David Broder Really likes Sarah Palin

[Crossroads Inc.]

I found htis in the Arizona republic this morning and felt so... Moved, by it I really needed to post it.

Sarah Palin displays her pitch-perfect populism

By David S. Broder
Thursday, February 11, 2010
The snows that obliterated Washington in the past week interfered with many scheduled meetings, but they did not prevent the delivery of one important political message: Take Sarah Palin seriously.

Her lengthy Saturday night keynote address to the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville and her debut on the Sunday morning talk show circuit with Fox News' Chris Wallace showed off a public figure at the top of her game -- a politician who knows who she is and how to sell herself, even with notes on her palm.

This was not the first time that Palin has impressed me. I gave her high marks for her vice presidential acceptance speech in St. Paul. But then, and always throughout that campaign, she was laboring to do more than establish her own place. She was selling a ticket headed by John McCain against formidable Democratic opposition and burdened by the legacy of the Bush administration.

Blessed with an enthusiastic audience of conservative activists, Palin used the Tea Party gathering and coverage on the cable networks to display the full repertoire she possesses, touching on national security, economics, fiscal and social policy, and every other area where she could draw a contrast with Barack Obama and point up what Republicans see as vulnerabilities in Washington.

Her invocation of "conservative principles and common-sense solutions" was perfectly conventional. What stood out in the eyes of TV-watching pols of both parties was the skill with which she drew a self-portrait that fit not just the wishes of the immediate audience but the mood of a significant slice of the broader electorate.

Freed of the responsibilities she carried as governor of Alaska, devoid of any official title but armed with regular gigs on Fox News Channel and more speaking invitations than she can fulfill, Palin is perhaps the most visible Republican in the land.

More important, she has locked herself firmly in the populist embrace that every skillful outsider candidate from George Wallace to Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton has utilized when running against "the political establishment."



It doesn't always win. There are more John Edwardses and Mike Huckabees than I can count. But it wins more often than you'd guess and for a greater variety of people, especially when things are not going well for the country.

Palin's final answer to Wallace showed how perfectly she has come to inhabit that part. When he asked her what role she wants to play in the country's future, she said:

"First and foremost, I want to be a good mom, and I want to raise happy, healthy, independent children. And I want them to be good citizens of this great country.

"And then I do want to be a voice for some common-sense solutions. I'm never going to pretend like I know more than the next person. I'm not going to pretend to be an elitist. In fact, I'm going to fight the elitist, because for too often and for too long now, I think the elitists have tried to make people like me and people in the heartland of America feel like we just don't get it, and big government's just going to have to take care of us.

"I want to speak up for the American people and say: No, we really do have some good common-sense solutions. I can be a messenger for that. Don't have to have a title to do it."

This is a pitch-perfect recital of the populist message that has worked in campaigns past. There are times when the American people are looking for something more: for an Eisenhower, who liberated Europe; an FDR or a Kennedy or a Bush, all unashamed aristocrats; or an Obama, with eloquence and brains.

But in the present mood of the country, Palin is by all odds a threat to the more uptight Republican aspirants such as Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty -- and potentially, to Obama as well.

Palin did not wear well in the last campaign, especially in the suburbs where populism has a limited appeal. But when Wallace asked her about resigning the governorship with 17 months left in her term and whether she let her opponents drive her from office, she said, "Hell, no."

Those who want to stop her will need more ammunition than deriding her habit of writing on her hand. The lady is good.

I have to say at first I really couldn't tell if this was written in jest or not... He extols how she has been "Freed" from her job as Governor, and gives glowing reviews to the women, who on her first day at Fox, when asked to name important people in the Conservative movement... Couldn't name a single person, not even HERself

[Balrog]

"And then I do want to be a voice for some common-sense solutions. I'm never going to pretend like I know more than the next person. I'm not going to pretend to be an elitist. In fact, I'm going to fight the elitist, because for too often and for too long now, I think the elitists have tried to make people like me and people in the heartland of America feel like we just don't get it, and big government's just going to have to take care of us."

