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September 18, 2008

Exclusive: The Media Mandarins Just Don’t Get Sarah Palin

KT McFarland

Party Conventions are rarely occasions for spontaneity, but the GOP’s choice of Gov. Palin electrified not only the Republican Party, but many undecided voters. But the Palin phenomenon has the Media Mandarins scratching their heads. They can’t figure out why an awful lot of Americans who live in the fly-over states, as they call the states between the East and West Coasts, actually like Gov. Palin. The inside-the-beltway-gang certainly doesn’t. They dismiss her as a lightweight and a hick.

One national columnist implied she wasn’t necessarily wrong on the issues, she just didn’t understand them. ABC anchorman Charlie Gibson interviewed Gov. Palin last week and couldn’t keep the disdain out of his voice; peering over his half moon glasses like a distinguished professor forced to deal with a mediocre student who had no place in his honors class. Several democratic operatives, and even Sen. Obama himself, cracked that her candidacy was akin to putting lipstick on a pig – without specifying who was the lipstick and who was the pig.

Since they can’t figure out why anybody else would take her seriously when they so clearly will not, the Media Mandarins have dismissed Palin as a novelty candidate, a flash in the pan, a beauty queen whom Americans like just because she is pretty. The publisher of one of the nation’s esteemed weeklies said she looked like a stewardess, and he didn’t mean it as a compliment. Another said she was attractive in the way the girl behind the cosmetics counter at Macy’s was, and he didn’t mean that as a compliment either.

What’s going on here? Why all this vitriol from the press? At first, it seemed like the normal Roman circus-like bloodlust that surrounds American politics today – which the media claim is the “normal vetting process” of any national candidate. But in the last week, the attacks have become more vicious. The wolf pack is tearing into Gov. Palin’s life and family with zeal, and seizing on any shred of gossip as gospel truth.

But the public aren’t buying it. In a recent poll, 45 % said Gov. Palin had been the object of sexist attacks in the media, compared to only 33% who felt Sen. Obama had been the victim of racist attacks. Turns out all those guys in the fly-over states have opinions of their own.

In fact, it seems that the more the press goes after Gov. Palin, the more the McCain-Palin poll numbers climb. Today, almost every national poll shows McCain tied or ahead of Obama, in sharp contrast to the way things were just a few weeks ago. The turnaround, especially among working class white women, is one of the most striking in modern political history. The media may not think Gov. Palin is worthy of being a candidate, but the people sure do.

One of the most important moments at the Republican convention got very little notice. I was there in St. Paul, sitting in a skybox directly across from the podium when Gov. Palin gave her acceptance speech. When she referred to the media elites not liking her, the delegates on the Floor spontaneously started chanting NBC, NBC, NBC , pointing to the skybox with the NBC banner. It was like a scene from the French Revolution when the peasants stormed the Bastille It was a little scary. And it was a far cry from the days when news anchor Walter Cronkite was voted the most trusted man in America.

Why is there such a disconnect today between the media and the voters? Because when people give Congress and the President such low approval ratings, they’re lumping the media in there, too. The average guy thinks EVERYONE inside the beltway is the problem, not just the politicians and the lobbyists. It’s just that the Media Mandarins haven’t caught on yet.

As for Sarah Palin’s qualifications? The press has derided her for being

- -under 45 years old with lots of children

- -a outdoorswoman who loves to hunt and fish

- -a self-proclaimed reformer who is willing to take on the establishment of her own party

- - and a Republican vice presidential candidate although she’s only been a governor for two years.

But guess what? You could have said the same things about Teddy Roosevelt – and his face ended up on Mt. Rushmore along with Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln.

If John McCain wins in November, it will be the greatest come from behind victory since the tortoise beat the hare. And it will be in no small part because he put Sarah Palin on the ticket.

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor KT McFarland is a former top Pentagon official in the Reagan Administration and a frequent commentator on national security issues and foreign affairs. Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.

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