Posted on 11/23/2010 8:09:52 AM PST by SeekAndFind
With a new bestseller, a blockbuster TV show, and her kids popping up everywhere, Sarah Palin is changing politics forever, says Meghan McCain—and she’s either brilliant or insane.
Unless you have been living under a rock, the complete and total media saturation of every single outlet with all things Sarah Palin, all the time, has hit a proverbial fever pitch these past few weeks. Between the premiere of the Mark Burnett-produced TLC reality show Sarah Palin’s Alaska and the launch of her book, America by Heart, today, she is simply everywhere. Her omnipresence and the questions about her future are seeping into any and all conversations even remotely political—and now everything pop cultural, too. It is impossible to turn on a news or entertainment television show without questions about Bristol’s rise to dance prominence (with the help of alleged online rigging by the Tea Party), daughter Willow’s anti-gay slurs on Facebook, and, of course, her hunting on her new TV show itself, featuring every member of the Palin family. Sarah Palin has become a societal addiction and the media and our whole culture are constantly looking for our next fix.
After watching Sarah Palin’s Alaska, all I could think of is that when Mark Halperin named his history of the last election Game Change, he wasn’t just being metaphorical. The last election was the ultimate game change in what we demand of how our candidates will run for the presidency. Americans are apparently going to insist that possible future presidents appear on their own reality shows, in every medium, with every member of their family. These are the times we live in.
Wanna run for president? Quit your job, find a hot Hollywood reality-show producer, make sure your children also appear on hit reality shows, saturate every entity with tweets and Facebook updates on every conceivable subject. I dare anyone in the news to not report on one of her tweets. She doesn’t do interviews because she doesn’t need to. She can Twitter and Facebook away and then the press goes and reports on her tweets. It is so monopolized at this point that for me it steeps dangerously into the realm of some strange science-fiction movie from the '60s. Saturate the American public until we forget that anything or anyone else exists or is even an option in 2012. There are no other choices, because can’t you see she is the only choice.
This is her strategy, and yes, she is running for president. See her recent interview with Barbara Walters, in which she stated that she believes she “could beat President Obama in 2012” if you need any other assurances. In excerpts from her book, she attacks Obama concerning Reverend Jeremiah Wright, saying “But is it racist to believe in the principles of the American founding? To revere the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights and to invoke the 10th Amendment? The answer is important, because it speaks to the kind of country we are, and the kind of country we were meant to be. Did our founding values produce the country of Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s rants?” Trust me, those are fighting words and hits Obama in what is still his political jugular. The paranoia that Obama isn’t a “real American” or that he doesn’t respect the Constitution in the same way that Palin (and her allies) do will serve her quite well going forward.
As the left-wing media crucifies this woman and the right-wing media saints her, the only result is that she is becoming more and more powerful. The fascination with her is that President Obama may have been the first pop culture, American Idol president. Sarah Palin is the first presidential candidate without boundaries. Picture Mitt Romney doing a reality show, showcasing his gorgeous family. Yep, impossible. This is a man who continues to dodge questions concerning his religion and the Mormon Church, not a man who would allow cameras to tape intimate moments inside his house.
I want the media to imagine the next election cycle. Palin could hypothetically skip the debates and any national interviews with anyone other than Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck. The way she is running for president is either sheer genius or ultimate insanity. How easy it is to forget that running for president, no matter how big of a star the person running is, has historically included a lot of grassroots work. At some point, Palin will have to go meet the people of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. Take it from someone who knows, there is nothing more intense, grueling, and blissfully democratic. The citizens of these states take their early voting status more seriously than the rest of us do and that will be the great cliffhanger. If those citizens only need a gorgeously produced reality show, beautiful family, and well-narrated talking points in order to give someone an opening on the road to the White House, then say hello to President Palin. In the meantime, what she is doing is brilliant. She has positioned herself both politically and culturally as the first, last, and only stop in the national political dialogue for predictions in 2012.
-- Meghan McCain is a columnist for The Daily Beast. Originally from Phoenix, she graduated from Columbia University in 2007. She is a New York Times bestselling children's author, previously wrote for Newsweek magazine, and created the Web site mccainblogette.com. Her new book, Dirty Sexy Politics, was published in August.
Baby McRINO: insanity.
“Palin won’t have any grassroots problem.”
No kidding. And it will be true grass roots...not ginned up political BS. “Grass root” people deeply identify with Sarah and will turn out in droves. There will be fights over “I was a Sarah supporter before you were!”
Meghan McCain...Oink, Oink..
Doesn’t seem like that’s the way it is sometimes.
Personally, I think Palin is on the verge of peaking....LOLOL!
She's not even CLOSE to peaking!
She hasn't even gotten her "campaign" out of first gear.
Wait until she actually declares, and then starts holding political rallies in sold-out football stadiums -- all across Middle America.
The crowds that she will attract to her upcoming book tour will be one measure of her continued grassroots support.
