Sarah Palin and Sanfordphobia
by Paul Gottfried
Am I hallucinating, or has Neocon Central, that is, FOXNews and its NY Post-affiliate, been working overtime to secure the presidential nomination of http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=5632,” whose high character and consistently conservative views had turned the media against this outstanding public servant. Within minutes of Sarah’s resignation speech, I learned that as a “working mother” the Alaska governor did not want to sacrifice her children (including presumably the one who got pregnant by the jock) for her political career and that she was hanging tough and planning to go on teaching us “values.” FOX did allow one of its leftist clients, Larry Sabato, into the carefully monitored discussion to express wonder at Sarah’s action. Sabato was understandably puzzled that the governor was not finishing her term before she announced that she would not seek reelection. This suggested a certain immaturity in the way in which she approached her public responsibilities. But the high praise for Sarah has continued to pour out of FOX, with ritualistic swipes at Letterman, Tina Fey, and other TV personalities who have dared to mock a true “maverick.”On July 5, the New York Post gave its own push to the “Draft Sarah for President” movement by presenting a very friendly article by Bob Quick, “Run, Sarah, Run. Here we learn that Sarah as a presidential contender must be true to herself by “ignoring her enemies” and by “remaking the GOP in her image.” Such advice is grossly misleading. The neocon media would not be pulling for Sarah if she were Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, or some other real “maverick.” What makes her so appealing is that she’s a photogenic dullard and that her stated views are mostly within the neocon mainstream. On foreign policy, immigration, and federal laws banning discrimination against women, she sounds exactly like the man who chose her as his running mate in 2008. What make her different from John are her pleasant physical appearance and her cornpone “Youbetcha” manner of speaking. For the American Right, Sarah may be the ultimate Trojan horse. She offers the Idaho State- or Wasilla version of Bill Kristol and John McCain, with a few alterations, namely, an inability to engage national issues in a specific manner and the endless recitation of GOP platitudes about “smaller government’ and “national defense.” Of course the Doles and McCains pulled out the same tiresome “get government off our backs” rhetoric, while advocating programs to expand federal control. But these candidates could manage to say concrete things in their addresses and interviews, even when they packaged substance in deceitful campaign slogans.
http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/palinomania/