Sarah Tops Caroline in, You Know, Every Way
God love the National Review’s Victor Davis Hansen for pointing out the differences between the experience of Governor Sarah Palin and dilatante Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg. He writes:
The putative Caroline Kennedy candidacy for senator has had the odd effect of reopening the media can of worms treatment of Gov. Palin. Compared to Sarah Palin’s almost immediate immersion into crowds and public speaking, Kennedy seems like a deer in the headlights before the media that is either ignored or asked to submit written questions. Palin was a natural; Kennedy can’t finish a single sentence without “You know” or “I mean.” Palin’s family saga and daily grind were populist to the core; Kennedy is a creature of a few blocks’ radius in Manhattan and Martha’s Vineyard.
Outsider and lower-middle-class Palin toughed it out in Wasilla for years of politicking on a 16-year slog through Alaskan old-boy politics; Caroline Kennedy in regal fashion apparently skipped voting in about half of New York elections, and has never run for anything.
Reporters swarmed over Palin’s pregnancies, and her wardrobe, but apparently took on face value that Caroline’s fluff books were really a sign of either erudition or scholarship.
Conservative Palin endured liberal Charlie Gibson’s glasses0on-the nose pretentiousness, and Katie Couric’s attack-dog questions; insider Kennedy I doubt will meet with either, much less sit down with a hostile questioner like a Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly. Her friendly New York Times “interview” proved an embarrassment—rarely have so many words been spoken with so little content.
But, no, the real embarrassment proves to be the media itself that apparently can’t see this weird unfolding self-incriminating morality tale: It is not just that Palin is conservative, Kennedy politically-correct (e.g., pro-abortion, gun control, gay marriage, etc), or Palin a newcomer to public attention, Kennedy a celebrity since childhood. Rather it is the aristocratic value system of most NY-DC journalists themselves who apparently still assume that old money, status, and an Ivy-League pedigree are reliable barometers of talent and sobriety, suggesting that the upper-East Side Kennedy’s public ineptness is an aberration, a bad day, a minor distraction, while Palin’s charisma and ease are superficial and a natural reflection of her Idaho sports journalism degree.
A few generations ago, Democrats would have opposed Palin but appreciated her blue-collar story, and applauded a working mom who out-politicked entrenched and richer male elites. But now the new aristocratic liberalism has adopted the values of the old silk-stocking Republicans of the 1950s—and so zombie-like worship rather than question entitlement.
Sarah Palin is Conservative of the Year
ia Human Events, the inimitable Ann Coulter proclaims & praises Gov. Sarah H. Palin as “Conservative of the Year”:
Sarah Palin wins HUMAN EVENTS’ prestigious “Conservative of the Year” Award for 2008 for her genius at annoying all the right people. The last woman to get liberals this hot under the collar would have been … let’s see now … oh, yeah: Me!
The entire presidential election year was kind of a downer for conservatives. Once the “maverick” John McCain won the nomination, the rest of the year was like watching a slow motion car crash. Except at least a slow-motion car crash is occasionally entertaining. So it was going to be a long year.
Until Palin.
When McCain chose our beauteous Sarah as his running mate, the maverick was finally acting like a real maverick — as opposed to the media’s definition of a “maverick” which is: “agreeing with the editorial positions of the New York Times.”
Pre-Palin it had been one race — boring old “You kids get off my lawn!” John McCain versus the exciting, new politician Barack Obama, who threw caution to the wind and bravely ran as the Pro-Hope candidate. And then our heroic Sarah bounded out of the Alaska tundra and it became a completely different race. This left the press completely discombobulated and upset. They didn’t know whether to attack Sarah for not having an abortion or go after her husband for not being a sissy.
Perhaps Palin’s year is 2012, but I would recommend that she take a little more time to become older and wiser. She ought to spend the next decade being a good governor, tending to her children so none of them turn out like Ron Reagan Jr., and reading everything Phyllis Schlafly, Thomas Sowell, Ronald Reagan and “Publius” have ever written. (She also might keep in mind that HUMAN EVENTS was Ronald Reagan’s favorite newspaper!)
In time, HUMAN EVENTS’ 2008 Conservative of the Year will be ready to be our President and someday can sweep into office and dismantle all the heinous government programs Obama and the Democrats are about to foist on the nation. Who knows? She might even be able to run as the candidate of “hope” and “change.”
Read the exclusive Palin interview with Human Events.
Sarah Palin’s Mail: Over 100,000 Letters
The 2008 presidential race is over, but Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin remains one of the most compelling figures to emerge in the public’s consciousness in the past year. Google recently named the search term “Sarah Palin” as the fastest-rising global search item in 2008 — ahead of such searches as “Beijing 2008,” “Jonas Brothers,” and “Obama.”
