Palin: the Perfect Proxy

Meet Sarah Palin. Relatable and fun, cute but sassy. Her record makes Dan Quayle look like Kissinger, but never mind that, Fox News says. She is one of us. And in this tribal mindset, in a TV instant, the Grand Old Party, once the reliable patron of boring, accomplished white men, ditched decades of tradition for a mascot.

It's sad, really. The party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, of Eisenhower and, uh, Chester Arthur, hijacked again by the lunatic fringe. In Governor Palin, and therefore the McCain candidacy, the retrograde right has its perfect proxy.

Creationism in the schools. Abortion outlawed in cases of rape and incest. Wars as tasks from God.

These are rallying-cry issues for A.M. radio fans, but how many Republicans actually reflect on such policies? American students quoting the Bible over science. Back-alley abortions killing and maiming American women. Endless wars fueled by religious righteousness. For all but the most hopeless zealots, this is a bleak future.

And yet, the reactionary cover girl is melting Midwestern hearts, and John McCain's convention bounce is still rising.

Meanwhile, progressive America is apoplectic, *praying* that the Obama campaign overcomes. Will the press deliver the truth? Likely not. In our corporate fourth estate, dissent is rare. The mainstream media, like the corrupt politicians it was once meant to police, has become primarily concerned with its own profit.

As the Daily Show pointed out, doublespeak is vogue. And for more and more supposedly thoughtful conservatives, a whatever-it-takes game plan is corroding intellectual honesty. Take David Brooks. Oh sad, tormented David Brooks. On PBS, he gushes for Palin. In the Times, he makes a mockery of fine satire. Are his readers expected to forget that, mere months ago, the man was an Obama validating machine?

Politics and hypocrisy are embedded fellows. But when a rookie like Palin is rolled out as an example of uncorrupted honesty, journalists are obligated to the facts. A lie told by a pleasant-looking mom is still a lie.

We are a desperate nation and any cure will do. But as hope and cynicism vie for the win, the bitter lozenge of Republican talking points, administered by a sweet-talking country girl, is going down smooth. In Palin's homespun sarcasm, desperate men have found their voice.

It's all backwards though, isn't it?

We know Barack Obama. His life has been exhaustively documented. Kansas, Africa, Punahou, Columbia University, Harvard Law, Chicago, Michelle, Springfield, the U.S. Senate. In two books, countless interviews and articles, we have measured this man.

Conservative commentators fight this knowledge. We don't know this angry black man, they remind us. He remains exotic, unknowable, dark. Paint him as the Manchurian Candidate for Islamofascists, for the Nation of Islam, for the Black Panthers, Kruschev, the Weather Underground, Iran and vegetarians.

The times are too perilous for a cartoon election. With eight weeks left, maybe someone else can snag a Palin interview.

Follow Michael Ames on Twitter: www.twitter.com/haikudose

Comments

[vegasdoc]

To call Palin the proxy is to admire the genius of McCain. He took a terminally bland campaign and gave it a new life. The GOP is no longer only Old White Guys. We don't know much about her yet, but Charlie Gibson is the first to interview her, and certainly, will not be the last. Even though both sides want "red meat", to say that Palin makes Quayle seem like Kissinger just begets more of the same. Obama today said "lipstick on a pig is still a pig". If you disagree with Palin's positions, and you should, state them. The other side should do the same.

[juliefanselow]

Good stuff, Michael. We've spent 10 days marveling over the Palin pick. Now's the time to pivot from our incredulity and re-focus on the ways that Obama-Biden - wonkish and workmanlike though they may be - are far more in sync with Americans' stands on the issues.

[rmaricich]

Clever analysis. No matter your politics, her "homespun sarcasm" and catty cynicism are hardly the spirit we want pervading the White House. Policies aside, (and there are plenty to bolster any argument against her) how on earth can it escape people's notice that this kind of small-minded thinking does not measure up to the nobility of character we see in Barack Obama!?!

[BillZBubb]

The American press is now simply a regurgitator of quotations. The press has no intention of seriously investigating an making an issue of the dishonesty of statements from hacks like Palin.

The Republicans know this and use it to their advantage. They can make wild claims, outright lies, and smears and the faithful media puts it out there. The Republicans don't have to worry about any penalty for their lies. It makes winning a national election a lot easier.

The Democrats still don't get it. You have to attack, you have to be controversial, and you have to live on the edge between truth and deceit. Make some noise and the press will run with it.

The problem, as always, is the voting public. A large block of the public is so clue-less that they believe a McCain, who has supported every one of Bush's disastrous policies is now the "change" candidate. Or that Palin, a right wing hack from the backwoods, is actually qualified to lead the nation.