This is what really stood out to me, because it seems (to me anyways) that a lot of this anti-intellectualism is driven by envy/jealously. People don't like to be made to feel stupid, even when it's true and there is someone smarter than them that does knows best. Thus you get scientists being vilified while the "common man" is glorified, even if the latter has no fucking business running a fruit stand, let alone a national government.

[Anguirus]

Palin did not wear well in the last campaign, especially in the suburbs where populism has a limited appeal. But when Wallace asked her about resigning the governorship with 17 months left in her term and whether she let her opponents drive her from office, she said, "Hell, no."

Those who want to stop her will need more ammunition than deriding her habit of writing on her hand. The lady is good.

what

[Dominus Atheos]

Palin did not wear well in the last campaign, especially in the suburbs where populism has a limited appeal. But when Wallace asked her about resigning the governorship with 17 months left in her term and whether she let her opponents drive her from office, she said, "Hell, no."

Those who want to stop her will need more ammunition than deriding her habit of writing on her hand. The lady is good.

what

It's David Broder, just ignore him. He's the most establishment hack to ever pick up a pen. Sally Quinn and Chris Matthews could only dream of being half as villagey as he is. Most blogs refer to him as "Dean Broder" since he's actually been called "the unchallenged 'dean' of what many political reporters like to think is their 'priesthood'" by U.S. News. U.S. News is another villager rag, so they weren't being ironic, they actually thought they were paying him a compliment.

[Dominus Atheos]

Here's a clip I just made and uploaded about what happens when someone dares to insult the Dean of the political priesthood David Broder:

[Hillary]

There's more than a smidgeon of truth in this. It is very easy to see her as the "every woman" candidate in the same way that Bush was the "every man" candidate.

She says all the things that appeal to the conservatives in America - and this forms a large percentage of the population.

The fact that she is not very bright and provides endless amusement for the left does not make her unelectable; far from it, she hits all the right buttons as far as a lot of voters are concerned. In addition, when she is exposed as the ignoramous she is, she can simply use the "elitist" put-down line and it makes her ever more popular with her fanbase.

It's all rather worrying imo

[Norseman]

It's all rather worrying imo

Worrying? It's hilarious! I hope she does get elected president since that would amuse me to no end. Of course I'm not in America and Palin is highly unlikely to back out of the US NATO obligations to Norway, so what do I care? President Palin, has a certain ring to it...

[Liberty]

Worrying? It's hilarious! I hope she does get elected president since that would amuse me to no end. Of course I'm not in America and Palin is highly unlikely to back out of the US NATO obligations to Norway, so what do I care? President Palin, has a certain ring to it...

Emphasis added.

Seriously? Bush started an effing war! America has the ability to mess up the world, that's just the way it is at the moment. I mean, your statement would be kind of like me saying I'd like to see a madman in charge of China. Um, NO!

And I know you're being sarcastic...but you do not live in the U.S., and there is no way in hell that I, as an American, want her to be president! This country is already fucked up enough.

I move between thinking that her failure would be obvious and all would see it and being afraid that she would be viewed as a literal second Reagan. And I don't want to find out!

[Norseman]

Worrying? It's hilarious! I hope she does get elected president since that would amuse me to no end. Of course I'm not in America and Palin is highly unlikely to back out of the US NATO obligations to Norway, so what do I care? President Palin, has a certain ring to it...

Emphasis added.

Seriously? Bush started an effing war! America has the ability to mess up the world, that's just the way it is at the moment. I mean, your statement would be kind of like me saying I'd like to see a madman in charge of China. Um, NO!

I don't live in the Middle-East or in any of dem thar furrin' countries with dem thar brown folk So what me worry?

And I know you're being sarcastic...but you do not live in the U.S., and there is no way in hell that I, as an American, want her to be president! This country is already fucked up enough.

