The real Sarah Palin (photo by The Unablogger)
Last week when former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin visited President Obama’s political base in Chicago to speak at a fund raising event, Democrat allies (in this case, a Chicago strip club) countered with a Sarah Palin look-alike contest and strip-a-thon. The Chicago Tribune reported that the “contest” consisted essentially of seven professional dancers with ties to the club taking turns doffing their obligatory glasses and most of the rest of their vaguely Palinesque get-ups. The promotion drew a packed house.
This is just the latest (and far from the last) of a continuing series of belittling attacks on Palin, made in an attempt to diminish her public stature. Leftists in all public walks of life, especially entertainers and the lame stream media, constantly degrade her with passing cheap shots, trying to create a false cumulative public impression that she is an intellectual light-weight.
Why do they bother? If Palin were really as comically ill-prepared as they portray her, wouldn’t Democrats hope and pray (if they believed in God) that Republicans nominate Palin as their presidential candidate?
The fact is, Democrats and their partisan allies fall over themselves belittling Palin because they fear her popularity and power. Their own flacks and focus-group gurus have warned them in no uncertain terms that Palin connects with ordinary people better than any other politician in either party. Social and political elites (who are now predominantly Democrat) are terrified by her potential to transfer power and influence from themselves to ordinary folks.
I had the privilege of meeting briefly with Palin (and former First Dude Todd) in Independence, Missouri, earlier this month, and her sincerity and gravitas were obvious from the very first moment. Later she took the stage and electrified the crowd with a natural charisma that hasn’t been seen in a Republican since Ronald Reagan. And she has been exercising political leadership by taking sides in contested primaries to help insure that the best possible nominees represent the party, sometimes with the establishment (as with John McCain and Missouri’s Roy Blunt) but often against the grain (as with South Carolina’s Nikki Haley). Palin demonstrates a unique ability to practice conservative feminism without getting mired in identity politics.
Democrats are right to fear Palin’s appeal. And America has much to gain from it. It’s just a matter of time.
On the other hand, perhaps I’m reading too much conspiracy shtick into this. Maybe Palin was the public figure selected as the subject of this event, because an Elena Kagan, Janet Napolitano or Robin Carnahan look-alike strip-a-thon just wasn’t much of a draw.
The Unablogger 