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Sarah Palin: The Next Cheney
Rather than painting Sarah Palin as a bumbling incompetent, I think the Obama campaign needs to turn the tables, and start making the following argument:
Palin is the next Cheney. She has a lot in common with him. First, she believes she is above the law and that executive power is not subject to any outside limitation (see Troopergate). Second, she brooks no disagreements from subordinates and has wielded her power in a bullying fashion against those in her own administration who questioned her, rather than listening to their concerns. Third, she is an ideological extremist, attempting to ban books at her local library, someone who actively supports a church in which disagreements with the Bush administration are viewed as sins that will send you to hell.
Finally, and most importantly, she is already more powerful than her running mate. It is her agenda and policies that are now running the nominal "McCain campaign." McCain has revealed himself to be a weak leader, caving in to pressure from the extreme wing of the party. Palin has the rabid support and loyalty of the base; McCain does not. He is an isolated and impotent figurehead, a stranger in his own party. In power, then, it would be Palin setting the course for the administration. Given her support from the right-wing base, she will be determining who gets appointed to important government positions.
The point should be that if you want to have four more years of our federal government being run by ideological zealots whose first allegiance will be to the VP, and not to the good of the country -- then vote for Palin/McCain.
It's time to stop playing into the "victim" and "outsider" narratives that Palin is exploiting, and time to start emphasizing the incredible power that she will be wielding if she comes to office, given McCain's weakness and lack of a real constituency in his own party. That's downright scary, not innocuous.
This line of attack takes advantage of all the excitement and idolatry for Palin, and steers it to Obama's advantage, showing it to be a dangerous cult of personality.
Palin is the next Cheney. She has a lot in common with him. First, she believes she is above the law and that executive power is not subject to any outside limitation (see Troopergate). Second, she brooks no disagreements from subordinates and has wielded her power in a bullying fashion against those in her own administration who questioned her, rather than listening to their concerns. Third, she is an ideological extremist, attempting to ban books at her local library, someone who actively supports a church in which disagreements with the Bush administration are viewed as sins that will send you to hell.
Finally, and most importantly, she is already more powerful than her running mate. It is her agenda and policies that are now running the nominal "McCain campaign." McCain has revealed himself to be a weak leader, caving in to pressure from the extreme wing of the party. Palin has the rabid support and loyalty of the base; McCain does not. He is an isolated and impotent figurehead, a stranger in his own party. In power, then, it would be Palin setting the course for the administration. Given her support from the right-wing base, she will be determining who gets appointed to important government positions.
The point should be that if you want to have four more years of our federal government being run by ideological zealots whose first allegiance will be to the VP, and not to the good of the country -- then vote for Palin/McCain.
It's time to stop playing into the "victim" and "outsider" narratives that Palin is exploiting, and time to start emphasizing the incredible power that she will be wielding if she comes to office, given McCain's weakness and lack of a real constituency in his own party. That's downright scary, not innocuous.
This line of attack takes advantage of all the excitement and idolatry for Palin, and steers it to Obama's advantage, showing it to be a dangerous cult of personality.
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Great post, Hamiltonian.
Let's look at your analysis from another perspective.
Consider the Tokugawa shogunate: for 300+ years the Tokugawa family heads were the real powers in Japan, administering the government. The Emperor with a reduced establishment, was revered but exerted little influence on the day to day affairs or the policy decisions.
There were manifest political advantages to this kind of arrangement.
A political scientist might argue that the Bush administration was the closest thing our country has experienced to a shogunate. The real power in many cases was exerted through the Office of the Vice President.
Bush was the popular, folksy figurehead, while Cheney, the ruthless Cromwellian administrator really pushed the unpopular, undemocratic, and unconstitutional initiatives.
The Republicans may be tinkering with our form of government.
If McCain/Palin gets elected..watch to see the staffing decisions at the OVP...that will tell alot about the GOP's plan for the office.
September 5, 2008 10:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Absolutely! The minute I saw that curled lip and the utter glee with which she made those sneering, untrue insults, that's precisely who I saw. Everything I've learned about her since only confirms the impression. Dick-Cheyney-In-A-Dress I think I called her in a post the day after her speech.
She proves that Obama and Biden are 100% right -- electing McCain/Palin will be a direct return to the last 8 years ..... or worse. I don't think McCain quite realizes what he's done (or .. what's been done to him???) She's turned on everyone who has given her a leg up so far (Murkowski, Stevens, etc.) - she'll turn on him.
This isn't just an argument -- I think this is very accurate. I've served on boards with two women like this. Shudder!
September 5, 2008 10:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
The best thing for Obama/Axelrod to do is to bash PALIN with all they have. She is actually the threat.
McCain wanted Lieberman for his VP. While Lieberman is pathetic in his own way, he is simply not the threat to America's institutions that Cheney is or Palin would be, or that McCain could be on his own. Many speculated that Republicans had simply given up this election year, since McCain is not liked within his Party and is in some ways as much an outlier as Arlen Specter (those who thought McCain should have picked Olympia Snowe as his VP simply do not know the nature of the GOP).
September 5, 2008 10:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
let me rephrase the section on Lieberman and other freaks of nature.
