Sarah Palin is the Pet Rock of Politics

sweetpotato

I've been saying much the same since she was chosen, that McCain insulted ALL women by choosing this one to be his running mate.


Sarah Palin Is the Pet Rock of Politics
By Marie Cocco, Washington Post Writers Group
Posted on October 2, 2008http://www.alternet.org/story/101202/

WASHINGTON -- There is something about Sarah Palin that gnaws at me, and it isn't that the Republican vice presidential nominee has wilted under the soft light shined upon her by CBS' Katie Couric. It isn't that I disagree with Palin on just about every single substantive issue I can think of, and probably some I haven't thought about.

What's bothering me about Palin isn't even Palin. It is that she's been made into the novelty act -- even the freak show -- of the presidential campaign.

Her mark in history may well turn out to be like that of the Pet Rock, one of those artifacts that has little value except as an object that is dissected for its cultural significance. During the brief but happy life of the Pet Rock in the 1970s, millions of Americans shelled out $3.95 to purchase an ordinary gray stone, packaged in a small cardboard box complete with an official Pet Rock training manual. The fad petered out in six months, but not before the promoter got rich and thousands of backyards became Pet Rock graveyards.

Now we prepare to watch Palin in today's vice presidential debate, compelled more by a cult-like curiosity than a call to civic duty.

Certainly some undecided voters may watch because they want to be convinced that the Alaska governor is qualified to be vice president or to determine, once and for all, that she is not. Republicans already attracted to her social conservatism and her family story will be cheering her on and will defend her against any slip or slight, real or imagined. Just as surely, some liberals will be itching to see what material Palin manages to serve up as fodder for Tina Fey and the writers at "Saturday Night Live."

Palin has become a sideshow: See Sarah stumble through the Couric interviews. Watch clips of Sarah's beauty-pageant swimsuit competition on YouTube. Laugh uproariously as Tina does a better Sarah than Sarah herself.

This is a terrible predicament not only for Palin but for all American women.

For decades women have protested the way we are objectified, only to have a governor running for vice president turned into an object. She is an object of over-the-top partisan projections, from the left and right. She is an object of scorn. And in some quarters, an object of sympathy.

I do not blame Palin for this. Which young, ambitious male governor, upon getting the call to join the national ticket from his party's presidential nominee, would humbly say, "No thanks, I'm not ready"? Yet some have laid Palin's failure to turn down the chance at promotion at her feet, as if it were her responsibility -- and not John McCain's -- to have chosen more wisely. Some conservatives who just a few weeks ago took delight in skewering liberal feminists with the rhetorical equivalent of Palin's moose-gutting knife now are aghast at the gaping holes in her knowledge.

McCain and his campaign bear full responsibility. Palin's initial introduction as one tough reformer turned quickly into a sales pitch for one tough hockey mom, capable of nursing an infant and nudging legislation to passage at the same time. Palin wasn't expected to know anything about throw-weights. She was there to ease the worries the Republican right harbors about McCain and, it was implausibly suggested, to attract Hillary Clinton supporters to the Republican ticket.

The way Palin was sequestered from the media helped transform her into a calcified figure to be seen but not heard, at least not heard speaking from anything but a script. Like a Pet Rock, she wasn't supposed to escape from the yard or require genuine training. She only had to stand and absorb every odd projection of the national imagination, however awkward and demeaning a task that might be.

Now Palin goes live alongside Democrat Joe Biden, and an odder couple has rarely shared a political stage. I do not expect Biden to be anything but superior in his knowledge and in the stature he is able to project to a worried public. He will be on guard against condescension. I do not expect Palin to collapse in utter confusion or do anything less than survive -- even if she barely survives. But surviving a debate and the post-debate spin isn't qualification for the vice presidency. That is the nub of it.

Palin's candidacy isn't shattering the glass ceiling for her or any other woman. It is killing us with a thousand cuts.

Marie Cocco's e-mail address is mariecocco(at)washpost.com.

