Charles Kaiser on conservative pundits' love affair with Palin

The polls taken immediately after last week's vice presidential debate suggest that the "good sense of the American people" hasn't disappeared altogether, after all. I've rarely seen a larger disconnect between the public's actual reaction to a public event and the inane observations of pundits too old, too dumb, or just too star-struck ("She winked at me!") to realize what is really going on. See below:

FANTASY REACTIONS FROM THE PUNDITS: REALITY POLLS: "If ever a candidacy needed bolstering, it was this one. And based on what she showed against Biden, Palin might be able to deliver some help...She appeared cool as a cucumber, comfortable with her talking points and unrattled by anything that was thrown at her." — David Broder for the Washington Post CNN BIDEN PALIN 51 36   "I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America." —Rich Lowry for The Corner CBS BIDEN PALIN 46 21   "She killed. She had him at "Nice to meet you. Hey, can I call you Joe?" She was the star... Sarah Palin saved John McCain again Thursday night. She is the political equivalent of cardiac paddles: Clear! Zap! We've got a beat! She will re-electrify the base. More than that, an hour and a half of talking to America will take her to a new level of stardom." —Peggy Noonan for The Wall St. Journal FOX (!!) BIDEN PALIN 61 39

Not since Jim Jones led the "Peoples Temple Agricultural Project" to Guyana 30 years ago has one class of people (the Conservative politburo) drunk such a powerful kool-aid, to the astonishment of everyone else watching them. Just today, Bill Kristol rhapsodized in the New York Times, "Hockey Mom Knows Best"! How is it possible for these people to pretend that a woman whose most impressive talent is the capacity to wink and drop her g's at the same time is actually qualified to be president?

First, you have to be willing to do anything to hold onto power. And for John McCain to do that—with two endless wars and an economic meltdown as the signature achievements of the current Republican administration—his advisers decreed that he had to have someone who would energize the religious-fanatic base of his party, and that is the one real contribution Sarah Palin has made to his candidacy. Second, you need an unrivaled willingness to suspend disbelief, after your "star" candidate has been unable to name any Supreme Court Decision, or recall the name of a single newspaper or magazine. But more than anything else, you need a bottomless contempt for the craft of governing.

The economic interests conservative columnists represent were served perfectly (until now) by the least competent president of the last one hundred years. So why not choose someone even dumber and more malleable to be one heartbeat away from the White House?

With his poll numbers plummeting and literally nothing substantive to run on, McCain's campaign has announced its intention to run out the clock with the politics of personal destruction—exactly the same kind of smear campaign Karl Rove used to defeat McCain when he ran for president eight years ago. "We've got to question this guy's associations," a McCain aide told the Washington Post. "Very soon. There's no question that we have to change the subject here,"

On Saturday, the New York Times contributed Palin's latest talking point by running 2,155 words on Barack Obama's history with Bill Ayers, the former Weatherman with whom Obama has had a casual association since he moved to Chicago. Written by Scott Shane, the piece was thorough and balanced—but also thoroughly over-played as the second most important story of the day, in the off-lead position on the front page.

Shane told FCP that this was the most important news in his piece: "My story was the first to debunk the speculation in many recent pieces that Ayers had engineered Obama's appointment as chairman of the board of the Annenberg Challenge. I quoted Deborah Leff and Patricia Graham on the record as denying that and explaining that they were responsible for the appointment without any involvement from Ayers. This may seem petty, but anyone who reads recent posts by Stanley Kurtz and Stephen Diamond will find that it is a lynchpin of a theory which my reporting disproved: that Obama and Ayers might have a relationship going back to the 80s and, therefore, Ayers wanted Obama in the Annenberg job. Both those claims appear to be untrue... I think the editors believed it was important to address the issue in detail, even at this late date, because it continues to get significant play in ads and publications."

So the main thrust of the story was to debunk the idea that Ayers and Obama had ever been close. Shane conceded that the timing of his piece could have been better: "Should we have written a big piece on this back in April when the issue first got broad attention? My answer would be yes." But since the piece appeared in October, Palin naturally used it this way: "It turns out one of Barack's earliest supporters is a man who according to the New York Times—and are they ever wrong?—according to the New York Times was a domestic terrorist... Our opponent... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect... that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country. Americans need to know this."

Well, at least she is finally able to remember the name of one newspaper.

---

Seen Something? E-mail to alert me to anything you see that warrants high praise or high dudgeon.
Charles Kaiser is the author of The Gay Metropolis and 1968 in America. He has been media editor for Newsweek, a member of the metro staff of the New York Times, and a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, where he covered the press and book publishing. To learn more, visit charleskaiser.com.


READ MORE
• Full Court Press: Good news and bad news for Obama, farewell to Paul Newman, and this week's winners and sinners
• Full Court Press: Charles Kaiser on the failed Wall Street bailout
• Today's Top Stories