Sarah Palin: the ’sexiest and riskiest’ GOP brand
By Dave Cook | 06.30.09
Sarah Palin’s political past and potential future get an in-depth examination in the August issue of Vanity Fair. The report, by VF national editor Todd S. Purdum, calls Palin, “at once the sexiest and the riskiest brand in the Republican Party,” citing her deep appeal to those who share her convictions and resentments.
Senior members of Senator John McCain’s campaign team talked extensively with Purdum for the article.
“Most made it clear that they suffer a kind of survivor’s guilt: They can’t quite believe that for two frantic months last fall, caught in a Bermuda Triangle of a campaign, they worked their tails off to try to elect as vice-president of the United States someone who, by mid-October, they believed for certain was nowhere near ready for the job and might never be,” Purdum writes.
Obama: not enough time for Palin to prepare
Candidate Barack Obama told aides he did not think Palin would have time after she was selected as McCain’s running mate to get up to speed as a national candidate. “I don’t care how talented she is, this is really a leap,” Vanity Fair quotes Obama as saying.
After spending time reporting in Alaska, Purdum writes that “the brutal reality is that many people who have worked closely with Palin have found themselves disillusioned.” Former Governor Walter Hickel, who was co-chair of her 2006 gubernatorial campaign, said “I helped her out, she got elected… She never called me once in her life after that.”
Can’t count her out
The lengthy report on Governor Palin offers a heavy dose of criticism for alleged political missteps from a variety of sources. But Purdum does not count Palin out of the political game, regardless of whether she runs for re-election.
“Palin has shown herself to have remarkable gut instincts about raw politics, and she has seen openings where others did not,” Purdum writes. “And she has the good fortune to have traction within a political party that is bereft of strong leadership, and whose rank and file often demands qualities other than knowledge, experience, and an understanding that facts are, as John Adams said, stubborn things…. She may decide that she does not need office in order to have great influence—any more than Rush Limbaugh does.”
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2. Leigh | 06.30.09
I love the way these left-wing publications interview her “enemies’ to establish their perspective. By the way, old Wally Hickel published an op-ed in the Anchorage Daily News a few short months ago…claiming that he had been working closely with Russian engineers to build an under-the-sea transit system that that would connect Russia to Alaska. He was mad at Sarah for not being the “visionary” that he is. I would take anything he says with a grain a salt (by the way, he supported her VP bid)
4. Vivifiant | 06.30.09
A 2012 GOP ticket with Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh would be a dream come true for democrats and all progressive forces in the US. I am sure Palin and Limbaugh would get the overwhelming majority of votes from pick up truck driving hilly billies who have a rifle rack behind their truck seat to shoot raccoons and an empty bourbon bottle blocking the gas pedal… the problem for the GOP is that, even though the US is not quite civilized yet, this brand of Americans does not constitute a majority….
Vivifiant, Oho
5. lamorpa | 06.30.09
Sarah Palin is a silly person. She would do better with a label, “Political Satire; Not to be Taken Seriously.” To think of her this way makes the whole situation much less painful. I’m serious. It’s a sad situation.
8. Cartman | 06.30.09
The left can’t seem to forget Palin. This preemptive strike against her illustrates this. Why are they so scared of her?
9. Portland Roots | 06.30.09
She is a joke, I don’t believe she is intelligent or experienced enough to even be in the position she is in. Not to mention if she followed her own Christian good wife and mother beliefs then she would not be in politics. In a “traditional marriage” she would be at home cooking and cleaning, not trying to bankrupt Alaska with her politics.
10. jksisco | 06.30.09
Gov.Mike Huckabee and Gov. Milt Romney were/are more qualified than McCain could ever hope to be in my opinion, however, the one thing that I am grateful to McCain for, was introducing Gov. Sarah Palin to the Nation. She has the same polarizing effect that Obama has, although far more capable than he is or ever will be, that is why she is feared by the far-left wing Democrats. Finally, I find it curious that McCains’ people are still bashing Palin, if it were not for her, he would would have lost by a landslide.
11. Pinky Dresner | 06.30.09
Finally, the truth about shallow and ignorant Palin is being written.
It is indeed a miracle that NC, IN, VA, FL and OH did not vote for another Bush in 08. Perhaps these red states are finally awake to the pain and suffering we all have suffered in the hands of Bush/Cheney and GOP. Another such (Palin)folly could have have indeed been an unforgatable crime.
12. Sandy Galpin | 06.30.09
I love reading the arogance of a man, Obama saying that a VP is a really big leap. This from a man that barely voted while Senator. Palin is a woman. She is a governor already, balances her budget, changes diapers, feeds her family, hunts, fishes and cooks. She is well rounded in her resume. Obama is printing money faster hoping that he can get us out of a depression. We should have picked her, she has more expierience, energy and just plain old common sense.
14. WellWellWell | 06.30.09
Palin is a moral fraud. She is a terrible wife, a terrible mother, a terrible governor, and would have made a terrible VP. Bridge to nowhere. Cheating on her husband with his business partner. Failed to educate her children on birth control. Suggestion for Alaska to succeed from the US. All Sarah Palin cares about is Sarah Palin.