(c) 2008, Washington Post Writers Group

Marie Cocco is a prize-winning syndicated columnist on political and cultural topics for The Washington Post Writers Group. She is a frequent commentator on national TV and radio shows.

© 2008 Washington Post Writers Group All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/101202/

RolandTD20Kdrummer

Political rocket scientist she isn't...but how is she an insult to all women?

some, but certainly not all.

saveuplife

sweetpotato wrote:

I've been saying much the same since she was chosen, that McCain insulted ALL women by choosing this one to be his running mate.


Sarah Palin Is the Pet Rock of Politics
By Marie Cocco, Washington Post Writers Group
Posted on October 2, 2008http://www.alternet.org/story/101202/

WASHINGTON -- There is something about Sarah Palin that gnaws at me, and it isn't that the Republican vice presidential nominee has wilted under the soft light shined upon her by CBS' Katie Couric. It isn't that I disagree with Palin on just about every single substantive issue I can think of, and probably some I haven't thought about.

What's bothering me about Palin isn't even Palin. It is that she's been made into the novelty act -- even the freak show -- of the presidential campaign.

Her mark in history may well turn out to be like that of the Pet Rock, one of those artifacts that has little value except as an object that is dissected for its cultural significance. During the brief but happy life of the Pet Rock in the 1970s, millions of Americans shelled out $3.95 to purchase an ordinary gray stone, packaged in a small cardboard box complete with an official Pet Rock training manual. The fad petered out in six months, but not before the promoter got rich and thousands of backyards became Pet Rock graveyards.

Now we prepare to watch Palin in today's vice presidential debate, compelled more by a cult-like curiosity than a call to civic duty.

Certainly some undecided voters may watch because they want to be convinced that the Alaska governor is qualified to be vice president or to determine, once and for all, that she is not. Republicans already attracted to her social conservatism and her family story will be cheering her on and will defend her against any slip or slight, real or imagined. Just as surely, some liberals will be itching to see what material Palin manages to serve up as fodder for Tina Fey and the writers at "Saturday Night Live."

Palin has become a sideshow: See Sarah stumble through the Couric interviews. Watch clips of Sarah's beauty-pageant swimsuit competition on YouTube. Laugh uproariously as Tina does a better Sarah than Sarah herself.

This is a terrible predicament not only for Palin but for all American women.

For decades women have protested the way we are objectified, only to have a governor running for vice president turned into an object. She is an object of over-the-top partisan projections, from the left and right. She is an object of scorn. And in some quarters, an object of sympathy.

I do not blame Palin for this. Which young, ambitious male governor, upon getting the call to join the national ticket from his party's presidential nominee, would humbly say, "No thanks, I'm not ready"? Yet some have laid Palin's failure to turn down the chance at promotion at her feet, as if it were her responsibility -- and not John McCain's -- to have chosen more wisely. Some conservatives who just a few weeks ago took delight in skewering liberal feminists with the rhetorical equivalent of Palin's moose-gutting knife now are aghast at the gaping holes in her knowledge.

McCain and his campaign bear full responsibility. Palin's initial introduction as one tough reformer turned quickly into a sales pitch for one tough hockey mom, capable of nursing an infant and nudging legislation to passage at the same time. Palin wasn't expected to know anything about throw-weights. She was there to ease the worries the Republican right harbors about McCain and, it was implausibly suggested, to attract Hillary Clinton supporters to the Republican ticket.

The way Palin was sequestered from the media helped transform her into a calcified figure to be seen but not heard, at least not heard speaking from anything but a script. Like a Pet Rock, she wasn't supposed to escape from the yard or require genuine training. She only had to stand and absorb every odd projection of the national imagination, however awkward and demeaning a task that might be.

Now Palin goes live alongside Democrat Joe Biden, and an odder couple has rarely shared a political stage. I do not expect Biden to be anything but superior in his knowledge and in the stature he is able to project to a worried public. He will be on guard against condescension. I do not expect Palin to collapse in utter confusion or do anything less than survive -- even if she barely survives. But surviving a debate and the post-debate spin isn't qualification for the vice presidency. That is the nub of it.

