Sarah Palin as Reese Witherspoon – and that’s a good thing
John McCain just found his new attack dog, and I think we’ll all want to get bitten.
When McCain first announced Sarah Palin, I thought she was a terrible choice, imagining some grizzled old Alaskan woman who would serve as a poor Hillary substitute. A week later, I’m pretty close to convinced that Palin is a huge asset to McCain, precisely because she is his Obama, just as Joe Biden is Obama’s McCain. The tickets are even, and Democrats are furious that Republicans have someone just as telegenic and spunky as their man.
Palin is gorgeous, as evidenced by all the elderly delegates wearing buttons with some variation of “Hottest VP” on them. She looks like the grown-up version of a friend of mine in Washington, another state beauty queen, who also made the 50 Most Beautiful People in Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill. Yet when Palin savages Obama as an unaccomplished community organizer, it’s like watching Reese Witherspoon in “Legally Blonde” take down her smug, self-satisfied ex-boyfriend in law school. How can you be mad at a woman who says the only difference between hockey moms like herself and pit bulls is “lipstick”? Democrats can mouth the typical platitudes used by both parties that she’s a partisan hack, setting a negative tone when Americans just want effective governance and bipartisan cooperation. But Palin is as entertaining as Obama is inspiring, and I think Americans enjoy both. Bipartisanship is great when you’re stuck, not when you’re trying to get acolytes. Palin is Ted Nugent, not the Jonas Brothers, and guess which rock star we’ll still remember in 5 years?
Leslie Stahl from “60 Minutes” once recounted that Ronald Reagan’s media maven Michael Deaver thanked CBS for a critical report about Reagan, and she had asked why. Because of the shots of Reagan in his cowboy-style clothing on a ranch. “People don’t pay attention to the words,” he reportedly said. If you’re on the fence between Obama and McCain and don’t have any strong policy preferences between them, Palin’s adorable jabs may be enough to push you over. As my friend and LA blogger Jeremiah Lewis said of Joe Biden’s strength on the Obama ticket, “gravitas = boring old man.”
She’s certainly not going to convince most Hillary supporters or Obamaniacs, but Palin gives the base a full-body orgasm with her sexy-librarian-crossed-with-Ted-Nugent persona and makes CNN’s female hosts swoon despite her supposedly “shrill” delivery. If the Obama campaign tries to label her as just another hack, a homespun Alaskan retort from behind those sexy glasses will surely follow.
19 Responses to “Sarah Palin as Reese Witherspoon – and that’s a good thing”
What good does pandering to the base do when the base is the smallest it's been in years? McCain needs to figure out how to expand his base quickly before Palin joins Bentsen, Kemp, Ferraro, and Edwards in the footnotes of history.
To be honest, I have little patience for voters who have no opinion on policy matters. I don't mean they have to be policy wonks and live and die by fighting over a 2% budget hike in fiscal '09 or a 3% budget hike. But if they don't care about wars, health, education, constitutional rights, and on and on down the list, but instead vote for who's charming…. shutter. People die because of these decisions. 100,000 or so dead Iraqi civilians. Homes lost due to medical bills.
People should vote for Palin for what they think she would do as Prez should that happen. I fully understand that super smart and good people disagree with me about many policy matters. That's a good thing. But don't vote for her because she's hot or charming or for Obama because you'd like to go a round of basketball with him. The Presidency is far too powerful for that.
Honestly, I'm also perplexed by the “attractiveness” that's touted about this woman. Mind you, I live in a place where “the beautiful people” abound, but is fapping to the VP candidate all the RNC can offer? She's an empty suit on policy. She's under multiple legal investigations. She offers nothing substantive that mainstream America really wants other than the faint hope for every middle-aged man that the overweight woman that he's married to today will somehow magically turn into Sarah Palin and that she won't mind the fact that he's let himself go too.
America can do better than the soiled Kleenex of politic delusion.
I hate to post this article as the only link to discussions of Palin, because people will assume I'm super-anti-Palin, which is not true. Anyway, the article cracked me up. The headline writer pulled no punches:
Palin has never ordered Alaska National Guard to do anything
“hottest VP” buttons?
Hey, isn't that sexist????
Yeah, the Alaskan National Guard story is revealing, as is this:
PALIN: “I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending … and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress ‘thanks but no thanks’ for that Bridge to Nowhere.”
THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a “bridge to nowhere.”
oh well…..
To quote a TRUE patriot, “Facts are stubborn things” ( John Adams):
To wit:
http://WWW.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008…
[...] Sarah Palin, a quiet confirmation of all that I have been working for these many years. Um, months. Greg Piper of the Moderate Voice gives a moment in history. Leslie Stahl from “60 Minutes” once recounted that Ronald [...]
Is Palin now going to join Paris Hilto and Britney Spears as American celebrities?
From the 538 site the answer seems to be yes.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/guess-wh…
Wasn't a McCain ad sniping Obama for his celebrity? How is the “Hot mama VP” any different? Now someone here at TMV comparing her to Witherspoon – LOL.
Greg, you're right about Reese Witherspoon. But you got the wrong movie. It isn't “Legally Blonde” that she resembles. It's Tracy Flick in “Election,” the snide, condescending woman who says the right thing but ends up a fraud.
Reese Witherspoon indeed.
In a word, no. The lefties are making fools of themselves today. Palin's appeal is broad, nation-wide, not limited to “the base”; she is not superficial fluff and visual and emotional appeal — which is _all_ Obama was about for several months.
Repeat that all you want, DLS, but that doesn't make it true.
DLS,
If Palin's appeal is truly nation-wide, we are in a lot of trouble.
Thank you, Elrod…you have eloquently stated what was SCREAMING in my mind last night. Palin = Tracy Flick, complete with that annoying, condescending nose wrinkling bit and the naggy, shrewish “mommy” voice.
Palin's success last night continues to upset hearts and minds, I notice. [sigh]
“Repeat that all you want, DLS, but that doesn't make it true.”
Round earth, round earth, round earth. Too bad, Flatties.
DLS is crushing so very, very, very hard. I mean, really, the entire day's posts by him have been nothing but star-struck swooning over Palin and making overblown claims about how all of America loves Palin.
Palin is a librarian so hot that she actually set the books on fire.
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