By Steve Rhodes
Sarah Palin sure has accomplished one grand task: she’s unwittingly unmasked a bunch of hateful, elitist, sexist fools for the liberal posers that they are. Our next contestant: Roger Ebert. Let’s take a look.
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“Roger Ebert on Sarah Palin: The American Idol candidate.”
September 11, 2008
BY ROGER EBERT Sun-Times Movie Critic
I think I might be able to explain some of Sarah Palin’s appeal. She’s the American Idol candidate. Consider. What defines an American Idol finalist? They’re good-looking, work well on television, have a sunny personality, are fierce competitors, and so talented, why, they’re darned near the real thing. There’s a reason American Idol gets such high ratings. People identify with the contestants. They think, Hey, that could be me up there on that show!
COMMENT: But I thought Barack Obama was the American Idol candidate? Or is he just the Access Hollywood candidate? He’s been on so many celebrity shows and on so many magazine covers I forget. And I thought John McCain was the one who was out of touch with the electorate! Turns out Obama is the one working so hard to show he’s just folks!
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My problem is, I don’t want to be up there. I don’t want a vice president who is darned near good enough. I want a vice president who is better, wiser, well-traveled, has met world leaders, who three months ago had an opinion on Iraq.
COMMENT: Yes, Sarah Palin is one of the few Americans who never had an opinion on Iraq! Even when her son joined the military she never formed an opinion! When she said America better have a clear exit strategy, she wasn’t voicing an opinion, she was just musing! Now, it’s true, she hasn’t been asked much for her opinion given that she is the governor of Alaska. Come to think of it, I don’t know what Rod Blagojevich’s opinion of Iraq is either. He must not have one.
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Someone who doesn’t repeat bald-faced lies about earmarks and the Bridge to Nowhere. Someone who doesn’t appoint Alaskan politicians to “study” global warming, because, hello! It has been studied. The returns are convincing enough that John McCain and Barack Obama are darned near in agreement.
COMMENT: It’s not clear at all that Palin has told bald-faced lies, though it’s pretty clear that Obama has. Further, Palin has stated quite clearly that she believes in global warming.
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I would also want someone who didn’t make a teeny little sneer when referring to “people who go to the Ivy League.”
COMMENT: I do! The Ivy League is a bastion of elite rank credentialism that rewards wealthy and/or over-ambitious and greedy 18-year-olds at astronomical prices that buy an education with no more value in its content than a Big Ten university. I’ll take the public school idealist any time.
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When I was a teen I dreamed of going to Harvard, but my dad, an electrician, told me, “Boy, we don’t have the money. Thank your lucky stars you were born in Urbana and can go to the University of Illinois right here in town.” So I did, very happily.
COMMENT: And look how badly that turned out! But shouldn’t liberals be mad that exclusive educations are reserved for those who can afford them?
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Although Palin gets laughs when she mentions the “elite” Ivy League, she sure did attend the heck out of college.
Five different schools in six years. What was that about?
COMMENT: What are you implying, Roger? As I understand it, her family couldn’t afford to keep all their kids in college at once. She persevered. In fact, in video taken before she was picked to be on John McCain’s ticket, she described how she participated in beauty pageants for the scholarship money and how demeaning it was to turn around in the swimsuit competition and have male judges compare contestants’ butts. Meanwhile, we know very little about Obama’s years at Occidental and Columbia. What was that all about?*
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And how can a politician her age have never have gone to Europe?
My dad had died, my mom was working as a book-keeper and I had a job at the local newspaper when, at 19, I scraped together $240 for a charter flight to Europe. I had Arthur Frommer’s $5 a Day under my arm, started in London, even rented a Vespa and drove in the traffic of Rome. A few years later, I was able to send my mom, along with the $15 a Day book.
COMMENT: I’ve never gone to Europe! She’s lived in at least three different states, worked as a TV sportscaster, helped run a commercial fishery, is an avid hunter and fisher, was a small-town mayor and now a governor with an expertise in energy. Is she somehow deficient because she never backpacked around London and Rome or rented a Vespa? Plus, I thought you didn’t want someone like you in the White House!
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You don’t need to be a pointy-headed elitist to travel abroad. You need curiosity and a hunger to see the world. What kind of a person (who has the money) arrives at the age of 44 and has only been out of the country once, on an official tour to Iraq? Sarah Palin’s travel record is that of a provincial, not someone who is equipped to deal with global issues.
COMMENT: Should we compare John McCain’s travel record to Obama’s then? Is this really one of your strongest arguments against her? In this whole rant I don’t see a single argument about, you know, the issues. Instead, it’s about making a personality judgement based on what trivial knowledge is at your disposal without having to do too much research.
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But some people like that. She’s never traveled to Europe, Asia, Africa, South America or Down Under? That makes her like them.
COMMENT: Like the masses? Why do liberals despise the working people they claim to represent so much? Do you really think people out there prefer a candidate who hasn’t been a world-traveler? Because I’m pretty sure very few folks have any clue as to her vacation destinations.
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She didn’t go to Harvard? Good for her! There a lot of hockey moms who haven’t seen London, but most of them would probably love to, if they had the dough. And they’d be proud if one of their kids won a scholarship to Harvard.
COMMENT: Are there a lot of hockey moms who haven’t seen London? How do you know? Because hockey is an expensive sport. And are you suggesting that Palin wouldn’t be proud if one of her kids won a scholarship to Harvard? Because I’m pretty certain she would be – as long as her kid didn’t become a hypocritical snob.
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I trust the American people will see through Palin, and save the Republic in November. The most damning indictment against her is that she considered herself a good choice to be a heartbeat away. That shows bad judgment.
COMMENT: Yes, she should have said, “No, John, I’m not the best person for this job.” Just like Joe Biden did.
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There are plenty of reasons to oppose Sarah Palin. Maybe, quite simply, you are a Democrat. Maybe she’s too conservative on social issues for you. She’s pro-life and you’re not. She’s not likely to help bring affordable health care to America. Gun control does not appear to be her forte. It’s not clear that she has an education agenda. And so on. But these silly, sexist, elitist attacks say much more about the people who make them than they do about her – and they say something about the inability of the Obama campaign to deliver a new kind of politics among his own followers, much less the nation.
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See also:
* Eric Zorn’s Sexist Folly
Posted on September 12, 2008