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The Palin effect

Copyright 2010

      If you think that Sarah Palin is a reasonable candidate for President of the United States then you probably hate everything that I have ever written. You most likely began ignoring me a long time ago. Probably before you reached this particular opinion piece. Oh, well.

      In any case, I might as well throw in my two cents worth.

      Sarah Palin is intelligent, if not well educated, and she has plenty of charisma and moxie. The problem is that her opinions are not her opinions. She is simply re-stating things that she heard someone else say. For example, here are some of the more essential Sarah Palin political quotes:

• "The 2010 health care reform package will lead to rationing of health care by a bureaucracy and the creation of death panels."

• "I oppose same sex marriage."

• "I oppose abortion including in cases of rape and incest."

• "I oppose embryonic stem cell research."

• "I support capital punishment."

• "I support the teaching of creationism in public schools as an alternative to natural selection."

• "I support abstinence based sex education in schools."

• "I support the right to carry a hand gun and oppose bans on semi-automatic assault weapons."

      This is simply a list of right wing GOP, or even the feared Tea Party, agenda points. In fact, have you ever heard her say something that was original or something that she came up with on her own? I mean, something that had anything to do with politics. That thing about being able to see Russia from Anchorage notwithstanding.

      The second concern that I have is that she has the unique ability to get people to agree with her even if she is not saying anything. She uses mannerisms and smiles and pauses to connect to people and to make them feel that they are just like her. Then, she is able to get them to actually think something like, "Sarah Palin would make a wonderful president because she is so much like me!"

      Of course, I'm thinking exactly the opposite. I don't want someone like me to be president. Are you kidding? A Levystien clone in the oval office? Well, I am fucking a Russian.

      Imagine that you have an average IQ of 100 and you live on a farm and you graduated number four hundred and seven in your high school class and you believe strongly in a fairy tale religion and you drink a lot of alcohol and you divorced your spouse and you have an anxiety condition and your daughter had an unwanted pregnancy and there is a confederate flag on your bedroom wall and you raise chickens for a living but...you want the president to be just like you!

      Don't you want the president to be an intellectual who graduated at the top of his or her Harvard Law School class and who is an expert on the constitution and who has done good works and who can get things done politically and whose personal life is clean, moral and ethical...hmmmm?

      The third and final point is this; The way that politics are supposed to work in this country is that the two parties balance each other out. When one party messes up, the country swings in the other direction. Then, the country corrects itself back in the original direction. Then, it corrects itself back...and so on, and so on, etc.

      Currently, the GOP messed up and the Democrats gained control of everything. We are now approaching the midterms of Obama's first term in office. A time at which there should be some political correction back towards the center. My concern is that there won't be a significant midterm correction due, in part, to The Palin Effect.

      At this moment in history, the GOP needs to counter with centrist Republicans who can beat Democrats in general elections. I'm afraid that Sarah Palin's voice in the national discussion might persuade Republicans to nominate marginated right wingers. These candidates will stand no chance against even weak Democrats. If there is little midterm correction, I predict the Democrats will think that their agenda has some sort of mandate. To me, that is not good. I call this The Palin Effect.

       I am a supporter of neither the Democrats nor the Republicans but I do support a fair battle on a level playing field. There must be a lot of back and forth debate. There must be checks and balances. I think The Palin Effect might screw this up. Or, do you like the image of Sarah screwing something? Yeah, I thought you did.

-Levystien    10/10/10

       Post script- I saw some of the debate in Delaware last night between Chris Coons and Christine O'Donnell. This should be a battle between Chris Coons and Mike Castle and it should be one of the seats the Republicans take from the Democrats. Instead, this Sarah Palin look-a-like and Tea Party darling will lose horribly in the general election. Independents and centrist intellectuals won't think she is a qualified candidate. This is a classic example of The Palin effect. 10/14/10

       Post script, Post script- The results are in!  The GOP has taken the house.  They gained ground in the Senate but the Democrats continue to have a small majority.  The Republican gains were significant but they could have been bigger if not for The Palin effect.  In fact, they might have tied or won in the Senate.  I am happy with the results.  I think that the clear message is that Washington needs to stop all its partisan bickering and work together.  And I think that Mr. Obama gets that.  11/03/10

       Post script, Post script, Post script- Yeah, Mr. Obama pretty much gave up on working together thing. On the other hand, we have not heard much from Sarah in a while, which is a good thing.   9/13/10

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