The Receptacle Wore Sensible Shoes

Where is she today?

Why, there she is, Miss Almost Alaska, electrodes no doubt adhering to her pristine forehead, streams of memes and misinformation being electronically transmitted into Sarah's intelligently designed cortex. Cram, Sarah, cram! There's lots of room and little time!

Leaving no stone unturned, her redoubtable handlers have taken a page from Walt Disney (as George Bernard Shaw would have proved too threatening) and are prepping Palin the pernicious pretend pregnant pepper pot for her eventual confrontation with...PEOPLE. You know, those pesky, faceless vessels that would live and die under the vapid watch of born leaders such as she and her moth-eaten maverick. It's pretty insane how people will support even the least credible mouthpieces for positively proven failures in policy, in governance, in ideology, in leadership, in...well, all you have to do is name it and the Repubs have failed at it. Failed at everything except failing. And when your greatest success is failure, why be an agent for change? Aim low, lower, lower still and you will eventually hit pay dirt, which in this case is a beaten and demoralized citizenry, their potential squandered by lies and greed. And then it's a gusher.

Sarah P., the latest in a line of patsies who have become convinced that the best way to serve their nation is to remain as far from its reality as possible, is not really a student of life per se but has nonetheless risen to the heights of power and is become the GOP's latest and perhaps greatest creation. It's the same approach taken with most of their policies: remove any challenges which would build courage, any hurdles which would build character, any specialty borne out of an eagerness to learn about the universe, any mercy for the human condition. Remove them and demonize them. Out with the good air, in with the bad, until all that's there is static, the perfect environment for any simplistic, xenophobic ideology to take root; terrifyingly effective framing launched from partisan pulpits into the open skulls of its terrorized acolytes. She looks like the girl next door and with just a little more high-speed tutoring, she will be able to deflect even the most obviously fact-based arguments.

So, no Sarah today. Come on, turn it up to 11. She's almost there.

Comments

[frustratedinohio]

The receptacle thing is really sexist. Women are just receptacles for men to fill.......with.........now it's with information. Because women are so stupid, we need men to fill us with.......????

[itmaybetoolate]

Who guessed that the anti-christ would be a woman!

[jeersforfears]

A Hollywood elitist calling someone from Alaska removed from reality. Wow. By the way, next time back your failure claims at least a little. Ah, I know one: Conservatives have failed at being Liberals. Now, if liberalism were valid, you'd have something.

[RaviVesely]

Kappa,
Yes, I agree with you, some of Steven's writing is wonderfully in-synch with Nietzsche's. Nice observation. Nietzsche also wrote in his "Twilight of the Idols" (one of my favorite reads of all time) that, "Even the most courageous among us only rarely has the courage for that which he really knows." The amazingly poignant aspect of N's aphorism is that the Dems, in an admirable Atlas-like fashion, carry the immense weight of knowing too much, but often times lack the courage to act on that kind of supreme knowledge. The Repubs, however, never need to call upon the kind of courage N is talking about--because they don't know anything about anything; today's Repubs are the perfect example of how the old adage "ignorance is bliss" continues to ring true. We can't really blame the Repubs for never having had a single idea about anything whatsoever: their inability to distinguish between belief and knowledge will always result in policies that stem from, what Sartre would call, "mauvaise foi" (bad faith, or, self-deception). Nietzsche, I suppose, would liken that to his "ressentiment"--which is something that, if you listen to any Repub talk, you can always hear emanating as a subconscious, underlying tone.

Peace and Be Well.
(b4now)

[elizaW]

Steven,

You're the one removed from reality. Cloistered in your Hollywood elitist community, firing barbs at Sarah Plain from your comfortable home, assuming a superior attitude as you flaunt your vocabulary. You have no idea how average Americans think, work...and vote. Your blogs are so condescending to anyone who isn't you or your clone I'm tempted to think some stronger strain of narcissism has hit the west side of Los Angeles. Isn't it ironic that they very people (you'd call them stupid) you wouldn't want to share an elevator with are the ones Obama is going to need to get elected. Well here's a news flash for you. These people are not stupid and they understand their own power and they're not about to give it up to vote for a man... a party...and a tribe of liberals ...who have nothing but distain for them.

[AlltheBuzzfromCali]

Beautiful, elizaW. Governance doesn't necessarily take much more than executive ability and common sense. There are plenty of subject experts around to hire on and listen to. Making tough choices requires a tough person. Ask Harry Truman, who as I recall, didn't go to Hahvahd either. Sarah has struck a chord that is only augmented by the liberal blogsters who can't find anything else to write about but her family, her hobbies and pastimes, and how many colleges she went to.

