The lights in Minneapolis turn on Governor Sarah Palin tonight, as she takes the podium at the sadly unspectacular GOP confab to accept the nomination as Vice President of the United States. Was it really only six days that ago that Barack Obama stood outdoors before a vast sea of screaming and united Democrats in Denver? Seems like at least month, a month at the public whipping post for the 44-year-old Alaskan. Expectations for her must-see-TV debut tonight occupy a point on the political compass exactly opposite those for Senator Obama's whammer at the home of the Denver Broncos. She's a damaged candidate, an unvetted choice, a sure sign of the kind of considered executive decision-making we might expect from John McCain as president.
That Palin passes for reformer in the Republican ranks is indicative of just how ingrained the prerequisites of endless power have become for Teddy Roosevelt's party under George Bush. That her social beliefs are considered mainstream in the GOP ranks - indeed, have united the social issues base in glee - shows where the party's beating heart lies.
I find Sarah Palin's policy stances execrable, but I still think she's a compelling figure. Sure, she's a right-wing politician with a disastrous view of America and the hint of power abuse that affects so many of her colleagues. But even the ordinary level of her corruption - and I speak of the petty corruption of most local offices, not any formal charge - is, well, ordinary. Palin is not a huge talent with a fascinating background. As Lance Mannion wrote in a post cleverly disguised as a missive on mini-golf, Palin is simply an achiever:
Her resume may not measure up to George Bush's, but her biography outclasses his in every way. She is an accomplished person, and I mean that in two senses compared to Bush: she has done things and done them well and she has managed to complete the process of becoming a full-fledged, independent adult.
She is accomplished, but her accomplishments are so...average...they're easy to mistake for ordinary. She graduated from college, but not an Ivy League college or even one of the top state universities in the country. She was a basketball star but at a small school who'd never have had a chance at the pros even if the WNBA had existed back then. She was a beauty queen, but a local beauty queen, and by the way, being a beauty queen is nothing to sneeze at in a lot of towns and small cities across the country. During the four years I taught college in Indiana, I had at least one local beauty queen in every class. I'm not kidding. And the only things most of them had in common were that they were pretty, on the tall side, could carry a tune, and had a B+ or an A average. Above a certain level, and that level is pretty low, beauty contests are things lots of smart and ambitious girls enter to win scholarship money, and that's what Palin did. Sarah Palin is smart, but not "brainy." She's proven her intelligence in the most practical and mundane ways. There's a lot more to being governor--and even mayor of Wasilla---then being able to balance a checkbook and give a good scolding, but that's what the job looks like to most people, and that's what they see Palin as having done. She accounted for all the money and she told off the likes of Ted Stevens.
I'm sure Sarah Palin had some idea of what was headed her way when she accepted what seems like an almost-spontaneous invitation from soul mate McCain, but she may have underestimated the reaction to her looks, her gender, her reproductive organs, and her family - perhaps foolishly so. I'm not sure what she expected in our super-charged political arena with a new baby and pregnant daughter, but I wonder if she doesn't realize it was a mistake to say yes.
As Al Giordano preaches in an eloquent post today, it's also a mistake for wired voices on the left to blast away at the personal with little regard for fact - and damage Democratic hopes in the process:
The logic in too much of the blogosphere - left, right, and other - is that if a claim is potentially damaging to the enemy, it gets shouted as "fact" far and wide, even before the claim is investigated and vetted. Beyond the already double-edged sword of preggers-gate, this occurred in recent days with blogger claims that Governor Palin was a "member" of the Alaska Independent Party (now swatted down with documents; she's always been a registered Republican) and that she "supported" Pat Buchanan for president in 2000 (she supported Steve Forbes).
Those misstatements were based on kernels of truth that the bloggers and commenters quickly exaggerated and distorted in ways that hurt the argument. Once you've overstated a case, you can't then walk it back and say, "well, okay, she's not a member but she attended a convention," or, "well, okay, she didn't endorse Buchanan but she once wore a his button." You've already poisoned the waters for the real facts to do harm, because you've given the target your errors off which to pivot.
Fellow and sister bloggers: We, of all people, should know better. Had AP or the New York Times or Fox News overshot on a claim about one of your own, you would be ramming it down their throats. Now the tables are turned and too many of you have opened yourselves - and all of us as a group - up to that counter response.
And, excuse me, but the justifications I've been hearing - "too bad about that kid, but we have to jump on the child pregnancy as a teaching tool for sex education," or, "the Alaska Independence Party will be seen as a terrorist organization to which Palin belongs" or "but if Obama's kid, or Chelsea Clinton, was pregnant the racists would do the same" - are as lame as lame can be. They are devoid of the most important context of all: does repeating such claims help win an election? Or does it weaken and distract in ways that invite defeat?
Sarah Palin has taken over this election in the past five days, overshadowing a hurricane and two whole political parties. Tonight she takes the stage in her own voice, and we'll be there. Live-blogging - Jason Chervokas joins again as co-host - commences around 10 pm EDT, or earlier any of the other speeches in the half-empty hall inspire.
