Juan Williams says Sarah Palin is no intellectual match for Barack Obama. She’s no intellectual match for a match.
That was a line I could not resist tweeting. Someone on Twitter got annoyed at my little joke: “So cheap and weak.” But I was actually emulating Palin’s style.
Palin’s rhetoric is often cheap: she has a habit of calling reporters and even Republicans who diss her “limp” and impotent” – a cheap polemic that in other times would have self-discredited a politician due to its vulgarity. Her arguments are mostly weak snark or feud-fueling barbs: weak assertions for someone who must let America know specific affirmative ideas to help get the country out of a mess created by both political parties.
The bottom line is that Sarah Palin is an acquired taste that even some Republicans are finding hard to acquire.
To Palin’s many fans she’s “authentic,” fresh, says what she thinks, speaks like the person on the street, doesn’t mince words, is physically beautiful and her voice is an angelical voice of truth. To those not enchanted by her she never met a sarcastic remark she couldn’t use, uses factoids to exaggerate or flatly misrepresent, sounds more like a polarizing talk show host than a serious leader – and her voice is akin to the sound of chalk scraping on a blackboard.
To those who don’t adore her, Palin is one reason why many Americans are now getting down on their knees and thanking God that John McCain was not elected President. Even atheists.
Some Republicans are now almost taking as many potshots at Palin as she is at caribou. Salon ran anti-Sarah quotes from prominent GOPers: Jonathan Tobin, Peter Wehner, Charles Krauthammer, Sig Rogich, Christine Todd Whitman, Joe Scarborough, Matt LaBash, Barbara Bush, David Frum, Mona Charen, Peggy Noonan, Karl Rove, and Ann Coulter. A Wall Street Journal editorial criticized her for distorting Michelle Obama’s childhood obesity campaign comments.
Palin’s problem isn’t becoming a punch line. She already is (”Palin’s book just came out. It has just over 300 pages and just fewer than 900 made-up words.” –Jimmy Fallon…”Sarah Palin says she wants limited government. Does she mean fewer elected officials or more officials who resign in the middle of their terms? I think limited government will be perfect for her limited abilities.” –David Letterman…”A new poll shows President Obama ahead of Sarah Palin 54 percent to 39 percent in a potential match up. You know what that means? John McCain could get Barack Obama elected twice.” —Jay Leno).
The problem is that she will become negatively defined by comedians and become the subject of recycled jokes. A comedian in Vegas might do this:
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.