Right Wing Rallies Round “The Tragedy of Sarah Palin”
May 12, 2011
Pen a fantasy about how Sarah Palin could have been Barack Obama if only she weren’t so:
a) selfish
b) filled with anger, resentment and hate
c) greedy
d) stupid and uneducated
e) all of the above
and you tap into a deep vein of right-wing nostalgia for the Sarah-Who-Never-Was, which will prove of immense benefit to your personal brand and career.
I’m not impugning Joshua Green’s motives for writing his “Sarah-We-Hardly-Knew-Ye” paean of praise in the June issue of The Atlantic.
I’m sure he felt he had a legitimate, counter-intuitive, against the flow argument to make. He’s proven himself to be an excellent and fair-minded reporter in the past. And nobody should knock him just because his first job in “journalism” was at The Onion.
It may be that with “The Tragedy of Sarah Palin,” Green is returning to his satirical roots. Although if you read some of the comments in response to my earlier post, “If Only Sarah Weren’t Sarah, She Coulda Been a Contender,” you’ll find some strong fact-based arguments against Green’s hypothesis.
In any case, I’m sure Green was perspicacious enough to sense the likely windfall that would result from a “St. Sarah, The Fallen Star” story.
And he’s knee-deep in peaches and apples already, as the huzzahs arrive from all the obvious right-wing shills:
—John Podhoretz in Commentary
—Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post
—Ross Douthat in The New York Times
This chorus sings in only one key: the key of sorrow, for the loss of a Sarah Palin who never existed outside the realm of their collective yearning, and who ever existed only as a figment of their collective imagination.
Andrew Sullivan wrote a bracing response yesterday and today added:
Josh’s piece will serve as balm to the right. And it will allow them to believe that their choice of veep in 2008 was not an indictment of them or the media – but just an unfortunate decision by Palin to change her colors. The only problem with this argument is that it is manifestly untrue. But we know that Palin lovers, like Palin herself, must perforce be wedded to mountains of untruth.
Amen.
Posted in 2012, Andrew Sullivan, Business Insider, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, right wing, Sarah Palin, The Rogue | 
Tags: Andrew Sullivan, commentary, conservative media, fantasy, jennifer rubin, john podhoretz, new york times, ross douthat, the atlantic, the daily beast, the dish, Washington Post
37 Responses to “Right Wing Rallies Round “The Tragedy of Sarah Palin””
And Amen.
Also known as “Singing to the choir”.
Wow Joe, way to speak truth to it, THANK YOU!
Also a THANK YOU to all those who also HELP speak ALL truth, really……thank you, thank you, thank you.
Sarah doesn’t have the ability to be anything more than a scheming petulant child. They will never acknowledge the reality of her nature. They prefer their fantasy.
Human suffering or the Greek and Roman dramas spell ‘tragedy’ for me. The Palin saga is little more than a failed soap opera. Now had she maintained her hold over the voting public, I could be convinced that it would qualify as tragic.
Is there a media blackout of “the lies of Sarah palin”?
“And nobody should knock him just because his first job in “journalism” was at The Onion.”
Not only should nobody knock him for it, he should wear it as a badge of honour.
Thank you, Andrew. Thank you, Joe. The truth feels good.
Yes I believe there is. As Joe stated yesterday (which is my belief to have struck the hammer dead centre on that nail) “the Main Stream Media is trying to seduce her now in order to betray her later, after they’ve used her to improve their bottom lines, just as she’s used them to improve hers.”
They know that Gryphen, palingates, politicalgates, Malia Litman amongst others investiagtions leads to the truth. Infact bloggers have done very well in investigating Sarah Palin, however if the media strikes now; they will have short-term gain in terms of clicks and revenue; if they prolong the saga that is Sarah Palin it benefits them short and long term.
Think about it; we are frustrated by ‘slow progress’ of getting the truth out about Palin, so we will click on any negative Palin Story, to see our dreams of having her lies decimated in the media fullfiled; so we inadvertently drives traffic over a longer period; making them richer, and so doing harming our cause!
So they really benefit by not properly investitaging Palin!
The selection of Sarah Palin as VP was McCain’s biggest political failure. She was never vetted, in fact McCain’s team never spoke to ANYONE in Alaska about her except for her personal attorney, Van Flein. This is just a lame attempt at a collective CYA , nothing more. Sarah never mentally matured beyond middle school.
