Leave Her Alone
November 10th, 2008 © by Susan SwartzQuit chasing after Sarah Palin. Let the woman go. I say this as part of the pack that resented her, ridiculed her and obsessed over her for two months.
For many of us there was much not to like about Sarah Palin. She shrugged off global warming and considered the Iraq war an act of God. She thought Alaska women should pay for their own rape kits. She hunted animals from a helicopter and leaned on a city librarian to test her loyalty.
On top of that the Republican Party tried to package her as a new style feminist and offer her as their default Hillary Clinton. Oh, no. Sarah Palin didn’t speak for Hillary Clinton. She didn’t speak for me. I didn’t want her making history on my behalf.
I was in Denver during the Democratic convention, staying with a friend, who like me had started off a Clinton supporter. We’d been saying that it would be smart if the Republicans named a woman as John McCain’s running mate. Maybe Olympia Snow, Kay Bailey Hutchison or Susan Collins. Someone with a name and credentials who could be a serious challenge.
That Friday morning my friend turned on the TV and called out, “He did it. It’s the one from Alaska with the pony tail.” No threat there, we laughed.
Seemingly overnight she became a rock star with her face on every magazine. Rush Limbaugh called her a babe. Even intelligent male pundits made dreamy comments about her. She didn’t snooker everybody. “She’s the girl in high school who got by with a short skirt and a wink to the fat old history professor,” said one of my friends.
Let the woman go.
As she whipped up her adoring crowds with dangerous, reckless accusations about Barack Obama, I declared her the new Queen of Mean and said she deserved every negative review. I played the game and lapped up every cutting remark made by Jon Stewart and Rachel Maddow. Joined the Tina Fey fan club.
But then last Tuesday happened and she was no longer a worry. Had it turned out differently I would be sick to my stomach thinking of what might happen if John McCain slipped in his Jacuzzi. I feared Sarah Palin a whole lot more than I feared John McCain.
Now we discover that some anonymous McCain insiders did too, and the Republican brain trust has dropped her like a wet bath towel. Using her as scapegoat for losing the election, they began a turncoat attack that almost makes me feel sorry for her.
The Republicans anointed her, made her over, turned her into their hate-monger and forgot to give her a map of the world. When she didn’t deliver, they went after her with longer knives than the smug, eyebrow-cocking media that gloated every time she failed a trivia test. That same smirking media is back to rubbing their hands with glee.
Let her go. Get onto the important stuff. We’ve got our houses and jobs and two wars to deal with. And a president-elect setting a new model for behavior with his admonition on Tuesday night “to let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.”
In that spirit I’m willing to give up my hostility and forget the wink, the “say it ain’t so, Joe,” the “drill, baby, drill.” Give her one Valentino to wear with her Uggs and leave her to Alaska.
This commentary first appeared in the Santa Rosa (Ca.) Press Democrat in a “Close to Home” column.
Tags: Juicy_Tomatoes, Sarah_Palin, Susan_Swartz
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November 10th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
I did not like nor appreciate this article when I read it in the Close To Home section of The Press Democrat. It is unfortunate that you could not appreciate the task at hand that Sarah Palin was asked by her fellow Republicans. Whether she would have made the best Vice President is less concerning than the unfair and unjustified rhetoric you and other Democrats bestowed upon her. Dear Ms. Swartz, if you had been asked to represent others in such a capacity would you have been able to step up to the plate as Sarah Palin did? I dare say you discounted the due respect this woman deserved. In your last paragraph you state you are willing to give up your hostility toward Sarah Palin as there are larger issues to contend with. You are correct; it would please me to no end if you gave up your hostility and focused on the issues. And if you were completely honest with yourself and others, and took a deep breath and looked at the larger picture, beyond your sassy articles, that perhaps, just perhaps, Sarah Palin has much to offer this country. I expect she will be back, in all her glory, to tweak and “wink” the daylights out of columnists like you.
November 11th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Regarding your article about Sarah Palin Nov 8.When I read the headline “The time has come–”I hoped for a minute you were going to be a more gracious political Winner than you have been political Loser these past few years.However that bubble burst when I read the column and realized it was just another opportunity for you to repeat snide politicly irrelevant cracks. That is the kind of stuff those who cannot or will not discuss the issues resort to. I gave you more credit than that. Even my most anti Palin friends felt it was nasty.Donna Born
November 12th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Sarah six-shooter seemed to be simply an obvious move in a chess game. The good news is maybe we’ll have two new comedians – both John McCain and Sarah Palin displayed a proclivity for entertaining.
I very much appreciate your wisdom, humor and viewpoints, Susan. Thank you for your juicy writings.
November 28th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Dear SS
I wrote this in mid-October and although it’s not quite as relevant, I thought you might enjoy it.
(I couldn’t help it – Dylan’s “Sarah” on his wonderful Desire lp
has been begging for a little revision. With respect to St. Bob, here it is:)
SARAH
by stephen d gross
“I hid in a bush I loaded my gun
Had me too many kids, I refused to abort
I shot me a moose, I was jes’ havin’ fun
Call me hockey mom, it’s a ballbuster’s sport”
Sarah Sarah
With your shrill brittle voice
you drill holes in my mind
Sarah Sarah
What ever made you
the dull-witted kind?
“I can still see it bleedin’, its guts in the sand
I grabbed me my knife to strip off its hide
I held the wrong end I cut up my hand
my kids watched me bleed
then we went for a ride”
Sarah Sarah
the Republicans chose you to run as their veep
sarah sarah
whoever picked you gets far too much sleep
When you went to Wassila you captained the team
Barracuda your nickname, a fish to be feared
Then you tried junior college but ran out of steam
now you wish we’d acknowledge that Jesus appeared
Sarah Sarah mascara’d musher
and teacher of kids
sarah sarah you kept the bars open
then provided the skids
You ran down old lupus in a chopper one day
when he gave up you shot him, a game we abhor
You call it “sport” – morons must have their way
how else can they get a new rug on the floor?
Sarah Sarah dimwitted bimbo
Republican star
Sarah Sarah
her eyeballs are fixed
on the USSR
I still hear the sound of your corvid like croak
and the prickly tones of your harsh strident voice
you debated Joe Biden it seemed like a joke
McCain would bail out
but you’ve left him no choice
Sarah Sarah
aquarian queen in a pair of mukluks
Sarah Sarah
you might lead the free world
and that really sucks
It’s raining in Juneau the Governor’s left town
all the buddies she hired are running the State
she’s gone to DC, got a job as a clown
got a tank with hot air
and balloons to inflate
Sarah Sarah
evangelical leader of National cheers
Sarah Sarah
America’s no place for liberals and queers
stephen d gross
sdgross@sonic.net
bx69, monte rio 95462
865-0123