2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhy Sarah Palin actually matters again
With a new Fox contract and sharp words on immigration, the former Alaska gov. is the smiley face of white backlashBY JOAN WALSH
Sarah Palin is back! Not only did she get another Fox News contract, she was the star of Ralph Reeds Faith and Freedom Conference this past weekend for her slashing attacks not only on President Obama and Democrats but on Republican sellouts (and 2016 hopefuls) like Jeb Bush. Watching Palin gleefully take on Bush, who made a dumb comment about needing immigration reform because immigrants are more fertile than native-born Americans, I realized that Palins star really is rising again, at a time of heightened racial insecurity on the white far-right. They need a hero, and here she is again.
I stopped paying much attention to Palin around the time she self-destructed by trying to make herself the victim after the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the shooting of 18 other people in Tucson, Ariz., in January 2011. After that, not only my attention but others seemed to drift away. She declared that she wouldnt run for president, surprising no one, her spots on Fox News became less frequent (to her loud complaints) and, ultimately, the right-wing network didnt renew her contract (though it was stated as her choice; she was going on to better things). I thought maybe Palin didnt matter anymore.
But she continued to be the big crowd-pleaser at conservative gatherings from CPAC to the NRA convention, where she mocked Mayor Michael Bloombergs anti-gun politics by slugging a Big Gulp, taking on the whole elite, effete nanny state her admirers imagine threatens them. Still, it was her attack on Bush this weekend that made me realize the extent to which she could become the face of the white nativist backlash, which is a dangerous development for the GOP, and the country, but a cushy, natural perch for Palin.
Bush, you probably heard, made a dumb play for conservatives to support immigration reform by claiming older white America needs their babies. Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families, and they have more intact families, and they bring a younger population, the former Florida governor told Reeds convening on Friday. Alex Seitz-Wald noted immediately what a mistake that was: Bush was stating some of the very reasons that the far right opposes immigration reform. And he did it the same day we got the news that deaths among native-born whites were outpacing their births. Way to rub it in, Jeb!
Well, Palin rubbed Bushs nose in his mistake, trashing him ideologically while using her trademark sex appeal. You kind of have to see it her hair has never been bigger, and she mocked Bush with such visible self-confidence and self-satisfaction:
full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/17/the_return_of_sarah_palin/
Chipper Chat
(9,703 posts)The first barb to stick in my craw was during her acceptance speech when she craftily remarked that she had experience...sorta like a "community organizer." She said that with so much mean sugary spit it made me sick. Bottom line is she is an evil ruthless woman - the likes we haven't seen since Leona Helmsley and Anita Bryant.
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,454 posts)Most community organizers do tons more work- and more important work IMHO- and whom take on bigger responsibilities than a failed VP candidate (who did more than John McCain and Barack Obama combined to sink their ticket) and 1/2 term Governor from Alaska. Pretty much everything that comes out of her mouth- to the extent that you can understand most of her "word salads"- is meant to insult, offend, and demean people whose only "sin" is to not believe the same way she does. I had hoped, after the Giffords shooting and the kerfuffle over her "blood libel" comment, we were finally rid of her. Guess not.......yet.
graham4anything
(11,464 posts)Because Sarah just makes Jeb look normal.
Funny how even Salon falls for the Bush game
fracture and 2000 will happen again and Jeb/Paul will be President/VP
and don't think for one second that Rand is anything but a Bushie, the Paul family for decades has worked hand in hand together
against the same enemy
the ying and yang, the bad cop/ bad cop
Sarah is 100% proof that Karl Rove does his job so well, evil as it is, fully stocking the ocean of candidates in all states from bottom up,
instead of just worrying about the top ones.
but let's keep fracturing the democratic party, yeah, that's the ticket (the one way ticket back to Bush).
sighhhhhhhhhhhh
savalez
(3,517 posts)Cha
(298,019 posts)long until her next self-implosion?
Buzz Clik
(38,437 posts)I think political writers want Palin back because she's easy material.
Palin never ceased being a crowd please for the lowest common denominator among the conservatives. In the big picture, she is totally irrelevant.
Avalux
(35,015 posts)As long as Palin is able to make money she'll continue. All I see it doing is further fracturing the GOP.
She doesn't matter anymore, other than to her extremist audience. We need to be aware that people like her are dangerous; however they don't need good journalists like Walsh helping them spread their trash.
radicalliberal
(907 posts)[img][/img]
I really didn't need to see her naked there.
radicalliberal
(907 posts)She's nekkid!
It's those eyes that get me, they're scary!
By the way, I bet she uses that long nose of hers as a weapon.
Ew, indeed!
shenmue
(38,506 posts)And be on Fox another jillion times.
egold2604
(369 posts)shenmue
(38,506 posts)I applaud you.
otohara
(24,135 posts)isn't going to go over well with the people in real power.
Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)In a celebrity-obsessed media culture, we simply can't stop looking at her.
In just about any other culture on Earth, she'd be the non-entity that she deserves to be.
erpowers
(9,350 posts)In my opinion, the fact that Sarah Palin has a new contract with Fox News shows that she does not matter. She learned that she was not the draw that she thought or hoped she would be. Yes, she seems to be a draw at the NRA, CPAC, and other Republican events. However, who else cares about what Sarah Palin says? What has she done since she left Fox? She is credited with helping Ted Cruz win the Senate race in Texas, but that is not a big deal. It seems that she has not done very much for the Republican Party.
jmowreader
(50,589 posts)She is the reincarnation of Reagan - up from humble beginnings to serve as governor and conservative icon. Also, she is attack proof, or so they think, because she's a Christian, a woman and mother of a special needs child.
Problem: Palin combines Bush-level stupidity, Nixonian corruption and a Reaganesque cult of personality, and if the press can make a nickel peeling that back, they will.
AlinPA
(15,071 posts)ready to run for President. The right-wing teabaggers love her, but Cruz might give her a fight for the GOP nomination.