Joe, did you ever find any evidence or documentation of Sarah having learning or mental disability? I truly think she is mentally handicapped.
I get really pissed off when I read the comment, by an seemingly intelligent journalist, “her raw political talent”. Scara possesses no such thing. LUCK is all that she has kicked down the road of her life. Sustaining power is required to have such talent and in all cases she was just in the right place at the right time, surrounded by a bunch of men who fell for her wink and wiggle. No talent, which she has proven time and again, just LUCK.
Sarah Palin is best viewed as an animal of pure instinct and appetite, who sniffed the wind and acted with dim unreasoning cunning. She’s a crude creature in her element when she’s snarling and snapping, and has little capacity or interest in much beyond meeting her needs, base and twisted as they are.
Oh, I disagree. Sarah has raw political talent. With no brains and no background, she got herself elected governor of Alaska over two much smarter, more qualified candidates. That wasn’t an accident. That was politicking at its best.
Sarah is proving Barnum (how apropos!) right:
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
I agree. But she seems to have impressed some with this meme of “Raw Political Talent.”. What she said and what she has done which pleases the base is, “I”ll say the opposite of anything that Obama wants.” And that really has pleased them no end.
The base she appeals to is those out there who are “Just like them.” And look at her base, uneducated, proudly ignorant and on a lower economic level.
About the only thing different is she is shameless, had good looks and kept slim unlike many of her overweight and homely following. They worship her looks. They are fans. avid fans. Star struck, and she loves it, calling herself the North Star, Queen Esther etc.
How they harped on anyone who loathed her as ugly.
Personally, I am told I am beautiful a few times a week, yet I consider myself a cut above average no more than that. Everyone enjoys a bit of blarney, compliments makes one smile. And when we look happy we all appear more attractive to others. Scowl and you look much worse.
Many are far more beautiful inside and out than Sarah Palin, and many ARE less attractive. But that is no reason to elect her into high office when she has proved her incompetance and ignorance.
Barack Obama has a great smile. Very genuine.
Sarah smiles and has a great set of veneers, but it is her stock in trade, no more.
The con artist.
And she has made millions off their hides.
Why have journalists so readily bought into the demonstrably false premise that SP’s record in Alaska was one with any kind of admirable achievement? The belief that she was at any time a hardworking champion of the people was a lie repeated often enough.
I first saw Green’s article via the Connecticut College twitter feed. Green, your fellow CC graduates can’t understand your sloppy, wishful thinking research on this one.
What I have noticed about Sarah Palin is she looks best when she displays her teeth in a smile.
While she is an expert in the Beauty Queen smile, her pagent walk has never been her long suit. Rather clumsy woman. A clutz, but some (her rabid fans) consider that endearing. After all, she is “Just like them.”
Another thing is her flirtatiousness and the open mouthed look. She has studied all those magazines with celebrities endlessly. What did she do when she left the mayors office at 4, or the Governors well before 4 according to Levi. She studied the glossy celebrity photo mags. People was one of her favorites. She has her idols, Ivana Trump was the first. She is a creature of the photo journalists. Her own creation is first her tatooed lips which extended and plumped up her upper lip. She looks completly different than the teenaged and early Palin.
Bristol is on that long road of self improvement to appear the most photogenic.
Only God knows what Bristol will end up looking like. At twenty she has taken some drastic steps, that can’t be reversed.
Hopefully she won’t go as far as Michael Jackson.
The two of them remind me of the long trainwreck that was Anna Nicole Smith, a true natural beauty.
Brainless, but stunning.
Had Sarah been reared anywhere else she would have been doing her prick teasing on a street corner instead of with old republican geezers.
I would sooner send my children to play in an outhouse than impose that pile of moose poop on them with a vote!
As a former teacher, I totally second your concerns, Virginia Voter. There are signs (displayed in public) of possible learning disabilities, Executive Function Disorder, and other mental issues.
Politics in human history has never been a pretty sight. It has always been full of danger, intrigue, conspiracy, lies, murder and assassinations. The messenger’s were always there in ancient times. Apparently, “killing the messenger” for the really bad news or the news people did not want to hear, was a part of that reality. It could have been true or trumped up (propaganda). Some things we will never know. In the age of “civilization”, not much has changed with the exception of advanced technology allowing multitudes of messengers who have lost their way in giving real and true messages. The halls of power and their hordes of gold have bought off “truth”(s) to sell the populace false information – notwithstanding all the shades of meaning and importance of a “fourth estate”.
