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By the time dusk fell on the evening of November 4th, the GOP party
looked at their Reaganite ideal of a "shining city on a hill" now dust
under their feet. History was made, in more ways than one.
West coast results still flitted across television screens, for
those Americans who hadn't called it a night by 10pm central, and
pundits began commentating on the grumblings from within the GOP,
specifically McCain aides: that Sarah Palin had cost John McCain the
election. After being attacked because she was a mother, because she
was a woman, after her clothing expenditures were attacked (while the
matching price tags on Barack Obama's clothing went ignored), after her
children were defamed, the GOP turned its suicidal barrel on her, one of the only people left in the party that the Democrats have
not finished off.
Melissa Clouthier says this of Palin's nameless, GOP attackers:
"They have decided that rather than specific failed policies (can anyone,
anywhere, to this day articulate McCain’s plans for the economy?) or
strategies (Mr. Nice Guy) or leadership (running around like a headless
chicken and suspending the campaign to participate in doomed
negotiations), the real problem was Sarah Palin. No rigorous
self-examination. Instead, they did what the least savory sorts do:
find a scapegoat."
Cowardly GOP attempts to paint her as the stereotypical dumb
hausfrau, just some silly woman, underscore the necessity for the
Republican Party to flush out the sexist, aged patriarchy from its
leadership. In doing this, they are playing up to the left's
assumptions that, because she's a conservative woman on the ticket, she's nothing but a ploy of identity politics. I don't think the GOP expected just how
integral Palin would be to this campaign. As Doctor, Wife, Mom, said:
"This is part of the reason why John McCain lost. Before he added
Sarah Palin to the ticket his support was luke warm, but after adding
her to the ticket, there was a rush of support that went in the
direction of McCain. In fact, it is likely that many Republicans cast a
vote for Sarah Palin rather than a vote for John McCain. If he had
added someone else to the ticket, I feel that his loss would have been
even more dramatic."
John McCain lost for a variety of reasons, none of which have to do
with Sarah Palin: horrible campaign management, his moderate record,
failure of his campaign to fully use the technological tools available,
poor marketing, allowing the campaign to be out-manned; despite the various admitances and studies of mainstream media slights against him, despite his
determination to stick to a sparse, publicly-financed budget, McCain
dropped the ball, conservatives, as a whole, dropped the ball by
allowing him to assume party leadership in the first place. That Palin would receive any blame is ridiculous.
Amongst the charges leveled at her from "nameless aides":
"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain
adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us,
her family or anyone else."Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the
next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves,
as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."
I find this so deliciously ironic. Shocking, from a campaign that
has uttered the word "maverick" so much it's lost all meaning. Yes,
Palin is the future of the Republican party; is this aide being
deliberately obtuse or is shortsightedness considered a virtue in the
McCain camp? Of course, the latter would completely explain the
election results and the litany of errors which dated their campaign. It was apparent from the get-go
that the GOP never intended Palin for use as anything other than a
means to an end; they picked one of the most successful, top-tiered
female Republicans (of which there are only about twelve) under the age of 60
(which leaves four) and marketed her according to their dusty copy of
"How to Market a Woman," circa 1950. They surrounded her with
"handlers," busy-bodied aides desperate to make names for themselves,
who viewed her as a newcomer late into the game of Team McCain. She was
barred from speaking (I was brusquely told "no deal" when I asked if Palin
would be taking questions before her debate here in St. Louis) without approval, she was criticized when she strayed from poorly-parsed talking points (thus
providing some of her better sound bites). Seriously - which aide was it
again that chastised Palin for talking to Glenn Beck? And trounced her
for setting up (and then canceling) an interview with Bill O'Reilly? But thought talking with Katie Couric was a good idea? Please.
(Who are the divas again? That's rhetorical. We know who the divas are and they have