I move between thinking that her failure would be obvious and all would see it and being afraid that she would be viewed as a literal second Reagan. And I don't want to find out!

[Yoda]Oh but you will! You will![/Yoda]

See I live in a country where one minister was fired for lying about her friendship with the newly appointed childrens ombudswoman, and another resigned shortly after they discovered that she'd illegally built an annex to her house. As you may have guessed this means that American politics is a constant source of disbelief and hilarity for me.

[Hillary]

It's all rather worrying imo

Worrying? It's hilarious! I hope she does get elected president since that would amuse me to no end. Of course I'm not in America and Palin is highly unlikely to back out of the US NATO obligations to Norway, so what do I care? President Palin, has a certain ring to it...

That's so utterly retarded. You honesly think that what happens in America doesn't affect you?

[Liberty]

It's all rather worrying imo

Worrying? It's hilarious! I hope she does get elected president since that would amuse me to no end. Of course I'm not in America and Palin is highly unlikely to back out of the US NATO obligations to Norway, so what do I care? President Palin, has a certain ring to it...

That's so utterly retarded. You honesly think that what happens in America doesn't affect you?

Thank you.

[SirNitram]

Broder furiously leg-humps those that fit his idea of conservative: Tough, manly men who will keep him safe from the wierd coloured people by launching wars. His swooning over McCain because he's a War Hero shows this(Sure, fine, warhero. Of course he's the literal definition of a carpetbagger when being a politician, moving to Arizona simply to run for office there.)

[RedImperator]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Palin will never be elected to public office again. She'll get slaughtered in any Republican presidential primary. The fact that she can tick every checkbox on the "retrograde fucktard campaign platform" list means shit; she'll be up against four or five others who can do the same thing (and more who will lie about it), none of whom resigned a state governorship mid-term for no apparent reason. Folksy charm will only get her so far, and as for her hardcore fans, well, ask Hillary Clinton how far hardcore fans will get you. Palin doesn't stand a chance in 2012. Haley Barbour and company will kick her ass up one side of the street and down the other.

This is assuming she even intends to run for anything. I'd be absolutely flabbergasted if she does. I mean, why would she? As a speaker, editorialist, and television bloviator, she can have power and influence without any of the actual responsibility of governing, and rake in the cash. Palin's most dangerous as a Republican fundraiser and campaigner, not as an electoral threat.

[Vympel]

Greenwald slammed this idiocy:-

Extract

I was fairly certain that Washington Press Corps Dean David Broder's career would end with his last memorably humiliating moment (of many) being this February, 2007, column, when he giddily announced that "President Bush is poised for a political comeback," that "Bush now shows signs of renewed energy and is regaining the initiative on several fronts," and that "he is demonstrating political smarts that even his critics have to acknowledge" -- only for Bush's approval ratings to continue to plummet until he finally left office as one of the most despised Americans politicians of the last 100 years. I was wrong.

Today, Broder pens a gushing love letter to Sarah Palin -- decreeing that we must "Take Sarah Palin seriously," admiring her "pitch-perfect recital of the populist message," and warning that she will be difficult to stop as a major political force -- on the very same day that his own newspaper published a poll reporting that Palin's "political standing has deteriorated significantly"; that "fifty-five percent of Americans have unfavorable views of her, while the percentage holding favorable views has dipped to 37, a new low in Post-ABC polling"; that "there is a growing sense that the former Alaska governor is not qualified to serve as president, with more than seven in 10 Americans now saying she is unqualified, up from 60 percent in a November survey"; that "even among Republicans, a majority now say Palin lacks the qualifications necessary for the White House"; and even that "Palin has lost ground among conservative Republicans," as "forty-five percent of conservatives now consider her as qualified for the presidency, down sharply from 66 percent who said so last fall." Could Man of the Regular Folk David Broder possibly be any more out of touch with the Regular Folk?

[Patrick Degan]

I can remember when Broder used to be better than this. Haven't read him in at least a decade and now I see what I haven't been missing.