[tdbach]

Beautiful indeed. Well articulated, and completely beside the point, missing the point. Nothing Weber said was condescending to everyone from anytown USA, it's condescending to Palen and the Republican machine that keep churning out candidates like her. If you find a hole in his argument, go for it. But stop repeating the standard Republican meme that any criticism of their candidate is an assault on Amaerica and American values and an insult about the intelligence of the non-elitists. Republican political philosophy can be summed up in two axioms: 1) Government isn't the solution to anything; it's the problem; 2) Sell values, value sales. With the first axiom in mind, it's quite natural to think that competence is optional in any position in government, since anything that hobbles the effectiveness of government is by definition a good thing. If you believe that government is at least as valuable an enterprise as business, than you want the best possible people filling key positions -0 especially executive position. But that's not how Republican's see it. They're quite happy to make the Stop&Shop store manager from Anchorage, who only two years earlier was the manager of a convenience store, the COO of Amalgemated Industries. All she'll need is a week or two of coaching. And the Republicans have historically pulled off that stunt by tauting "values" and responding to any criticism as an elitist assault on those values. Iit's sales 101 and it worked. Look! Even intelligent folks like you are buying.

[Dr Scott]

Thank you, Mr. Weber. Great piece! Although I'm not a registered Democrat, I found your entry to be "just what the doctor ordered" to relieve this bad case of hand-wringing I've been afflicted with.

[booker52]

Living under a rock I would say to have gotten that 80% rating. I haven't lived in Alaska since 1959, but I can read and what I have read turns me off of Gov Palin. I wouldn't vote for Gov Palin on a bet. I say McCain & Co didn't vet her very well and did a crap job.

[knobandtube]

Where's Sarah?

[derik]

My understanding is that they are leveraging glossolalia (tongue speaking) which is a primordial means of introducing and reprogramming ones memes, typically made and by sumerian gods. Since she has prior experience at tongue speaking during her pentecostal (who have quite a bit of hands on with glossolalia) indoctrination she will basically skip the freshman 101 and 201 class (hmm, so many years so many colleges) and go into the 301 and up classes.

[DaOne]

"Failed at everything....except failing"

Perfect line.

[elmoor]

God help us all if we as a country have come to value personality/image over competence. Have the last 8 years taught us nothing about havng bad policies and incompetent people in the White House??? Taxpayers are now on the line for up to 1 TRILLION dollars to bail out the errors of this administration. And that's just the tip of the iceburg of the economic mess that the Republican philosophy of governing has gotten us in to.

WAKE UP AMERICA BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE. John McCain will bankrupt this country. We're on the verge as it is now.

[BeltwayBette]

McCain’s impaired judgment offers us:
Political Barbie, McCain’s “soul mate” as our potential President.
More Bush smoke and mirrors.
Higher deficits for US; more debt to China; Lower minimum wage; Less safety for workers, greater wealth for the top 2 percent wealthy
No incentives for US jobs; Social Security privatization?
More illegal incarcerations/ kidnapping/ torture, loss of personal privacy, and Constitution raping.
No equal pay for equal work, no Roe vs. Wade, no legal contraceptives, no child care outside the home.
Crime will increase as the economy continues tanking.
School vouchers equal Republican’s siphoning tax dollars to evangelical schools and starving public education: our children will learn only right wing world visions. And who deserves to live in that world.
McCain’s ignorance about the Internet will create laws limiting its use.
McCain will reinstate the draft and a foreign policy in line with his warrior fantasies. His inability to think clearly endangers our nation.

Another choice: Check out Sen. Obama’s complete background in biographer David Mendell’s book, “Obama, from Promise to Power.”

If you truly support our military, please see this video and listen to our military heroes, including a Medal of Honor recipient. Thank you. JMB, former US Navy Medic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYXCplJN1uo

[blaising]

After reading the responses here I must ad this:

You guys who think Palin is going to be some kind of clueless mouthpiece for McBush are gonna get burned. This is exactly where McCain's crew wants you to be. If you underestimate her they know you're gonna show up for the gun fight...with a knife!!

[justobserve]

Exactly! Palin had knifed lots of people who helped her to get where she is today, so beware! Even McCain! He eyes her when he met her at a governor convention no doubt.
Vote for issues, not beauty nor lies: AFFORDABLE HEALTH INSURANCE, WOMEN'S CHOICE, VETS BENEFITS, EQUAL PAY.

[beingrepubwontmakeurich]

she won't be a clueless mouthpiece for mcbush - she will be the shrieking voice of theocracy that the neocons have been wanting for years....

[blaising]

She's definitely more like Bush than McCain is...remarkably so!!

I saw her last night on CSPAN which was showing a roundtable debate from right before the Alaska election (which she won). She should definitely NOT be underestimated! She comes accross as knowledgable on big issues, and can more than hold her own when up against other experienced politicians. And she did something her opponents didn't do: She kept her responses crisp and easy to grab onto...sound familiar?

She's gonna be tough for the Dems to handle. They should be looking at Bush from 2000 and 2004 to plan a strategy against her.

[PoliticalCrucible]

Interesting guest article in the Sunday Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Sarah Palin:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/377955_palinenvir07.html?source=mypi

as well as this article in the Sunday Seattle Times (which includes links to archival pdf documents):

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008163431_palin070.html

Great essay Steven. Thanks for your voice.