September 8, 2008, - 3:09 pm
The US Magazine Article: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Palin Bandwagon
By Debbie Schlussel
I will never vote for Obama/Biden. And I plan to hold my nose and vote for McCain/Palin in November. And while I like Sarah Palin and initially cheered the pick, I’m not the over-the-top “St. Sarah the Messiah” type so many in the lumpenconservatariat seem to be. It’s the same halo the left and the media are giving the other Messiah, Barack Obama–and which the St. Sarah the Messiah crowd rightfully complains about. I’m always skeptical of hype and extreme gushing, even when it’s by those on my side. And that’s the case here.
Why? Well, when you closely examine her record, she ain’t the conservative she’s made out to be. On some things, like the Second Amendment, yes. But on many others, like taxing and spending, she’s a taxer and a spender, not a cutter of either. We need only look to the giant sports center boondoggle she pushed on Wasilla, Alaska as Mayor. She raised sales taxes on everything (even food) to build it. That’s regressive. And isn’t a giant sports facility–especially in a city of then just over 5,000 people–something for the private sector? Isn’t that what conservatives believe?
The project was a disaster and money pit, and I’ll post more about it separately. It was such a bomb and was so screwed-up that Palin was forced to spend more tax money to hire a City Administrator to run the city for her. Yes, she sold the private plane and fired the cook when she became Alaska’s Governor, but that’s not the whole picture.
Then, there is the US Magazine cover story. Yes, I am a subscriber to US and received my copy of the controversial Palin issue on Friday. Yes, the cover and the story are very negative and biased against Palin and unfair, given the gushing way the magazine has and continues to cover the Obamas.
However, there are several things in the US Magazine piece, which we know are true and are important: She was NOT–contrary to her Republican National Convention speech–against the wasteful “Bridge to Nowhere.” She first supported it, later got on the bandwagon and opposed it in response to the public outrage over it. And the piece raises questions about why a “reformer” is so closely tied to corrupt, indicted Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. That’s important, just as we would question the same if Stevens was a Democrat tied to Barack Obama, just as we’ve asked about Obama’s involvement with Tony Rezko. She hasn’t addressed the issue.
Then, there’s the constant mantra of “the Palins are working class” that we keep hearing. Really? The US story reports that, last year, Palin earned $125,000 and Todd Palin took in $93,000. I wouldn’t exactly call $218,000, “working class.” It’s middle class–some would say it might even be “upper middle-class.” Yes, in Alaska, things are more expensive, and yes, Todd Palin’s job is “working-class.” But their income isn’t. And while they are entitled to every penny of it, it’s somewhat inaccurate to describe them as “working class.”
Before she was Governor, Palin reportedly earned more $140,000 or more as an Energy Commissioner. This isn’t working class income. It’s rich Congressman-level income.
It reminds me of when Michigan Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm ran campaign ads saying she “worked to put herself through college” and that she was “an immigrant,” as if she was one of the Boat People. Granholm’s father was the President of a Bank in Canada.
Not in the US article, but profiled last Friday in USA Today are Palin’s $700 designer Kazuo Kawasaki glasses. Working class? That’s one month’s rent or other utilities for many working class people. Again, I don’t begrudge her nice things. But they are the accoutrements of the middle and upper middle-class, not working class.
The US article repeats other reports I’ve already cited here about Todd Palin being Mr. Mom:
Todd . . . frequently fills in as Mr. Mom: caring for the kids, cooking dinner, paying bills. (He took a brief leave of absence last year citing family.)
And finally, I was disappointed in the picture of Sarah Palin wearing a sleazy T-shirt (pictured above), saying,
I may be broke but I’m not flat busted.
It’s low-class and looks like something more suited to a character in “Porky’s” or better used as a “cover up” for a Hawaiian Tropic Bikini contestant. Yes, I know it was from 20 years ago (when she was in college at the University of Idaho), and I can’t hold her tasteless manner then against her now.
But what’s surprising is that the photo wasn’t from some old friend telling tales out of school. Palin’s own parents, the Heaths, gave Associated Press this photo of her in this unclassy t-shirt, apparently to show that Sarah Palin has a sense of humor. Haha, funny. You gotta wonder about the common sense of any family that would think this t-shirt pic helps their daughter. What were they thinking? If my dad ever caught me in a t-shirt with a slogan like that, he’d have been extremely angry and embarrassed.
It’s bad enough that TMZ made the completely unfair and inane comparison between Sarah Palin and porn star Linda Lovelace. So one wonders why the family members who like her (we’ve heard from at least one who doesn’t–in the US Magazine and elsewhere) would submit this dumb photo. The word “sexist” has been bandied about a lot in the last week or so by conservatives and the Palin Team. But if anything is sexist, it’s this stupid, trashy t-shirt.
Again, yes, I will vote for McCain-Palin, but it’s better to use a little critical thinking skills instead of unbridled gushing when you look at even the conservatives on the Republican ticket. Best to do it now than after November.
***
Before I get the angry e-mails, NO, I never wore any t-shirts with sleazy slogans like that while I was in college or at any other time in my entire life. It’s called judgment. The closest in I got in “tasteless Ts” was a t-shirt that said, “Harvard, the Michigan of the East.”
And then, there was that t-shirt with a picture of Yasser Arafat with a circle/slash on him and the slogan, “Fatah Busters.” My dad told me not to wear it on campus because he felt it would incite Arab students. But I wore it, anyway. Back then as now, I wasn’t going to limit my free speech so as not to offend those who would kill me.
But how skilled are Palin’s parents at dealing with media they’ve never had to face before? I imagine Mr and Mrs. Heath are neophytes at this, rather unschooled, and have been taken to task by now. The T-Shirt appears to be a joke. To my knowledge there aren’t any photos of Sarah Palin wearing it out an about back then, at the Mall, or where ever else. It was just her, at home, and a photo that her parents thought was funny. And so, the harm is what????
The fact that the Heaths are unsophisticated and got taken in by wily AP……Debbie you hold that against the McCain/Palin campaign ????
What about the fact that Obama willingly strutted about without a shirt on at the beach, only a few weeks ago….and he certainly knew that’d be photographed !!!! Isn’t Obama’s half-naked sashaying about a beach, just recently …just as “low-class” as a teenager wearing a risque T-Shirt in her bedroom, years ago ??????
Double standard.
[MW: THE PARENTS NEED A MASTERS DEGREE IN PR OR SOME KIND OF “SPECIAL SKILLS” TO KNOW THAT THAT TRASHY T-SHIRT IS LOW-CLASS? PUH-LEEZE. IF MY FATHER HAD EVER SEEN ME IN A T-SHIRT LIKE THAT, HE’D HAVE NEARLY KILLED ME (NOT LITERALLY, BUT HE’D HAVE BEEN VERY ANGRY AND EMBARRASSED). AND I’M SURE THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN VETTED THE PHOTOS THAT WERE RELEASED. SAYS A LOT ABOUT THAT CAMPAIGN, TOO. DS]
Maxine Weiss on September 8, 2008 at 4:15 pm