Palin's candidacy isn't shattering the glass ceiling for her or any other woman. It is killing us with a thousand cuts.

Marie Cocco's e-mail address is mariecocco(at)washpost.com.

(c) 2008, Washington Post Writers Group

Marie Cocco is a prize-winning syndicated columnist on political and cultural topics for The Washington Post Writers Group. She is a frequent commentator on national TV and radio shows.

© 2008 Washington Post Writers Group All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/101202/

This is exactly the type of thing that I'm talking about. Some in the media continue to bash her relentlessly. If they weren't ridiculously afraid of what she could do politically, why would they do this consistently? If she's the equivalent of a pet-rock politically why are article after article being written about her? If she's so unqualified and dumb, why do they bother with this stuff?

Then you can ask yourself, why is she so in-demand? Why are there as many threads about her here?

They are afraid. She's capable of rallying people to a side they don't believe in... PERIOD. I'm not saying she's been successful in doing it yet, but they know that she's capable.

SoonForgotten2

saveuplife wrote:

This is exactly the type of thing that I'm talking about. Some in the media continue to bash her relentlessly. If they weren't ridiculously afraid of what she could do politically, why would they do this consistently? If she's the equivalent of a pet-rock politically why are article after article being written about her? If she's so unqualified and dumb, why do they bother with this stuff?

Then you can ask yourself, why is she so in-demand? Why are there as many threads about her here?

They are afraid. She's capable of rallying people to a side they don't believe in... PERIOD. I'm not saying she's been successful in doing it yet, but they know that she's capable.

I'm concerned that she'll sway millions of brain-dead Americans into somehow voting for the GOPs ludicrious ticket come November. And I don't fear her because she's some great candidate. I fear her because she's a right-wing extremist with little vision beyond what she can see with her own two eyes. That people are worried about this loon is no great compliment to her.

Pacomc79

I can't agree with that. She's out of her element no doubt. She's lost in media interviews I'd imagine because she's never had to deal with them before and the people in the McCain camp have done and awful job with her presentation and helping her through them as well as the choice of interviews. Reciting political speech is probably not a strong point of hers. I'm not sure it's all that important really but geez speak frankly lady, if you're in an interview say YOUR opinion not what you think people want to hear.

She was the governor of Alaska, clearly she's got something going for her. I'm not voting for them on principle but performing poorly in a couple of interviews dosen't make her a pet rock. Honestly I think she looked lost because she didn't know what to say because she was afraid she might say something that didn't vibe with the campaign and it ended up making her look silly repeating questions... not unlike the very good pitcher Ryan Dempster failing to come through for the Cubs last night.

I'm not a fan of social conservatism but I still think she was the best pick for John McCain. There are likely no people on this board that identify with her but I guarentee there are plenty of American women that find themselves with a great degree of ethos and pathos towards Palin. I'm sure if I got to hang out with Biden and Palin I'd vibe with each of them on some sort of personal level.

Biden will no doubt come off as arrogant and rude and kind of a jerk to the people that are sympathetic to Palin and Palin will come off as vacant out of touch and vapid to the people that are sympathic to Bidens POV. This debate is pointless really. What are we going to learn we didn't already know?

I still think each canidate Obama and McCain made wise choices from where they come from when it comes to people casting votes.

josevolution

she's dummer than a pet rock ,could not even come up with one supreme court case other than rove vs wade .......

ledvedderman

josevolution wrote:

she's dummer than a pet rock ,could not even come up with one supreme court case other than rove vs wade .......

Ah yes, the infamous Karl Rove vs. Dwayne Wade decision...

Uncle Leo

saveuplife wrote:

This is exactly the type of thing that I'm talking about. Some in the media continue to bash her relentlessly. If they weren't ridiculously afraid of what she could do politically, why would they do this consistently? If she's the equivalent of a pet-rock politically why are article after article being written about her? If she's so unqualified and dumb, why do they bother with this stuff?

