McCain's Crush
It had to come from a conservative and again this season Kathleen Parker steps in it. But, finally, someone else wrote this so I didn't have to be the first one. Listen to Patrick J. Buchanan, Lawrence O'Donnell, the guy next door... Alec Baldwin, for heaven's sake. It's something that has been happening between female voters and their president off and on for decades. It's simply the reverse effect. Utilizing the "devastating" New York Times Magazine piece that contains all the juicy details, there can be no doubt what happened.
McCain didn't know her. He didn't vet her. His campaign team had barely an impression. In a bar one night, Draper asked one of McCain's senior advisers: "Leaving aside her actual experience, do you know how informed Governor Palin is about the issues of the day?" The adviser thought a moment and replied: "No, I don't know."Blame the sycamore tree.
McCain had met Palin only once -- in February, at the governors' convention in Washington -- before the day he selected her as his running mate. The second time was at his Sedona, Ariz., ranch on Aug. 28, just four days before the GOP convention.
As Draper tells it, McCain took Palin to his favorite coffee-drinking spot down by a creek and a sycamore tree. They talked for more than an hour, and, as Napoleon whispered to Josephine, "Voilà." ....
One does not have to be a psychoanalyst to reckon that McCain was smitten. ...
The bigger they are... well, it can happen to anyone. Sarah's got it and McCain was seduced by it. Frankly, I'm not at all surprised. I'm just hoping it will inspire more qualified, good looking women to throw themselves into the political arena, especially Democrats. Politics is part showbiz. Nothing wrong with strutting it if you can back your show up.
Parker goes on to say she's not at all suggesting anything "untoward," which seems obvious. But reaction from many males is obvious.
Having written columns on "the politics of sex" (used to have that URL) off and on for 15 years, it was plain to see from the start to me. Sarah's got sex appeal. She's got camera appeal, that thing you can't teach. Good for her. She also can manipulate a crowd, and I mean that in a good way, at least for her purposes.
Women swooned over J.F.K. WJC's sex appeal got him into trouble as well.
McCain's veep choice is certainly in no league with J.F.K. or WJC on any cerebral level, but on charm she's got it. Right now that's all she's got, but in a desperate year McCain was seduced. It's not the first time a May-December romance bloomed on the spot. It's just a first for politics, at least on the national ticket level.
The outcome for McCain, unfortunately, mirrors what sometimes happens to older men who get caught up with beauty at an age where their youth can't be seen in the rear view mirror any longer. When they don't look beyond and take care of themselves, doing their homework. Instead of playing the virile older man role, they get cast as the fool.
Follow Taylor Marsh on Twitter: www.twitter.com/taylormarsh
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
All I can say is......Ew
So far I have not noticed a single male blogger or columnist say, as above, "Sarah's got sex appeal," and opine on how that affects male voters or John McCain. Her supposed good looks are a non-issue for all the men I know. I say supposed, because those who seem most impressed with her looks are heterosexual women. So the columnists and bloggers who are debating how Palin's looks are playing to men are first of all misjudging her physical appeal, and then (more importantly) having a conversation among themselves about how men are so susceptible to such things. This insults men, and says more about the attitudes and assumptions of the women who are talking about it than it does about the male sex.
Also the idea of her as beer-drinkin' and being a good time regular ol' gal. Look at the biker convention. She's just their style of sexy.
Take heart homely women, you have at least as good a shot at high office as one of us short guys ;-)
It is symblamatic of a syndrome American men have-- not all --just the impressionable men whose judgment is compromised and blinded by looks and charm versus a good old comfortable judgment--it's why some men leave their wives after 30 or more years for a younger model--- with McCain--we see a pattern-- the comfortable first wife replaced by a much younger beauty queen.....
@brynn6
}}}}
You must know by now about her husband's membership in The AIP, to which she as late as last June addressed telling them to "keep up the good work."
{{{{
There are at least 20 states and regions in the United States that has secessionist movements. They are nothing more than "clubs" that has family BBQs and picnics.
One of the more well known secessionist movements is in the most liberal state in the country.
AIP is nothing... This is evidenced by the fact that the hysterical Left ONLY started being hysterical about it AFTER Palin was chosen as the VP candidate.
If it's such a horrendous orgainization as the hysterical Left claims, surely it was worthy of notice BEFORE Palin entered the scene, no??
}}}}
The VP is on tape saying that she was a member as well.
{{{{
Can you provide a link to this "tape"? Even if true, so??
}}}}
This election is NOT over and she scares the living bejezzus out of me.
{{{{
Many MANY Democrats said the same EXACT thing about Obama during the primary..
It's as meaningless and fear-mongering now as it was then...
As for "convincing", why would I need any convincing? I am a demonstrable Obama supporter and really don't give a rat's arse about Palin OR McCain..
You would do well to follow that example...
Michale...
I guess if this election works the way I want and Obama takes the show, for women, what is the lesson to learn? If you want to be in politics and move to the top, be qualified (but really not important --ask Sarah) but most importantly look good. So take those charm lessons, take some lessons for folks who teach ya how to walk, talk and seduce a man, take a long hard look in the mirror and get the best plastic surgeon you can afford and get the cutting :) Unfortunately an old man has defined who can be at the top because he got an itch in his pants ( and didn't even have to take his pills.) Cindy ought to be worried and should have put her foot down and said NO --pick someone else. Remember the old saying, you marry a man who cheated on his wife, your married to a man who cheats on his wife. Wonder what will happen when he has to go back to just plain ole Cindy, after being smitten by Palin?
Charisma is a utility quality. Allowing others to see whatever they want.
