I’ve been lax on keeping up with politics around here in part because I’m pretty worn out on the topic since the elections. The few things that have gotten my dander up would’ve resulted in less than coherent posts on my part anyway.
Still, the book tour that Sarah Palin is on right now has caught my attention because wherever she goes there’s often a big turnout of fans hoping to get an autograph. These fans sincerely believe Palin is the best thing to come along in Conservative politics in years and a majority of them would love to see her become the first female President. If you were to just look at these people you’d think they were pretty normal, but if you actually talk to them, as the folks from New Left Media did in Columbus Ohio on November 20th, you find that they’re less than deep thinkers:
On November 20, 2009, Sarah Palin visited Columbus, OH as part of her book signing tour for “Going Rogue.” When her supporters were asked broad questions about why they why they thought she should be president, the responses were vague: She’s “real.” She’ll “stick up for America.”
It has been said comments that you would find similarly talking point-driven, substance-less supporters at an Obama rally, and we agree. But no politician has emerged on the national stage as undefined and unqualified as Sarah Palin, and her public persona–which is anti-intellectual by definition–discourages substance. Instead, we get winking. One could hardly imagine her giving a complex speech about race in America, or speaking eloquently about our country’s relations with Islam. Not just because she couldn’t write such a speech (Obama has speech-writers, of course) but because she wouldn’t–such necessarily academic discussion is antithetical to the persona she’s created for herself and that her supporters have come to love.
It really is scary to think that these people are allowed to vote. Granted, I probably couldn’t have listed off every single policy issue that Obama had campaigned on when he was running for office, but there were several that I agreed with such as his current attempt to reform health care, closing down Guantanamo, and ending the war in Iraq. I can manage to list off several policy issues and not just spout cliched platitudes to explain my reasons for voting for Obama. It’s questionable whether or not you can find anyone in the Sarah Palin camp who could do the same.
I suppose you could argue this is somewhat unfair when you consider that even when she was VP she never had anything other than very broad ideas such as “smaller government” for policies, but that makes the enthusiasm of her fans that much more frightening. They’ve bought into her without really even knowing what her policies would be. Several, as you can see in this video, even admit right up front that they are clueless as to what her policies would be and it doesn’t matter to them one iota. For them it’s not about policies, it’s about getting someone into the White House that they feel will makes things better simply by being there. Whatever she decides to do will be A-OK with these people because she can do no wrong.
She was almost a heartbeat away from the Presidency thanks to a political stunt by John McCain. Part of me would like to believe she has a snowball’s chance in Hell of ever winning the Presidency on her own, but then I think of the fact that George W. Bush managed to pull it off and I get a little nervous.
Found over at TBogg.