Last fall when John McCain, the maverick, announced his selection of running mate Sarah Palin, another maverick, I wrote a blog about it almost immediately, which captured my first blush reaction to his choice. She was fresh and interesting. I went on to enjoy her hard-hitting speech at the Republican convention and some of her interactions with the press, who were relentless in their attacks against her.
They attacked her for:
- being a mother of five children ranging in age from 19 to newborn.
- being a religious woman.
- living in a small town.
- giving her children unusual names.
- having graduated from Idaho State instead of Harvard.
- not having enough ink in her passport.
- being from Alaska.
- having an accent.
- knowing how to field dress a moose.
- having a 'sexy librarian' look.
- not aborting her child born with Downs Syndrome.
- having a promiscuous teenaged daughter.
- not having enough executive experience (though she had more than Obama).
- wearing clothes that were paid for by the GOP (Democrat candidates like Hillary Clinton, and even their wives, like Michelle Obama, receive free designer clothes. Who among normal women, even governors, has a wardrobe suitable for a Vice Presidential run?)
Maybe the attacks worked. Sarah Palin disappointed. She wasn't as prepared as I had hoped. She wasn't as steeped in issues as I would expect a candidate to be. Though fundamentally she had the intangible 'right stuff,' she wasn't quite poised enough. (Think: Margaret Thatcher.) She wasn't quite serious enough. Faced with the most hateful media barrage I have witnessed in my lifetime, she allowed herself to become offended. She was easily distracted.
But who could blame her? If a bully were picking on just one of my children at school, I would create a stir. If grown up media moguls and pundits were hurling insults at my entire family, I would have to speak up in their defense.
She was never my first choice, not even for V.P. - I am a self-confessed Mitt-en. But I still like Sarah Palin and I still hope for her future, which I think is a lot brighter than her recent past.
1 comment:
I really like Palin. She is a strong conservative woman. I am tired of politicians that are conservative except for...... Or that are conservative but apologize for it. I want someone to say this is what we belive and we are right and I feel Palin does that.
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