Then you can ask yourself, why is she so in-demand? Why are there as many threads about her here?

They are afraid. She's capable of rallying people to a side they don't believe in... PERIOD. I'm not saying she's been successful in doing it yet, but they know that she's capable.

Exactly. Remember all that unwarranted Bush bashing? And he turned out just fine. No doubt she can be just as good.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

josevolution wrote:

she's dummer than a pet rock ,could not even come up with one supreme court case other than rove vs wade .......

...swap a B for the M and take out the V

hehe...now I'm sounding a bit like Snoop Dog...

saveuplife

Uncle Leo wrote:

Exactly. Remember all that unwarranted Bush bashing? And he turned out just fine. No doubt she can be just as good.

I will remember all the needless felatio given to Obama... if he gets in, I hope you all remember too.... most likely, you'll have had your fill by then... but, who knows.

sweetpotato

Uncle Leo wrote:

Exactly. Remember all that unwarranted Bush bashing? And he turned out just fine. No doubt she can be just as good.

oh, leo, how do i love thee?

my2hands

sweetpotato wrote:

Palin's candidacy isn't shattering the glass ceiling for her or any other woman. It is killing us with a thousand cuts.

interesting point... especially considering she stands against nearly all of the advances of the womens rights movement

QuestionAuthority

saveuplife wrote:

This is exactly the type of thing that I'm talking about. Some in the media continue to bash her relentlessly. If they weren't ridiculously afraid of what she could do politically, why would they do this consistently? If she's the equivalent of a pet-rock politically why are article after article being written about her? If she's so unqualified and dumb, why do they bother with this stuff?

Then you can ask yourself, why is she so in-demand? Why are there as many threads about her here?

They are afraid. She's capable of rallying people to a side they don't believe in... PERIOD. I'm not saying she's been successful in doing it yet, but they know that she's capable.

I am sorry but I think you are WAY off base here with your thoughts that people are fearful of her. I have actually volunteered for some different political organizations the last few weeks and I have been phoning undecided voters in swing states.. they are pissed as hell that they are being sold this woman who has no qualifications to be president.. and yes it is as a potential president, because they are scared as hell that Mr. McCain is the age he is and she ends up in control of this country. One person even said to me they are selling her like she is prime rib,when in truth she is butt roast on sale in the reduced section of the grocery store! They are pissed that their intelligence is being insulted thinking that she is qualified for this position and in truth from what the people I have talked to have seen is her basically not even being qualified to be govenor of the state of Alaska. Not one of these people have spoken about Obama's qualifications.. I did hear though from some people that they would never vote for a "colored" man.. but that is another thread!

This is not the media saying these things.. this is a good amount of average people saying these things.. people who were going to vote/leaning for McCain, but will now either not vote or will vote Obama. Look at the polls and how people are seeing her. Even stupid people can't relate to her.. because they are not that dumb!!!!

Why is she in such demand? I guess because there had never been another candidate for office who is this unavailable to the media.. one who does not do press conferences.. one who says the crazy ass stuff she says and what has been found out about her past.. i.e. the witch doctor, book banning, only allowing her high school friends to be in her cabinet..


Even conservatives have seen how grossly inept she is for this job..

Uncle Leo

saveuplife wrote:

I will remember all the needless felatio given to Obama... if he gets in, I hope you all remember too.... most likely, you'll have had your fill by then... but, who knows.

I don't dispute that Obamamania is out of hand. I'm just saying that the Palin-Bashing, much like the Bush-Bashing, is based not on a recognition of incompetence (or, if you disagree, a belief of incompetance) as opposed to a fear of how dynamic they are.

saveuplife

Uncle Leo wrote:

I don't dispute that Obamamania is out of hand. I'm just saying that the Palin-Bashing, much like the Bush-Bashing, is based not on a recognition of incompetence (or, if you disagree, a belief of incompetance) as opposed to a fear of how dynamic they are.

