Why the Palin “Hate Affair” Will Backfire
November 16, 2009
by Amy Siskind
|I’ve been watching with great interest as of late the amount of hate stories written about Governor Palin. Oh yes, we are a country that loves our drama. And we are certainly a country that can, at times, be accused of going to extremes. But one thing is certain about our Palin Hate Affair – the biggest winner will be: Sarah Palin.
With Palin’s public re-emergence today on Oprah, the media’s Palin Hate Affair got fully underway. Sarah is, amongst other things, a cancer of the GOP, dumb, and heck, even fodder for a musical. Newsweek sees nothing wrong with using a picture from Runners World for their cover story. MSNBC is well, being MBNBC, and showing their inner-misogynist so familiar to us from 2008.
And somehow the extremism of the Palin Hate Affair reminds me of another recent political extreme: the media’s love affair with candidate and then President Obama. The problem for Obama, as I recently wrote at The Daily Beast, is that all great love affairs come to an end. And quite inadvertently, our media set up Obama for an epic fall from grace. How could Obama possibly live up to branding image that our media was so willing to propagate? Simply impossible.
There is another side to the Palin Hate Affair that also feels quite familiar – it’s called misogyny. This should also be familiar territory after the way Secretary Clinton was treated in 2008. As Katie Couric noted just after Hillary dropped out: “Senator Clinton received some of the most unfair, hostile coverage I’ve ever seen” and undoubtedly this hurt her chances at becoming the Democratic nominee. Sound familiar? Would we ever envision Newsweek putting a picture of Mike Huckabee or Tim Pawlenty on their cover in a pair of running shorts – I mean, c’mon really!
And just like with Hillary, the Palin Hate Affair would not be complete without a gang up by a group of women who consider themselves to be “feminists” (whatever that term connotes these days). These “feminists” are contributors to a “antidote” to Going Rogue called Going Rouge–Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare. If you read the list of women experts contributing here’s what you’ll find: most of them hated Hillary too. Check the list and google their writings for 2007 and 2008 and you’ll find every excuse possible as to why supporting the DNC’s first viable woman candidate for President was not the right thing to do. Who’s crying now?
Here’s the thing about extremes — what they lack in longevity they make up for with excitement. Sure our media is having one heck of a time turning Sarah Palin into a modern day Sarah Good; but at some point there will be period of examination and discovery. A mea culpa of having stepped over lines whose consequence will be a judgment of keystrokes. As as Sarah Good’s final words words to her accuser would predict his demise; so to, will this extreme come to an end. And the unwitting winner of the sympathy vote will be: Sarah Palin.
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well put Amy!!!
Amy, I love your writing … Thanks for keeping up the good fight. I am going to see Gov. Palin at her speech next month to the College of the Ozarks. I can’t wait to hear what she has to say after a few weeks of her book tour.
I wrote a response to David Brooks’ misogynistic depiction of Sarah Palin as “talk show host” while heaping praise on the newly elected governor of Virginia, a man who holds the exact same policy views as Palin. Why is it that a newly elected conservative governor who hasn’t even been sworn in yet gets more respect from the GOP elite than an accomplished conservative governor who achieved 95% of her policy objectives in the first two and a half years?
Oh yeah. He’s a man.
You might be interested:
http://www.adoringpalin.com/20.....n-you.html
[...] Amy Siskind: Why the Palin “Hate Affair” Will Backfire [...]
Thanks Amy! I completely agree. Those that “hate” Sarah Palin don’t realize they have empowered her. How many people can post a Facebook entry and make headlines!
As for male politicians being on the front cover with running shorts – I think Mike Huckabee has (he is a runner too). Obama has been featured “shirtless”. Both, however, were depicted in a postitive light, instead of trying to make fun of them. The picture of Sarah in her running outfit was so out of context even for their sexist caption, all it did was make Newsweek look bad and lazy (photoshop anyone?).