15. Mike | 06.30.09
Palin at least has a clue about personal liberty as well as personal responsibility. Something the current administration seems to be lacking.
16. Daniel | 06.30.09
Your last paragraph hits the nail on the head. Palin indeed has “remarkable gut instincts about raw politics”. She has also done an amazing job cleaning up the corrupt cesspool of Alaska state government.
Unfortunately, she knows nothing about any of the issues that the federal government typically deals with. She’d be a laughingstock among foreign leaders. On domestic policy, she her administration would be run by whichever ideologue has her ear at any moment.
The last thing America needs is a sexier version of George Bush.
17. James Skow | 06.30.09
I wondered why your summary of the VF article made no reference to anything of policy substance concerning the former VP candidate and still governor of Alaska, so I read the VF article. Here is my summary: We of the elite chattering class of the Washington beltway hate Sarah Palin because she does not think and act like us nor does she trust us. Given the state of national politics, what better recommendation to look to Governor Palin for fresh leadership for the country.
18. dom youngross | 06.30.09
Click on the link and read the referenced article. Purdum’s article was entitled “It came from Wasilla.” Why didn’t he just title it: “I don’t like Sarah Palin one bit and like a mean girl I’m going to go on and on for six pages with sniping, bemoaning, and trashing her in the hopes that you won’t like her too.”
19. curious | 07.01.09
Leigh (#2) writes, in re Wally Hickle — “I would take anything he says with a grain a salt (by the way, he supported her VP bid).” Good advice. We should take support for her VP bid — or, indeed, any kind of support for her — with a grain of salt.
20. Sarahnut | 07.01.09
“Cartman” asks: “The left can’t seem to forget Palin. This preemptive strike against her illustrates this. Why are they so scared of her?”
The left and center are very afraid that Palin will destroy America. She’s fiscally irresponsible and not honest, she’s hypocritical on moral issues and she doesn’t listen to science.
I hope the respectable, thoughful Republicans get their party back. But until they do, the Republican Party - currently a party that only rallies around random ideology and selfishness - deserves the rotten bed they’ve made made: Palin/Limbaugh 2012!
21. rougher63 | 07.01.09
I agree with comment 1. Ron Paul is the only candidate who was truthful and he has proven to be exactly right in his campaign statements. Bailouts for the politically influential and tax the nonpolitically powerful are the Democrats program. It’s time for a flat tax with no exemptions or deductions and an end to bailouts. The power to tax and redistribute income is too much power for this group.
22. David Dwyer | 07.01.09
Sarah Palin is one of those rare politicians - honest, and concerned for what is best for our country, not just for herself. She is smart, and won’t sell out her conservative beliefs or the rest of us because of arrogant ideology and lock-step partisanship. This she has already proven. Despite the remarks from the liberals relishing her possible nomination in 2012, they are afraid of her. Hence their continuing attacks on her.
23. Chuck Holmes | 07.01.09
I love Sarah Palin. She is a conservative christian, loving wife and mother, and strong leader. She is pro military - her son is in the military, she is against abortion, she is for energy independence and drilling oil domestically, she supports nuclear power, she is fiscally responsible and would cut taxes and make government smaller, she supports the right to bear arms as an individual and that is it, her and her stances, the democrats do not want to talk about that, they simply want to conduct personal attacks that are baseless. President Obama in comparison, is also a family man, but has flat out said that we are not a christian nation, he seems to be pro military but never served, he supports abortion, is against drilling domestically, doesnt support nuclear power, is spending our grandchildrens future, is helping the UAW make a bigger mess of our auto industry, and is against our right to bear arms. There you go just the facts
CH
24. sunshine in California | 07.01.09
I’m not sure why Gov Palin is so popular. I would like someone to explain to me why being educated and erudite is a horrible thing in someone who is dealing with momentous worldwide problems. Obama was a constitutional law professor and has a degree in international relations. How is that comparable to having a journalism degree and being a beauty contestant? I want the people governing our country to be more articulate, educated and knowledge about intricate government issues that the average person walking the on street. I don’t think the “average joe, or jane” as Sarah Palin presents herself to be, is who should be making life altering decisions that will affect generations of people. We all have passionate beliefs about how things should be, but passion alone does not make one qualified to run a country.
25. Megan Fox | 07.02.09
I’ll love to see her run for the Presidency in 2012… the drama ensuing from both the Left and the Right will make for entertaining TV. She’s quite a divisive character, exactly the type that’s perfect for political gossip.
26. Conservative Bushhater | 07.02.09
Misunderestimate Palin at your peril, Dems! Are you smugly going to proclaim that buffoon Biden her intellectual superior? Oh, puhlease! 2012 will come hard and fast and Romney will be your salvation…with or without Palin. I especially liked that rant against Palin’s intellegence a few posts back that mentioned Alaska’s desire to “succeed” from the union…ooops!
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. Toot | 06.30.09
Ron Paul is the only decent politician. The rest are nothing but hair and makeup.