Todd Purdum has the latest liberal hit-piece on AK Gov. Sarah Palin in the new issue of Vanity Fair magazine (honestly, I had no idea they were even still publishing — who buys that anyway?)
Tom Bevan at RealClearPolitics disassembles the article well with just one paragraph.
Even more perplexing is the MSM’s continuing fascination with, and seemingly instiatible desire to destroy Sarah Palin. Why are Todd Purdum and Vanity Fair pulling out all the stops for a piece on Palin 10 months after the election? Is it because they fear she’s still viable as a national political figure, or simply that a 9,800 word hit job on Palin is the kind of delicious red meat VF’s readers can’t resist?
Probably a bit of both, I would think.
Bill Kristol over at The Weekly Standard takes a different tactic and begins pointing fingers at the “GOP Hacks” who supply the fodder for such articles.
Meanwhile, on the day Purdum’s piece hit the web (today), a journalist who had expressed suspicions in the past that elements of the McCain campaign had undercut Palin suddenly got a friendly e-mail from top McCain-Palin campaign strategist Steve Schmidt. This journalist hadn’t heard from Schmidt in months. Perhaps Steve was nervous someone would finger him for the Purdum piece. One reason people might do so is this passage in Purdum’s article: “All the while, Palin was coping not only with the crazed life of any national candidate on the road but also with the young children traveling with her. Some top aides worried about her mental state: was it possible that she was experiencing postpartum depression? (Palin’s youngest son was less than six months old.)” In fact, one aide who raised this possibility in the course of trashing Palin’s mental state to others in the McCain-Palin campaign was Steve Schmidt.
Can’t we just once and for all put all these senior McCain staffers out to pasture?
Filed under: "Journalists", 2008 Elections, 2012 Elections, Sarah Palin
Two simple answers alluded to above.
The left attacks her because yes, she’s smart, she’s credible and she’s a threat. If she wasn’t they’d ignore her. They can’t attack her on a policy level, so they go for the personal.
As for the McCain folks, they think that by putting the blame on Sarah Palin they can deflect from the fact that they ran a miserable campaign for a miserable candidate.
Agree with Mike on both counts.
Palin absolutely scares the shit out of Democrats.
She’s everything that EVERYONE fears- she does it all, and she’s conservative. Conservatives really haven’t had to deal with the reality of a “do it all” Mom, because normally “those” women are liberal. Liberals can’t stand her for obvious reasons. She represents so many things, but really doesn’t fit into any of the paradigms of how feminism, family, and career success typically manifest themselves.
Hopefully she continues to hold her own and doesn’t get tired of all the stress and strain. Not only is she a cutting edge politician who’s in touch with conservative values and poised to lead in a new direction, she’s a pioneer in the redefinition of what feminism is, and she’s causing us all to reassess our own definitions of it.
You people are kidding yourself if you think Sarah Palin is truly in touch with conservative values (unless, of course, your definition of “conservative” is code for right-wing christian moral values).
Joe-the-Plumber campaign rhetoric aside, her actual record on economic issues is a lot less reformist and conservative than the legend would have it. On foreign policy, she scares me.
Politically, she is a lightning rod. She will get the base charged up a ton but is not the right kind of person to sell the logic of conservative ideals (beyond the social conservative issues) to independents and moderates who might be tired of Obama’s big government in 2012.
Republicans need to find a dynamic, yet sober and serious, candidate to intelligently and calmly convey the basic American appeal of conservative ideals. Palin is NOT the right person for the job.
Palin was 2008’s Dan Quayle, only dumber.
The Democrats are giddy with the prospect that the Neocons who control the national GOP will roll that stooge Palin out for another go in 2012.
For the good of the nation, we should pray that she continues to fade into the dense Alaska underbrush and the rest of America quickly can re-focus on a candidate for 2012 who will lead with real answers to the real challenges that we all face.
