Sarah Palin & The Paul Wellstone Effect

Clearly Sarah Palin has hit a nerve with Democrats, given their astounding reaction to her selection by John McCain. It would appear they may be protesting too much.

Her treatment by the media (not by Obama, he said the right thing) reminds me of the funeral service of Paul Wellstone in 2002, which turned into a campaign rally. The electorate was so aghast at this that Norm Coleman was handed Wellstone's Senate seat. People can sense when there is piling on going on, and when there is just plain bad manners going on, and they are seeing it in the media right now. CNN, led by a sneering Campbell Brown, and MSNBC with panty-waisted Chris Matthews are leading the pack. Andrew Sullivan has sullied the reputation of "The Atlantic." And there is a backlash against it starting.

Obama is right in that the best thing to do is just be quiet about Palin's family. Women over 40 are key in this election, and they are rallying to the defense of one of their own. I talked to a prominent Democratic lady in Texas today, a grandmom, who is switching her vote to McCain specifically because of CNN's unhinged treatment of Palin. If they continue this bizarre show, the mainstream media will hand McCain the election. The American public is fair, and as the Wellstone "memorial" showed, the electorate knows when people have gone too far.

Comments

[phloxy]

I don't agree that C. Brown was piling it on- she asked a valid question and wanted a valid answer. I really haven't watched Matthews interview anyone on Palin yet. But, I do agree that if Dems keep bringing up the daughter or any other sexist remarks like" why doesn't she stay home to deal with this prob" , she will get the sympathy vote. Because voters in America are more stupid than people give them credit for. I would love to just give a handout of each candidate's stand on the issues, without pictures of who they are , directly before standing in line at the voting booth. Maybe then, people would vote with their brains instead of their "feelings" . Then, Americans could actually move toward getting what americans really want. A moderate America- somewhere in the middle where most of want to be.

[Goldie999]

Asking about Palin's experience and ability to serve as Vice President is not "sexist" or "piling it on." Campbell Brown wasn't asking about Palin's daughter. She was asking about her foreign policy experience -- valid questions to ask of a Vice Presidential candidate.

I find it amazing that given the free ride the Republicans have had with the media these last eight years, when the media finally shows a small sign of doing what it's supposed to do, it's accused of "piling it on" and somehow the Democrats are to blame?

Was anyone asking if the media was "piling it on" when it said Michelle Obama was unpatriotic and referred to her as Obama's "babymama"?

[pychicfakes]

You are absolutely right, We need to focus on Voter Registration, knocking on doors and calling on folks to volunteer. Palin will fade on her own, trust me. Let the media do it's job. Barack didn't get this far by being a dummy. He beat the Clintons and he will beat McCain/Palin the same way.

[plooger]

What, specifically, are you talking about? Nowhere in your minimal complaint did you provide any context for the purportedly over-the-line attacks against Palin.

And your characterization of the Wellstone memorial is flawed, echoing only the Right Wing spin of the event, rather than the eyewitness accounts of those who attended.

[dhfsfc]

Good try, but I don't think so.

The more we hear, the more appalled we are. With Sarah Palin.

[j0hnwi11iams]

She brought all this on herself when she accepted the nomination.

[zedthewizard]

the problem is, is that we're not talking about her family. those that try and conceal her past keep bring up her family. we are talking about her stance on real issues. we are talking about how she has misrepresented herself to have a good story -- a story isn't quite the truth.

[MNfreeze]

We all agree the family stuff is out of bounds.

That being said, are we not allowed to question Sarah Palin because she is a woman? Look she wants to be within a heartbeat of the Presidency. Her ENTIRE record is fair game.

This is the BIG LEAGUES!

[grendl]

Wrong. With all due respect.

The key is not to keep quiet about the Palin family, or the family way in which Bristol finds herself but to call attention to it.

Because a woman's right to choose is at risk, especially as certain justices get set to leave the Supreme Court , and new appointees loom on the horizon.

Bristol had premarital sex. That's a sin, isn't it? What does the religius right have to say about that? Its a matter of hyocrisy, the sermonizing by the right shown for what it really is, utter bullshit. Because girls and women make mistakes, with their bodies, accidents happen, rapists skulk about our society, and teenage boys who don't have the common sense to use a condom properly knock young girls up.

Should these teens give up their lives, college aspirations, to raise a child which a monumentally difficult and underappreciated task?

This is ammunition for war against the hypocrites across the aisle, and your suggesting to take it off the table. Its a mistake, and deep inside you know it.

[Ron Galloway - Huffpost Blogger]

This really may cost Democrats the election. Watch the response she gets from the floor tomorrow night. Dems need to focus on McCain. Anybody remember him? And I'm a guy, so I really have no standing to speak about abortion. Just as women should not speak about video games.

[bgrp]

Her appeal is with the Republican base so of course she'll get a good response. The base will not determine the election.

[RepugsOut08]

So, we just pretend the Republican spin that she's Lincoln, Patton, Martha Stewart and Mary Magdalene all rolled into one is the truth, and don't question it?
Democrats NOT questioning Republican spin is what's cost us elections. They count on us to wimp out, and that's why they throw their little tantrums. I say treat them like the children they are, and give them something to cry about.
I'm proud to see reporters like Campbell Brown doing their jobs for a change instead of just accepting the spin.