Why Sarah Palin actually matters again

[DonViejo]

With a new Fox contract and sharp words on immigration, the former Alaska gov. is the smiley face of white backlash

BY JOAN WALSH

Sarah Palin is back! Not only did she get another Fox News contract, she was the star of Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Conference this past weekend for her slashing attacks not only on President Obama and Democrats but on Republican sellouts (and 2016 hopefuls) like Jeb Bush. Watching Palin gleefully take on Bush, who made a dumb comment about needing immigration reform because immigrants are “more fertile” than native-born Americans, I realized that Palin’s star really is rising again, at a time of heightened racial insecurity on the white far-right. They need a hero, and here she is again.

I stopped paying much attention to Palin around the time she self-destructed by trying to make herself the victim after the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the shooting of 18 other people in Tucson, Ariz., in January 2011. After that, not only my attention but others’ seemed to drift away. She declared that she wouldn’t run for president, surprising no one, her spots on Fox News became less frequent (to her loud complaints) and, ultimately, the right-wing network didn’t renew her contract (though it was stated as her choice; she was going on to better things). I thought maybe Palin didn’t matter anymore.

But she continued to be the big crowd-pleaser at conservative gatherings from CPAC to the NRA convention, where she mocked Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun politics by slugging a Big Gulp, taking on the whole elite, effete nanny state her admirers imagine threatens them. Still, it was her attack on Bush this weekend that made me realize the extent to which she could become the face of the white nativist backlash, which is a dangerous development for the GOP, and the country, but a cushy, natural perch for Palin.

Bush, you probably heard, made a dumb play for conservatives to support immigration reform by claiming older white America needs their … babies. “Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families, and they have more intact families, and they bring a younger population,” the former Florida governor told Reed’s convening on Friday. Alex Seitz-Wald noted immediately what a mistake that was: Bush was stating some of the very reasons that the far right opposes immigration reform. And he did it the same day we got the news that deaths among native-born whites were outpacing their births. Way to rub it in, Jeb!

Well, Palin rubbed Bush’s nose in his mistake, trashing him ideologically while using her trademark sex appeal. You kind of have to see it – her hair has never been bigger, and she mocked Bush with such visible self-confidence and self-satisfaction:

full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/17/the_return_of_sarah_palin/

[Chipper Chat]

1. I try to not hate anyone but this "lady" pushes my envelope.

The first barb to stick in my craw was during her acceptance speech when she craftily remarked that she had experience...sorta like a "community organizer." She said that with so much mean sugary spit it made me sick. Bottom line is she is an evil ruthless woman - the likes we haven't seen since Leona Helmsley and Anita Bryant.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

8. That remark at the 2008 RNC really stuck under my crawl, esp. as a Social Worker myself

Most community organizers do tons more work- and more important work IMHO- and whom take on bigger responsibilities than a failed VP candidate (who did more than John McCain and Barack Obama combined to sink their ticket) and 1/2 term Governor from Alaska. Pretty much everything that comes out of her mouth- to the extent that you can understand most of her "word salads"- is meant to insult, offend, and demean people whose only "sin" is to not believe the same way she does. I had hoped, after the Giffords shooting and the kerfuffle over her "blood libel" comment, we were finally rid of her. Guess not.......yet.

[graham4anything]

2. The writer in the link got it 100% backwards. Sarah is 100% great for Jeb/Paul.

Because Sarah just makes Jeb look normal.

Funny how even Salon falls for the Bush game

fracture and 2000 will happen again and Jeb/Paul will be President/VP
and don't think for one second that Rand is anything but a Bushie, the Paul family for decades has worked hand in hand together
against the same enemy

the ying and yang, the bad cop/ bad cop

Sarah is 100% proof that Karl Rove does his job so well, evil as it is, fully stocking the ocean of candidates in all states from bottom up,
instead of just worrying about the top ones.

but let's keep fracturing the democratic party, yeah, that's the ticket (the one way ticket back to Bush).

sighhhhhhhhhhhh

[savalez]

3. She'll blow it again. You can't fake smart. n/t

[Cha]

10. that's what I was thinking.. but, for how

long until her next self-implosion?

[Buzz Clik]

4. I'm skeptical.

I think political writers want Palin back because she's easy material.

Palin never ceased being a crowd please for the lowest common denominator among the conservatives. In the big picture, she is totally irrelevant.

[Avalux]

5. She's an entertainer, a vicious absurd over-the-top spectacle.

As long as Palin is able to make money she'll continue. All I see it doing is further fracturing the GOP.

She doesn't matter anymore, other than to her extremist audience. We need to be aware that people like her are dangerous; however they don't need good journalists like Walsh helping them spread their trash.

[radicalliberal]

6. "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."

[img][/img]

[Neoma]

13. Ew.

I really didn't need to see her naked there.

[radicalliberal]

17. * giggle *

She's nekkid!



It's those eyes that get me, they're scary!

By the way, I bet she uses that long nose of hers as a weapon.

Ew, indeed!

[shenmue]

7. This means she'll write another crappy book

And be on Fox another jillion times.

[egold2604]

11. I bought 20 copies of her book for 25 cents each. I use them for toilet paper in my outhouse

[shenmue]

16. Recycling, a good thing to do.

I applaud you.

[otohara]

9. Mocking The GOP Leaders

isn't going to go over well with the people in real power.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

12. She matters because...

In a celebrity-obsessed media culture, we simply can't stop looking at her.

In just about any other culture on Earth, she'd be the non-entity that she deserves to be.

[erpowers]

14. Sarah Palin Does Not Matter Again

In my opinion, the fact that Sarah Palin has a new contract with Fox News shows that she does not matter. She learned that she was not the draw that she thought or hoped she would be. Yes, she seems to be a draw at the NRA, CPAC, and other Republican events. However, who else cares about what Sarah Palin says? What has she done since she left Fox? She is credited with helping Ted Cruz win the Senate race in Texas, but that is not a big deal. It seems that she has not done very much for the Republican Party.

[jmowreader]

15. Palin presents what they see as a golden opportunity

She is the reincarnation of Reagan - up from humble beginnings to serve as governor and conservative icon. Also, she is attack proof, or so they think, because she's a Christian, a woman and mother of a special needs child.

Problem: Palin combines Bush-level stupidity, Nixonian corruption and a Reaganesque cult of personality, and if the press can make a nickel peeling that back, they will.

[AlinPA]

18. Saw her on Fox "news" at a hotel breakfast (could not change the channel) and IMO she may be getting

ready to run for President. The right-wing teabaggers love her, but Cruz might give her a fight for the GOP nomination.