Mitt Romney and John McCain could have won and held the Presidency for the Republican side for two terms for McCain, then two more terms for Mitt, but the GOP leadership just had to screw things up with that airhead, Palin.
Enjoy the Obama years, Palin-lovers, because it was PALIN who ultimately drove enough of the middle class White vote, screaming into the Obama camp, to decide the election.
What will the GOP do for an encore? Nominate Huckleberry?
Lucky for the GOP we have a pretty stupid electorate these days and by 2012, most of the Sally Soccermoms and Joe Six Packs who only know what their TV tells them, will have forgotten all about the fact that Bush nearly suspended our Constitution and had us on the verge of WW III.
The citizens should never again trust the Republican Party to lead America.
Unfortunately, the People will forget the dumb broad from Alaska and the old white guy who LOST to Obama, and the abuses of the Bush regime will fade even more into their TV dulled minds.
In the final analysis, the only hope for GOP victory is an ignorant, uninformed, electorate, that will buy into future Republican campaigns that are now all based on slander and innuendo, but are devoid of any real proposed solutions.
I wish it weren’t so, but the GOP is beyond saving. America needs a replacement political party that will, fight to enhance our LIBERTY, represent traditional values and that will be a champion of Constitutional government.
As of 2000, the GOP sold out the working class and shredded the Constitution. Because of the abuses of power by the Bush regime, the Republicans have lost the trust of the American people.
There’s always more to Todd Purdum than meets the eye. Beyond the two reasons you mentioned, it’s plausible that he’s still trying to atone for his VF article about Clinton from July 2008 (http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/07/clinton200807), which drew so much liberal ire that the Clinton camp demanded an apology and retraction. They claimed the article was baseless and speculative – hard to believe when Purdum was not only a White House correspondent, but married to Dee Dee Myers, Clinton’s press secretary.
To posit a conspiracy theory, Purdum’s been backtracking from that article with a lot of pro-Obama rhetoric, but the time had come to finally atone with a solidly anti-right article. Sarah Palin was a convenient target – not much could be said about her at this point that wasn’t said during the election.
[...] The Need To Constantly Attack Sarah Palin? Virginia Virtucon Can’t we just once and for all put all these senior McCain staffers out to pasture? Read more. [...]
I hope we don’t “need to find a sober, serious candidate to intelligently and calmly convey appeal”. Since when does someone have to be a certain type of personality, one that really sounds like a description you would hear for the effects of Ritalin, in order to be a viable candidate? You won’t convince me that seriousness and calm are mandatory components of intelligence and appeal. Does sobriety have to be one? Haha…Just kidding.
People want someone who seems real to them, someone they can see themselves talking with in the yard or eating dinner with. Someone with conservative values who seems like a friend. People LIKE personality, nothing about the description you provided excites me, and it seems like the same old same old, if you want to be a successful woman then give up what makes you “you” and be what men say you need to be. Thankfully, I don’t think there are many people like that out there anymore, so I hope Sarah Palin and others like her will bring on the personality, energy, and excitement.
JTB, you are ignorant, pure and simple.
“it was PALIN who ultimately drove enough of the middle class White vote, screaming into the Obama camp, to decide the election.”
Wrong. Just look at what the exit polls on Election Day told us.
Then there are these numbers from Rasmussen:
Mitt Romney is an opportunist and just another Bush 41 in waiting. One need look no further than Romney employing typical liberal Democrat class warfare arguments usually reserved for the likes of Ted Kennedy when he attacked Steve Forbes and the flat tax. In fact, that is the ONE issue that Romney has been consistent on between 1996 and 2009.
Riley, Thank you for providing the numbers for our sadly confused friend, JTB. I can tell you that I was disgusted and didn’t know what I was going to do with McCain running, as far as I was concerned he might as well have been a democrat because I couldn’t tell the difference. His decision to bring Palin on gave me a sense of satisfaction with my vote and with my belief in the sanity of the American people as well as the position of women as change agents.
