Palin: North by Northwest
I spent last Friday night in my local park watching an outdoor showing of the Hitchcock classic "North by Northwest," in which advertising man Cary Grant is mistaken for a CIA agent by the name of George Kaplan. It ends up that Kaplan is not a real person at all but an illusory character created by the Agency to entrap a ring of foreign spies led by the coolly evil James Mason. But once Grant has been mistaken for Kaplan, CIA bigwig Leo G. Carroll decides that he makes a better decoy than the faux character they have created, so they use him to reel in their prey.
Granted, I've been a bit disturbed of late -- not least of all by the Republican convention -- but I got to thinking after the film of the parallels between the Cary Grant character and America's star of the moment -- Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Just as the CIA sought to conjure up the perfect agent to lure the spy ring to its own destruction in the Hitchcock film, so the GOP wanted to create the perfect right-wing populist to lure swing voters into supporting John McCain in their twisted version of reality. Palin fits the part perfectly -- in fact too perfectly.
Palin is a gun-toting former beauty queen who has stood up to powerful, corrupt men while touting "small town values" and raising a family; a woman who can blithely lie about both her own record and that of Barack Obama in the same sentence; a former political nobody who is being touted on the right as the second coming of Margaret Thatcher; and a woman who shortly after the Republican convention clocked higher approval ratings than either John McCain or Barack Obama (granted, many folks are probably sick of them just because of the length of the campaign).
Any number of analysts have already pointed out that what is being sold here is Palin's biography -- or at least a Photoshopped, "movie of the week" version of same. So, the only interesting question is how many voters will fall for it, and how many of those will vote for McCain simply because they have fallen for it.
The good news is that VP candidates rarely swing elections. The bad news is that this particular election is going to be way closer than it should be, and the Palin phenomenon only has to last six to eight weeks to have an impact.
A subsidiary question is whether facts matter at this stage of the race. Is the real Sarah Palin -- the one who wants to interfere in your family by saying that your daughter should have no option for an abortion even if her pregnancy is a result of rape or incest; the who thinks it's fine for the government to censor the books available to your child at your local library; the one who opposed designating polar bears and beluga whales as endangered species because it might interfere with offshore drilling; the one who wants our schools to teach the junk science of "intelligent design" alongside the actual science of evolution; and the one who doubts that global warming is driven by human activity -- relevant to the voters' choice in November? Or, as with Ronald Reagan, is the cover story just too appealing to some folks to be sullied by the truth?
In my humble opinion, we need to hammer away with the key facts about Palin in order to break down the Republicans' mythical narrative; and we need strong surrogates to slap her down every time she makes a false or misleading statement about Obama's record. Take, for example, her assertion that Barack Obama has never "authored" a piece of legislation. Senators rarely write their own bills -- they craft them in conjunction with the experts on their staff. Obama has done the far more important work of serving as lead co-sponsor on important bipartisan bills on ethics reform and stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and small arms that have actually made it into law, even in this bitterly divided Congress. Those are real accomplishments, which stand in refreshing contrast to the vicious, empty rhetoric being lobbed Obama's way by Palin and the Republican attack machine. A lie told with a smile is still a lie, and Palin's and McCain's lies about Obama -- and about the nature of the world we live in -- should not be allowed to stand.
One of the best places to get an ongoing reality check on the Palin phenomenon is Derek Thompson's new feature on Slate, "The Sarah Palin FAQ," which will be regularly updated. As for defending Obama's record -- which includes his ability to make sound judgments (as on Iraq) and inspire people to action (as he has done as a professor, a community organizer, a State Senator, a United States Senator, and a presidential contender) -- that's up to all of us, in every forum available.
I like your take much better than Wolfson's. There's a misleading statement making the rounds that Palin is aimed at young white anti-intellectual males. Maybe primarily, but there are also young white anti-intellectual women who are breaking under the strains of poverty and motherhood -- did you see that cute baby -- and don't like uppity over-educated blacks. HRC needs to make clear that Palin/McCain is the problem and that Obama cares and is maybe the solution, but that he is definitely the one she can work with to make life better for all Americans.
September 8, 2008 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Before Republican convention: Obama 50 McCain 42
After Republican convention: Palin 51 Obama 40
This is among WHITE WOMEN VOTERS.
My figures may be off a point or two, I'm typing while NBC does the news.
So if anybody dismisses Palin as just male redneck bait, get real.
September 8, 2008 8:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
zeno,
those polls could be 100% accurate, but I have a lot of trouble accepting that large a swing, especially in so short a time period.
