THE PLANK JULY 10, 2009
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I clicked over on The American Scene blog, only to find a short post from Conor Friedersdorf in which he linked to a big Weekly Standard piece on Sarah Palin. Friedersdorf snarks that the piece's author, Matthew Continetti, shoud be congratulated on "his new pr gig" for the soon-to-be-former Alaska Governor. After having clicked on the link and dutifully read Continetti's "report"," I think Friedersdorf is being marginally unfair. Surely most press represenatives would feel slightly reticent about slobbering all over their boss in the way that Continetti does over Palin. This should give you the flavor of the story:
The fierce reaction surprised Palin. She is acutely aware of what the
media and her opponents say about her. She heard some people say that
the timing of her speech was odd. Not so. "Independence Day is so
significant to me--it's sort of a way for me to illustrate that I want
freedom for Alaskans to progress, and for me personally."...
Palin is a savvy and charismatic politician whose career has been
filled with courageous stands against entrenched authority. Ideological
or partisan attachments do not concern her.
Continetti has the amusing habit of writing a sentence in praise of Palin, and then following it up with one or two sentences that make the exact same point. For example:
One thing you quickly learn about Sarah Palin when you study her career
is that she never, ever does things by the book. The lady knows how to
make a splash. She specializes in surprise announcements.
She's a maverick--we get it! Also:
Did Palin's surprise resignation help her chances? The flippant answer
is, "Check back in four years, bub." The serious answer is, "There's no
strong consensus one way or the other."
Good to know. However, Continetti ends the piece thusly:
Be prepared. Hurricane Sarah is about to descend on the Lower 48.
Presumably The Weekly Standard's offices will be destination one.
--Isaac Chotiner
10 comments
The Weekly Standard is a joke. Once in a while, you can find a good piece there, such as Christopher Caldwell's splendid article on Ireland but more often you get something along the lines of Fred Barnes or Matthew Continetti.
- liberal reformer
July 10, 2009 at 12:07pm
"Palin, moreover, looked authentic and commanding in her speech to the 2008 Republican National Convention. It is not an exaggeration to say that her address there was one of the most effective political communications ever."
Oh, man. Lincoln? Churchill? FDR? Pikers, compared to the oratorical mastery of Sarah Palin.
This boy's got it bad.
- FWright
July 10, 2009 at 12:18pm
No doubt about it, if you want to communicate to the American public the savvy and responsible leadership of today's GOP, hurricane imagery is the way to go.
- adaglas
July 10, 2009 at 12:35pm
Yeah, Wright, I had the same response to that sentence. "Effective"? That requires that the speech produce results desired by the speaker. So for a purely political speech like Palin's convention rant, the bidding on "effective" starts with winning the election. If you give a speech attacking your opponent in an election, and then you lose that election to him, your speech by definition was not "effective." It may have been majestic, or magical, or moving, or even multiorgasmic, but it simply was not effective.
But attribute this to the right's inability to differentiate between strength and weakness. These idiots actually believe that you win a fight by shouting the loudest insult, even if you're shouting the insult from the floor with a bloody nose while the other guy walks out of the bar with your girl on his arm and your lunchmoney in his pocket.
- rhubarbs
July 10, 2009 at 12:44pm
Sounds like he's gunning for a job in a Palin administration. Dream on, dweeb.
- csmiller
July 10, 2009 at 12:52pm
I don't agree Rhub. Obama's speech in 2004 didn't get Kerry elected, it did certainly help set the stage for his later election. I didn't see her speech so I really can't say how good it was. All I know is she compared herself to a dog, just one who wears lipstick. As to how effective her debut speech will have turned out to be, that remains to be seen. Obama backed up his speech by being a brilliant campaigner. I see no chance in that happening with Sarah. By the way, Mario Cuomo gave a great speech back in 84 and most likely would have beaten GWHB.
I love this follow up to the above quote: The lady knows how to make a splash. She specializes in surprise announcements. Her 2004 resignation from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, her 2005 declaration that she was challenging incumbent Frank Murkowski for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, her March 2008 revelation that she was seven months pregnant with her fifth child, then her August 2008 addition to the GOP presidential ticket and the subsequent shocker that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant
One, her 2004 resignation no one outside of Alaska cared about, so some splash, and a politician running for office against an incumbent who is down in the polls, not much splash there either. Her announcing her pregnancy counts as a splash? What, is she the queen? WTFCs? And McCain made the splash choosing her, and don't know how her daughter getting knocked up should qualify as a surprise announcement that is positive.
She wants to help people, then Michael Jackson's doctor needs a gig, maybe Sarah can hire him.
- blackton
July 10, 2009 at 2:30pm
"Continetti has the amusing habit of writing a sentence in praise of Palin, and then following it up with one or two sentences that make the exact same point"
This is a writing style I frequently notice when grading undergraduate papers. It gets less amusing after a whole pile.
- frippo
July 10, 2009 at 2:35pm
I heard she's adopting Michael Jackson's kids.
- Wandreycer1
July 10, 2009 at 2:58pm
I hear ya, frippo. On the other hand, most of my undergrad students speak somewhat more coherently than Palin.
- cspencef
July 10, 2009 at 5:15pm
A lot of my undergrads write like Palin speaks, but I tend to attribute this to (a) the fact that they are often very unsure of how to express an idea coherently, and (b) the fact that they are still quite immature and often don't really know what they actually believe. They think they do, but they don't really.
Palin cannot be excused on either of those grounds. If (a) applies then one wonders if she realizes that most Americans want some coherence at least in their political leaders, and if (b) then immaturity and lack of self-awareness at Palin's age are nothing to be proud of.
But politicians have succeeded in the past with a kind of poetic, associative rhetoric that fires up a core constituency even as it alienates the majority -- but not for the presidency, which is kind of a serious job.
- ironyroad
July 11, 2009 at 12:27pm