I’ve often said that I’ve known people over the years who voiced very conservative opinions, but when it came to assigning themselves (and voting) along party lines, they called themselves democrats. Republicans like Palin, people who go against the stereotypes of the old GOP and redefine what it means to be a member will be the key to getting folks to realign themselves according to their views and beliefs and not according to stereotypes or fear of labeling.
[...] Why The Need To Constantly Attack Sarah Palin? « Virginia Virtucon [...]
Had Palin not been on the ticket, I would not have worked the polls for John McCain on Election Day nor done anything else on his behalf.
Riley:
While I appreciate your hard work to support your position, the fact remains that MILLIONS of White Americans did something that pollsters and pundits always told us that they would not do (at least in our lifetime). They thronged to vote for our first mulatto President. This was the same voter segment that had previously been relied upon since the Nixon years, to deliver national elections for the GOP.
While I will agree that Palin may have attracted the trailer park trash element to the campaign, at the same time, she was driving away a major portion of what has typically been the core of the Republican base, working class, White men and women.
We needn’t agree on this point, since exit polls did not win the election, the actual votes did, and those results confirm that our first mulatto President received overwhelming support among White Americans.
But, don’t let facts get in your way. Go ahead and nominate Palin and Huckleberry next time; then sit back and “enjoy” term two of the Obama years.
OK, what I was really trying to say above is that the Republican party needs to find a conservative Obama. You cannot deny his appeal to the voters–and it was not his liberal ideas that got him elected.
The theatrics surrounding Sarah Palin played like a bad movie (and it cannot all be blamed on the media). To me, she came across as shallow and gimmicky.
I guess I just think there has to be a much better person to be the voice of conservative thinking.
JTB, it seems that I’m the only one to produce facts in this discussion while you hurl terms like TPT to belittle those you disagree with.
Once people are tired of Obama’s excuses for why the economy hasn’t come roaring back, they’ll be looking to dump him in a heartbeat. But some squishy independents will be afraid they’ll be deemed to be racists if they vote against Obama in 2012. However, their guilt would be assuaged by ousting him by voting for the first female president. Mark my words, it may be a while before we have another white male president.
Riley,
Politically, I’m 50% small-government conservative and 50% squishy independent. Let me tell you why you are wrong about 2012. No squishy independent who is sensitive enough to be concerned about being perceived as a racist for voting against Obama is going to feel good about voting for Palin. She is not just a female candidate. As viewed by squishy independents, Palin is a stridently right-wing conservative who played on the fears and prejudices of the small town “rednecks” by painting Mr. Obama as the boogey man.
I agree that a white man would not be the ideal candidate, but Palin is FAR from being the ideal woman to capitalize on your theory.
Paul, Each time I read something you’ve posted my blood pressure shoots up despite my attempts to ignore your statements. I guess it’s my female, small town, redneck nature that renders me helpless against a smart guy like you.
Moving along, following Palin’s announcement today I find myself hopeful (and confident) that she has a long range plan and that this is an important move in the execution of that plan. Clearly she’s a devoted mother as well as savvy political powerhouse. This is where I think our country will suffer when it comes to benefiting from the unique offerings of female politicians with conservative principles. Who could justify allowing their children to grow up amidst the torment of constant attack? Our country has lost basic civility that transcends political party affiliation and ideology. Basic decency is gone and as a Mother some difficult choices have to be made. Access appears open for women, but the climate that exists opens the gates for SOME women, women of liberal persuasion. Conservative women are despised by liberals and torn apart by their own “squishy” party members.
kfd4edu – Sorry you feel that way. I didn’t mean to insult you with my opinion of Palin’s image or my opinion of how Palin is perceived by many independents. Maybe you are insulted by my very existence (i.e., as a person not enamored by the soon-to-be-former governor of Alaska)?
Part of what makes this country so interesting and so frustrating is how differently we all see things.