In his cover story for the October 13, 2008 issue of Newsweek, managing editor Jon Meacham continues the media’s relentless personal attacks on Governor Palin, characterizing her as the equivalent of the fourth century Roman political hero Cincinnatus without brains, further describing her as “…an odd combination of Chauncey Gardiner from “Being There” and Marge from “Fargo.” In Meacham’s elitist worldview, Governor Palin is mindless because she is a conservative woman.
What, you ask, warrants such viciousness from the normally mild-mannered Episcopalian editor of Newsweek? With a mocking tone, Meacham quotes an “unnamed McCain adviser”:
“Palin is on the ticket because she connects with everyday Americans.”
Meacham, it seems, is shocked to discover that Republican presidential candidate John McCain actually made a political decision when he tapped Palin to be his Veep, believing – rightly it turns out – that by choosing Palin the Republican base would be energized while capturing the imaginations of independent and undecided voters. It’s as if Meacham believes he has discovered the October surprise which will be the sinking of the McCain campaign: Politics influences McCain’s choice of VP!
While rightly surmising that the point he is making may be construed as elitist, Meacham digs his hole deeper by asking:
“Do we want leaders who are everyday folks, or do we want leaders who understand everyday folks?”
Just how far down his nose were his glasses when Meacham typed those words?
Is Mr. Meacham suggesting it is only elites like him – and Barack Obama and Joe Biden – who can truly connect with ordinary Americans? Is he further making the ridiculous claim that an ordinary American really has no idea what it is like to be an ordinary American? Is it Mr. Meacham’s view that only people with Ivy League credentials can truly understand the needs, longings and aspirations of ordinary Americans? Or is it rather Mr. Meacham’s view that ordinary Americans like you and me need extraordinary elitists like him to tell us what our needs, longings, and aspirations should be? Did Mr. Meacham actually assert that Governor Palin is mindless because she is a woman who connects with everyday Americans? Does Mr. Meacham believe that all everyday Americans – especially everyday American women – are mindless?
Mr. Meacham has done us all a favor. He has confirmed what we have widely suspected. The liberal elite problem with Palin as represented by Meacham isn’t that they believe Governor Palin unqualified to be vice-president. After all, people with elite levels of education can readily see that she has more executive experience than the ACORN affiliated community organizer who is at the top of the Democrat ticket for president.
The real problem elitists like Meacham have with Governor Palin is that she has achieved success as a female politician without sacrificing her morals at the altar of liberalism to gain the credentials required by the media elite.
Yes, Jon, Governor Palin connects with everyday Americans because she, like millions of ordinary American women, has managed to balance work and home without abandoning her husband for a lesbian lover. Governor Palin connects with everyday Americans who believe every life from the moment of conception is a valuable life, resisting the cultural pressure to exterminate the baby she is carrying in her womb because elites like you view children like Trig as a burden on society. Governor Palin connects with everyday Americans who haven’t lost one moments sleep mulling over which Supreme Court decisions they most disagree with. Governor Palin connects with everyday Americans because she buys diapers at Wal-Mart, which elites like you view as Saks for trailer trash. Governor Palin connects with everyday Americans because she hasn’t perfected the art of looking down her nose at us when she speaks, even though she looks great in those Kawasaki specs. Governor Palin connects with everyday Americans who rely on sources other than the New York Times, the Washington Post, CBS News, and Newsweek to keep them informed about the world. Governor Palin connects with every day Americans who opt for “Darn it all” and “You betcha” over “Merci bo cu.”
Meacham’s Palin problem is that she lacks the liberal credentials elitists require for those who aspire to high office. That’s good news for me and you. That makes Sarah one of us. Someone needs to shout it loud that Jon Meacham has exposed himself not only as an elitist, but a chauvinist as well.
Chris, how in the world does an undistinguished couple of years as a junior senator, where Obama accomplished nothing, make him more “qualified” than the governor of a state? Not only does Obama have a minimal record at best in elected office, he has demonstrated again and again that he chooses his friends and advisors from the fringe far left, people who have a worldview that is abhorrent to the average America. Little wonder that the media goes over Governor Palin with a fine toothed comb and at the same time refuses to examine, or permit examination of his background.
And seriously, he has written a book? That and being an editor of a law review makes him qualified to be President? I would argue he is hardly qualified to be a Senator, much less President of the United States. A law degree hardly makes you more qualified to be president than a journalism degree. He is a bright guy, but there are lots of bright people in the world, and his political views are far outside of the mainstream which his allies in the media have thoroughly covered up.
Also, regarding Baldwin, there is much there that I do not endorse, I realize that he is further to the right than McCain/Palin. I do think he stand for principle, but I don’t endorse all his platforms. I really with we had more than the two party system but at this point I can have any more of the last 8 years.
