Sarah Palin: Working Class Hero? (And The Rest Of Your Scritti Politti)

I appreciate that Ross Douthat is looking for a working-class hero for the future GOP of his book, Grand New Party. The sooner he can bring himself from barking up Palin's tree, though, the better off he's going to be. But for the moment, he's running with it:

In a recent Pew poll, 44 percent of Americans regarded Palin unfavorably. But slightly more had a favorable impression of her. That number included 46 percent of independents, and 48 percent of Americans without a college education.

That last statistic is a crucial one. Palin's popularity has as much to do with class as it does with ideology. In this sense, she really is the perfect foil for Barack Obama. Our president represents the meritocratic ideal -- that anyone, from any background, can grow up to attend Columbia and Harvard Law School and become a great American success story. But Sarah Palin represents the democratic ideal -- that anyone can grow up to be a great success story without graduating from Columbia and Harvard.

I guess thanks to Sarah Palin, my Masters degree in theatre from Virginia Commonwealth University finally means something!

Anyway, as it turns out, Palin is part of the ivory-tower degreed elite, herself, and educational attainment doesn't really sync up with Palin support.

Thomas Ricks Reaches Strategic Accord With Jay-Z: Foreign Policy's Thomas Ricks is the official game-changer in the death of Auto-Tune debate, very specifically casting Kanye and T-Pain as dead-enders. I think he could peel off Lil Wayne, but are we really ready for that? Regardless, I think the entire foreign policy community is waiting with bated breath to see what champagne Ricks endorses.

The Shadow Editors take on WaPo Salons: You'll enjoy Choire Sicha and Tom Scocca's discussion of the recent Washington Post "cash-for-ass" Salons, canceled despite the fact that Katherine Weymouth had cooked up a mess of crab and artichoke dip. I think we can all agree that as soon as Craig Newmark figures out a way to attach twenty-dollar bills to emails, journalism as we know it will be saved. Paging Chris Lehmann: aren't these Salons a "rich people thing?" Love, your assignment editor!

"David Broder Isn't Laughing": Or so I'm told. I must confess to you: I have something of a studied disinterest in David Broder's emotional state. Anyway, something about how Broder has a sad about how Al Franken won't be contributing to the manufacture of Bipartisanship Marm that Broder ingests like a small, unsupervised child devours paste.

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Comments

[EquesLignite]

Ross himself graduated from Harvard, so I guess he was dissing his own background?

[JanSP1971]

I have so enjoyed the soap opera of the Palin family but I want this show to be over. I believe we have created a monster and we have to let it die a natural death. We react to her insane words and she grows bigger and bigger. We must let her take her family and they need to go fishing on the beautiful lakes of Alaska. We need to bring home all the reporters and news crews and have fed into the insanity of Palin.

[jesuslovesObama]

I don't buy this study. 46% finds her favorable? That's pure BS.

[Andialu]

It's wrong just because you don't like it? Do you have data that contradicts it?

[frontstreet]

Douthat, himself an "elite" from a wealthy family, has no idea what he's talking about . There are plenty of working class heroes in politics -- people who came from humble beginnings, had few resources, worked hard, educated themselves, and put themslves in a position to compete with people who had every advantage. Being willing to do the hard work that makes you competent and competitive is what makes such people working class heroes. Calling someone a "working class" hero because she is uninformed, incurious, and inarticulate is actually an insult to real working class people, who understand the importance to bettering themselves. People who support Palin and think she represents them are people who have opposite qualities. They want the world to accept them exactly as they are -- dull, uninformed, and angry.

[S1m0n]

Joe Biden's the working class hero, come to think of it.

[Prakosh]

Neither Palin nor Obama come from a working class background. Her father was a high school teacher. That's not working class, blue collar job. She has never held a blue collar job. She has been a mayor, a member of an elite commission that met once a week, and a governor. She spent more on clothes and makeup during the campaign than most working class people will earn in five to ten years. Working class my a$$. Her popularity was tied directly to the oil profits she shoveled to the voters, when that ended her ratings fell precipitously. And now that she has it rough she is quitting.