September 9, 2008 10:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary doesn't "need" to do anything. She certainly doesn't have to jump into the muck with a nobody like Palin. Hillary is so far above Palin that it's unseemly to even suggest that she has to jump in to attack her.
But if she does it because wants to, I won't complain!
September 8, 2008 9:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is why I keep saying when the Obama camp and the rest of the Democrats need to mention McCain or Palin by name they should put the word "Republican" in front of the name.
Obama: "John McCain says he's for change......"
Obama "Republican John McCain says he's for change.."
Which hits harder?
The word "Republican" has become a negative, use it on...
Republican Sara Palin.
September 8, 2008 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's still too early to gauge the effect of Sarah Palin but if she handles herself well in the debates you should be afraid. Very, very afraid.
September 8, 2008 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think I'll bother being afraid. Palin's a Tijuana Donkey show already in process of imploding. She's got a lot of enemies in Alaska that are already coming out of the woodwork, her background is as thin as one of offensivetoyou's recycled condoms, she's on the run from the press already, hiding away from interviews, and the more she talks the wackier and out of touch, the bigger hypocrite she'll seem.
She's a circus freak, among circus freaks. She's been catapulted to the foreground because of her life chicking eaty bona fides with the extremo religious/militia geek types.
Granted, she's good at spewing up hatred. But then, you look at her kind... that's all they do, they all practically got PhD's in it. Mind you, I did get a laugh out of the Alaska Secessionist she's connected to who described federal troops in Alaska as an 'Army of Occupation.'
But hatred only goes so far. At some point, you gotta act like a human being, and you have to address the questions being asked of you. And Sarah's not up to the job.
Mind you, this doesn't mean that the Obama/Lieberden ticket isn't doomed. They're too busy chopping holes in their campaign ship and selling out their constituents to really in.
But it ain't going to be Sarah Palin who does them in.
September 8, 2008 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
and the more she talks the wackier and out of touch, the bigger hypocrite she'll seem.
Don't be too sure about that...
Palin on C-Span
September 8, 2008 9:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Emma,
I watched that clip, it was a PR appearance, no tough questions to parry. She speaks good, but it was all PR.
She did make one mistake, concerning the Exxon Valdez spill, she put it at 11,000 barrels instead of 11 million.
She also replied to a caller from Alaska, agreeing with him that their state should get royalties for offshore drilling that they aren't entitled to. Maybe she can put that money,
($300 million?) she got for The Bridge To Nowhere and use that?
September 9, 2008 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
... so the GOP wanted to create the perfect right-wing populist to lure swing voters into supporting John McCain in their twisted version of reality. Palin fits the part perfectly -- in fact too perfectly.
Palin is not being sold to the general public as a right-wing populist. She is being sold to the right as a right-wing populist, which she is. But she is being sold to the public at large as a centrist reformer, a common-sense hockey mom and all-American everywoman.
So before people start falling into panic about the imagined vast power of the cultural right, and the imperturbable stupidity of the American electorate, let's remember that many, many Americans, who have just met Palin and don't read blogs, don't yet know that Palin is a hard core right-winger. A substantial portion of her support, which isn't great to begin with, is from people who don't yet know who she is, and who won't like her so much when they do find out who she is. Palin represents that minority of far right Americans who lost the Terry Schiavo debate, and lost it handily. Let's stop being afraid of those folks and just continue our efforts to educate people.
Palin also beings exactly zero to the table when it comes to the level of foreign policy competence that is required in a person of presidential timber.
So there are two compatible lines of attack against Palin that should be pursued again and again and again:
1. Palin is a right wing extremist, well out of the mainstream, with with dangerously radical views on how we should educate our children and live our lives, and who would work to establish government control over aspects of our lives that a majority of Americans have already told the government to stay out of.
2. Palin is unsuited by education, temperament, interests or experience to steer the ship of state, and thus only a madman would dream of putting her withing a heartbeat of the presidency.
As a side benefit, by bringing down Palin in this way, we also bring down McCain, since the fact that he would choose such a person shows that he is no bi-partisan "maverick" or "agent of change", but is a captive of the radical right, and a deeply irresponsible person.
September 8, 2008 6:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Without offering anything like food to a bridge-dwelling creature,
It can safely be predicted right now that the mainstream media will indeed SAY that Palin performed well in the debate, and as they do, bloviate endlessly on one or two things she supposedly did right (or Biden supposedly did wrong) while ignoring 99% of the rest of the debate and 99% of the actual policy issues brought up by the debate, almost always focusing on matters of image, style and perception.