I have also been paying attention to some of the op-ed pieces circulating regarding a Palin 2012 run. While the media is vetting her pretty hard, the current administration keeps digging a hole regarding women. This could be an interesting next few years!
A little thing I noticed. Newsweek covered up the Blue Star Sarah had up on the window denoting her son being in Iraq. Trust me, it was intentional. They want to diminish her in any way that they can.
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Amy
Bravo! For an excellently put article.
As I remember from the musical… didn’t “problem child” Maria turn out the be the exact, perfect answer to what the Von Trapp family needed without knowing it? That she was needed out in the world and among other people instead of following a secluded, isolated vocation? And wasn’t there a high and mighty, cold-hearted opportunistic opponent set to take over the Von Trapp until Maria’s love and energy turned them into a happy family again?
Geez, looks like Newsweek actually hit on the perfect headline. Fuuny when sarcasm backfires!
“Newsweek covered up the Blue Star Sarah had up on the window denoting her son being in Iraq. Trust me, it was intentional.”
I have no doubt it was. Can you imagine the orgy of vicious, bilious, evil GLEE that will ensue if that poor kid gets hurt over there?
For me, the running shorts weren’t the problem. She runs. But why post a leggy, sexy picture of a woman when you want to humiliate her and call her a problem?
Is punishing women and fucking women the same thing in many men’s minds? Hell, many women’s minds?
Rhetorical question. I already know the answer, and it enrages me. I keep coming back to it, but all this “pornulation is empoweriffic” garbage that the let-wing has been spewing for the past twenty years is a bunch of horseshit.
So apparently this site is a ‘voice for all women’….with the disclaimer that they must agree with your views?
Funny.
If that’s the case, than you really should change the name “a voice for a small minority of women” since the majority of women don’t support Palin.
I DID afterall agree with the author’s premise that Newsweek’s choice of photo was sexist.
Is Sarah, or are you for that matter, so sensitive you can’t face a bit of criticism? A different female perspective?
That’s not my idea feminine strength.
Modern Feminist, “The Majority of wome don’t support Palin?” Heck the majority of women don’t support any woman. Why else would Hillary Clinton, a more qualified and experienced candidate lose to a lesser man? I wonder if she lost all states that had a caucus format because people are afraid to vote for a woman openly. It was definitely awkward at my caucus. Noone had anything substantial to say as to why they were voting for Obama. It’s a scary thing. That’s the purpose of this site. To make women aware that society has pitted us against each other. To make us Democrats aware that our party has paid a lot of lip service and little action.
I don’t necessarily support Palin but I like her better than I would if I were just listening to mainstream media. Look beyond her personal views on abortion and look at what she has actually done. I have. And so far it seems to me that she is one of the few politicians to have the guts to actually go against her own party and work with the Democrats (until after she was tapped for VP and the Dems got word not to work with her anymore).
MF, you make one comment to which no one replies, and then take imaginary offense at an equally imaginay storm of disagreement that you thought would head your way that never materialized … And then accuse everyone ELSE of being over sensitive. Come on.
Also I find it revealing that you claim to disapprove of the sexism directed at Palin while swallowing the whole “intellectual lightweight idiot bimbo” tale whole. Have you ever investigated her actual beliefs and actions or just listened to the media tear her apart while believing all of it and clucking your tongue disapprovingly?
When you respond to a filthy storm of personal attack like what she’s been subjected to with a tepid “yes but,” it’s like replying to a rape with faux outrage followed by an “innocent” question about what she had been drinking. You’re looking for an excuse why of’s okay, or at least not worth the outrage of when a “worthy” woman is attacked.
The left is trying to cover their fear of Palin with ridicule, but is so breathless that it only reflects how Palin has actually captivated them.
Yes, captivated them. They can’t stop thinking about her.
I can only wonder what women like Katrina vanden Heuvel think when they sign on to a book that is designed to mock Palin (Going Rouge). Is this what is means to be a good obedient progressive?
Modern Feminist,
Is that like a smart Obot?
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