We of the so called “human” civilization in our current time can no longer afford to be swayed and played by “the messengers”. In the “mainstream” of medias in all its cacophony of type (the daily news to paparazzi), there lurks so many a downfall and/or building up of false images, slanders, libels, critical omissions, opinions and twisted facts, that has the tendency of leaving masses of society in perpetual sumps misinformation with all the possibilities, and in actuality, of living a false reality on so many levels of life just through a daily up and close connection with our instant media. Over time, we have become anesthetized from facts, realities, and truth. Marshall McLuhan of “The Medium is the Message” comes immediately to mind.
In the realm of politics this has become critical with danger of putting people in power who are, behind the false veil of modern “news”, not at all who they are portrayed as being. We have been fooled by the powers that be through bought off journalists and reporters who allowed themselves to be sucked into an amoral relationship with amoral leaders – so much so, that our modern media no longer is respected but labeled “lamestream”. Rightfully so. Whoring seems a much more appropriate title.
If ever there were any light in this tunnel, it would have to be the alternative of the technology of internet. Allowing that thus far, it also is a part of the “medium” of mass communication, there is that precious allowance of voices who possess morality, honesty, integrity and the ability to put forth truth(s). It has one-up on television and daily mainstream news and that is we, the consumer/public/individuals of the masses, get to CHOOSE the authors, reporters, journalists and the voices of “everyman”. It is not as spoonfed. Then we are allowed to debate with anyone. Even if that degenerates (often the case) into cursing and hating as opposed to lauding and loving, individuals and the freedom of the internet to bring us to alternate realities besides our own. There are many who still do not understand this “shiny object” in their hands.
Of all its myriads of possibilities, one such being already mass demonstrated by its use in revolutionizing a country in front of our very eyes – an awe inspiring event to say the least – the other that comes immediately to mind, is the exposing of those on the national scene who absolutely should and need to be exposed. Their hand could press that nuclear button. It is clear now, that Sarah Palin was allowed all manner of false representation in the cowardly and bought off national media. No matter how hard anyone argues and screeches, the truth was being searched and investigated out by those “lowly bloggers in pajama’s” and a very few other writer’s, reporters and journalists who saw past their mainstream vacuum of sucked in and cocooned lies and falsities passing as news. Those of the masses who were without truth, facts and the actual reality of this one person and who had inquiring and questioning minds, owe a deep gratitude of thanks for those who have dug deep and continue to do so, to open Sarah Palin’s Pandora’s Box for all to see.
I am thankful and very very appreciative for all persons who have the integrity, morality, honesty and courage to proclaim the “message” where otherwise none would exist – leaving us, the members of the masses, in more danger than we are already in and suffering at the hands of “Hitlerian” types of leaderships. Like the other bloggers who are digging deep and presenting their views and facts, this blog is important. More important than we may even realize.
If I am to be a part of the “Medium is the Message”, I want my “medium” to take me out of the sucking up anesthetizing media’s that now chews up and spits out lies and smoke screens to build power structures that are the real danger that envelops the entire human race and the earth they call “home”. It is no small thing this medium of “blog”. Many thanks for it.
Selfish, filled with anger, resentment and hate, greedy, stupid and uneducated? “All of ’em”. But also she’s delusional. It must be something to realize that the woman they supported is unhinged.
I was just reading over at Palingates blog, (www.palingates.blogspot.com) and something popped out at me. The blog had up that bizarre letter that Palin wrote about Trig signed by “God”. (Actually “Heavenly Father”) I just froze because it’s so bizarre.
The whole letter is just this sneak peek into some king of fugue in Sarah’s mind, where she speaks for God, yet she’s being spoken to by God and she’s pretending to be God. Some kind of unholy trinity. (shiver)
The right wing’s biggest tragedy is that Sarah behaves as though as though she’s mentally ill, with the fragmented thought process of someone who appears to be in need of medication. (Word salad can be a symptom of various mental or emotional illnesses.)
I read and posted a number of responses about Green’s article over at The Atlantic.
The Palin ‘bots were out in force, mostly because the C4P site gave them the link.
It was instructive. I discovered how far Palin supporters will go to protect her, justifying all her actions with the consistent cry about how brutally she was treated, how smart she is, but the media only tells lies about her.
