Sustaining the Beast

It is interesting to note that there is a concerted effort amongst a vast swathe of the media, and associated elite, to keep Sarah Palin at the forefront of peoples minds - in the worst way possible.  The image they want people to have of her are:

1. She's stupid
To reinforce this they refer to any one of the following;
 - she's doesn't read (Katie Couric)
 - she can see Russia from her house (Tina Fey)
 - she thinks North Korea is an ally (Glenn Beck)
 - she writes on her hand (Self)
 - she makes words up (Refudiate)

It doesn't matter that the first three aren't based on fact - if even the supposedly smart (yes you Krauthammer) buy into these then it's a simple task to get the great unwashed stupid Americans to believe it to be true.

2. She's not qualified to be President
To reinforce this they refer to any one of the following;

 - she's a quitter
 - she doesn't have gravitas (Karl Rove)
 - she doesn't have any foreign policy credentials
 - she's polarizing
 - she's uneducated


The interesting thing is that the "She's Stupid" approach will be the first to fall - and they know this.  You will start seeing fewer and fewer references to her mental faculties as 2011 rolls along.

For the other points, my thoughts are:

• the quitter effect will be reduced to insignificance by the end of 2011
• the gravitas one is an interesting one because it's usually associated with old white men. This is an interesting take on gravitas.  I think that if I listen to someone like Ronald Reagan, and then I listen to Sarah Palin, they are clearly two different people and based on that I could be made to say that Reagan has more gravitas than Palin.  But I could also read the following and infer gravitas:

 ...I hope and pray that we share the same bedrock beliefs.  It is our responsibility to preserve and pass on those beliefs ....they are what make the citizens of this great country Americans - not by blood, or race, or creed, but by heart.  May we always be so.  Sarah Palin - America by Heart

• the lack of foreign policy credentials is real - I think she will work on that in 2011.
• she's polarizing....no kidding Sherlock !  She makes leftists want to leave the USA. That's a good thing.
• she's uneducated....somehow I think that the lack of an Ivy league education may stand her in good stead with those great unwashed stupid Americans out there that Oprah has a lot of faith in

2011 is going to a beast of a year