the recent political thoughts of v.

[virginia_bell]

Although it is not particularly apparent from this journal, the election preoccupies quite a bit of my thinking these days. The disaster that is Sarah Palin, I must admit, was initially part of the reason: when McCain first announced that she would be his running mate, I would find myself scouring all of the major media outlets and favourite

Comments

[cibeles]

Maybe it IS East Coast Elitist, but that doesn't mean it's wrong.

[lareinenoire]

I must admit, it is such a shame that 'elite' has become a pejorative term. I am a card-carrying East Coast elitist and don't plan to change that anytime soon. ;)

And I am apparently at odds with a large percentage of the country, but I want my President to be far, far more intelligent than me. I don't consider myself qualified to run a country.

[virginia_bell]

I rather am too, haha! (And sometimes I enjoy playing the stereotype by saying things like, "But Madagascar was never a French overseas territory." But I only say that to fellow East Coast elitists. :p)

I am trying to figure out when exactly intelligence became a fault rather than a quality to be desired in an American head of state.

[lareinenoire]

I always enjoy having drinks (not beer, as I don't drink beer, but that's neither here nor there) with intelligent people. It's called learning things. But Karl Rove doesn't believe in that sort of thing, does he?

I'd never have a drink with Bush. I'd be liable to throw it in his face and promptly get shot by the Secret Service. ;)

[virginia_bell]

Haha, okay -- I don't think the twisted fascination will ever entirely fade for me, doggone it!

Selecting Palin was an awfully pandering step, and what amuses me is that it hasn't even worked.

[ashesofautumn]

To hell with it. I'm an east coast elitist who goes to a top ten school, and anyone who has a problem with that can shove it.

Palin may not know anything about the Supreme Court, economy, or foreign policy, but hey - at least she's anti-abortion!

[virginia_bell]

And you can't forget her cute, down-to-earth, folksy charm!

[iheartflamboger]

I dislike Palin as much as the next person, but thinking about it in Rovian terms, it seems like a good idea in retrospect.

Whenever Palin takes center stage for whatever reason, it for some reason rallies a conservative base. When Katie Couric asks Palin questions that for some odd reason she has trouble ansering, it's the liberal media. When SNL makes fun of it, it's East Coast elitism.

So, in essence, it's a good idea because she's a big distraction. Notice how Biden is basically irrelevant, and how little Cheney and Lieberman mattered in 2000. Obama v. McCain is an easy win for Obama, but when you add Palin into the mix, the top of the GOP ticket gets losts.

/end political spiel

[virginia_bell]

Thing is, the conservative base can whine all they would like about the liberal media and the elites who run the country, but I really don't think the current political climate favours that sort of virulent cultural populism -- compared to the Dow closing below 9,000 points for the first time since 2003, things that fire up the base start to smack of irrelevance to the average American voter (Joe Six-Pack, to use Palinesque terminology). Palin is a distraction, but I wonder if she is not bringing more negative attention to the Republican ticket than positive these days.