The problem is in this howling defense. Tina Fey pointed out, when Palinistas jumped all over her for her Palin parody that Palin is not fragile, and [Tina] is not mean.
And I think she had it right- that constantly trying to rescue Palin from detractors hurts her more than it helps. That Palin seems to depend on their rush to protect her from anything written that is not glowing approval, weakens Palin’s image as a tough frontier gal, uncovering her as a fake who plays victim to the big bad media.
Palin protectors never diffuse troubling news- they blow it up out of proportion, adding more names to Palin’s always growing enemies’ list.
It is unfortunate.
Though I usually like The Atlantic, it must be noted they specialize in sharking up these pseudo-contrarian pieces that alter the mainstream debate.
Recall the infamous articles in The Atlantic that mislead people to thinking Saddam was in cahoots with 9-11 operators. That article was filled with many errors (intentional?) and was disputed on all points – Yet, the Bush admin pushed it and the media consented to circulate its content – Resulting in many Americans losing their life in a country that posed no immediate threat to the US.
Josh is a great writer – but I think he will regret this kind of advocacy re-think piece. Yes, “even The Atlantic says Palin was worthy ….” will seem to ratify Green in the short term. But long term?
IMHO – Josh missed an opportunity to defend Palin in a more fitting way – Palin does receive visceral support from many rustic folks and others who feel dispossessed in a rapidly changing America. There’s a lot of anger there and sometimes it ain’t pretty when aired, but that’s democracy. Marion Barry was popular with poor folks in DC long after WaPo and the rest of the chilly meritocratic power elite told him to take a hike. Granted, Barry’s a heckuva lot smarter than Sarah and he certainly did not extol ignorance as a virtue. But he , like Sarah, represented people who feel ignored or marginalized. Both are in the demagogic tradition too – a tradition with deep roots in American political life. Buchanan tried to tap into this, but he is too learned and too steeped in the continental rightist tradition to be able to get away wiith pitchforkery – Reporters call him on it, because he knows better. Or should. Since Sarah does not know better, she gets a special dispensation from the media so she can act a voice of the angry. If not her, who? Unfortunately, Josh describes a different woman –
Oh – Barry was also different from Sarah in the sense that he never quit. In fact, he’s the opposite of a quitter – He never leaves.
I appreciate your theory, Joe, that the rats are leaving the sinking MSM ship, and they need her to stay afloat. OT but the neonatologist with whom I’ve been speaking has spoken about “the letter”.
http://www.lauranovakauthor.com/blog.html
Many thanks, Laura
Sarah Palin was chosen to do exactly what she did – stir up the culture warriors. She is a mighty pawn in a game that has been going on for a long time now wherein the powerful, moneyed class have brought numbers of the working/middle classes to their side by pretending that they too really care about social issues – abortion, gay rights, God and guns, etc. when in truth, all their only concerns are economic and political. She has been (hopefully has-been) very successful in goading folk on in a bizzare revolution in which those with little are stridently demanding more power for the already powerful.
OMG, I have said many times that Sarah Palin and her followers are a lot like Marion Barry and his sycophants. I have lived in the Wash, DC area for over 20 years, and Barry is still an elected official, much to the chagrin of the city elite.
Barry, like Palin, never admits wrong doing, no matter how blatantly obvious his discretions are. Whether videotaped snorting coke with hookers, not filing his taxes, or not paying parking tickets, nothing was ever his fault, and he never accepts any blame. His supporters always made excuses for him, and still vote him into office. It’s crazy, just like Sarah.
Something Barry and Palin share is that, unlike most pols, they act the way they do as an end in itself – not just a means to an end.They both gain strength in being scorned by Serious & Respectable people . Scorn is their ambrosia. One has followers sayin’ “the bitch set him up,’ while the other has followers frothing gibberish about getting Gov outta their Medicare.
Palin’s followers see Obama the way the citizens of Rock Ridge saw Sheriff Bart in Blazing Saddles. Barry’s followers see the NW DC establishment as this distant foreign presence.
On some level, this is a stretch – But …
$Palin Bereavement Syndrome:
When you find out she isn’t what she never was.
When are people gonna catch on? Establishment Republicans will never really pursue conservative social issues when in office. They only pretend to be against because they know the laws won’t change in any meaningful or permanent way. They always wink to socially liberal donors. Mitt Romney cannot fake it as good as Dubya. He’s more like Bush Sr. with his ungainly and unconvincing flip flops/
That is what happens in any dysfunctional love affair.