Paul, let me put it this way, while I am casting my vote for Baldwin(My vote for him is out of rebellion than qualification), I guess I get in the Dem v Rep argument and of the two, I would rather have Obama. Regarding GWB I said, supposedly, however even tho he went to Yale, it is quite clear he was not the shining star of his class, political allies and much help got him where he is, not his intellect.
Paul, you are right she broke no law. However as you know there is a difference between legally right and ethically right. Palin broke no law in the firing but she abused her power and the report is quite clear on that.
Obama has outspoken and outmanuevered John McCain in the last three debates. He may have a plan that Conservatives disagree with (and I think that’s just because Conservatives are convinced the Cold War is still on and Communism is still a threat) but he has proven that his plan is well thought-out and thorough.
He has spent two years in Senate, involved in the political process while Palin’s “outsider” status has really isolated and made her naive. Obama isn’t some ordinary schmo who came out of nowhere; he was the first black editor of Harvard Law–no small feat. He has proven he is a smart, informed lawyer, a smart politician and he’s also written a book that very thoroughly covers his beliefs in how America could function. I have no doubt that he’s prepared to be President while I worry about the very real possibility that McCain may not be healthy enough to make it through his first term, leaving us with a President whose previous experience before governing Alaska was as mayor of a small town and a television personality. I’m a journalist for a weekly paper and, believe me, a journalism degree does not qualify you to be president!
And I think even conservatives are running out of answers and turning desperate, which is why they are so quick to spend their time attacking Obama instead of telling us why McCain is a better candidate (their praise is for his Vice President, for crying out loug!) and making very low statements about it being a “sin” to vote for Obama, which is so offensive I have to wonder what Bible you’re reading.
Chris,
Shouldn’t the PRESIDENT be prepared to be PRESIDENT at a moment’s notice? What besides two years in the senate and a decade as a corrupt “community organizer” makes Obama prepared to be president as compared with Sarah Palin’s much more extensive executive experience?
BTW Jeff, Sarah Palin WAS vindicated by the so-called “Trooper-gate” investigation. Her political enemies wanted her charged with a crime and put in jail. The report found she broke no laws.
Jeff,
You have really drunk the Kool-Aid! Did you actually write, “We do not need ‘nprmal’ people running this country…I want someone who is elite”?? Do you realize how absolutely ridiculous you sound?
GWB is one of the Ivy League elite. If you really want a change from him, why wouldn’t you support Sarah Palin?
BTW, Chuck Baldwin is a graduate of a small midwestern fundamentalist Bible college. He’s not one of the elite!
We do not need “normal” people running this country, we supposedly had with the past 8 years. I want someone who is elite, I want someone who has worked hard in getting where they are, I want someone who can fend of the BS that will be coming their way everyday in the white house. Should Palin make it in that office and something happen to McCain I am afraid she does not have those credentials. She is a pawn to get the base excited about McCain being on the ticket. The root of the issue the Republican Party are not conservatives any longer, and they have to cowtow to a bloc of folks that most Americans cannot identify with. The worst part of the Palin pick is the fact that he reminds most Americans so much of W, in that she is unwilling to cooperate with investigations, she is accused in a bipartisan investigation that while she did nothing illegal she sis abuse her power. Then after the report came out she says she was vindicated. Very orwellian.
Chris,
The issue with Rice is that she is “for” killing babies. McCain really had a tough thing to deal with as W is so unpopular and he is so unpopular with the very folks that support the base. Very hard.
Sorry, but the VP has to be prepared to be President at a moment’s notice. While the President must be responsible for leading ordinary, average Americans, they also have to be responsible to lead the elites and meet with foreign dignitaries and heads of states, make the right calls on military strikes, balance a budget considerably higher than that of Wasilla and be prepared to deal with threats to the nation in a way that goes beyond peeking out the window to see if the Russians are flying around.
I think Palin is a likable person. I applaud her faith. But just because she has strong morals doesn’t mean she’s qualified to be President; I respect my pastor as a godly leader, but I wouldn’t vote for him as President just because I agree with his theology. Palin has referred only to talking points in her debates, her speeches have been nothing more than negative digs at the other side and I seriously have questions about whether, if she were eventually President, a female, outspoken Christian President would be taken seriously by the heads of terrorist regimes or Muslim nations. “You betcha” is not going to work with terrorists and she’s not going to solve the economic problems by winking at the camera. McCain would have been much better off and possibly be ahead in the polls if he would have picked Condoleezza Rice, who is more experienced and more respected by world leaders. . . but I’m still an Obama supporter.
The Conservative whining that voters may not support McCain because Palin is a woman is the same thing they criticize Liberals for doing when they whine that people may not vote for Obama because he’s black. No, if a woman was qualified and ready to hold the highest office, I would vote for her. Palin is not qualified and not ready. I mean, she believes dinosaurs roamed the Earth 4,000 years ago!!