Palin, Mencken and Us

Much has been made in recent days about Sarah Palin's astonishing refusal to face the press. I suspect McCain's aids tried to prepare her by asking some of the questions she would likely get from reporters, were horrified by her ignorance, and sequestered her as a result. It's worth noticing that this is not the first time Palin has hidden from scrutiny on a campaign trail in order to cover up her lack of knowledge. Here, for example, is a quote from an Anchorage Daily News editorial written during the 2006 governor's race:

"Ms. Palin has undeniable charisma and outsider appeal, but she has little statewide experience and a weak command of the issues she would need to master as governor -- a flaw she conceals by routinely skipping campaign forums with her opponents."

Another story from the same paper reported,

"Palin missed a few scheduled events and, at others, came off as unprepared or over her head. After an education forum last week, she was mocked by her opponents for submitting a folksy three-year-old essay about her schoolteacher father instead of a plan for improving schools."

Of course, this tactic seems to have worked two years ago, and the GOP clearly hopes it will again. It remains to be seen whether Americans will be satisfied with the same kind of cursory vetting that McCain found sufficient. After the debacle of the last few years, it seemed that the country might have finally figured out that there are more important qualities in a leader than the appearance of glib conviviality. One of the things that has been so thrilling about Obama's high-toned approach to politics has been the way he has begun to disprove the axiom often attributed to H.L. Mencken: "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." Obama's campaign has been a gamble that Mencken was wrong. McCain's has been a bet that he was right.

Read more analysis from HuffPost bloggers on John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin

Comments

[cgr]

The vetting continues, despite the GOP. Here's a shocker from an Alaskan that even they should find very disturbing:

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/

[viewfromuphere]

I read that quote of Mencken's years ago and it came back to me the day of Palin's speech...

I hope he's wrong too.

[Relax08]

America has a right to vet Palin just like Obama has been vetted with debates after debates. This is the most outrageous move in American political history. It's time that Obama accept McCain's promise to debate one on one. That would put McPOW in his place.

[jeanrenoir]

Nothing matters except that Palin has now won this election with the American mob. Look at the polls; they're all that count. Palin-McCain are now ten points ahead! The Republicans have wheeled out a heat-seeking missile aimed straight at the deepest values of working-class Catholic and Evangelical America: blood and soil, just like in Nazi Germany. McCain's the "blood," the fascist heroism that "inspires" the nation with the call to righteous, endless war, directed by Likud's Sec. of Defense, Lieberman, Palin's instructor in foreign policy. Palin's the "soil," the Madonna of Special Needs who wears Trig like a pieta and nails the Catholics and Evangelicals in their "family values." Satan has done it again. The Republicans have gone straight to the deepest, most pre-rational, most rabid parts of the political unconscious of the mob, and they've re-programmed them like so many androids. This means a proxy war for Israel in Iran; $12 gas; and worldwide Depression; as well as a domestic war on liberals, abortion, and feminism which will decimate the Women's Movement and silence anyone "unpatriotic" enough to protest America's endless wars for Israel. Michael Moore's big problem is his own people. It's the idiotic American working class that is literally destroying this country. They weren't so stupid in 1932, but somehow the Republicans have lobotomized them, following the example of George Wallace in Michigan in '68: Just turn ALL their resentments against the "liberal elite," and they'll follow you to Hell.

[Ged2012]

I hope that ABC News would not ask Palin questions which her surrogates have prepared for her to answer.

Really--How can we find out how prepared she is to lead if her interview is scripted? It would be no doubt scripted if she were with Fox News--that would be understandable, since Fox News loves the GOP, but hopefully not ABC.

Here are some questions I like her to answer:

What's your stand on family planning? When you were campaigning for governorship, you were open to the use of condoms, and not just to abstinence.

How did you deal with Vladimir Putin when you were governor, since Alaska is right next to Russia?

Why did you say to the effect that community organizers have no responsibilities? Do you think a mayor's responsibilities are much more challenging than those of community organizers?

[genia]

OMG ...it is just like W, it is !!!
Everything that is mentioned or revealed I know compare and identify with George W.
Oh......will the public be fooled again?

[MNfreeze]

There are several examples in the article of her being unprepared to deal with even the Alaskan issues. She seems highly ambitious, but doesn't come off as someone who is intellectually curious (remind you of anyone?).

Interesting article...­neverthele­ss we should not make the mistake twice of understimating her. She is a force with the entire right-wing machine behind her. I believe in surgical strikes rather than cluster bombing. Leave all the family , National Enquirer stuff alone.

The goal for Obama/Biden is to have the public perceive her as someone who is in waaayyy over her head and dangerously unprepared as a VP.

[Barryson]

I am all for Barack Obama. Regrettably, I am also a believer in H.L. Mencken. Obama's gamble will pay off in time, but taking Mencken's view will pay off in quick, short-term rewards.

The question is: Is there enough time?

[bdaved]

Mencken was a very talented writer and an astute observer but I don't think I'd want to live in his kind of America. And I don't think he'd want to live in mine either.

[rssrai]

We can only hope. If Mencken war right the country is fuc##d.

[GraceNeeded]

Really what choice do we really have? We have to believe in the American public's intelligence to have hope for the future. The other sad reality is that when we dont' we become bitter, cynical and at odds with the "angels of our better nature", which is exactly how the Republican Convention seemed to me up until Senator McCain said "Change is coming". He even knows it, although he can't bring it about, nor does he know what policies are needed. Senator Clinton knew the policies but had already become bitter, cynical and at odds with those angels. Senator Obama and Senator Biden give me a sense of the possibilities of good things to come for our country and the world.

[tompoe]

It's telling how the McCain campaign is handling the media. Apparently, they are hoping that the public will rely on the propaganda coming out of Fox, and Rove, the war criminal. By the way, has Rove done anything about the subpoena, yet?

King McCain, and Queen Palin, and their demand that the media back off. They will speak when they feel there's a need. Nice attitude. Well, we live in America, believe it or not. The media is responsible for informing the public, and if the King and Queen wannabe's don't want to speak to the public, the public can vote for those leaders who do understand they work for the public.

[fairwitness]

"Obama's campaign has been a gamble that Mencken was wrong. McCain's has been a bet that he was right."

That so nicely--and so accurately--sums it up. McCain has good, recent evidence on which to base his bet. Obama...not so much. But there is hope, perhaps one last hope that this country can outgrow itself before it self-destructs.