I understand your point but completely disagree... here's why...

Bush won. Twice.

He was President for 8 years. Whether people want to admit it or not, he won. He was the better politician both times. IMHO, he connected with ordinary folks. And effectively brought together his base. That's why he won. Liberals hated him for that, reasonably so... he won and they sat on the sidelines for 8 years complaining.

IMHO, they think Palin has the same appeal except she has the potential to reach even broader considering she's female. She is feared and this is why.

If anyone here says someone with some of the same attributes as Bush should not be feared politically by the opposition, they didn't watch the last two elections.

Vedderlution_Baby

I only hope that if mccain loses this election Palin can return to alaska and we'll never have to hear anything else about her ever again. It'll be best for all of us. She can get back to planning the secession of alaska from the U.S. in private, and we won't have to give a shit about her anymore.

SundaySilence

saveuplife wrote:

I understand your point but completely disagree... here's why...

Bush won. Twice.

He was President for 8 years. Whether people want to admit it or not, he won. He was the better politician both times. IMHO, he connected with ordinary folks. And effectively brought together his base. That's why he won. Liberals hated him for that, reasonably so... he won and they sat on the sidelines for 8 years complaining.

IMHO, they think Palin has the same appeal except she has the potential to reach even broader considering she's female. She is feared and this is why.

If anyone here says someone with some of the same attributes as Bush should not be feared politically by the opposition, they didn't watch the last two elections.

It seems to me that McCain feels he is behind so he is taking some chances hoping to shake things up. The Palin pick is an example. Also his silly plan to attempt canceling the debate. Obama supporters are overreacting, which would seem to be McCain's plan. Palin doesn't bring anything to his ticket in terms of competence (nor does canceling the debate) but it changes the playing field which McCain thinks he needs to do in order pull an upset. The Obama campaign on the other hand is running a more straightfoward campaign -just trying to run out the clock without any big surprises.

beachdweller

like McCain said this morning, when it's between her and the American people she does fine, so basically, when she's only giving a speech, she's ok, but when she has to think and comprehend, nada

GOSSArDgEEK

my2hands wrote:

interesting point... especially considering she stands against nearly all of the advances of the womens rights movement

This absolutely scares me.

DixieN

RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:

Political rocket scientist she isn't...but how is she an insult to all women?

some, but certainly not all.

I find her an insult because it's not like the best woman won a VP spot. It's just the one that got picked out of a hat to stir up the most shit. Lately, she's just been an embarrassment with her dippy interviews. She makes it easy for people to revert to sexist remarks about the capacity of women to lead, and that's why she feels like an insult.

DixieN

josevolution wrote:

she's dummer than a pet rock ,could not even come up with one supreme court case other than rove vs wade .......

She's not dumb. But, she is woefully uninformed and out of her league. Given enough time and exposure to national and international affairs, she'd know plenty. But, she hasn't had the time. She is completely out of her league.

If you wanted to argue moose or snow machines with her, she could argue with the best of them...probably out argue the best, since she did win the post of Governor for some reason.

MrMerkinball

Listening to celebreties on politics is generally not a good idea. But watch this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6urw_PWHYk

Commy

MrMerkinball wrote:

Listening to celebreties on politics is generally not a good idea. But watch this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6urw_PWHYk

celebrities have more time to think about this shit. everyone has jobs and so on to occupy their time. Celebrities have more backround when it comes to politics than the average American, they have more time to think about it.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

She handled herself a lot better than I thought she would in the VP debate. Both her and Biden are quite competent public speakers.

hard to discern who is telling the truth about anything though.

It's easy to see how they both got to where they are in politics.

Commy

RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:

She handled herself a lot better than I thought she would in the VP debate. Both her and Biden are quite competent public speakers.

hard to discern who is telling the truth about anything though.

It's easy to see how they both got to where they are in politics.

yes they look good on tv. gogo vote for the popularity contest.