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Monday, March 29, 2010
Politics Sarah Palin and the Power of Myth
Posted by Jim Nintzel on Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 8:22 PM
In the wake of the passage of federal health-care reform, Arizona Sen. John McCain started off last week with a promise to stop working with Democrats for the rest of the year, even if he thought the legislation was the right thing to do.
Way to put country first, John.
He ended the week by reuniting with former running mate Sarah Palin, the gal he plucked from the obscurity of Alaska and transformed into a GOP superstar. It was the first time they’d hung out since McCain’s staff told her she couldn’t do her own concession speech on Election Day 2008.
Dressed in a sassy leather motorcycle jacket, Palin attracted thousands of Republicans to the Pima County Fairgrounds.
McCain got to bask in her glow, but the coverage underscored by our senior senator’s central problem as he campaigns against former congressman and radio talk-show host J.D. Hayworth in the August GOP primary. The New York Times noted that five out of six attendees interviewed at the fairgrounds loved Sarah—but they weren’t so sure about McCain.
If facts mattered, McCain’s history would make him the kind of Republican that Palin would normally campaign against—and in order to build him up, she had to present an image of him that was in stark opposition to reality. (But then again, Palin’s a specialist at that sort of thing.)
Myth One: Palin told the crowd they needed to “send the maverick back to the United States Senate.” But the maverick John McCain—the guy who used to support cap-and-trade policies to fight global warming and opposed the Bush administration’s tax cuts on the basis that they would bust the budget—has given way to an ill-tempered old-timer who just wants to find a comfy stall inside today’s GOP stable.
Myth Two: Palin joked that McCain’s maverick ways “haven’t always won him friends in the Washington, D.C., elite machine.” But if anyone was friendly with the media elite and Democrats in Washington, it was McCain, who used to refer to the press as “my base.” How many
Sundays go by when he’s not making the rounds on the talk shows?
McCain has mostly been lacking friends among the hard-right Republicans he’s now trying to win over, not among fantastical “elites.”
Myth Three: Palin credited McCain with putting Republican Scott Brown over the top in the Massachusetts Senate race, saying the pickup-driving pin-up was “a critical vote against big government.” But the pro-choice Brown was one of only four Senate Republicans to vote for a big-spending Democratic jobs bill last month and, as a state senator, supported a health-care reform bill that’s remarkable similar to the national one just passed by Democrats. That sounds like a RINO to us!
Myth Four: Palin said that McCain has “spent his entire career fighting for common-sense, conservative solutions that Arizona needs.” But that spin will come as a surprise to Arizona conservatives who have watched McCain work with libs to oppose drilling in ANWR, push for campaign-finance reform that recently got tossed by the courts and support an immigration-reform proposal that provided a path to citizenship for people who have entered the country illegally.
Politics is certainly about building myths. But shouldn't the rhetoric have some relationship with reality?
Comments (10)
Showing 1-10 of 10
Jim,
It has been quite a while since the rhetoric has had even a strained relationship with reality.
If J.D. Hayworth wins this GOP primary and we fail to capture this Senate seat, it will be a sad, sad day. And truth to tell, I don't see a Democratic candidate stepping up. I don't know alot about Rodney, but when I listen to him speak he sounds to me like Mr. Rogers on crack.
Robert Alexander Dumas
like
dislike
Perhaps the writer should analize Obama's word the same way and he would see a mountain of myth's. Liberals use the bathroom too close to the house.
Checktothepower
Indeed, this is politics. If it weren't for McCain we wouldn't have Sarah. But thanks to McCain and his views, Sarah is more popular than he is. I guess she has to stump for him, but she must be cringing when she does. There are far better R candidates in AZ that she would be more in tune with ideologically. Its a sad waste of political energy supporting him.
McCain's promise to stop working with Dems is a moot point, since Dems quit working with ANYONE else since they seized power. I might just vote for McCain on that promise alone!
Anyone that can dispel the "myth" of Barack Obama and the most ethical Congress EVER, gets my vote!
McCain is the third most fiscally conservative member in Senate, just received an award for being so...which is enough reason for a re-election victory. This administration needs as many fiscally responsible members as possible. McCain has always voted in best interest of this entire Nation and that is respectable!
@Rick554: The democrats didn't seize power. They were elected. And no, they didn't stop working with anyone. If anything, Obama's guilty of going waaaaaay too far overboard in trying to reach across the aisle to people who never extended a single hand across it during 8 years of the Bush administration. Obama was elected to govern his way and to set in motion certain changes in government. His falling over himself to be inclusive has merely stalled what he was elected to do.
Not JD, but John McCain should keep this Senate seat. JD cannot offer any hard core ideas, any plans, anything. Let's take what we have and tweak it.
McCain will win this election. JD has such issues still looming over his head from the Abramoff scandal. He is too corrupt for Washington. We need to keep McCain there fighting for our FREEDOM and against this massive government takeover. This extreme left administration needs the likes of McCain calling their bluff whenever he needs to. We know McCain not only has the integrity and intelligence but he also has the courage to stand up for what this Nation deserves!
Just seeing the adamant statements of emotion and continuing dissent between the republicans here will make for an interesting election process. press - have your microphones ready!
As for Palin, I don't see a consistent ideology when it comes to fiscal conservatism, earmarks, health care or anything else so why would that factor into her decisions on who to promote.
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