And many of us that volunteered and just rapped up our efforts are raring to go with Sarah or a House or Senate Candidate or all of the above. The good news is we have our sea legs and know what to do and will be able to hit the ground running.
1/2 a million-ish people at the "8 / 28" Rally? IMHO darn near every dang one of them will be doing something for Sarah when she says go.
Obummer ain't gonna a know what hit him politically when he sees this wave of people that will outwork any SEIU doup made up team they can come up with...
No, I don't think it possible for Palin or anybody else to skip the debates and yet win the nomination.
The debates will be where Palin either shines or fades, and where the majority of conservative leaning Americans will decide on who will get their vote for the nomination and the Presidency.
Myself, I expect her to SHINE SHINE SHINE!
But Meghan is silly to think she could skip the debates.
All in all a rather well written piece..... for a vacuous airhead. Didn't notice the byline until I finished the article and not once did I ask myself “who was the brainless twit who wrote this?”
Meghan is improving?
Heaven forfend! Isn't her 15 minutes up yet?
I have to give Meghan McCain some credit on this. She actually did a decent job stating the obvious. If Palin can control the whole media so well she most certainly can run the country. As for grassroots Sarah has an army of the most active volunteers in politics.
It was a better article by her than the vapid adolescent twaddle McCain usually serves up. “Dirty Sexy Politics” my dirty sexy @ss. My bet is she got an editor that is working with her or a ghostwriter.
As I said, I read the entire article without ONCE asking myself “Who was the brainless twit who wrote this?”. That is a FIRST for something written by Meghan McCain. Ghost writer or editor sounds likely and long overdue.
But Meghan of all people should know that when someone of Willow's age uses the term “fag” it is NOT (directly)an anti-homosexual slur and has little to do with any suggestion that the person called a “fag” is homosexual or that there is anything wrong with being a homosexual.
Just as if someone said “that is retarded” they are not suggesting that the people who came up with it have actual mental impairment, or that they hate or are against people with mental impairment.
It is just their lexicon. Get over it, don't be such a fag about it, that is just retarded. ;)
Thank you Palin family. Thank you for being great Americans.
Thank you Mrs. Palin for keeping your eyes on our great Republic. NO MATTER your role, we are better off WITH you than w/o.
She is managing her public and private life and there is no one in America more in demand as a speaker for conservative.
She is strong on defense.
She is strong on family values.
She is a Christian.
She is strong on conservatism.
She is strong on drilling for oil.
She is for stopping spending and not for quantified easing of our monies.
She is a great communicator.
She is not corrupted, which is what Washington politicians are in to as a way of operating.
She is a wonderful supporter of Alaska.
She is not afraid of the ‘good ole boys”.. this is major.
Wow Meghan, I'm amazed at the depth of your knowledge.
BTW Meghan, just curious here but, who was that woman running with your Father?
You know, the one who "met" those grassroots crowds on the last Presidential campaign trail (and was the primary attraction)?
Would Palin skip debates?
Not a chance. She’s a competitor. You couldn’t drag her away from debating. That’s what I think, anyway.
Is this McCain kid really suggesting that she knows more about campaigning than Sarah Palin?
The debates will be where she either clinches the deal, or gets written off.
I am willing to bet that her presence, deft turn of a phrase, consistent conservative ideology, and knowledge (bone up!) will make her stand head and shoulders above the pack.
Everyone else will Palin comparison! ;)
At some point, Palin will have to go meet the people of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
Hmmmmmm...seems to me that Sarah Palin, for the past two years, has been meeting the general populace/electorate. Has been 'meeting' the people at her various speeches, her political endorsements, her book signings, through her ustilization of the new media (Tweets, Facebook, Blogs). Sarah Palin has been 'meeting' with huge, supportive crowds, to the utter, THE utter consternation of the MSM elites.
It is just their lexicon. Get over it, don’t be such a fag about it, that is just retarded. ;)
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Heh! I like it. We (and our children) also have the option of saying what we mean: “You are overreacting and I suspect that you are being mean-spirited; it makes you seem foolish and unfair.” Sometimes it’s more powerful to say exactly what you mean than to use the slang and phrases. They are cliches and are used too often to have much power.
And I agree with you; that wasn’t Meaghan McCain’s “voice.”
The crowds that she will attract to her upcoming book tour will be one measure of her continued grassroots support.
Yep...
Sarah Palin kicks off book tour in Phoenix (Camping Out In Line!)PHOENIX - Sarah Palin kicks off her nationwide book signing tour in Phoenix this evening at 6 and dozens of her fans have been lined up for hours outside of Barnes & Noble at Desert Ridge.
Dozens of people in lawn chairs bundled up and braved cold temperatures. That didn't stop 18-year-old Hayden Bradley from showing up at 1 a.m. "Definitely worth it."
Greg Goulet from Portland and his son got in line at 4 a.m. to meet the former Alaska Governor and get a copy of "America By Heart." "It's still cold. I mean 45 is 45. It's worth it."
Palin drew hundreds of fans to the Tempe Costco last December when she signed copies of "Going Rogue."
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