She's back -- and she's "dirtier" than ever.
Whether it's lambasting New Jersey governor Chris Christie for "getting his panties in a wad" over Newt Gingrich's challenge to Mitt Romney, or ridiculing the media for getting "wee-weed up" over Rick Santorum's reference to Satan, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is fast becoming the most provocative -- and outlandish -- trash talker in US politics.
Arguably, Palin's use of sexual innuendo isn't new. She's been telling GOP politicians, the media, and even President Obama to "man up" for a good two years, and she's had a corrosive influence on other leading conservative figures, including commentator Bill O'Reilly and fellow Christian Rep. Michele Bachmann, who've freely adopted the same language, and for much the same reason -- to portray everyone but the Republican far-right as simply too "weak" to lead,
Still, no one trash talks, or walks the fine line between vitriol and verbal abuse, like Palin does. And with her use of highly-charged and salacious language growing, even some leading conservatives are wondering if she's crossing a line -- and heaven forbid, engaging in "sexism" -- when she publicly ridicules politicians, including leading figures in the GOP, by calling into question their masculinity.
No one on the right seemed to complain, of course, when Palin was training her ire on President Obama. Back in August 2010, in an interview on Fox News, where she's practically an honorary co-anchor, she praised Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's harsh new immigration crackdown law, and suggested that Obama, by contrast, "lacked the cojones" -- the Spanish slang word for "balls" -- to protect America's borders.
If anyone found the comment outrageous -- and to assail any president in that fashion clearly is -- no one said anything at the time, not the FCC, Fox or even her many critics in the "lamestream" media. But it may be that Palin herself was warned about her coarse language, because for much of 2011, she seemed to be on her best behavior -- and indeed, was spending considerable time out of the limelight altogether addressing the tabloid dysfunctions of her family, her cable TV show, and of course, her on-again, off-again now-finally-cancelled-due-to-poor-ratings presidential bid -- arguably one of the longest running political "cock teases" in American history.
But beginning late last summer, Palin's been on a verbal tear -- or jag -- of sorts. Appearing before a fired up evangelical Christian crowd in Iowa in August, she cited an opinion poll about her -- and then, in a bizarre aside -- reassured her audience that she didn't really believe in "polls."
"I've always thought polls were for cross-country skiers and strippers," she joked, meaning "poles," of course. The loyal Palinista crowd, apparently stunned by her suggestive reference, tittered nervously for a moment, before roaring their approval.
In fact, Palin's use of sexual innuendo seems to have become a constituent part of her pop-idol image, which, much like Madonna's, never dies, but simply morphs, seemingly overnight, to meet its author's ever-changing mood and needs. At times, Palin fancies herself the quintessential "Mama Grizzly,' a solid Christian housewife and mother who's out to protect her brood -- and by extension, she suggests, the entire nation, from the Godless hordes of liberalism. Other times, of course, she slips easily into the role of political sex kitten, hopping on the back of a Harley-Davidson Ann-Margaret style at national motorcycle conventions and spontaneously whooping it up with the biker dudes -- as only Palin, it seems, can -- as if she hasn't a care in the world.
But Palin's sexualized persona, combined with her overt narcissism and often ditzy policy commentaries, has cost her dearly with most women, including most Republican women. She has perhaps the widest "gender gap" of any leading Republican political figure, except, perhaps Newt Gingrich, who's seen his presidential fortunes fade in Florida and elsewhere as women, especially Republican-leaning independents have turned solidly against him. Much the same has happened to Palin, in fact, and for much the same reason: her sexualization, while titillating, and still highly appealing to conservative Republican men, simply rubs most others, especially women, the wrong way. Even if they still like Sarah -- her feistiness and her in-your-face outspokenness, above all -- and are willing to look beyond her less than stellar command of policy details, she's not really considered "trustworthy." And loyal husband or not, her increasingly rough sex talk -- and the tawdry misadventures of her one-time barefoot-and-pregnant daughter, Bristol, the acorn who's fallen so close to the tree, perhaps -- surely has something to do with it.
