When Palin Thought Wasilla Wasn't Cosmopolitan Enough

When is being cosmopolitan a bad thing? When you're in the bowels for the Republican convention.

One of the many memorable lines from Rudy Giuliani's convention speech Wednesday was the dig he took at Obama for an alleged condescension towards small town America.

Said Hizonner:

"Gov. Palin represents a new generation. She's already one of the most successful governors in America and the most popular. And she's already had more executive experience than the entire Democratic ticket combined. She's been a mayor. I love that. I'm sorry -- I'm sorry that Barack Obama feels that her hometown isn't cosmopolitan enough. I'm sorry, Barack, that it's not flashy enough. Maybe they cling to religion there."

Some Democrats I talked with after the speech drew racist undertones from the remark - the idea being that Obama, as Rudy was hoping to paint him, was the product of the inner city. Others simply noted the irony that the former mayor of New York was ripping the city life. But the most potent rebuttal offered was this email from another source.

Back in April 1996, it seems, Palin (not Obama) was the one bemoaning her hometown's lack of cosmopolitan glitz. From the Anchorage Daily News archives.

"Sarah Palin, a commercial fisherman from Wasilla, told her husband on Tuesday she was driving to Anchorage to shop at Costco. Instead, she headed straight for Ivana. And there, at J.C. Penney's cosmetic department, was Ivana, the former Mrs. Donald Trump, sitting at a table next to a photograph of herself. She wore a light-colored pantsuit and pink fingernail polish. Her blonde hair was coiffed in a bouffant French twist. 'We want to see Ivana,' said Palin, who admittedly smells like salmon for a large part of the summer, 'because we are so desperate in Alaska for any semblance of glamour and culture.' Ivana Trump, the former Czechoslovakian Olympic skier who found fame and wealth as the wife of the New York tycoon, came to Anchorage Tuesday to push her line of perfume."

Then there is this from New York Magazine:

After Rudy Giuliani cartoonishly suggested that Wasilla, Alaska, wasn't "cosmopolitan" enough for Barack Obama, we did some digging into his archives. Despite the air quotes and funny voice he used when saying the word, there was a time when a city's "cosmopolitan" nature inspired him. From a 1995 address to the U.N.: "After several days of being confronted with New York City's diversity, any resident or visitor will conclude that our many differences are vastly outweighed by our similarities. That's why New York is not only the world's most diverse city, but also the world's most cosmopolitan and tolerant city."

Comments

[sueno]

03:08 PM on 09/06/2008

Rudy is the biggest facist that the city of NY has ever seen-
Remember during 9-11, knowing that he was going to lose, he tried to
stop and push back the upcoming election, and place NYC under Marshel-law?
NY'ers are soo pleased he lost.

[MyThought]

01:31 PM on 09/06/2008

She comes across as a real American? Really. So, and Alaskan woman is the only real American?

Why are the rest living in USA - they're not real.

[thatwasntfunny]

02:23 AM on 09/06/2008

McCain is a dupe ...He is a doddering Old man who is being force words and catch phrases from his handlers... Including the acceptance of A "saturday night live reject" for vice president.

[schatsie]

09:06 PM on 09/05/2008

let me see, Palins have 3 houses? is that correct? How did they get them, well I guess they are cheaper up there....Do they have their own personal plane or is she riding the Exxon jet?

[kingdomemariner]

08:51 PM on 09/05/2008

Dying to see Ivana? Man does Palin live in a double wide too?

[jedonspring]

06:23 PM on 09/05/2008

Well, you can't blame her for thinking Wasilla is not cosmopolitan enough. Let's face it, her office doubled as a Big Al's Bait Shop and her 'assistant' did most of the work. Sarah-Miss-USA-I-Wear-Fur-and-Murder-Helpless-Animals- Palin had bigger and better ideas. Wasilla??? No Way!

[Tobiasism]

06:01 PM on 09/05/2008

I remember when Rudy was mayor and I thought he was a fascist.
He was a fascist before it was fashionable.

This si a great and funny article, but I am saddened by the insults unanswered by our papers and media outlets.