Obama's mother had a Ph.D, and worked in islands in the east for groups like the Ford Foundation. Her parents were working class but while Obama has worked with working class unemployed, he has not held a blue collar job either. Neither of them have experienced the uncertainty and pressure of never knowing from one day to the next whether they will be employed or have a paycheck. Or working 10-12 hour days in good times and not working at all for months on end when times are bad. Neither of them have had their shops closed, their shifts eliminated, or their machines moved south where labor was cheaper. They haven't experienced back injuries, lost limbs, had their lungs fill up with aluminum chips, gotten chemical or pesticide poisoning or any of the other working class diseases and injuries.

[henrypapillon]

The scary part is that her parents are both retired teachers. And yet they raised an ignoramus like her. Just think , out there are hundreds, if not thousands of kids that may be as ill-prepared for reality as she is.

[Mahi Joe]

But, but, but I thought Joe the Plumber was the working class hero.

[MyGoodMojo]

Grifter is more like it.

[trisha08]

What an insult to working class heros everywhere. She is no working class hero. She is an opportunist.

[nana4g]

She is no working class hero. She has bluffed her way through life. She has no substance and has a very poor work ethic. She cannot think straight and she prefers not to think. She thrives on conflilct because it distracts from her incompetence. Then, she whines and assigns blame for the conflict on everyone but herself. I think she has finally been diagnosed, perhaps started on medication, and been advised to stay out of public, except for her book deal which will bring in money for the family. Her family seems to tolerate her idiosyncracies and they probably have said, "Enough". Just get some money out of this.

[mmgbizgirl]

What you meant to say is she's a working class opportunist.

Never let me hear you use the word hero to describe this woman again. Yeah I said it.

[dax49]

she is a working class horses rear

[harmonikasavingsbonds]

Honestly; she is free to call herself whatever the h ell she wants. TRUTH was never an option for this silly woman.

[10ecvols]

I was raised in the backwoods of Tennessee & was the first in my family to graduate from high school & college. Sarah Palin is not one of us. We would not sell our faith the way she has to the highest bidder & for personal gain. We would not publicly dangle our children in sensitive, life-changing situations & then play victim. Her song was so seductive that only she was able to get former evangelical leaders to change tunes & positions overnight. She is like the offkey singer vying for lead soprano in the church choir by flirting with the music director.
I don't want that for America. I may not agree with everything Obama is doing or stands for, but I do believe he is doing his best in tough conditions. I want the Presidency to represent the best America has to offer in intellectual and diplomatic capacity - not the best in media fodder and fear.

[kfdan]

There are quite a lot of ordinary low working class and middle class people out there that have about the same amount of education as Palin; who share her political stances such as faithfulness to her family .... come corruption charges or not. These people are remnants of the Southern ethic that does not trust the powerful (this is really a no brainer) but who are coned into supporting conservative policies that will and does effect them in negative ways. This crowd has a large number of rural and small city/town people (think Nascar crowd) who's Christianity derives from Elmer Gantry type preachers who benefit from the adoration! And then, we have the Limpbomb crowd which includes some crusty and faithful suburbanites in major cities! Palin is probably not bright enough to figure out yet who's she's going to focus on to help her run her game, but ... the big boys with money enjoy some blood sport now and again and will back her play ... whatever it may be just for entertainment !!!

[vsign]

Sarah does represent people who enjoy working to improve their lives and the lives of their family.

O represents people who don't want to work.

Go Sarah!

[readreza]

does this comment even make sense?? she shows no respect for all but a very small number of americans, didn't do the job she had, and has now given up, and is not qualified for any job she seems to be after... Unfortunately, some people - like you - would rather have a completely incapable and unqualified person in charge. Never understood it through eight years of Bush, and understand supporting Palin even less...

[vsign]

O = unqualified. 0 = the greatest self promoter in our history.

[IslandGyal]

Palin the Pathological represnts the tin-foil crowd who only hears what they want to hear.


Go common sense!

[PWM]

Must be why she took a little town with 0 debt, and in a single term as mayor left it with over $20 million in debt with only an arena built on contested land and still being fought over in court - she represents fiscal irresponsibility.

[LeighAnnes]

Actually it's the opposite. President Obama represents all the people who work hard to get where they are despite coming from working or middle class backgrounds. Palin represents people who want to get places without working very hard. People who want to win beauty pageants or the lottery instead of doing the hard work like going to law school.

[termgirl]

I agree with the go part. Please Sarah , GO away. Obama has over a 60% approval rating. Are you saying that 60% of the population doesn't want to work? Sarah appears to be breaking a sweat from that fishing boat she's trolling around in. I can dream about doing that as I put in another ten hour day.