Monday, August 23, 2010

Quigley: Sarah Palin’s America and Scott Brown’s Boston

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Here's an excerpt from the latest by Bernie Quigley:
It is tribute to Sarah Palin’s folkloric status that a Washington Post article today refers to a South Dakota politician, Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, with “wholesome, conservative values” as “the Democratic Party’s own mama grizzly, straight out of the heartland.” Herseth Sandlin’s Republican opponent, state Rep. Kristi Noem, is being called at home “the next Sarah Palin.” But this is the way they used to talk shortly after Bob Dylan awakened his world. They were always finding the “next Bob Dylan” but there was none. They did however follow his lead. Today, only Sarah Palin and the Oracle Octopus of Oberhausen share the status of original folk hero. Recently, the Post has been catching up with the world of Sarah Palin. They even have an interactive “Palin Endorsement Tracker” featuring a picture of Palin and Nikki Haley, the Republican candidate for governor in South Carolina who skyrocketed in the polls when Palin endorsed her.

The conflict we face today is city vs. country, just as we did in 1829 when Andrew Jackson, the most folkloric of all American folk heroes, shook up the Beltway establishment. They would follow his lead too. The country always wins in a vast agricultural nation like ours and it will win this time. But it is putting New York and Boston in the most awkward situations, because at times like this, the first will be last: It’s in the Bible. Jackson not only ran against the Beltway Establishment, he ran against the whole colonial era. But the era had ended anyway as they always do and Jackson simply came next. That’s where we are now. The Kennedy Era has ended. Something different is coming next and Sarah Palin brings it.
Read the rest here.

- JP

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