If you read John Grisham's 2008 book "The Appeal" the parallels are frightening. In the book, Grisham tells the captivating story of a young attorney thrust into a race for the Mississippi Supreme Court. Behind the nefarious plan to sell him to the public and get him elected, is a powerful CEO who wants to get a judgment against his chemical company reversed so he can continue to undermine the public interest with impunity.
Ron Fisk's handlers stop at nothing when it comes to smearing his even tempered opponent who doesn't see this coming. And Ron, who's captivated by all the attention and pampering he's receiving all of a sudden, sits back and enjoys the ride.
Sarah Palin is just like Mr. Fisk. She was thrust into the spotlight in the blink of an eye, and willingly turned her life over to Kark Rove's proteges, to futher the agenda of the radical right.
Now I'm more cynical than most people and never dismissed Palin as a token choice or the second coming of Dan Quayle (note: Quayle did get elected). Palin is a manufactured candidate in that she's (1) Unknown, (2) a Movement Conservative, (3) Young and attractive, (4) Cooperative. The narrative we're getting from the GOP spin machine follows the script of "The Appeal" almost to the letter.
Many of my fellow progressives failed to see the forest from the trees here. Yes Palin is a typical fringe-right politician. Her actions at the city and state levels reflect that; and surely there are scandals that raise legitimate questions about her character and fitness to serve. Sarah Palin is someone who once inquired into ways to ban books from the public library, and who's potential for corruption rivals that of Alberto Gonzales and Karl Rove. These "blemishes" on her record couldn't have been unknown to Republican operatives either.
But their plan was always to allow these facts attacks to bubble up to the surface, and then feign victimhood by throwing around baseless accusations like "sexism", or fiction like "liberal media".
And all of sudden we have a VICTIM!! A beautiful, strong-willed woman, a rising star of the conservative movement, a loving mother of five, with a "compelling narrative", who's getting viciously attacked by liberals. And that's how our national discourse gets hijacked once again. It won't be about real issues anymore, and that's exactly how the Republicans like it. We'll be hearing about the "bitter" comments, the importance of executive experience (even if it's signing an order to put a yellow light in Wasilla's main intersection), and how that experience is "far superior to whatever a lowly community organizer does". We'll be hearing about "Freedom" and "Choice"... no, no that kind! These terms are code for "freedom from regulation" for the Energy, Insurance, Pharma, and Finance sectors. And like the late George Carlin once said these are "The Owners of this Country".
Thankfully for them they have a political party that looks after their interests and pretends to care about everyone else's.... but that's how Compassionate Conservatism works.
Can we stop the GOP's spin machine? We weren't able to do it in 2004, and if there was ever a year.... it was then. Yes we have a much better candidate now. Yes we're able to raise a lot more money now. But we must remain focused, and we must remain hungry.
As an aside, Hillary Clinton owes it to her party and her supporters to come out swinging against Sarah Palin's demagoguery and the Republican's sexist assumptions that women will now vote for McCain because of Sarah Palin's anatomy.
Please donate some money to the Obama campaign. Our country cannot afford a Ron Fisk in the White House.