Sunday 17 January 2010

Sarah Palin, the elites, the media...

Sarah Palin is very contradictory regarding what she calls the "elite". Her definition of elite is simplistic, as expected.



She says she's fighting for the little man, for the struggling middle class and her fight is against those who believe they are better than everybody else. As usual, she didn't really address the question, her answer was trite and childish.

Ironically, taking into account Sarah Palin's own definition of elite, in "Going Rogue" she blows her own trumpet from beginning to end. She was a fantastic basketball player, a gifted fisherwoman, moose hunter extraordinaire, an insightful, ethical politician who took on the establishment and single handedly put them in their place. She had the courage to ruffle the feathers of the big oil corporations. (This is a no-brainer, what are they going to do? Take their oil and go somewhere else?) She speaks of God as if she was chosen as his pet project.

How are all these self-descriptions not indicative of Sarah Palin's belief that she's better than everybody else? Oh well, she paints herself as little old me from Wasilla, the outsider, the underdog, so she's really humble, you see?

Sarah Palin has a servant's heart. She's concerned about the have-nots.

But she chooses which elites she despises very carefully. Some elites are perfectly acceptable.

Fat cats in the health insurance industry? They rented Sarah Palin's Facebook page at the height of the healthcare reform debate. They are a "good" elite. (I wonder if their "contribution" to their mouthpice will show up in her tax returns or the SarahPac accounts...)

She's all for giving the rest of the fat cats in any industry tax breaks, Reagan style, so their wealth trickles down, blah blah.

The economic elite is ok with her. Now she's one of their members, but as she would say, she worked her butt off to get there.

Sarah Palin's main beef is with the intellectual elite. She has no hope of entering it, and in order to distance herself from them even further, she maintains a tabloid image. Mother and daughter bringing up their babies together, bathing babies in the kitchen sink, party guests wearing hoodies and track suits were all part of the In Touch magazine spread. The Palins no doubt set up the domestic scene themselves or went along with whoever came up with it and approved the content of the article as it appeared in the magazine.

The message seems to be that although she's now very rich, her family is still the same as other "real" American families. Her supporters are definitely not part of any elite. So that they don't feel threatened by her new found wealth, she gives them the opportunity to identify with her on a personal level. She's still valley trash and proud of it.

The "Going Rogue" book tour counted on her mom and dad, her younger kids and an aunt, in a most convincing tour-de-force to reinforce the "I'm one of you" image. Her supporters couldn't get enough of it and were thrilled to bits to shake Chuck Heath's hand or have a moment with her mom. They're so normal, so real!



One branch of the intellectual elite is the liberal media. They make Sarah Palin foam at the mouth.

The McCain/Palin campaign had a big problem with them.

Matthew Continetti wrote a book, "The Persecution of Sarah Palin: How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star", which came out long before "Game Change". The editorial review on Amazon states:

As the second woman ever nominated as a candidate for vice president, Alaska governor Sarah Palin became an instant phenomenon. Americans were enthralled by a woman with charm, ambition, natural political talent, and a passion for conservative values.

But the fascination of ordinary people quickly drew an unprecedented attack from the media elite and liberal activists. Far beyond the normal bounds of tough questions and challenges, Palin's enemies decided that nothing was too personal to attack-including her marriage, her children, her faith, and her ward­robe. The media distorted Palin's positions and beliefs beyond recognition. And almost every word out of her mouth was spun as a "flub."

Weekly Standard writer Matthew Continetti reveals the true story of the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and her persecution by the elites who tried to hide their bias with solemn declarations of objectivity. Continetti offers fresh examples of malicious spin and deceit and shows how liberal snobbery has become a driving force in American politics.

Palin's ordeal has become a rallying cry for the GOP in the Obama era. This perceptive book is a must-read for conservatives who want to understand what really happened-and how to avoid a repeat.

The media was actually very kind to Sarah Palin and continues to give her a pass to this day. She is their cash cow. It's not in their interest to bring her down for good. If they really reported the truth, after the initial spike in interest, she would become a non-person, a hasbeen, not the best subject to attract readers and juicy revenue for media outlets. So they report her Facebook and Twitter rantings as if she should be taken seriously. They report her family scandals without going deep enough, always relegating them to the tabloid, sensationalist media. Why kill the goose that lays golden eggs?

Sarah Palin appears to have survived the revelations that emerged with the publication of "Game Change" and is now a political comentator on Fox News, a million miles away from the liberal media, where she's going to give a "fair and balanced" view of everything.

Tabloids, Fox News, teabagging... she's not part of the elite, that's for sure. Sarah Palin is just a filthy rich opportunist, without an ounce of class and monumentally ignorant.

Dictionary definition of elite:

"A group or class of persons or a member of such a group or class, enjoying superior intellectual, social, or economic status."
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