The media's recent treatment of Sarah Palin shows how its Palin narrative has evolved. The new meme continues the eighteen-month attack on the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate, of course, but now it admits to some degree of success on her part. This change in the lamestream media's strategy was mandated because when she resigned her office eight months ago, the media narrative at the time was that she had made a terrible mistake and was consigned to the dustbin of history.
Instead, The Arctic Fox emerged stronger and more powerful than ever, and nearly everyone can recognize that fact. So the media elites began to modify the narrative. The failure of the "irrelevancy" meme has led them to concede that Sarah Palin is a media star with a large following, but they continue to try to marginalize her as a political force. The new meme insists that Gov. Palin is the next Oprah Winfrey, but that she will never hold elective public office again. But saying so does not make it so.
A fine example of the evolved state-run media treatment of Sarah Palin can be seen in David Carr's column in the media section of the Sunday New York Times. Much of the familiar media condescension is still part of the media's most recent salvos fired at the former governor:
"After her failed bid for the vice presidency, she was more or less told to head back to Alaska to serve out her term as governor — a kind of metaphorical kitchen."Notice that by virtue of being chosen as Sen. John McCain's running mate, Gov. Palin is always described by the media as "failed," even though the failure was that of the McCain campaign. John Edwards is never referred to by the media elites as having "failed" in the 2004 election, nor is any other Democrat who ran on a losing presidential ticket.
"Instead, she quit her day job and proceeded to become a one-woman national media empire, with the ratings and lucre to show for it."
"Filthy lucre" has become part and parcel of the new drive-by media meme. The latest effort is to use Sarah Palin's success as a wedge to drive between her and the average Americans who admire her because they feel that they share much in common with the happy warrior from Wasilla. The media is now trying to tell John Q. and Jane Q. Public, "Look, she's not like you. She's rich." Never mind that success hasn't spoiled Sarah one bit.
"With its tales of uplift and pluck, 'Real American Stories' trades in the kind of easy sentimentality that provokes eye rolls among those of us who work in media while quickening the pulse and patriotic ardor of almost everyone else."This statement says a lot, probably much more than Carr intended when he wrote it. It is an admission that the lamestream media has severed the few remaining ties between the once-honorable profession of journalism and Mainstream America. It is a measure of the degree of condescension present in the media view of everyday Americans and drives home the meaning of the term "Media elites."
"Ms. Palin’s politics can border on the atavistic, but beyond her Tea Party theatrics, she has tunneled her own route into the public consciousness and gone into the Sarah Palin Across America business. And what a business it is."Here Carr reveals that he and his fellow leftist media elites view Sarah Palin as a political throwback. The common sense conservatism of Ronald Reagan is indeed shared by Gov. Palin. That a large number of Americans also share it seems to be beyond the comprehension of the media elites. What Carr calls "theatrics" is what the right of center majority of Americans recognize as Sarah telling them the unvarnished truth.
"Many observers thought her unwillingness to serve out her term would be fatal to her ambitions, but the fact that governance did not suit her — she resigned as governor back in July — has become a kind of credential."More spin. Anyone who is acquainted with the facts knows that it wasn't governance which did not suit Sarah Palin, it was trying to govern while under a full-scale Cloward-Piven attack. The $600,000 in personal legal bills Gov. Palin was saddled with as a result of the attacks was a major factor in her decision to resign as Governor of Alaska.
"Ms. Palin still gets a session in the media spanking machine every time she does anything, but the disapproval seems to further cement the support of her loyalists. Ms. Palin may or may not be qualified to represent America around the world, but she certainly represents vast swaths of the American public and has a lucrative new career to show for it."Carr is just one of an increasing number of leftist media types who now admit that their attacks on Sarah Palin and her family have backfired. But that's not the only reason why the label sticks. It is the media's failure to perform its primary function -- unbiased reporting of the news -- that makes it so lame. By acting as Barck Obama's publicity agents rather than journalists, the media lost what little remaining credibility it had with the majority of Americans.
"If we don’t see why, then maybe we deserve the 'lamestream media' label she likes to give us."
"'Going Rogue' is just one more example of how her inability or unwillingness to connect with the establishment leaders gives her credibility elsewhere."That Sarah Palin has the ability to connect with the GOP establishment has been demonstrated. Michael Gerson, Fred Barnes and Fred Malek are just a few of the Republican Party insiders who have championed her. It's the more corrupt elements in the GOP establishment that she refuses to kowtow to, but the lamestream media won't tell you because it doesn't fit their "Get Palin" agenda.
"Last week, she returned to Senator McCain’s side to help in his re-election bid. As she bounded across the stage in Arizona and Cindy McCain struggled to maintain her frozen smile, even people who can’t stand her politics must have laughed."A twofer! Carr couldn't pass up the opportunity to beat Cindy McCain and Sarah Palin with the same club. And this is just one of the many reasons why the latest media attacks on Sarah Palin remind us so much of the old ones.
Update: Stacy McCain comments on Carr's piece:
"Burn, burn, burn!"- JP
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