That's what they always do. That's why those of us who actually have interesting lives ignore them, except that every four years we have to take account of the fact that the Presidential race is greatly hampered from being an actual public process because some large percentage of the public gets their information from these poisonous clowns of the corporate/mass media.
The one and only thing that will really change things is for the millions of us who understand that the mass media are sold-out clowns who endanger our children's freedom and prosperity is to really join together, ideally beind the organization that already exists and is doing the best darn job they can to lead the challenge, Media Matters for America, and FIERCELY OPPOSE these so-called "media" in both business and politics.
If we really had 10 million people who were basically following the same leadership to really go after the advertisers that support this media, and make life so uncomfortable to those advertisers with rumor campaigns and boycotts and grass-roots phone-the-company-HQ campaigns, to the point that the mass media ad revenues declined by 15%, THESE CORPORATIONS WOULD CHANGE.
We also need to have our ten million voices doing the longer term work of getting Democratic officeholders who will not look to the media from fear or for favors, and who will be able to say, 'our present media are of negative value to our children's freedom and prosperity and it needs to change.' This will further accelerate the needed change among the poisonous clowns we know as "the traditional/corporate/mass media," that group that is currently our major obstacle to electing better candidates in America.
Please re-post this widely, maybe we can begin to make a difference now when we need to.
September 8, 2008 6:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
@ featherfamily
If the media performs as you predict, you're done.
Palin is the absolute darling of the far right; authentically one of them and witty, young, beautiful, bright. They don't deserve such a gift. They know it. It's a miracle. Suddenly, with her appearance, they've gone from sure losers - and they deserved to lose for betraying their own principles - to contenders (This is just a paraphase of an article by Bill Whittle).
The question is how far into the electorate her charm extends. If she can hold her own against Biden, you lose.
September 8, 2008 6:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
feather,
there's no doubt the media will see her as the underdog and feel the need to shower her with
effusive compliments on how well she handled herself against the bad ol attack dog Biden.
They were almost orgasmic over her speech at the Convention.
Watch David Gregory, I predict he'll love her performance. Brokaw might outperform Gregory.
September 8, 2008 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
featherfamily.
JohnW, o2u, and z2v agree. Hell opens ice hockey rink. Palin has caused a 15-20 point swing among white women voters.
September 8, 2008 9:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Probably the most disturbing thing about Palin was part of a clip of her at her church in Alaska saying that the (paraphrasing) 'Iraq War was the US doing God's will'. She is a cultural warrior and a religious extremist and there is no reason that what she has said and done in Alaska shouldn't be fair game. In fact she is so unprepared for the office the R's are keeping her hidden away from the media and trying to get her up to speed on issues she has no idea about...all the while the GOP whines that the media has 'dissed her' by not treating her with the respect she deserves. The gall of the media to ask her tough questions about who she is...every one should know she is 'Super Mom'!!! I found it humorous that they forgot to explain to her what Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are about...but I found it even more disturbing that they needed to, she had no idea. And she is supposed to be someone qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?
September 8, 2008 7:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Libertine says;
God's will? Then how come we haven't won yet?
That's some underperformimg God she has there.
September 8, 2008 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am betting her blood lustful God will want us to double down and kill more people on his behalf John...probably Iranians next and by using nukes. And her God's will be served if she is given a chance.
September 8, 2008 7:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have gone duck hunting in my younger years with my Dad. He told me the trick to duck hunting is using decoys. You set them out, go to a hidden spot and wait. Eventually, real ducks will see the decoys and think its safe area to land.
Palin is nothing more than a decoy to distract everyone. The distraction will allow McCain to skate freely to the finish line without ever having to say what he stands for.
There is a lesson to be learned here. Department stores have these figurines dressed up with the latest women's clothing fashions. I was always told the figurines were called mannequins. But now I know better. They're really moose decoys.
September 8, 2008 7:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can see it now;
The Biden/Palin debate and Palin suddenly starts speaking in tongues. The fundies will be rolling around the floor screaming Praise Jesus! Praise Jesus!
September 8, 2008 7:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why did it shrink from a debate "about" the candidates into this drivel that does nothing but say mean things about people that re willing to try and make America a better place? I honestly thought that this site might provide some insight into the progressive value system. This is why America is turning against you. This is why you guys are even disliked in your own communities. You have nothing kind or positive to say about anyone or anything. Sometime you should read your postings aloud to your children and see what they feel about your sniping.
