Looking at Sarah Palin - populist porn

After Thursday night's debate, Sarah Palin is back in the national limelight. She has redeemed herself in the eyes of many, who viewed her performance during the debate as a success. (See this post about pro-Sarah sentiments at a ladies hairdresser in California).

Other, might we say more discerning, viewers are raising more questions about Sarah Palin and her brand of populism.

Conservation columnists Peggy Noonan (remember, the one who was caught on tape when she thought the mike was turned off, calling McCain's choice of Palin "cynical?") In a Huffington Post article about her appearance on Meet the Press, Noonan is quoted as saying, "I think she showed that she is a woman of great and natural competence about the show-business of politics." But Noonan also expressed concern about Palin's populism, saying, "Populism as a strategy, 'we're the good guys, you're the bad guys,' is not good. And if that's the road they are going, that's not a good road to be on. It is not helpful to the country."

Palin's brand of populism was also the subject of an excellent OpEd piece in the LA Times by Neil Gabler, called "The Real Americans." Gabler traces the roots of populism and anti-elitism, from the revolutionaries, to Daniel Boone, and on to Andrew Jackson and FDR. He concludes that:

"It is a neat gambit -- to conflate "real" with Republican and "un-American" with Democrats -- neater still when there are fewer and fewer Americans who fit the most colorful aspects of authenticity represented by a Sarah Palin. If the country keeps clinging to this reductive stereotype despite its absurdity, it may be because we have never quite lost those powerful early American impulses. Our resentments against elitists still burn, our anger against our "betters" is still hot, and our fear of being called a phony still roars. Just ask any Republican.

Nobody has quite the way with words about Palin's populism that Maureen Dowd does. Her OpEd in the NY Times is called Sarah's Pompom Palaver. Dowd traces the history of grammatical tumultuousness back to "Poppy" Bush and Warren G. Harding. She says, "With her pompom patois and sing-songy jingoism, Palin can bridge contradictory ideas that lead nowhere: One minute she promises to get “greater oversight” by government; the next, she lectures: “Government, you know, you’re not always a solution. In fact, too often you’re the problem.”

Dowd's best point, though, is this:

We could, following her strenuously folksy debate performance, wonder when elite became a bad thing in America. Navy Seals are elite, and they get lots of training so they can swim underwater and invade a foreign country, but if you’re governing the country that dispatches the Seals, it’s not O.K. to be elite? Can likable still trump knowledgeable at such a vulnerable crossroads for the country?

AND NOW FOR THE SEX!!!!

Hustler has a video on the fast tracke for release prior to the election called "Nailin' Paylin," according to TMZ. Cast in the video along with a Palin look-alike will be some Russians, and a college professor. A poll asking whether in making the video Hustler is being tasteless or brilliant had 55, 307 votes, with 52% going with tasteless. [Interesting note, although TMZ titles the story "Nailin' Paylin", the URL of the page actually uses the correct spelling, "nailin' palin."]

And last but not least, Frank Rich in the NYTimes has analyzed Palin's language and determined that she REALLY wants to be president, and is ready, willing, and able to walk all over John McCain with those Ruby Red High Heels. His punch line:

"But the debate reminded Republicans once again that it’s Palin, not McCain, who is their last hope for victory. You have to wonder how long it will be before they plead with him to think of his health, get out of the way and pull the ultimate stunt of flipping the ticket. Palin, we can be certain, wouldn’t even blink."

UPDATE: At least Sarah Palin has been good for something - she brings out the most colorful language from writers! Shanker Vedantum has an article in today's Washington Post called "Artful Dodging Trumps Open Evasion, Studies Show" His premise is that Sarah Palin has a lot to learn about evading the question from Senators McCain, Obama, and Biden. Whereas Palin openly announced she wasn't going to answer the questions, the more experienced senators use careful segues to make it seem like they are answering the question before tacking on their stump speech. It's worth reading.