Charisma doesn't equal competence, or intelligence or qualification for a job, or any other positive attribute, but often its gets mistake quite innocently for those qualities.
The Democrats found their hottie -- Barack Obama -- and he's got a brilliant mind to match that brilliant smile.
The natural constituency for liberal politics in America is women and young people. Women react to Obama much like men react to Palin. Young people look to him as a cool, smart, successful role model.
Women are more judgmental with female candidates than they are with men. Look at how readily women turned against Palin. If that happened to a Democrat, the coalition would collapse.
The key is the distinction between pre- and post-menopausal women. It highly unlikely that a younger woman like Palin will achieve a national campaign victory before the first older woman like Hillary Clinton.
Barely past her sexual peak and cradling her newborn baby, we can't help but think of Palin as more of a caregiver than a leader. It's much easier to accept an ambitious career woman once her nest is empty.
As we saw in the primaries, a male candidate can afford to embrace his feminine side while female candidates are vulnerable unless they project forceful masculinity.
Don't expect Obama to bend over backwards for the black community, and don't expect female politicians to aggressively pursue gender issues. That's not how it works.
I don't buy it. I don't see McCain throwing away his last shot because he had a viagra moment.
The last time he was accused of thinking with his other head, (by the NY Times) it was the Times that got embarrassed. This guy was a swashbuckler his whole life and has had his share of women. Even at 72, he's one of the most popular and powerful men in the world, with an attractive wife many years his junior and plenty of panting groupies if he wanted to indulge in that sort of thing.
But Palin's looks were part of the whole package, along with her family story, and her Christian, NRA and "maverick" credentials.
I'm going to throw one other theory out there. Senators are part of our national government. They have to know about world issues. Governors of large states with Presidential ambitions should know about that stuff as well. But a Governor of a small (by population) state, who has been in office only two years, and was a small town mayor before that and not even in politics before that, can be very green on world issues and it's possible that John McCain, who spends his life among the movers and shakers of the world never considered that a Governor could be as uninformed as she has turned out to be.
I know my theory isn't as sexy, but that doesn't mean it's not true.
I think your theory is spot on. Someone with McCain's position and power would certainly have the "pick of the litter" when it comes to good looking women. If his only goal was to get laid, maybe you choose Palin, but if you really want to win, I would think that there had to be good looking women in the Republican Party who were at least playing with a full deck. I'm not a Republican, so I might be making a mistake in assuming this person actually exists, but one things for sure, McCain had several months to find that person. Looks like he'll have 4 more years to keep looking though. Go get 'em stud!
Taylor - darned straight. Some women are ticked off about it, but I'm not. If I were a political woman, I'd use my good looks too - and I'm no beauty queen - just girl next door pretty - but I'd use it. You betcha! ;)
Seriously - I don't know why women are up in arms about this. Anyone think Obama isn't using it? How about that utterly devastating picture of him posing for the press on his plane? Where is that picture anyway - when all the press swooned because he donned a pair of jeans? LOL! I mean - seriously - he's a good looking man. And we ladies have had time to reconcile his swoonworthiness with his actual candidate worthiness (and I think some Hillary supporters were originally pissed because it was very clear that some of Obama's off the bat support was just cuz he was cute - and they refused, REFUSED! to be taken in by that... good on them, but if you didn't have that as a motive, you were vulnerable. That's a truism).
Obama's a good looking man, and Palin is a good looking woman. They each have those assets to leverage - and as you say - so long as that's not all that's there, nothing wrong with leveraging it.
HIllary was able to rally a crowd without having to buy into the old male stereotype of women as sex objects. HIllary I respect - not so Palin.
The tragedy of Palin is that she's obviously got very few real skills or talents, but a lot of appeal to males. So she's used that appeal to gain power in a male-dominated political world. And now the Republican Party has used her to decorate their ugly old ticket.
The use of Palin in this way is abusive to women in many ways, although Palin is obviously willing. The worst of it, though, is that it has reinscribed a stereotype of women that so many of us have been fighting for generations - that women are useful as ornaments, but are too dumb to solve real problems.
No matter what appeal she has, America should never again disparage its presidency by electing candidates with mediocre qualifications. Why do we have to push kids to study hard if this does not count for anything in the highest office in the land? Palin is using her family in the campaign and while its none of our business, its disturbing to see her hauling those kids everywhere when it doesnt appear like they are making it to college. Even her son in law is dropping from high school to get a job and support his family to be. Palin may not take all the blame but she does look like she is putting ambition before family for sure.
Rather than encourage Democrats to seek out hotties, I was hoping that this election might start us on a path of finding the best candidate -- looks aside. Americans must get past the idea that a Presidential election has elements of high school class favorites elections. If this time, this election doesn't show us that we most definitely cannot elect a President just as we elected our Prom Kings and Queens, then we are doomed.
I feel as though Palin has set women back decades and McCain picked using his "smaller" head.
It's not because she's attractive, it's that she is dumber than Bush and every bit as incurious, maybe even more so.
It's no surprise that she has relied on her looks to carry her, the first dude, Todd, has been the brains behind the boobs apparently. But, what will happen when she turns 50 or 55? Will she get face lifts and collagn injections or botox? Will she still look and dress like a stewardess in f-me pumps?
She really is a gimmick and could be compared to the freak shows of yesterday; a curiosity, who, when age sets in and we realize that there isn't a whole lot goin' on upstairs, loses all of it's sparkle.
I think she'll find her niche on Faux News, it's perfectly suited to her.
"Frankly, I'm not at all surprised. I'm just hoping it will inspire more qualified, good looking women to throw themselves into the political arena, especially Democrats.
I'm on it! :-)
http://www
How's that?? :D
Michale...
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