Why does Palin persist in bullying even members of her own party with sex? It could be some kind of political penis envy, in fact. As her own political fortunes have faded -- she's no longer an anxiously awaited presidential candidate, and her once-prominent SarahPAC is down to its last $1 million -- Palin's looking for new ways to generate headlines and to keep the focus on her favorite subject -- herself. She can't actually compete with the candidates currently in the race, but what better way to get even with the GOP establishment that spent a year openly torpedoing her candidacy than by making a tawdry display of herself and by showing just how easily she can publicly humiliate future rock stars like Christie?
And don't think Republicans aren't intimidated -- they are. In the past week alone, Scott Rasmussen, a leading GOP pollster, and Sean Hannity, her loyal colleague at Fox News, have both predicted that Palin would emerge as a key power broker in Tampa, especially as Romney and Santorum continue to split the Republican vote wide open, leaving no obvious front-runner. Helen of Troy once set two powerful armies and nations at war. Palin, more like Delilah, seems destined to sap what little strength the GOP has left to do battle this November -- all because, as Bill Clinton once said, she can.
 |
 |
|
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/02/17/why_a_brokered_convention_would_be_perilous_for_the_gop_113168.html
And here is Palin, on a TV show last week, coming very close to saying that if there's an opening, she'll try to become the GOP's dark horse candidate:
"Sarah Palin To Eric Bolling: ‘I’m Game’ To Run For Office, ‘All Bets Are Off’ In A Brokered Convention"
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/sarah-palin-to-eric-bolling-im-game-to-run-for-office-all-bets-are-off-in-a-brokered-convention/
"So while one may envision Jeb Bush or Paul Ryan emerging from the convention as the party’s standard-bearer, the possibility is real that the Gingrich and Santorum delegates could coalesce around someone like Sarah Palin. Now, for some Republicans that’s an attractive feature in the scenario. For others, it is the worst imaginable outcome. Regardless, it’s a real possibility."
Rather surprising, especially coming from Trende.
She called a writer impotent and limp because of an article he wrote about her. There are many examples out there besides the cojones one as you point out. I think it's more than being thin skinned. She also uses highly sexualized language when defending her children. In some cases, I see why she is upset. But in others, her attacks have been over the top and inappropriate. There is a lot more about this subject and few have dared to write about it or question where the violent sexual language comes from.
Just another observation.
Trademark behavior when thinking yourself grandiose above everyone else. People like that don't exalt themselves outright, they smash everyone else around them to exalt through the back door, lest the rest of us think they are narcissistic.
6 years + 5 colleges = 4 year degree.
And why did you predict McCain would lose, as nobody really knew anything about her? I remember even Bill Maher pronouncing her name incorrectly.
Not a Palin fan, just an independent who looks for all opinions on all politics.
"To the victor goes the spoils." One of those spoils is to re-write history so that your victory seems to have been "inevitable."
Clinton did the same thing. If you were there in 1992, you know that H. Ross Perot handed Bubba an election that he seemed incapable of winning on his own, even after he'd emerged from the Democrats pack of "seven dwarves" and won the nomination handily.
Perot who was actually leading both Clinton and Bush in the polls for most of 1992 - amazingly, we forget this now, of course - pulled out and endorsed Clinton, and Bush never recovered.
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-492270
I really feel so fashion challenged - like a total prude.
This is gorgeous.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/abrams/glow-in-the-dark-dress-is-made-from-700-condoms
And neither from the media, nor the general public, not a hint of...........errr...
condom-nation!
"They like me... they really, really like me."
I might use that line.
"I haven't turned out to be much, but you should have seen me at 8."
... her original destination before McCain interfered.
She just closed CPAC, quite an honor in Republican circles, and got the usual rousing reception.
Was George Wallace ignorant? Was he also a force to be reckoned with?
In my experience, it's never wise to dismiss people as ignorant. Liberals did that for years with Ronald Reagan, the amiable dunce, and "dumb" Hollywood actor.
Who played the greatest role of his life - and knew it, from the very beginning.
Unfortunately, he never had a script for governor, and carelessly ravaged California.