I think this hits it pretty well. We’re seeing the vague concept of celebrity finally drift from pop culture into politics. Now that I think about it, I’m surprised it’s taken someone so long to do it.
Her appeal is simple. Sarah Palin is Everywoman, Cinderella, and The Underdog. Put it together, and you have a whole storybook that the media would love to read you to sleep with.
If she can become the President of the United States, the so could you, and there is hope.
Because, let´s face it, you´re in all likelihood a lot more qualified to lead than she is.
In a weird coincidence, I read this morning that the Palins have purchased a 4,000 sf house in Arizona in Bristol’s name. Tax shelter anybody? The coincidence part: it’s in the same area as Dan Quayle’s home. The average IQ in the neighborhood just went down another quantum leap. Perhaps they can get together and not talk sense.
So long?
T. Roosevelt
Ronald Reagan
Arnold Schwarzenegger
various sons of famous pols who were recruited by the party for their names
various “war heroes” who were moved into the White House
Celebrity pols aren’t new, & moving from politics to vague celebrity makes sense for someone who feels safer as a vague celeb, like JFK Jr., or whose talents are more suited to [del]Snooki-dom[/del] reality tv personality-hood, like Palin.
The pilot for the TV series didn’t go well.
Too soon?
Few people except hardcore partisans think of Biden as an idiot. He is gaffe-prone but he is also knowlegdeable about a lot of issues especially foreign policy on which he can speak intelligently and at length. The problem with Palin isn't that she makes gaffes but she almost never says anything intelligent. Pretty much all her utterances can be divided into boilerplate, teenage-level snark or gaffes.
And while I don’t think Palin is particularly stupid by the standards of the general population she is definitely well below the level of high-level US politicians who are generally much better educated and more intelligent than she is. This makes her sound even more stupid by comparison.
John Kerry is second rate. Palin is fifth rate, on a good day.
My take is that she really is exactly what she presents herself as. A common man sort of person. And the common man is an uneducated buffoon about politics. Although, the common man seems to do a good job of grabbing money wherever they can and with no morals at all about it.
Do you realize it’s far more likely that someone who follows Palin would think jackass, tom green, south park, etc are immoral, destroying society, and should be forced off the air?
No, no, no! Force them all on to public television, and then force that off the air!
Yes, as soon as I wrote that, I thought about changing it to at least 3rd rate. Second rate is certainly an overstatement, at least on the national level.
I agree. I grew around people like this. If on a perfectly clear day Rush Limbaugh said the sky was plaid and Obama said it blue, they would believe Rush unconditionally.
I can definitely understand her appeal among a certain subset of plain spoken, rural and/or working class folk who shun intellectual pretensions. Simply put, they see her as one of them.
It’s the same reason poor, urban minorities keep voting for people like Marion Barry and Kwame Kilpatrick. It doesn’t matter that they’re morally bankrupt or have no significant accomplishments under their belts other than enriching themselves or talk only in platitudes with no workable plans of fixing the problems plaguing their constituencies. So long as they can successfully cast themselves as one of the little people, they won’t loose an ounce of support.
And when the TPTB go after these politicians, that only strengthens the resolve of their constituents who see such takedown efforts as “The Man” keeping them down (in Palin’s case “The Man” being the political establishment and the “lamestream” media).
As for how smart she is, I agree with what others have written. She’s smart enough to know she can be far more successful (and become far richer) as a pundit than as a workaday politician. And she has proven quite adept at mobilizing her base and keeping her name in the news, which in her line of work are the types of smarts that matter most.
When it comes to thinking critically about issues of substance and offering up workable solutions, however…well let’s put it this way. You typical freshman political science major could easily give her a run for her money.
Some people insist on correct answers even if they’re complicated. Some people insist on simple answers even if they’re wrong.
Life can be very good for you if you are attractive and fiercely support the general consensus.
There was quite a lot of that sort of talk from Republicans (and Democrats) when I was young, but I can’t recall hearing any of it lately. The last politician to try promoting a bill to drastically increase the FCC’s control over television was Senator Ted Stevens, who was making a cynical move after Janet Jackson’s Boobgate in '04. He’s now defeated, convicted, and dead, and so is the movement for censorship of TV as far as I can tell. There may be a few people out there still demanding it, but nothing like there was a generation ago.
So she’s basically George Bush with tits?
Isn’t “high Emotional Intelligence” just a polite way of saying someone is an idiot?
I don’t follow Sarah Palin very closely, but what has she done that could be considered “shrewd” by any measurement of intelligence?
It’s sort of like when people say someone has “good social skills” (especially WRT things like jobs, fraternities and social groups). Usually what that really means is “I like this person’s superficial mannerism”. IOW, they just “look” and “act” the way that group wants or expects them to act. I do not consider that “intelligent” unless they are consciously altering their appearance or mannarism in order to fit in. It is not “emotionally intelligent” to have a pretty smile.
I don’t not belive Palin is doing that. I believe she acts exactly the way she is. It is not “emotional intelligence” to passionately preach to your choir in the pandering, jingoistic half-wit manner of a beauty pageant.
It is perhaps why people of limited intellect make good politicians and salespeople. It’s very easy to tell people what they want they want to hear when you aren’t burdened by reason or critical thinking.
No. I’ve met some very charismatic people that are sharp as a tack. We currently have one in the oval office.
But charisma is not related to being smart. For an extreme example look to people with Williams (or is it William’s or Williams’ ?) syndrome. Many are remarkably charismatic. Few can balance a check book.
If Palin were Irish, it would just be simple Blarney.
I rise to harumph, sir!
Harumph!
Nothing “simple” about blarney, it isuggests the Irish gift for speech. improvisational singing to no defined melody. “Refudiate” isn’t blarney, “refudiate” is d’oh.