September 8, 2008 8:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
September 8, 2008 9:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
OldSarg,
please comment on Palin's lie, now also being pushed by McCain, regarding the Bridge to Nowhere and her deviousness regarding the Plane on eBay, insinuating she sold it there. And address McCain's lie when he said she sold it oneBay for a profit.
Please address the above without mention of Obama or Bill Clinton or any other diversion.
September 9, 2008 11:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why did it shrink from a debate "about" the candidates into this drivel that does nothing but say mean things about people that are willing to try and make America a better place? I honestly thought that this site might provide some insight into the progressive value system.
This is why America is turning against you. This is why you guys are even disliked in your own communities. You have nothing kind or positive to say about anyone or anything. Sometime you should read your postings aloud to your children and see what they feel about your sniping.
September 8, 2008 8:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
old fake E-6,
If you're offended, you could go away
cheers,
z2v
September 8, 2008 9:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
They hate themselves and don't much care for the country either.
When they discount this woman (e.g. Palin is trailer trash) they define themselves as "elite" and the enemy of the vast majority of voters.
But I agree, Sarg, why all the hatred? As I said, it may be born of self-hate
September 8, 2008 11:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you want to see hatred, go to YOUTUBE and look at the republican convention. Or watch Palen's speeches. Or listen (if you can stand it) to John McSame.
September 9, 2008 10:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Vintage,
its a neat political tactic of the right to describe any criticism of the right's candidate as "hate."
TPM "Sara Palin needs eyeglasses"
Wingnut: "Why do you hate her so?"
Go sell those papers over in FreeRepublic.com
September 9, 2008 11:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
So I hope that by the miracle of getting JohnW, o2u and z2v to agree,
you will all be making out large checks to Media Matters for America, encouraging all your friends -- well in the cases of JohnW and z2v and other kind readers anyway, we know 02u wouldn't go into any of that "friendship" nonsense -- to do the same, and doing all you can do to increase the social networking of the corporate media rejection network to ultimately bring these poisonous clowns of the corporate media down.
September 8, 2008 10:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll make a small contribution. I give more to the DNC and more yet to MoveOn. However I'm retired, live on investments, the market has been bushwhacked, and I learned 2 or 3 expensive lessons in investing, so "more yet" isn't large.
Jamison Foser is awesome.
September 8, 2008 11:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
feather,
we're retired but we donate twice a year to the following;
Sierra Club, Public Citizen, Greenpeace, Common Cause, Consumer's Union.
At least once a year;
MoveOn, Media Matters, TPM, VoteVets.org, ACLU
Political contributions; when warranted.
September 9, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
This might be why men don't undestand women.
The platforms of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were a nanometre or so apart. McCain's a mile away. Sarah Palin even further to the other side.
So when women desert Clinton to flee to Palin, is it sexism or racism? Or just plain female bitterness? It sure ain't the issues. Women who supported Clinton and now want to vote for McCain-Palin really need to consider if they are qualified to vote.
I would add that there was just as much racism flowing through media and the blogospheres as there was anything that was anti-women.
It's a great shame that Hillary and Barack had to run for the same ticket. It was excxiting that the Democratic party had both the first woman candidate and first Black-American candidate for the presidency. I guess there could be no winner from that. But Hillary showed herself to be over-coached and changed her presentation with every change of the wind while Obama presented a consistent message. Seeming genuineness won; an unconvincing definition between politicians.
Palin is a pale usurper of women's attempt at the presidency, and a poor representation of the best of US women.
September 8, 2008 11:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
@ notthere
I've said, several times, that I prefer Obama's economics and think I can live with his foreign policy.
But with attitudes like yours he doesn't have a chance.
September 8, 2008 11:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
o2u,
I'm not following. I don't think notthere is any more typical than you or I, so it seems like magical thinking to believe notthere's views can doom the country. And if those views are shared by 25+ % then I don't see the problem. (And I can argue about the .000001-25 % range, too, if pushed.)
September 9, 2008 1:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
October surprise? Biden is dumped and Hillary accepts as VP?
September 8, 2008 11:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Remember, if they are caught by sunlight, they turn to stone.
September 9, 2008 12:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Come on America, I know you are smarter than this, Please don't fall for the loud mouth, say nothing Palin.
We do not need a gun totem, salmon fishing,unwed grandmother in our precious white house,Can you imagine people in the white house with link cards[food stamps],her daughter is 17 and the boyfriend is 18,neither has jobs so the taxpayers will have to support them. her 18 year old son enlisted in the armed forces, do this woman[Sarah]believe in education? these are 3 people lives she has messed up,her son could have attended college and got an degree and enlisted as an officer. another question I would like answer is why Bristol missed 11 months of school with Mono? Do anyone have the answer?
