Some politicians thrive in spite of their reputations for dishonesty. Republicans like Richard Nixon and Democrats like Hillary Clinton carried serious baggage with the electorate for their repeated mendacity. But they maintained a core of committed supporters because they were highly knowledgeable and competent, and always stood willing to fight back against their enemies. Yes, Hillary Clinton might lie about Tuzla, but she will always fight for universal health care and that’s what matters in the end. Her supporters can bracket aside nagging questions about her integrity because, at the end of the day, she was the best fighter for the right cause.
Is Sarah Palin this way too? She is quickly amassing a record for dishonesty that make both Nixon and Clinton blush. Almost every substantive claim made in defense of the Palin candidacy has proven either false or vacuous (e.g. Alaska is close to Russia so she is ready to be Commander in Chief).
Still, as of now, her reputation is still high. There may be warning signs ahead. She already has the highest DISAPPROVAL rating for any VP candidate in recent memory. And, according to the latest Newsweek poll, the 22 percent of Americans who say Palin’s selection as VP nominee makes voters LESS likely to vote for McCain is actually the highest for any vice presidential candidate ever polled this way. Perhaps, her reputation is starting to take a nosedive.
But it hasn’t hit critical mass yet. Her approval ratings are still very high (few have “no opinion” of her). Sarah Palin still draws rave reviews from conservatives who castigated the Clintons for their dishonesty. As Andrew Sullivan regularly points out, conservative Republicans make the sounds of crickets when confronted with the overwhelming evidence of Palin’s almost comical level of dishonesty. It isn’t even that they’re defending her lies. They’re just ignoring them.
So, if Palin’s reputation does NOT take a nosedive, what does this say about her appeal? Forget for a moment what it says about John McCain’s own issues with integrity, what does Palin’s “dare you to call me a liar” attitude say about her relationship to her supporters? Has she really earned the sort of hardcore respect from conservatives that Richard Nixon earned through his wars with the “cultural elites” on the left, or Hillary Clinton did with her fights against the “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy?” Does Sarah Palin really deserve to be given a pass on her integrity?