Palin's Failin' (So Says Noonan)

"Sometimes the leak is so bad that even a plumber can't fix it." This was the concise summation of a cable political strategist the other day, after the third and final presidential debate. That sounds about right, and yet the race in its final days retains a feeling of dynamism. I think it is going to burst open or tighten, not just mosey along.

But we have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office. She is a person of great ambition, but the question remains: What is the purpose of the ambition? She wants to rise, but what for? For seven weeks I've listened to her, trying to understand if she is Bushian or Reaganite—a spender, to speak briefly, whose political decisions seem untethered to a political philosophy, and whose foreign policy is shaped by a certain emotionalism, or a conservative whose principles are rooted in philosophy, and whose foreign policy leans more toward what might be called romantic realism, and that is speak truth, know America, be America, move diplomatically, respect public opinion, and move within an awareness and appreciation of reality.

But it's unclear whether she is Bushian or Reaganite. She doesn't think aloud. She just . . . says things.

In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment and idealism.

OK, since I’ve lived in both urban areas and now in rural areas, I have a pretty good idea what y’all see going on.

Gov. Palin represents something that people like Noonan, Parker, et al resent: a conservative or politician who is NOT part of the NYC/DC media sphere of influence. Gov. Palin doesn’t know, doesn’t care, and won’t care what the “conservative elite” in this NYC/DC media axis have to say. Not now, not when in office.

This greatly alarms the “conservative elite.” Because, you see, for all the time these conservative elites spend talking about our heartland ethics, (work and otherwise), morality, etc — they don’t live it. And they don’t want to live it. Look at Noonan: can you see her existing in Alaska, or on a ranch in the west, or a farm in the midwest/south, or in an oilfield job?

Heck no. She might get dirty. She might break a nail. She wouldn’t be able to wear perfectly foolish shoes. No, people like Noonan wish to remain comfortably aloof and apart from us conservative rabble, we little people down here on the ground.

Gov. Palin represents a threat to the “conservative elite” media types in a way that men from the same geographical region cannot. Gov. Palin looks every bit as fashionable as one of these “conservative elites” - yet doesn’t live in NYC. Gov. Palin has been elected to office, but yet she doesn’t have an Ivy League liberal arts degree. Gov. Palin uses speech patterns that are not of NYC/DC. Palin can (and does) do the sort of things that heartland/flyover country conservatives do for work every week — and yet, she cleans up better than most of these society broads.

Gov. Palin is bringing in huge crowds and big money. Big Time. Palin (and the conservative base that is thrilled to have a leader like Palin) are now a threat to the Noonans of this world. We’ve got a leader who actually gets dirty.

Whoa. Can’t have that. Leaders have to be.... leader like. As in, they don’t get dirty. People like Noonan want conservative leaders to spend their time kissing up to op-ed writers in NYC.

That ain’t gonna happen with Palin.

In summary, remember this: the “conservative elites” have grown rather used to being able to mold, direct and plan conservative opinion ever since 1994. Starting with the immigration issue, that model has been crumbling. Palin, and a resurgence of the conservative base in flyover country, stand to relocate a whole lot of people who write for the WSJ op-ed page out to a wilderness of irrelevance.

Too Cool for the Room

Chris Stigall

It is nothing short of stunning this election year to read and listen to some of our most noted national conservatives demonstrate no practical understanding of conservative America. It would serve Peggy Noonan, Charles Krauthammer, Fred Barnes, Kathleen Parker, and Bill Kristol well to shirk cocktail parties and mid-town lunches with the broadcast and publishing hierarchy in Manhattan and D.C. and travel like a presidential candidate for a time. Potluck dinners, small-town festivals, state fairs, church picnics and bowling alleys would be great places to start. Shake some hands. Converse with people. Were they to dare attempt such a journey, it is without question our conservative “All Stars” would find far more Sarah Palins and far fewer Peggy Noonans. A fact, one might suspect, embarrasses them to their core.

Average American, working class conservatives have disdain for the dishonest turn their “intellectual superiors” have taken. Their attempt to discredit Governor Palin as an empty “follower” with nothing to offer is both disrespectful and transparent. Palin was elected by a state’s majority citizenry. This instantly qualifies the Governor for the national debate and singly trumps any perceived qualifications of both men on the Democratic ticket.

In an election year when youth trumps age, speeches trump experience, and “cool” trumps all - sometimes even the most thoughtful among us transform into high school teens who simply want to fit in. Ms. Noonan and her once conservative ilk are this year’s homecoming queen candidates and Senator Obama is their football captain.

The conservative television and print establishment has no doubt succumbed to the well-crafted speeches well delivered by the freshman Illinois senator. It is a disappointing but perfectly understood turn for individuals like the former Reagan speech writer. They would, however, be received more believably and credited with more integrity were they to begin making an honest explanation of their support of the Democratic ticket. Instead, their newfound infatuation has led to an elitist, deceitful and unwarranted attack on the “vulgar” Americans who call their children “kids” and drop their “ings” at the end of a sentence.

Ms. Noonan and company have been making the rounds for weeks now asserting Governor Palin remains an affront to conservatives’ intelligence. In truth, it is Ms. Noonan and her weak-kneed colleagues carrying that banner. It is not enough for them to simply join ranks of Obama’s flock and sing his praises to Pennsylvania Ave. There is no intellectual heft to be found in that. To their liberal colleagues and friends, it is considered brave and intellectually honest of them to pile on Governor Palin instead. Simply, it is cool to kick conservatives this year. Cooler still? A known conservative kicking another conservative. Now that’s the pinnacle of cool.

We read them like a book. Like the newly authored book Ms. Noonan is currently pedaling to the electorate, Patriotic Grace. Penning and marketing a new book as a conservative in such a challenging year for conservatives is no small task, to be certain. Surely Ms. Noonan would not sacrifice her once proud conservative principles simply to appeal to Bush loathing, Obama sycophants roaming through a book store in an election year.

Now that would be vulgar. In this case, however, vulgar is cool.

Chris Stigall is a talk show host on KCMO radio in Kansas City.

It is abundantly clear than Peggy Noonan doesn’t care for Sarah Palin. Never has, and probably never will.

I suspect much of that is little more that elitist snobbery on the part of Ms. Noonan. For Ms. Noonan, who was born and reared in New York City and graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson, no one who graduated from a state school (after . . . gasp. . . transferring from a community college!) will ever be good enough for her, and especially one who lived her life far away from the East Coast.

Ms. Noonan willfully fails to recognize that lack of pedigree does not prevent one from acquiring common sense of becoming an effective leader. “Joe the Plumber”, not even a college graduate, far better articulates conservative thought and policy than many political pundits and figures.

It appears to this observer that the person who lacks credibility with conservative America in 2008 is not Gov. Palin, but Ms. Noonan.

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