of monolith. Otherwise you run the risk of saying things like “the left” mock Sarah Palin because they are “afraid,” and not because it’s just great fun.
So why are SOME of “the left” afraid of Sarah Palin? These are the same people who agree with Bill Maher that we’re a very stupid country. These people are genuinely afraid that a platitudinous, paleoconservative sub-intellectual like Palin might actually get elected president in 2012. This is an irrational fear, but some people feel it so strongly that they go out of their way to explain to people how unsuitable Palin is for any elected position.
Besides these ‘fraidy-cats, there are liberals like me who think it’s just a lot of fun to ridicule Palin. The other day she described the administration’s decision to try some 9/11 conspirators in NYC as “atrocious.” It’s just like Jon Stewart said the other night – she’s a doofy conservative mad lib. Do you think she knows that she said Obama was being intentionally, incredibly cruel to (presumably) the 9/11 victims’ families? No. She just knows ‘atrocious’ is a negative word. What an easy target! She’s dumb, and her followers are dumb, too! The more we associate all conservatism with her and her braindead ilk, the theory goes, the less legitimate all conservatives will be.
People need someone to hate regardless of which side they are on. It happens that SP is a female and a rebel persona who is painfully transparent in her ambitions.
I am a socialist-voting libertarian male. And though I am confident I could out debate Sarah on any issue including hunting and the merits of beauty pageants, I am absolutely frightened that if we were to debate she would wear a low-cut top and I wouldn’t be able to draw my eyes or attention away from her bosom…
I would hope that her being a woman is not a real issue as far as deciding to hate her. I’m not exactly in a place where I can stay in touch with the heart of the Liberal zeitgeist, I don’t hear much criticism about her sex. Truthfully, even if your stupid enough for that to be a problem, I would at least hope that it would be way down on your list. You’d still be a jack ass though.
In response to another comment. See in context »I was stating a fact, one method of creating and retaining power is to be divisive, you need an enemy so people are afraid and will follow you. A fearful populace is an obedient populace. Just look what happened in the USA after 9/11.
Palin is very good being divisive and she is using her femininity as a tool.
In response to another comment. See in context »“Socialist-voting Libertarian”
Now I’ve truly heard it all…
In response to another comment. See in context »I really don’t think the problem the left will face with Palin is that they will mock her into the White House in 2012. I can see the left mocking another Republican into her place though. Just as Palin is now the face of the anti-intellectual movement in this country, it was not too long ago that the Dems had the elitist snob rep. Still do to a certain extent though it had begun to subside a little.
With Palin such a rich target, she appears to be way too tempting for Dems to leave her alone. The result is that the left(which like it or not, the opposition does depict as a monolithic entity), comes off looking like a bunch of, well, elitists.
So yeah, to sum up, I think she’s ridiculous, and if she somehow gets the nod, I believe it would clinch it for the Dems. But I can really see, the left taking the abuse a bit too far, ticking off all those independents that have anti-intellectual leanings to begin with. Then whatever Repub is running has the potential to catch a lot of votes fulled by disgust.
Okay, I’ll bite. Yes, I’m registered as a Dem and no, I’m not “terrified” of Sarah Palin but maybe I should be. She’s a symptom of the problem we have in the US where celebrity is mistaken for popularity. Palin is no more qualified to hold ANY public office than Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, or any of the other “PR Queens” the press and internet constantly parade before us. No, I’m not “terrified”, I’m disgusted and dismayed that we as a country cannot differentiate from “News” and “Celebrity”.
I don’t think it has anything to do Ms. Palin as a woman.
I think it has everything to do with the fact that she has proven thus far that she can provoke a crowd of the “low hanging” fruit in this country into an uproar with just a few words. And we all know what happens when you can move the masses.
I’m not afraid of her. She’s a train wreck.
But i am sure career politicians are afraid of her, on either side of the spectrum.
Yes. We’re completely terrified of her, because we know that she will handily defeat Obama in 2012, ushering in a true Permanent Conservative Majority.
Former Governor Palin, please, PLEASE don’t throw us in the briar patch…uh, I mean…don’t run for president. We’re so scared.
My-my. I was simply wondering why the left was expending so much effort bashing someone who wasn’t much of a threat in the first place (and maybe creating a threat in the process), and look at what’s happened. But keep going. This is interesting.
Because it’s fun?
Because it’s a blog and you asked the question?
Because people have opinions?
Are you attempting to deduce something out of the 10-12 respondents? Sample size, too small. Loaded question on blog.
I don’t think you can really deduce much from this Mr. Wilson.
In response to another comment. See in context »I don’t think you could be more wrong on this one, Mr. Wilson. We on the left would be literally jumping for joy if Palin heads the Republican ticket – the election would be a slam dunk.
Besides, she’s easy on the eyes, and is entertaining as hell to listen to – answering such tough probing questions as “Which newspapers do you read?” What a “gotcha” that one was!
Any question that starts with “Why is the left…” as if “The Left” held some kind of strategy meetings and decided on a common course of action, is a little hard to answer.
The Democratic Party (see Will Rogers) is famous for its disorganization, much less “The Left”.
My answer, though, is that in the Age Of Blogs, there’s a lot of stuff being counted as “political commentary” that used be “bitching at the bar with your pals”, including a lot of junior-high-school level name-calling.
Sarah Palin, I think, has yanked some of that stuff up out of blogs and put in in the mouth of a national figure with 50 cameras pointed at her as she talks.
I mean, come on, “Death Panels”?
The majority of people hear a whopper like that and just roll their eyes and don’t bother to reply, any more than they would reply to a junior-high-schooler taunt (or Ann Coulter). But a few people are just so outraged at the sheer effrontery of telling such an insulting lie, they just have to yell back – and in-kind, with more juvenile insults.
Here’s your “why bash Palin” homework: stroll down the street and loudly call random passers-by “Child Molesters”. Nine of ten will give you a funny look and a wide berth. The tenth will probably explode with loud (and ridiculous) insults in return. Multiply by half the politically-engaged 100 million of the US population and you have the people yelling at Palin.
I think that everybody on the Left now has gotten over Ann Coulter: realized that she only makes money when people fall for her say-something-outrageous act every time she has a book out. You hardly hear Coulter-bashing any more. Palin slipped past their tune-out filter because it’s harder to ignore a candidate with a candidate’s coverage; and she still has some leftover juice from that. But I suspect the book tour is the last of it.
Since she has no prayer at the Presidency and seems uninterested in the Senate, House or her Governorship, her political career is over. Once she settles in with her Fox show, she’ll just be another Ann and the “bashers” will go back to ignoring her, since only the converted will be seeing the show.