WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT SARAH PALIN?

(Originally Posted 7/6/2009)

I do not want to regret my support of Sarah Palin, but....
Since her first interview with Katie Couric, I and women like me have been defending her against the mean and nasty press. We’ve been standing up for her and her plain talk as mainstream and down to earth. We admired her witty but quirky ways to identify with most Americans: remember the hockey mom, pitbull and the lipstick quip? Or, the jokes about shooting a moose? All great.

Back then, the quick observations that she was an intellectual lightweight (code word used all around, “dumb” or “stupid”) seemed to be the media’s natural reaction to being threatened by Palin’s appeal to ordinary Americans and conservatives. Much later when the McCain team “leaked” information that she was a diva and shopaholic on a Neiman Marcus binge, many Palin supporters like myself wagged our finger at John McCain that he would allow such disloyalty and disrespect to his running mate and the first Republican female Vice Presidential nominee. Then came more nasty pieces by the likes of Maureen Dowd and Gail Collins of the New York times that were easily dismissed as elite snobbery woman to woman against a conservative pro-life Republican. David Letterman was next to attack full speed ahead and we were there once more calling him out for his inappropriate suggestion that rape is okay if you are Sarah Palin’s daughter. Saturday Night Live was there from the beginning. And most recently Vanity Fair who stoops to a new level of trashy and base journalism to mock and criticize Palin. The media plain hates Sarah Palin hands down and there wasn’t much she or her supporters could do about it. At least not to change it. Even so we were right to stand with her and for her and we are right today to ask, “ What the heck was that Sarah Palin?”


We’ve all conceded that Palin was rough around the edges on the big media stage, but, her latest revelation that she is resigning as Governor of Alaska for a higher calling is another example of her being completely unqualified to deal with the media and her own image. It wasn’t so much that she is quitting her post, something that seems to lack integrity and the toughness she’s so tried to portray, rather, the way she quit. She rambled and rambled about being a point guard and higher callings and in the meantime insinuated that her feelings were hurt. Lately, Palin is single handedly self destructing on every camera and every microphone that comes her way. And, it isn’t because of what the media is saying, it is because she doesn’t know when to be quiet and what to be quiet about.

After all this, I do still believe in Sarah Palin and a woman like her. I believe our attraction to her freshness and core conservative stance was authentic and real. That strong favor she curried has the potential to create real heat in 2012, but, it will not be without some serious reckoning for Republicans. We will have to acknowledge that to defend a Sarah Palin or a ridiculed candidate like her is just as good as saying “it’s not fair.” She is not perfect and she needs serious communication and literacy consulting. A few buzz words, and political talking points, can’t hurt. And, finally, a haircut (goodbye Caribou Barbie) and a pantsuit should not be too far behind.