Mrs. Palin Goes To Washington
I am reading the very interesting profile of Sarah Palin in Vanity Fair. It covers the usual bases of her now disillusioned constituents from Wasilla, the shadowy secret organization behind the lady and her career, and some of her greatest flubs, like the Clothing-Gate and Trooper-Gate. It does add color to the very believable profile of a mean and spiteful figure who is glad to wield her power vindictively.
While I am very concerned about her influence on American politics and I am amazed about her success, there is less question about why she is has taken the road to the 2012 Presidential Election.
I think about one of the most influential films in my youth, “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington”. The film which helped to define the word “Capra-esque”, is the story of how a very powerful political machine influences a naïve “Boy Rangers” leader after he is appointed U.S. Senator.
The film mirrors the selection of Palin for running mate by the John McCain presidential campaign, although in hindsight, it seems like McCain is more like Jeff Smith than Palin when he failed to see pass the very thin façade of the woman from Alaska.
Maybe a kinder read on John McCain is comparing him to the senior Senator, Joseph Paine. Amusingly, there is some physical similarity between the white-maned Claude Raines and McCain.
Senator Paine was portrayed as a man of integrity early in his career, but is now glad to be the running dog of the political machine which gained him his office.
McCain was certainly the best choice for the Republicans in 2008: he had the highest profile in the party and compared to others like Mitt Romney, had earned the most respect.
However, the Republican Party was still captained by George W. Bush, who in light of his many egregious faults obviously had the shrewdest political people supporting his election efforts.
Remember that McCain and Bush were running against each other in 2000. Well, at least until South Carolina (google the capitalized keywords in this paragraph for your edification).
While 2008 was McCain’s time, I would imagine that operators like Karl Rove and Dick Cheney could easily help or hinder his campaign. As much as it probably stuck in his craw, McCain had to seek their approval and advice as well as their boss’s before he could accept the nomination.
One question I have always wondered about and has never been answered is why exactly Palin was chosen as McCain’s running mate over presumably better choices.
Wisely, no one involved in either camp has ever spoken a word. Even McCain’s daughter Meaghan, a young and active political blogger who has just published a book about the campaign, has only hinted at their family’s real feelings towards Palin, even as their political relationship became more and more strained.
It seems obvious now that McCain personally knew almost nothing about Palin before the Republican National Convention. The rumor was that he wanted his friend Joe Lieberman in an unprecedented cross-party selection.
The process of choosing a Vice President is extremely complex, more than any other position in government. While considering qualifications and abilities is critical since he or she will be your replacement, how this person will help your chances of winning the Presidency is possibly an even more important criterion.
What makes this process so complex though, is the absolute secrecy behind the choice. A very tight group of advisers perform the personal research behind the short list of candidates. All contact between the campaign and the possible VP has to be kept to an absolute minimum lest your very presence reveals your secret. No one had even an inkling that Sarah Palin, a virtual nobody south of Canada, was on this list.
I doubt McCain spent more than a half day with Palin before deciding she was qualified to be the most important person in his political life.
In the opening of the film, after the sniveling Governor made the surprise choice of Jeff Smith, the sinister boss threw his machine’s powerful support behind Smith after consulting with Senator Paine.
The reasoning behind the approval of Smith’s appointment was simple; he had a perfect record which comes in having done almost nothing.
Paine believed he could control Smith because of seemingly personal simplicity combined with Smith’s reverence for the Senior Senator. But he had made a miscalculation of Smith’s independence and he had also incorrectly assumed his own corruption would mean that Smith’s ethics could be similarly subverted.
Now who plays the political boss in real life? Not anyone from the Bush Administration, who were emotionally and ethically exhausted from running our country into the ground, nor the Republican leaders in Congress, who can barely hold a candle to McCain as a politician or as a man.
I believe the political boss is Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News. In the era of the 1930’s, the most corruptible racket was public works contracts, which is what the political boss from the film profited from and his minion, the Senator, was ordered to protect.
Today our most profitable resource is Information, which is readily available from devices in our pants pocket.
There is no need to try to illegally divert government funds, when you can control the government with what you print and broadcast.
It is amusing to compare how the news of Jeff Smith’s filibuster was manipulated by 1930’s media to today’s news.
Scenes of reporters rushing to a bank of payphones are unknown to many today and youtube and personal blogs are far superior replacements to the Boy Rangers’ printing press and paperboys.
But the behind-the-scenes manipulation is no different in the last century as it is today. Instead of paying off reporters to publish favorable stories, Fox bypasses the traditional news structure by employing radio announcers, such as Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, whose gravitas is far superior to their impartiality and accuracy.
There is one comparison between virtuous Jeff Smith and the shrewish Sarah Palin: their attempt to speak their own way.
Smith is forced to filibuster to be heard. Palin avoids the question-and-answer process of traditional news by using Facebook, the paid lecture circuit, and being interviewed only on Fox News.
