The World Is Oblivious So Far

If for ideological reasons you are committed to pretending that Sarah Palin is not what she obviously is -- an ignoramus -- obviously, you have a bit of a problem. Because, you know, she keeps having cameras pointed at her, which tend to record images of her acting like an ignoramus.

Fortunately, necessity is the unwed mother of invention. Hence, for instance, yesterday we learned that the only thing preventing the world from understanding what a great communicator she is, is that she has nothing to say that's remotely comprehensible.

Today we learn something even profounder and more enlightening, namely, that the only thing preventing the world from understanding how intelligent she is, is that she is too noble and principled not to sound like a jackass whenever she speaks in public. Do I shit you? No! I shit you not!

In his “Why Palin Quit” column today, John Fund provides a balanced explanation. He also offers a few lines on the unfair treatment Palin has received from the national media: “She made many mistakes after suddenly being thrust into the national spotlight last year, but hasn’t merited the sneering contempt visited upon her by national reporters. She simply was not their kind of feminist — and they disdained the politically incorrect life choices she had made.”

 

But it wasn’t just the choices she made; it was the way she presented herself in conformance with the stereotype of the red-state simpleton. The fact that this stereotype is unfair does not justify conservative politicians in ignoring its power.

WFB once remarked to me, in reference to the second-term plunge in popularity of the George W. Bush administration, that it is not enough for conservatives simply to be intelligent or sophisticated. They have to project these qualities, conspicuously and convincingly, in order to get past the visceral prejudices of elite opinion-makers, who generally regard conservative ideas as some combination of boobish, evil, backward, boring, dangerous, and simplistic. Overcoming these prejudices is, if not a prerequisite, at least a very helpful vehicle for receiving a fair hearing on the merits. Bill Buckley was, of course, a master at this project. Sarah Palin seems either completely oblivious to it, or else too indignant to play that game. This may be a principled decision, but it is not without consequences.

This fascinates on many levels, not least because of the strange thesis that George W. Bush became unpopular because he suddenly decided to stop acting like he knew what he was doing. More immediately, you have to admire the contention that Sarah Palin may be "principled" but "misguided" in ramping up the "you-betcha" down-home bullshit. Since, like, in doing so, she is, duh, playing to the ridiculous tastes of the wingnut base, who love her best of all for her ability to fake authenticity. Personally, I don't think if she had decided to project a moose-murdering hockey-mom image, but had simultaneously used stilted William F. Buckley vocabulary to make shit up about her ability to deal with her Russian neighbors, that could have made her come across as any more ridiculous than she did anyhow, but maybe I'm an outlier here.

More interesting though is the fact that Sarah Palin is indeed "boobish, evil, backward, boring, dangerous, and simplistic." I mean, like... yeah. That's about right.

Which suggests, strongly, that the effort to pretend that just because Palin waddles and quacks, she's no duck, probably has a lot to do with a persistent buried anxiety of our right-wing friends that maybe they themselves have been spending too much time splashing around in ponds and devouring bugs, and don't much care to be caught out doing that shit, despite their freakish webbed feet and oily ass-feathers.

Comments

[CathiefromCanada]

Correct.
The basic truth about Palin (and Bush, for that matter) is simply this: what you see is what you get. Their supporters don't seem to realize it -- they keep seeing nuances and depth when there is only brassy shallowness.

[Gummo]

Once again, the right is trying to frame this discussion as "out of touch elites vs. real Americans."

As always, it's working with the 25% who are always ripe pickings for a populist demagogue, the same people who really believe ignorance is a virtue, and that the Bible is the only book anyone needs to read in their lifetime.

What scares me is that that 25% figure translates to 50-60 million people....

[ahab]

Okay, a stilted vocabulary wouldn't hurt Palin. But what if she worked in some of that incessant lip-licking affectation "WFB" used to do? That shit could make even William Bennett come across as more ridiculous than he already does.

[Dr Dick]

boobish, evil, backward, boring, dangerous, and simplistic

Precisely. Conservatism in a nut(case) shell. And Sarah Palin. Also.

[Rob]

John Fund is such an ass... I wonder which liberal blog suggested "...that all of her children should have been aborted and that she would run on a presidential platform promoting retardation." What does it mean to 'promote retardation' anyway?

[DFH no.6]

"What does it mean to 'promote retardation' anyway?"

I don't know -- "the world needs more Trigs"?

Sarah Palin said it, not me. Not literally on a presidential platform, I suppose, but still...

[Righteous Bubba]

This may be a principled decision

Or she might be a fucking dumbass. What say you, Occam?

[Nom de Plume]

Intelligence and sophistication? These assholes mocked Obama for his choice of mustard. They called John Kerry "French", their worst insult. Oh, and of course, let us not forget Al Gore. The very worst offender of them all, what with all his books and Nobels and what not.

If Sarah Palin were intelligent and sophisticated, she'd be a fucking Democrat, and these fuckmunches would consider intelligence her very worst quality.

[Jay_B]

WFB once remarked to me, in reference to the second-term plunge in popularity of the George W. Bush administration, that it is not enough for conservatives simply to be intelligent or sophisticated.

It turns out you also have to NOT start endless wars based on lies, do shit while a major American city drowns and embarass the country every time you said or did anything. That Buckley, he wuz sure fucking smarts. It wasn't Bush's manifest and obvious incompetence, it was the pretense he didn't make.

They have to project these qualities, conspicuously and convincingly, in order to get past the visceral prejudices of elite opinion-makers

This is unmitigated and complete bullshit. I mean literally fucking straight-from-the-ass stupidity. Who in our utterly incompetent "opinion-making" media values intelligence? Has there been an example in the last 20 years where they've been impressed with something other than whatever they think is "authentic"? Wait, scratch that. 35 years?

Did Ronald Fucking Reagan ever, for even a second, project intelligence? When Dems like Gore or even Clinton do...They're called boring wonks. Shit, there's a whole fucking tradition of "eggheads". Dukakis -- easily the best person (not politically, because he was inept, but human) in national politics in my lifetime was treated with undisguised distain because he was "too smart". Gore too.

This shit drives me around the bend. Intelligence is a fucking liability in politics because our idiotic middlebrow fucktarts in the media hate being shown up. And they're the ones conservatives think are too smart for them.

Weep. Gnash. Cry.

[Jay_B]

Close tag you moron!!! Sorry.

[Thers]

Close tag you moron!!! Sorry.

I got it. All part of the platinum-class quality customer service experience.

[Jay_B]

Fuck. Now I have to pay you.