Friday, October 16, 2009

Why Palin Mania Won't Die

Formar George W Bush Speechwriter Matt Latimer writes
(h/t thepalination)

Love her, hate her, or fear her, there is something undeniably mesmerizing about Palin's continuing appeal. She quits her job as governor—some might say erratically—and supporters applaud her courage. She writes a book no one has read, and it’s a bestseller before it hits a single Barnes & Noble.

I was a latecomer to understanding the Alaskan's allure. Fourteen months ago, I was working in the Bush White House when John McCain released Palin from political obscurity. So unknown was she that President Bush joked that he thought she was the governor of Guam. His own political savvy having often been underestimated—or is that misunderestimated?—Bush predicted that the governor and her family had not been prepared for the political Katrina that was about to hit them.

Despite the bruising she took from the Katie Courics and Tina Feys of the world, Palin’s appeal among rank-and-file GOPers never weakened. (To conservatives, scorn by the media is even considered "a badge of honor," if I may quote Dan Quayle.)

At the White House, staffers who never warmed to John McCain embraced Sarah Palin with surprising ferocity—high-fiving each other upon her selection. One senior official printed up bumper stickers reading, "Vote for the hockey mom."

.....

Palin isn't going away (at least not yet) because in her own way she represents what Barack Obama represented for many Democrats: someone who stands apart from the corrupt and cynical Washington system that has let true believers down. Republicans remember that Palin stood up against the crooked Republican establishment in Alaska—while out-of touch GOP senators in Washington actually applauded Alaska's crony-in-chief, Ted "Bridge to Nowhere" Stevens, after he was booted out of office amid scandal. (In April, a federal judge dismissed the ethics conviction of Stevens, based on evidence of misconduct by prosecutors.)

.....

So in the meantime, Tina Fey should keep her makeup ready and her writers primed. Sarah Palin will be with us for a while, the "first dude" proudly at her side. GOP graybeards many gnash their teeth. But they have no one to blame but themselves. After all, they were the ones who put forward the gritty Alaskan they are so tackily trying to put down.
Read the whole thing here

1 comments:

Anonymoose 10/16/2009 9:13 PM  

Going Rogue is #1 again on Amazon!

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