While it was never shown, after his trial-by-fire, Smith became savvy with the ways of politics and news. Palin, whose political skill has already surpassed her leadership and governing abilities, may never achieve another office but has certainly changed politics and media in her short time in the spotlight.
While I am very concerned about her influence on American politics and I am amazed about her success, there is less question about why she is has taken the road to the 2012 Presidential Election.
I think about one of the most influential films in my youth, “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington”. The film which helped to define the word “Capra-esque”, is the story of how a very powerful political machine influences a naïve “Boy Rangers” leader after he is appointed U.S. Senator.
The film mirrors the selection of Palin for running mate by the John McCain presidential campaign, although in hindsight, it seems like McCain is more like Jeff Smith than Palin when he failed to see pass the very thin façade of the woman from Alaska.
Maybe a kinder read on John McCain is comparing him to the senior Senator, Joseph Paine. Amusingly, there is some physical similarity between the white-maned Claude Raines and McCain.
Senator Paine was portrayed as a man of integrity early in his career, but is now glad to be the running dog of the political machine which gained him his office.
McCain was certainly the best choice for the Republicans in 2008: he had the highest profile in the party and compared to others like Mitt Romney, had earned the most respect.
However, the Republican Party was still captained by George W. Bush, who in light of his many egregious faults obviously had the shrewdest political people supporting his election efforts.
Remember that McCain and Bush were running against each other in 2000. Well, at least until South Carolina (google the capitalized keywords in this paragraph for your edification).
While 2008 was McCain’s time, I would imagine that operators like Karl Rove and Dick Cheney could easily help or hinder his campaign. As much as it probably stuck in his craw, McCain had to seek their approval and advice as well as their boss’s before he could accept the nomination.
One question I have always wondered about and has never been answered is why exactly Palin was chosen as McCain’s running mate over presumably better choices.
Wisely, no one involved in either camp has ever spoken a word. Even McCain’s daughter Meaghan, a young and active political blogger who has just published a book about the campaign, has only hinted at their family’s real feelings towards Palin, even as their political relationship became more and more strained.
It seems obvious now that McCain personally knew almost nothing about Palin before the Republican National Convention. The rumor was that he wanted his friend Joe Lieberman in an unprecedented cross-party selection.
The process of choosing a Vice President is extremely complex, more than any other position in government. While considering qualifications and abilities is critical since he or she will be your replacement, how this person will help your chances of winning the Presidency is possibly an even more important criterion.
What makes this process so complex though, is the absolute secrecy behind the choice. A very tight group of advisers perform the personal research behind the short list of candidates. All contact between the campaign and the possible VP has to be kept to an absolute minimum lest your very presence reveals your secret. No one had even an inkling that Sarah Palin, a virtual nobody south of Canada, was on this list.
I doubt McCain spent more than a half day with Palin before deciding she was qualified to be the most important person in his political life.
In the opening of the film, after the sniveling Governor made the surprise choice of Jeff Smith, the sinister boss threw his machine’s powerful support behind Smith after consulting with Senator Paine.
The reasoning behind the approval of Smith’s appointment was simple; he had a perfect record which comes in having done almost nothing.
Paine believed he could control Smith because of seemingly personal simplicity combined with Smith’s reverence for the Senior Senator. But he had made a miscalculation of Smith’s independence and he had also incorrectly assumed his own corruption would mean that Smith’s ethics could be similarly subverted.
Now who plays the political boss in real life? Not anyone from the Bush Administration, who were emotionally and ethically exhausted from running our country into the ground, nor the Republican leaders in Congress, who can barely hold a candle to McCain as a politician or as a man.
I believe the political boss is Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News. In the era of the 1930’s, the most corruptible racket was public works contracts, which is what the political boss from the film profited from and his minion, the Senator, was ordered to protect.
Today our most profitable resource is Information, which is readily available from devices in our pants pocket.
There is no need to try to illegally divert government funds, when you can control the government with what you print and broadcast.
It is amusing to compare how the news of Jeff Smith’s filibuster was manipulated by 1930’s media to today’s news.
Scenes of reporters rushing to a bank of payphones are unknown to many today and youtube and personal blogs are far superior replacements to the Boy Rangers’ printing press and paperboys.
But the behind-the-scenes manipulation is no different in the last century as it is today. Instead of paying off reporters to publish favorable stories, Fox bypasses the traditional news structure by employing radio announcers, such as Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, whose gravitas is far superior to their impartiality and accuracy.
There is one comparison between virtuous Jeff Smith and the shrewish Sarah Palin: their attempt to speak their own way.
Smith is forced to filibuster to be heard. Palin avoids the question-and-answer process of traditional news by using Facebook, the paid lecture circuit, and being interviewed only on Fox News.
While it was never shown, after his trial-by-fire, Smith became savvy with the ways of politics and news. Palin, whose political skill has already surpassed her leadership and governing abilities, may never achieve another office but has certainly changed politics and media in her short time in the spotlight.
I see that Sarah Palin must have read my blog post because she wrote several pages in her new book about "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington".
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/sarah-palins-favorite-com_b_787936.html