The Secret Face of Sarah Palin

Question: What's the difference between a demagogue like Joe McCarthy and one particular Hockey Mom?

Answer: Lipstick.

Senator Joe (Tailgunner Joe) McCarthy was, in many ways, a pioneer of modern Republicanism--i.e. a hateful, small-minded gay-bashing legislator who was also a closet homosexual. But, sadly for poor Joe, he was cursed with a face that was, as they say, strictly made for radio -- a chronically smarmy, half-drunk kisser that could stop clocks at twenty feet. So, in due time, Video Killed the Radio Czar, to paraphrase an old pop song; and while a putz like Joe McCarthy could never pass as The Face of the lunatic right in the age of cable TV news, his essential message--that anyone daring to advance a vision of America not completely rooted in his own hideous crypto-fascism must be somehow and dangerously Other Than Us, and must be exterminated by any means necessary--has never disappeared from the Republican playbook, often re-surfacing in surprisingly naked form (as in the chubby, torture-happy countenance of Dick Cheney).

Now we find Joe McCarthy reincarnated--much to his delight, one must assume--underneath the smeary lipstick and too-cute blush of The Queen of the Know-Nothings, Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin's mouth is where logic goes to die. She makes The Stepford Wives seem way too whacky and spontaneous. And, of course, these are her good points. She is also a liar without conscience or basic decency. She gives fresh meaning to the great old Sinclair Lewis line, "When fascism comes to America it will come wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross." If it was a mistake to underestimate Palin -- and it certainly was -- it's not because of any hidden political skills or native smarts on her part; it was because deep down in her insufferably smug soul--that knowledge-denying, Other-fearing, witch-doctored heart of darkness--she connects with the absolute worst in her audience, giving license to the same lynch-party lust that gave Joe McCarthy his fifteen minutes of fame--and condemned thousands of good men and women to broken careers, bullshit trials, and suicide.

So while John McCain lurches through his drama-queen campaign--he's become the Judy Garland of American politics--he's remained (relatively) careful to keep his own personal appeals to racism and anti-intellectualism somewhat muted. And that's good strategy, because McCain suffers from advanced Joe McCarthy Syndrome: the moment his soul gets hateful, it's embodied in his face--his smile becomes that hideous frozen rictus, he blinks in a kind of Morse Code of deceit, and all his wattles and jowls and various sacs of facial jelly start trembling in scary cross-rhythms.

Hence, Sarah Palin.

The condition of the American economy offers a classic scenario for the coming of some kind of half-assed fascism. Of course, we won't recognize it as such--not right away, anyhow--because it'll arrive on our doorstep in the shape of a whacky ingenue: Lucille Ball, let's say--the next-door neighbor in a dumb sitcom--Fascism With a Friendly Face.

And what face more telegenically perfect, more ideally crafted for the job, than Sarah Palin's face?

But try to imagine what happens if she wins--when the lipstick and rouge come off, and we are confronted by the naked Thing Itself.

Comments

[SBlackmun]

I'm beginning to appreciate those among our Founding Fathers who did not think the people were capable of governing themselves.

[HeevenSteven]

Thanks John. I especially enjoyed this one. Your descriptions made me laugh out loud.

I read your bro every time he posts, and your way too infrequent ones as well. Kudos to your parents for producing you two.

[Unsui]

"But try to imagine what happens if she wins". No. Oh hell no! I won't even consider it. Cross that bridge to nowhere when we get there...(I'm thinking it would lead to Canada or somewhere).

Instead I'm writing letters to the editor, working on voter registration, working the phones, anything to prevent having to spend my time imagining the horror of that idiot Hockey Mom one heartbeat away from being President Palin. I suggest this course of action to any who, like myself, can't bear to contemplate such a catastrophe.

[MsCanadian]

Right. Focusing on that negative scenario is depressing. Action is the best way to ensure that Obama wins.

[FemWorkingClass]

Thank you Mr. Eskow. I had begun to think I was imagining the resemblance because no one else I spoke with saw it. I hope the Democratic party people can make a good sound bite out of this.

[citizenxyz]

"she connects with the absolute worst in her audience"... this statement gets to the core of what she is about. It saddens me that so many are reduced to such a much lower, herd level of being. She is about finger pointing one's hatreds and meanness outward to whoever can take the projection- in this case a much more decent human being... Barack Obama

[ssb752]

Ah, but this was the same kind of base level thinking and emotion that lead to the support of the invasion of Iraq. The herd is susceptible to demagogery, she is that.

[radiclib]

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Interesting article.
There is much about the Republican right that is straight out of the playbook of Sen. Joe McCarthy and also Father Charles Coughlin. Their propaganda machinery is well-tuned to crank out the message through people like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

The fact that Palin is female is a great cover, too, for people to underestimate her or her message. Some people attack her on sexist or gender terms. That's a mistake. She's as mean and ignorant as George W. Bush, who is a male and whose smug certitude has had lethal consequences for lots of innocent people.

Palin projects a regular-folks simplicity that is suppose to charm people but should actually scare them. Do we really want ``Joe Sixpack'' ----- a stereotypical person who consumes beer six cans at a time, or whose thought process mimics that state of mind ------ to make life-and-death decisions? A writer recently referred to Palin's speech at the Republican Convention as ``Gidget Goes to the Reichstag.'' If, by some chance, she gets to be President of the United States, it will be a very dangerous place.
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[pgoody]

Thanks for the chillingly accurate insght.

[Novelene]

Ditto. You gave a public voice to my feelings which I've not heard expressed before. Your analysis is as excruciating as her daily vile. Let's call a pig a pig.