[AlltheBuzzfromCali]

05:38 PM on 09/05/2008

You guy don't get it at all. Sarah has her faults, no doubt, but she comes across as REAL and typically AMERICAN. The doubts about B. Hussein Obama come from a gut feeling that he is an outsider -- weird name, grew up partly in Indonesia, ties to Kenya and Muslims, and seems to care a whole bunch about what Europeans think of us. "Community organizer" sounds like "Communist organizer" to some folks. And Michelle's angry fist-bumping admission that at last she is proud of her country sure didn't help. Kerry didn't win because there was something not American there too...too much affinity for France, and a jet-setting Portuguese African-born wife. What I am saying is, go Sarah-- ya is one of us, unlike them elites.

[Tobiasism]

06:02 PM on 09/05/2008

Yeah, well that is your gut which like W's gut has been awfully wrong.

[sfpolarbear]

06:22 PM on 09/05/2008

What a load of moose $h1t.

[DSPinPW]

02:28 PM on 09/05/2008

Giuliani was obviously referring to Obama's remark about clinging to guns and religion - an unfortunate thing to have said - but it is insidious because one of the things that people say who don't want to vote for Obama (an excuse I believe to conceal indefensible reasons) is "What about Reverend Wright?" And believe it or not, there are people who (say that they) believe he is a Muslim.

The suggestion is that Obama is somehow subversive, different and dangerous. It appeals to people's fears. It is an outrageous use of code to smear him.

[MajorKong]

11:08 AM on 09/05/2008

Perhaps if Rudy hates cosmopolitan big cities so much he should move someplace with more heartland values. Maybe Altus Oklahoma could use a new dogcatcher.

[drzoon]

03:18 PM on 09/05/2008

rudy wouldn't even run in the IOWA caucus !

[milman1]

07:32 PM on 09/05/2008

When your job is outsourced, you have no health care, and your property value is on a downward spiral, Sarah's name calling is irrelevant.

I'll take right wing name calling for 300 Alex.

Be proud of your record Republicans and claim it don't run from it, be proud.

[MadMoll]

11:54 AM on 09/06/2008

Curtis, NE might.

[IndependentThinker]

04:37 PM on 09/05/2008

And don't forget, Sarah Palin was a POW for five years in Vietnam!

[scotia626]

11:27 AM on 09/06/2008

palin was a pow for 5 years in college; brutally transfered from institution to institution, state to state.

[Opt1musPr1me]

10:48 AM on 09/05/2008

Mr. 9/11 doesn't matter anywhere in this race. People like Rudy Giuliani are frustrated that they will never be president or even come close to it. But here comes this young senator who blew past the established crowd to become the Dem nominee for president. Rudy will forever be known as that Mayor who did his job on 9/11.

[drec1500Madrid]

10:05 AM on 09/05/2008

If Guiliani has such disdain for an urban sesibility why did he bother to become mayor of one of THE most cosmopolitan cities on earth....

FAIL

[as if]

09:39 AM on 09/05/2008

Check out this VIDEO OF SARAH PALIN'S INVOLVEMENT WITH THE ALASKA INDEPENDENCE PARTY:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmt0rLtgmK0

And the Rethugs had the nerve to question Barack's patriotism because sometimes he didn't wear a freaking FLAG PIN????!!!! Give me a break!! If a video like this had come out that involved Barack, the Rethuglicans would be having a field day. You will notice the sound of crickets when it comes to them owning the truth about their own candidate!!

I guess these people are not aware of the fact that we now have something called video.

[ThoughtAboutIt]

11:32 AM on 09/06/2008

Dems should show an American flag with 49 stars and say that is Sarah Palin's wish for America.

[MadMoll]

11:57 AM on 09/06/2008

May I suggest this one:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e11_1220508500

It was censored by youtube, and my account permantly disabled - I wish to thank Bradley Wogsland, seccessionist and whiner, for allowing this into the wild.

[okjoel]

09:38 AM on 09/05/2008

ALL: APOLOGIES FOR THE ALL CAPS, BUT THE FIRST COMMENT ON EUGENE ROBINSON'S PIECE TODAY (9/5/08) ON REP. WESTMORELAND IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ!!!! IT'S UNRELATED TO ROBINSON'S COLUMN BUT IT'S ABOUT SARAH PALIN AND WRITTEN BY A VERY ARTICULATE AND INSIGHTFUL RESIDENT OF WASILLA. I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE HUFF POST PUBLISH IT.

[HypocrisyAlarm]

06:50 AM on 09/05/2008

One point: New York is not the most diverse city in the world as measured by land of birth of its citizens. That title belongs to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a city of only about 700,000 residents.