The beloved seems to be or have on all sorts of attributes they never had and will never have. It’s called I love you as you are, now change.
Also known as “LOVE IS BLIND”
Very interesting read Laura. (I am amazed by the simple fact that it doesn’t definitively state Trig’s birth date.)
Thanks for linking.
The only thing she has is raw political talent: completely shallow, instinctual, opportunistic, absolutely no substance.
There was a scandal in the music industry, back in the ’50’s–“Payola”–the practice of radio stations accepting bribes/payments in exchange for featured air-time. The “top ten” lists were being paid for, thus ensuring money and stardom to the featured artists. Prosecutions followed as the pay-for-play practices were investigated.
I think Sarah Palin is our version of payola which is now built-in to what passes for journalism these days. She was fading, but now we’re going to get a review of the record? And lots more air-time, now from the serious media. Please. I watched O’Donnell and Green, and was genuinely shocked. O’Donnell, who I much respect, gave him a complete pass.
None of this passes muster.
Geoffrey Dunn’s excellent book arrived in the mail on Wednesday. I have a job, so I am only half way through it. But I do have one takeaway from the book so far; Sarah has not changed one bit since junior high school. She was the mean (but popular) girl in junior high and is still a mean girl today. She was used to getting her way back then and pitched a fit when she didn’t. Sarah has not changed here either. Sarah lied back then and she is still lying today; sometimes through her teeth. Sarah was the Queen Bee in junior high having her minions do her dirty work. She is still doing the same thing today. Sarah was not above flirting and charming her way in situations that were too difficult for her back then and she is not above that behavior today; indeed, I think she has cultivated that particular skill. Sarah depended on her looks and charm instead of doing the work back then and she is still doing that today. Sarah still refuses to learn history, policy, and certainly English.
In short, Sarah has never grown up; she has never matured. She is still in junior high school.
But something I have learned about the mean girls in junior high school is that deep down, those girls had absolutely no self-esteem. They knew they were faking it and didn’t want anyone else to know. Sarah gives herself away in the Geoffrey Dunn book claiming that Nicole Wallace told her that Katie Couric had no self-esteem. That was Sarah channeling because Sarah still has no self-esteem. Sarah always complains about the lies told by the media and that too, is Sarah channeling. Sarah lies all the time so she thinks everyone lies much like the thief thinks everyone steals.
I think that sums Sarah up quite nicely. Everything she does is at a junior high school level. And that Joshua Green, is the tragedy of Sarah Palin.
There was a lot in that article that’s true and rings true for Alaskans, IMO. I wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand.
Green seems to be basing his piece on ACES oil profits taxes. He claims that proved her bipartisanship and ability to work with moderates and Democrats. I would have to agree with Sullivan and others: ACES was likely the work of others such as Tom Iriwn and Frank Bailey and it provided an easy approval ratings spike as well as allow Palin to get even with “country club Republicans” like the Murkowskis who “condescended to her.” Green ignores her early days. In her run for mayor, she:
-Had her campaign spread rumors Mayor John Stein was living in sin with a woman. Turns out that was his wife who kept her maiden name, forcing Stein to produce marriage certificate (sound familiar)?
-Campaign put out claim Palin would be first Christian mayor of Wasilla, appealing to veiled anti-Semitism even though Stein is Lutheran
-Enlisted the GOP, NRA and others and promoted not a platform of police, fire and water service know-how
but ran on abortion and guns, neither of which are essential to municipal management
-Shut out Nick Carney, who recruited her to politics because he questioned her spending city funds for a gaudy office makeover
-Firing Wasilla’s first police chief, Irl Stambaugh over a perceived affront of not supporting her efforts to govern Wasilla
-Running for Lt. Governor on city time and using city offices, faxes, phones and e-mails yet claiming “reformer” status for telling on Randy Ruedrich for doing the same thing.
Green is yearning for a shadow woman who never existed; conned by the master con woman. He uses one piece of legislation to show she was this practical, get the job done type when beneath the surface she always has been a right wing holy warrior. Her other policies of raising sales taxes and slicing business and property taxes is standard right wing policy. Many of her fellows support a national sales tax in lieu of a Federal income tax. Her abstinence only views, views about abortion and guns have always been quite visible. Green just needs to get off of ACES and dig deeper to see the monster beneath the makeup.