At a book signing in Ohio Sarah Palin supporters struggle to define why they would vote for her. One supporter says emphatically that Palin "is what America is." If this is so, the country is in real trouble. The video is alarming, completely astonishing from beginning to end. It makes me very sad.
I repeat, if this is a good representation of Americans, we are in real trouble. We can forget about competing globally. The ignorance is extraordinary. Using an example one supporter said, "suppose that we do drill, not just for oil but for gas." I don't think she was talking about natural gas. She continued, "We need to get the polar bears off the endangered list so we can drill."
Are these folks a good representation of Americans?
10 comments:
About 45% of voting age Americans feel this way about Palin.
Palin channels Reagon for me. (that's one reason she makes my skin crawl)
But there is a difference. When Reagan was around, he appealed to the baby boomers were in thier 20s at the time. This is not the case today. People under 50 are still very supporive of Obama (according to Time).
Deepak Chopra made the exact point about Palin and Reagan. But the latter was intelligent even if you didn't agree with his policies. Reagan was basically an ideologue too in that he spoke against the things that he himself engaged in. He talked a lot about the deficit and he increased it more than any president before him. He talked about a shining nation on a hill but it was during his presidency where the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. What is amazing about Palin in that she is too is an ideologue. Actually, one can't really call her even that. She’s simply a talking point woman. She doesn’t even seem to know why she thinks the way she does. She just seems to be following suit, towing the talking point line. Palin seems to simply not to be even able to think. In this regard she is very much like those in this video. I'm wondering how many of that 45%, which seems way too high to me, are college educated.
She's like a superficial Reagan.
Or a TV character based on Reagan.
None of the people in the video could clearly explain why they liked Palin. But they were very passionate about it.
The poll I read put her over 40%, so maybe not 45%.
But, in a nightmare scenario of a three way race where one is an independent progressive, this is enough to win. Bill Clinton won in 1992 with 43% when Ross Perot ran.
"None of the people in the video could clearly explain why they liked Palin. But they were very passionate about it."
Zorro - I agree with this statement wholeheartedly. The fact that they were passionate about Palin without understanding why is very dangerous for the country. You make a good point about the Ross Perot affect. I even heard someone try to float that she was like Perot. I guess this would be minus the business acumen, pragmatism and intelligence, like him or not.
The people in the video seem to dislike Obama and can't explain that any more than why they like Palin. They seem to want to live in an idealized version of America, but they don't know what that is.
What I find ironic is, the Obama's are as American as apple pie. The kids are authentically cute, Michelle is as much of a pure mother figure as any idealized mom and Obama appears to be a perfect father. If they were white, they could fit into any Norman Rockwell painting. On the other hand, it is glaringly obvious that the Palin family is totally disfunctional. Todd it a complete jerk (he reminds me of the balloon boy's dad) and the kids all seem to be screwed up.
Zorro - I agree with you about the Obama family. They seem very authentic indeed. I think the majority of Americans appreciate the things that you have pointed out about this beautiful family. As it relates to the Palins, I really don't have a good read on the father. He seems, in fact, to be a rather hands on dad. She is the one that seems flighty and egocentric. From an outside view, he seems to be the real parent of the two. But I do not know these people at all.
We know Sarah Palin by her own words and actions. I have not heard him speak and when Bristol did an interview her mother jumped in it and proceeded to tell the press thereafter what the young lady meant to say when it was clear what she had already said. The deceit from what I have gathered about their holier than thou stance on premarital sex and the baby of the father living in the house wasn't unusual for hardliners--if the baby daddy is to be believed.
The Palin kids seem to be rather sweet. I don't get a negative vibe from them. I don’t think we should be as loving as possible towards children generally and especially those of public figures. I imagine it can be quite difficult for them. Palin, though, has put them out their when it benefited her. She tends to throw a stone and hide her hand. She tends to put her children in the limelight when it suits her and then tell us that they are not involved in the political process. She just strikes me as being terribly fundamentally dishonest. A lot of this may be rooted in fundamentalism that calls things as if they were, but when it comes down to it a lot of this calling is flat out lies and deception. I know this all to well having been among many such fundamentalists.
The people in the video are just so very sad to me. They are those that are easily exploited by others for political gain. The Republican Party as Krugman rightly said has used these types for years to advance their self-righteous purist ideological agenda. (You’ve heard about this “purity test,” eh? Hmm? What will they do with Ensign and Sanford? If such was a standard overall, there would be nobody in Congress, I’d imagine. I love the hypocritical word choice. They’re masters at this stuff.) Now, it seems that they can't be reigned in and that they have become the mainstream. Bachmann's rally where Boehner and other House leaders attended proved this. But these are not innocents. Many desire such exploitation as a righteous cause for their ignorance and hatred. Oh, so sad, really.
I can see why it is sad, but to me its so dangerous I'm more afraid than sad. Education might be part of it, but I know a VP at IBM who takes what they say at Fox News as gospel.
I am sad and equally alarmed, Zorro. Shame on that IBM executive. What's his excuse for ignorance? Actually, ignorance has no bounds. This I know for sure.
Well, at least no one on the video said "Keep the government away from my Medicare" as they said at the tea bag rallies.
LOL, John!!!
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