Sarah Palin seems loved by all on the right, but look closer

Anyone at the Republican National Convention a couple of weeks ago -- or even the record-breaking 37+ million watching on TV -- would have thought that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had simply swept the entire party off its feet with her down-to-earthness.

And it's true: Millions of Republicans were captivated by her for numerous intellectual and emotional reasons that included the instant spark of hope she ignited for Nov. 4, which was fast becoming a dark doomsday in GOP minds.

And they really relish the incoherent rage that the successful 44-year-old working mom engenders within the liberal left that didn't choose to choose a female presidential candidate this time.

But it's not a unanimous Republican front.

An interesting philosophical debate is fast developing these days among such established intellectual conservatives as David Brooks and George Will, the kind of people who can be suspicious of democratic masses but can also cite how many times the word "experience" appears in the Federalist Papers.

On the other side are their more populist opponents, such as Laura Ingraham, who reach many more millions with their common-sense, non-elitist, conservative appeals online and on radio.

Liberals don't want to pay attention to any of this because they've already made up their minds. Democrats had their internal party debate over experience months ago during the hard-fought primaries. And inexperience beat the former first lady.

Conservatives aren't listening all that much to the other side either -- another example of how so many Americans talk at each other these days rather than to each other.

But there's some glorious prose flying back and forth on the ....

... right-hand side of our political spectrum these days. In his op-ed column in today's New York Times, Brooks argues for a kind of elitist conservatism that values hard-earned experience, prudence and, well, conservative approaches over the kind of uneducated, mass, popular movements that produce such dangerous political toys as term limits.

He calls Palin "the ultimate small-town renegade rising from the frontier to do battle with the corrupt establishment."

He notes the condescension and snobbery oozing from elitists. "People who've never been in a Wal-Mart think she is parochial because she has never summered in Tuscany," he adds.

Ingraham responds with pragmatic and well-phrased gusto in her daily e-mail blast:

"Brooks' main argument against Palin is that she lacks the type of experience and historical understanding that led President Bush to a 26% approval rating."

She notes the tons of "experience" Bush had surrounding him, from Dick Cheney to Colin Powell.

Then she adds her zinger: "Of course, we could also consider the Nixon administration. Who had more experience than Richard Nixon? How'd that work out? What about George H.W. Bush? How did his administration do?

"What about Herbert Hoover -- who had vast experience both in terms of dealing with foreign countries during World War I and in terms of dealing with the U.S. economy as secretary of Commerce? How did he do?"

Ingraham asks in her column not yet posted online: Can Palin effectively govern from a populist perspective? It's too soon to know.

But Ingraham adds that the Alaska governor "is certainly the most promising such figure to come along since the elites were denouncing Ronald Reagan. And therefore we should all wish her well."

It's 91, by the way -- the number of times the word "experience" appears in the Federalist Papers.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Photo credit: LauraIngraham.com

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Comments

[EdwinG]

The Hockey Mom attacked Obama on taxes - what's new? That's what this lady from nowhere can utter in her campaign, but according to Carly Fiorina, she is not qualified to be a CEO of HP Inc. Yes, she is free to attack Obama and the liberals, yet when it was her turned to get roasted, she accused the SNL Fey show as "sexist". To this very day, the National Enquirer a tabloid paper exposed her dalliance and affair with the business associate of Todd, yet we don't hear any official denunciations from the couple to clear themselves from gossips and innuendoes. They evaded the investigations of the Alaska State Assembly on Troopergate, the firing of the Commissioner, she evaded the interview of other networks and cable without pre-arranged conditions, why should she be given preferential treament as vice presidential candidate? If she is above and beyond reproach, I fear this woman could become a future despotic ruler, basing from her previous history of feistiness, nepotism and well calculated elimination of associates as well as detractors that crossed her path to glory.

[Mitchell in NY]

Let's stop mincing words. This is not just about experience. It is about depth of understanding and judgment. Look at how Palin has run her administrations in Alaska. Look at the kind of answers that she gives to policy questions. Look at how little they have allowed her to be interviewed. Sara Palin is simply not qualified to be president, which she may become if McCain wins. My hat is off to the conservatives who are putting Country First by saying that the empress has no clothes.

"Palin/McCain: Cows, Good Old Boys (and Gals), and the Daily Show"

"Palin, The Latest Revelation (with an audio link that will knock at least one of your socks off)"

http://msa4.wordpress.com/

[VJ Machiavelli]

As i have said before this is no longer your Grandfathers Republican Party.

VJ Machiavelli
http://www.vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com

[SteveKelson]

My mom was also a hockey mom.

She wasn't a pit bull, a liar or a con artist.
She was a ''reformed Republican.'' She had a brain.

Not half a brain like those buying into this Palin Project, while America is coming apart at the seams. The closest thing she would have witnessed to "a mountain being removed and be thou cast into the sea" is Lehman Bros. My mom didn't believe in fairy tales like flying mountains or remote village leaders suddenly leading great nations.

She sure as 'heck' would have called McCain "The Wizard of Oz"....basically another huckster hiding behind a curtain while making false promises, all backed up a fraudulent, hugely overblown public image that was years in the making. When you dig deep into all the facts about the guy, you'll find the out the truth. If you buy into the image they paint, you'll end up fighting for your life.

Mom was more like a smart Golden Retriever. She was loyal, kind and looked out for the common person with deep compassion. She volunteered her time to those less fortunate; in the late 60's Mom taught and tutored underprivileged kids of a different race. I went with her, remembering how we had to lock the car doors once we entered into that neighborhood.

She went to church, but didn't wave her hands to the sky during the service like some crazed lunatic. Mom taught us to beware of a wacko.

Pit bulls are the most dangerous, vicious dogs on the planet. I know dogs and I know people.

And Sarah Palin, you are no Golden Retriever

[camel jockey]

I love it that the left is scared. They deserve to be. I also love it that no one at the Times will have a pension.

The Federalist Papers: nobody gives a shit.

[Carla]

I shop at Wal-Mart, I have never summered in Tuscany, and I WILL NEVER vote for John McCain or Sarah Palin.

Am I elite? I don't think so. But I am not an idiot, either. Would love for a woman to be Prez or VP. But not with this choice.

[Ann, in the middle of a soybean field]

Aw shucks,I know those of you on the left and right coasts think that those of us in the rural midwest are barefoot, pregnant, tabacky chewin' fools. But we aren't fooled by Palin either. I don't want or need someone who will drink a beer with me. I can find plenty of people to do that.

What we need a president and vice-president who are ready to help us get out of two endless wars and get our economy back on track. I haven't heard word one about either from the McCain-Palin ticket. All I have heard is how the liberalmediaelite is out to get Palin because she hunts moose and has a uterus.