--- On Wed, 9/3/08, Dennis Claxton <ddclaxton at earthlink.net> wrote:
> <http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-oe-rutten3-2008sep03,0,4833801.column>http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-oe-rutten3-2008sep03,0,4833801.column
> From the Los Angeles Times
>
> Opinion
>
> That's unlikely. Reporters are beginning to work their
> way across
> Alaska, reconstructing Palin's personal history. ABC-TV
> first
> reported -- though the McCain campaign denies -- that she
> flirted
> with a secessionist, state's rights political party. On
> Tuesday, an
> online piece by Time magazine reported that, as newly
> elected mayor
> of Wasilla, Palin tried to fire a librarian who refused to
> cooperate
> in banning books from the public library.
>
[WS:] I would not hold my breath about the outcome of that investigation. As I said before, emotional identification trumps logical reasoning in a significant segment of the US electorate. Even if the reporters dig up some dirt, it will likely backfire and increase Palin's appeal for ceratin segments of US electorate.
Palin is a formidable figure, because she is a quintessential "all-American girl" who "made it." She married her high school sweetheart who is a hard worker and a union member. She become popular and gaijned power despite her lowly background and relative lack of education (BA in journalism from the U of Idaho is her highest academic credential.) And she is also an "ass-kicker" and government basher - which no doubt will resonate with many middle class Americans.
In a way, she is another Anna Nicole Smith, the quintessential trailer trash and gold digger who used her sex appeal to "make it" against all odds - an ideal with which countless middle and working class women (and men) can easily identify and which "liberal elites" scorned. Who cares about Palin's views on the environment or library books - she is an all-American woman with whom scores of lower middle class and working class women can identify and thus prefer her to a Harvard educated schmoozer who is also black (do not underestimate th epower of racism.)
Anti-intellectualism and gutter populism are formidable forces in American politics, especially when combined with racism. Before Palin's selection for VP, I thought that Obama had a pretty good chance of winning in November. Now I am not so sure. I am afraid that Mccain may have a better chance. Any liberal attempt to poo-pooh Palin as either a lightweight provincial goose or x-tian fanatic will only backfire and increase her appeal to certain segments of "middle America." Those segments may not be a majority, but numerous enough to sway the balance in a few key states to McCain's favor, especially that the self-styled left will do everything it can to "deconstruct" Obama.
Obama understands that rather well and refrains from any overt criticism of her, especially along these lines, but then there is not much that a guy from Harvard can do to undermine the appeal of the Anna Nicole Smith trope to lower middle class folk populating middle America podunks. I do not know about others on this list, but I am pretty much scared and pessimistic after her entry into presidential politics. It looks like a good chance of 4 or even 8 more years of Repug rule.
Wojtek