Why Would Anyone Dislike Sarah Palin?
By Jesse Singal - Nov 17th, 2008 at 11:59 amAfter witnessing the poise, energy, and panache with which John McCain’s 44-year-old running mate handled herself on the national stage, can the backbiters working overtime to trash her intellect really believe she is nothing but a vain and ignorant airhead? Well, maybe; partisans and ideologues are good at seeing only what they want to see.
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I suspect that the loathing of Palin by so much of the opinion elite is driven not by contempt for her brainpower but by fear of her political potential. She is cheerful and charismatic, an unabashed and likable conservative who generates extraordinary grassroots enthusiasm.
It’s amazing to me that conservatives are so confused by the fact that many people took an almost instant dislike to Palin that they have to posit alternate, partisan reasons for it.
The simplest explanation for something is often the most accurate one, and in this case the simplest explanation isn’t overwhelming bias on the part of Palin’s critics, but rather the unnerving feeling one gets when someone who could one day run the country is unable to answer even simple questions. And the fact that this unease translated into dislike–and, in a few instances, yes, hatred, because people of every political stripe get overly passionate during the height of election season–can be traced back to Palin’s unfailing cheerfulness about her lack of knowledge of anything, to the fact that she, like President Bush, clearly sees certitude as a workable substitute for curiosity.
This was apparent in just about every television interview she conducted. Perhaps Jacoby should rewatch the tapes.
As an aside, Jacoby should get some bonus points for this:
Not everyone on the left is in a gibbering rage over Palin. The feminist social critic Camille Paglia, a pro-choice Democrat, is appalled by the Democrats’ anti-Palin debauch, especially their attacks on her intelligence. “As a career classroom teacher, I can see how smart she is,” Paglia writes, “and, quite frankly, I think the people who don’t see it are the stupid ones, wrapped in the fuzzy mummy-gauze of their own worn-out partisan dogma.”
Wow. Camille Paglia, that belwether of progressivism, liked Palin? Clearly we didn’t give the Governor enough credit for garnering cross-party appeal.
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