Just because she can out talk everyone does not give her a pass to our white house,that's right our white house and we should do everything within our power to keep the beverly hillbillies out.
I am praying some producer approaches her with a sitcom contract,which will be more fitting for her, The beverly hillbillies return, Sarah you can talk all you want then, we will watch because your story is a comedy and then you won't have to worry about all your lies surfacing.
PLEASE AMERICA WAKE UP
September 9, 2008 5:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think Track didn't have much of a choice. Of course, when he gets into a shooting war he may wish he had just gone to jail.
http://www.whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/2008/09/unraveling.html
September 9, 2008 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
On a lighter note, what a performance Eva Marie Saint gives in that movie. Wow!
September 9, 2008 8:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
There is a French movie, The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe, that is hilarious. Symphony musician comes off airplane fitting description of imaginary spy invented to flush out bad guys.
It was remade by Hollywood, but while probably still funny, I doubt the remake is a French sex farce.
September 9, 2008 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
@ z2v
If I were a woman I would find notthere's way of stating his position to be extremely demeaning. He could have said something like "Palin is certainly a powerful and compelling woman but her party stands for so many things that Hillary opposes. Does it really make sense to prefer her to Obama simply because you feel that Obama's camp, in the heat of the campaign, treated her badly."
September 9, 2008 9:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
o2u,
I don't know what women would think about notthere's comment, but it doesn't seem unfair. For a woman to vote for a woman because of her sex is feminism. For a woman to vote for a woman who has so many positions that the great majority of women oppose just because of her sex is womanism. IMHO.
September 9, 2008 10:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
The key problem is communicating to the undecided voters. I'm in a swing state, and I have to say that the "original maverick" commercials are much more compelling than Obama's "more of the same". Now, we know that the McCain campaign is stretching the truth, but they are doing a great job at branding their ticket. Not sure what's best, but probably a one-two punch of attacking the reformer/maverick image directly, plus a better job of having Obama-Biden speak directly to us with good, pithy statements of what they plan to do... maybe we'll get it out in the debates...
btw, I forecast that Palin will kick Biden's butt in VP debate 1, mostly because she'll be underestimated, but he'll take her to the cleaners in #2 ...
September 9, 2008 10:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
@ davydd
If Biden's underestimating her now he's really stupid...and stupid people never recover.
September 9, 2008 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
She'll only kick Biden's ass in the debate if the media willingly allows the bar to be set lower for her than Biden...which is a distinct possbility seeing how the media cowers before and sucks up to the GOP slime machine. If judged equally I am betting Biden cleans her clock.
September 9, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Libertine,
I agree, she shouldn't be on the same stage as Biden. She's good making speeches in front of the wingnut crowd that breaks out in applaudes at every grouping of 7 words she babbles but that won't sell on a nationally televised debate.
But we have to keep the media in mind. As people here have noted, just for showing up the media will give her 20 points, after all, she's a Republican.
September 9, 2008 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am betting she will be well schooled on all the talking points John...I figure that schooling is ongoing and is why they are hiding her from the media at present. Hopefully there will be a wide variety of domestic and foreign policy issues that will be discussed at the debate...and in great detail. But I can hear the RNC's retort if she falls flat...'she is not a career Washington politician so she isn't a policy wonk but she was picked to come to Washington to shake things up with John McCain.'. It's weak but that is what I am expecting to hear from McCain's people...
September 9, 2008 8:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
The key problem is communicating to the undecided voters. I'm in a swing state, and I have to say that the "original maverick" commercials are much more compelling than Obama's "more of the same". Now, we know that the McCain campaign is stretching the truth, but they are doing a great job at branding their ticket. Not sure what's best, but probably a one-two punch of attacking the reformer/maverick image directly, plus a better job of having Obama-Biden speak directly to us with good, pithy statements of what they plan to do... maybe we'll get it out in the debates...
btw, I forecast that Palin will kick Biden's butt in VP debate 1, mostly because she'll be underestimated, but he'll take her to the cleaners in #2 ...
September 9, 2008 10:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
What's the difference between Palin and Muslim fundamentalists?
Lipstick
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/09/09/palin_fundamentalist/
Fair warning, it's by that noted radical Juan Cole, who has earned great hatred from the right--mainly for having more understanding about the Middle East in his little pinky than the entire Republican Party.
September 9, 2008 11:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, that's a great title and a a great article.
September 10, 2008 4:55 PM | Reply | Permalink