"Lieberman is a pathetic choice in its own way, but neither Lieberman nor McCain, to my knowledge, are the wannabe Imperial Executives that Cheney is, or Palin would be, and consequently do not represent the same kind of threat these latter two are to America's institutions."
Neither would be McCain's second choice, Tom Ridge.
Either of these would make sense as a 'maverick' moderate Republican ticket, and send the RNC through the roof with righteous fury.
It is significant that McCain by himself would choose social liberals, pro-choice, opposed to anti-gay marriage amendments, and would not ignite the Culture War.
The Republicans' strategy, and John McCain's, are not the same. One wonders who Obama will truly be running against this fall.
September 6, 2008 7:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm really surprised that such a monster can enjoy a better than 80% approval rate among her constituents and is apparently liked by most everyone who knows her.
Sheesh... there must be some gullible folks in Alaska and all but the handful of critics that have been found must be scared out of their wits that she's going to hop onto a plane, fly to their remote village, walk to their house (because cars are scarce in much of the state) and just slap the silly right off of their face.
September 6, 2008 6:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Democrats should also be reminding voters incessently that George Bush was a governor too before he became our most incompetent president. "Executive experience" may not be all it's cracked up to be.
September 6, 2008 8:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
As was Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, etc., etc.
September 6, 2008 10:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
But Cheney was tremendously experienced, the consumate insider, a powerbroker. Cheney in the 1990s didn't seem quite as evil as he turned out to be -- the sneering bully abusing his office.
Bush was 'average guy', yucking it up, wiseass. This was a facade. He managed to downplay and hide his extremist religious/social views during the 2000 campaign. People found out later that he was pro-torture, a bully, a thug, a cheater, and a liar.
Palin is all of these things, wrapped in the same 'folksy' package as Bush.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/09/sarah-w-bush.php
I still think she is more like Bush than anyone. He was "down to earth" and "fun to have a beer with". Trivia replaces serious scrutiny of his radical policies. Same thing is happening now.
September 6, 2008 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
But Cheney was tremendously experienced, the consumate insider, a powerbroker. Cheney in the 1990s didn't seem quite as evil as he turned out to be -- the sneering bully abusing his office.
Bush was 'average guy', yucking it up, wiseass. This was a facade. He managed to downplay and hide his extremist religious/social views during the 2000 campaign. People found out later that he was pro-torture, a bully, a thug, a cheater, and a liar.
Palin is all of these things, wrapped in the same 'folksy' package as Bush.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/09/sarah-w-bush.php
I still think she is more like Bush than anyone. He was "down to earth" and "fun to have a beer with". Trivia replaces serious scrutiny of his radical policies. Same thing is happening now.
September 6, 2008 6:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
But Cheney was tremendously experienced, the consumate insider, a powerbroker. Cheney in the 1990s didn't seem quite as evil as he turned out to be -- the sneering bully abusing his office.
Bush was 'average guy', yucking it up, wiseass. This was a facade. He managed to downplay and hide his extremist religious/social views during the 2000 campaign. People found out later that he was pro-torture, a bully, a thug, a cheater, and a liar.
Palin is all of these things, wrapped in the same 'folksy' package as Bush.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/09/sarah-w-bush.php
I still think she is more like Bush than anyone. He was "down to earth" and "fun to have a beer with". Trivia replaces serious scrutiny of his radical policies. Same thing is happening now.
September 6, 2008 6:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Grrrrr. I get it. Either your post is deleted, or shows up 5 times.
September 6, 2008 6:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
For the ammunition we all need to understand who Sarah Palin is, take a look at the 2006 document compiled by the Democratic candidate for governor, Tony Knowles.
You can access the 63-page document from http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/palin-vetting-documents-from-2006-for-hard-core-palin-addicts-only/
or http://www.politico.com/static/PPM106_palin_doc.html, but I'd advise saving a copy of it pretty fast. WikiLinks has already lost theirs, somehow.
September 6, 2008 9:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry—that was Wikinews: en.wikinews.org/wiki/Alaska_Dems_have_dossier_on_Palin;_includes_personal_data - 24k -. There's the happy message "There is currently no text in this page, you can search for this page title in other pages or create this page."
September 6, 2008 9:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fixed link:
http://www.politico.com/static/PPM106_palin_doc.html
September 6, 2008 9:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
After spending too much time reading comments on the ADN site, the mystery of the Palin's overwhelming support comes down to the extreme self-identification Alaskans have with Alaska. Even the few commenters who will vote Dem cite the fact that what matters most is that they are Alaska's First Family.
The most high profile Dem to heap praise is none other than Senator Mike Gravel. He also inadvertently highlights another troubling aspect of how this talented pair of grifters work as a team and offers his "advice" to Sarah:
"President Kennedy said that the White House is a poor place to make new friends. That’s why his father Joe Kennedy insisted Jack keep Bobby close to him. This would apply to the vice president office. Sarah: keep up the practice of having Todd hang out with you in your official capacities. Insist that he be given a clearance equal to yours, so that you are not excluded from the full depth of his counsel. If push comes to shove, he is the only one you can trust. He must study, read and grow in your office as quickly as you. What you face is more than one person can handle. The two of you must be a political and intellectual team."
http://www.counterpunch.org/gravel09032008.html
September 6, 2008 9:51 PM | Reply | Permalink