As the GOP governor’s mega high-profile political world continues to make news, it is her family life that fascinates the public. She and her husband, Todd — a champion snow-machine racer — have five children. A son serving in Iraq, a baby boy with Down syndrome, and three girls in between, with the oldest, Bristol, 18, scheduled to give birth on December 20 — making the lively governor a first-time grandmother at the age of 44.
Palin’s parents, Chuck and Sally Heath, are eagerly waiting the baby’s arrival. In a phone interview from their home in Wasilla, Alaska, they said they’re helping out their granddaughter in the days before she gives birth. They’ve received gifts for the new baby and the nursery is all fixed up — and at last indication the selected colors were lime green and yellow.
Grandpa Chuck Heath, 70, says his hope is for a “happy, healthy kid” — one who will follow along in the footsteps of this very outdoorsy, churchgoing family. He spoke with Grandparents.com about his daughter, Sarah, the impending arrival of his new great-grandson, and the whirlwind life that descended on the family during the campaign.
Grandparents.com: How’s the family getting ready?
Chuck Heath: For Bristol’s baby? Oh, I don’t know. [There's] all kinds of gifts laying around the place — all kinds of baby stuff. I’m in a room right now just full of baby stuff — more than she’ll ever use.
GP: From all over the country?
CH: All over the world. I’d say a half-dozen foreign countries. In Sarah’s mailroom, there’s 87 boxes — big boxes of mail that haven’t even been opened. I’ve been answering letters all day, all week. We figure there’s over a hundred thousand pieces here. And we’ll never get it done. We’re just inundated.
GP: This has been a wild ride for your family, hasn’t it?
CH: It completely changed everything here. [We're] just a common, ordinary family — I’m a retired teacher, my wife’s a retired school secretary, and I hunt and fish. And here all this comes. I’m not complaining; it’s just different. … All of a sudden [we] jumped into the mayhem. We’re very supportive of our daughter and her family. Very supportive. Anything she wants to do or undertake, we’re backing her.
GP: And it probably hasn’t died down yet, has it?
CH: No. She [Sarah] is getting … oh, hundreds of letters weekly. I was in her office yesterday, and last week she had over 200 requests for interviews. Over 200. And these were small interviews, radio, talk shows, things like Oprah, David Letterman, things like that.
GP: What are they specifically asking?
CH: Well, like David Letterman … they want her on the show. There are open invitations from several of them — even open invitations from O’Reilly and from Oprah and things like that.
GP: So do we know if (Bristol’s having) a boy or a girl?
CH: It’s a boy.
GP: Do you have a name yet?
CH: I don’t think so. Bristol’s here — let me ask her.
(At this point, Mr. Heath can be heard calling into another room: “Do you have a name for your baby yet?” He speaks back into the phone and says: “Oscar, she said. No, I’m just kidding. They don’t have a name for it yet.”)
GP: What kind of grandmother do you think your daughter will be?
CH: My daughter will be a great grandmother. She’s a great mother — great daughter, great mother. I don’t know about how much time she can spend, she’s so busy. But she’ll get her licks in. Don’t worry.
GP: That’s the hard part of being in the public life, isn’t it? Where you have to try to juggle your public life with your family life. Has that been difficult within your family?
CH: Well, she [Sarah] takes her kids with her as much as possible. She just got back from Juneau last night and she had her daughters and Trig with her. Track, her oldest boy, is in Iraq. In fact, she’s been criticized for dragging her family around with her. I think it’s the greatest thing in the world.
GP: What are some things you all like to do in your spare time as a family?
CH: We don’t have any spare time. [Laughs.] Well, in our spare time in the winter, as a family, we do a lot of snow-machining and skiing. I don’t know about the skiing this year, but we’ll do a lot of snow-machining. Her husband, Todd, is a world champion snow-machine racer. Won that Iron Dog four times. In fact, he’s getting prepared for it right now, even though it’s two months away.
GP: So you have a very active family life then?
CH: Sarah’s kids have all participated in sports all through their high school career. They snow-machine, they hunt, and they fish.
GP: With a new baby coming into your life, what are the things you’d like to teach your new great-grandchild?
CH: I hope he’s a normal, happy, healthy kid. My wife, Sally, is just looking forward to taking care of him. She’s one of those good grandmother types. The grandkids and the kids come first. [Laughing] I come second.
What would Sylvia Plath Think of Obama?
Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you. – Sylvia Plath
