Matthew Continetti: Five myths about Sarah Palin

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Matthew Continetti has penned an op-ed about Gov. Palin which will be published in Sunday's print edition of the Washington Post. Here are a few excerpts:

Think you know Sarah Palin? The former Alaska governor has been in the spotlight ever since John McCain named her as his running mate on Aug. 29, 2008. Yet, while practically everybody has an opinion about Palin, not all of those opinions are grounded in reality. Many of them are based more on a "Saturday Night Live" caricature than on the living, breathing, 46-year-old mother of five. The real Sarah Palin is a complex woman who has risen in no time from obscurity to the stratosphere of American politics, fusing celebrity and populism in novel ways. Now that she's laying the foundation for a possible presidential run in 2012, it's worth taking a moment to separate the fact about Palin from the fable.

1. Palin cost McCain the 2008 election.

She didn't. CNN's 2008 national exit poll, for example, asked voters whether Palin was a factor when they stepped into the voting booth. Those who said yes broke for McCain 56 percent to 43 percent.

Before Palin's selection, remember, McCain suffered from an enthusiasm gap. Republicans were reluctant to vote for the senator from Arizona because of his reputation as a maverick who'd countered his party on taxes, immigration, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and "cap and trade" climate legislation. But Palin's conservative record in Alaska and antiabortion advocacy changed the Republican mood. With her by his side, McCain's fundraising and support from conservatives improved. It wasn't enough to beat Barack Obama -- but McCain probably would have lost the presidency by a greater margin if he had, say, selected independent Sen. Joe Lieberman as his running mate, further alienating the GOP base.

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2. Resigning as governor was rash.

No one expected Palin's resignation on July 3, 2009, just 2 1/2 years into her term. Her hastily composed and clumsily delivered farewell address left many observers confused about her motives. Some of her critics were only too eager to fill in the gaps with conjecture and hearsay (She's being investigated by the FBI! Sarah and Todd must be headed for divorce!). If there was one thing everybody knew for sure, it was that Palin's career in politics was over. But none of the rumored scandals ever broke. The Palins remain married. And as for Sarah Palin's career, it's taken off. She plays a far greater role in American public life than she did before she left office.

When Palin returned to Alaska after the 2008 campaign, she confronted three problems. The political coalition on which she had based her governorship -- a combination of Democrats and renegade "Palinista" Republicans -- had, needless to say, collapsed. Her critics were using Alaska's tough ethics laws to launch investigations into her behavior, sapping her finances and her energy. Finally, every time she traveled to the Lower 48, Alaskans criticized her for putting her political interests above the state's.

Palin's solution was to resign. Her agenda stood a better chance of passing if then-Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who shared Palin's goals, succeeded her as governor. As a private citizen, meanwhile, Palin could make enough money to pay her legal bills. And she would no longer be accused of neglecting her official duties.

Some might say that Palin's resignation was shortsighted and showed that she was not ready for the demands of executive office. But if Palin had remained governor, she would have been denied opportunities to rally the tea party and fight in the battle over the Obama agenda. She would have been stuck on a regional stage. Instead, she's back on the national one.

(More)

- JP

Palin Detractors: Are They Fighting Sarah Palin or a Mythical Creature?

- By Special Guest Blogger Lisa Graas

There are some conservative pundits out there who don't particularly care for Sarah Palin. They know who they are and so do Sarah Palin's supporters. It's time for straight talk on why these pundits, some of whom are popular bloggers, have the aversion to Sarah Palin that they do.

The slams against Sarah Palin remind me greatly of the kinds of slams against the Catholic Faith which I am also all too familiar with as a faithful Catholic convert. There's a quote from the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen that Catholics are familiar with that exposes the same kind of animosity that people have for the Catholic Church that Palin's detractors have toward her. Sheen said:

"There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church, which is of course, quite a different thing."

Although statistically speaking the numbers may vary somewhat, substitute "Sarah Palin" for where it says "Catholic Church" and you'll have the same reality.

Those who demean and attempt to derail Sarah Palin really have no idea who Sarah Palin is. None whatsoever. If they did know who she is, they could make an informed choice about whether or not she is the person we need to get behind to pull this country out of the mess it's in. As it is, there are four points that I firmly believe the vast majority of people are missing either in whole or in part, even sometimes among her own supporters... and they are huge points. Further, it is my belief that if you don’t get all four, you have no business doing political analysis regarding Sarah Palin. I ask your consideration as I offer a brief summary of these four points and then some rather blunt elaboration on each of them.

I don’t share Sarah Palin’s theology on many levels because I’m a diehard and unapologetic Catholic... but I am a Christian and I know a Christian when I see one. Now, before you go off thinking I’m hailing Sarah as a saint, let me assure you, as a Catholic, I know good and well what a saint is and Sarah isn’t one (not under the Catholic definition anyway), as far as I can tell. But a FAITHFUL Christian she is. She believes strongly in the tenets of her faith and they generally rule her life, although we all fall a little short now and then. You have to know how Christians think in order to understand what Sarah’s plan is just as you have to know how Catholics think if you want to understand who Saint Joan of Arc was. You also have to understand what her character is beyond the Christian aspect in order to understand what her plan is. Third, you have to actually listen to what the woman says in order to understand what her plan is. Finally, you have to understand what her views about political power are in order to understand what her plan is.

As far as I can see, the reason there is a huge disconnect between those doubting Sarah Palin’s political aptitude and/or viability as a candidate for President and those of us pulling for her is that the former know NOTHING of these four things and may know only slightly more than nothing about the current political climate of the country, namely the degree of viability of the Republican and Democratic parties today.

1) The Christian factor — Like it or not, Sarah Palin is a Christian. It’s not what Sarah Palin wants but what she believes God is calling her to do that Sarah Palin will end up doing in life. Agree or disagree with whether or not there actually is a God or whether or not He’ll reveal that to her in some way (before you go off the deep end, I'm merely referring to what we call an "epiphany"), that’s who Sarah Palin is. Deal with it. Don’t like Christians in government? Don’t get behind her. But at least do us all the favor of reporting accurately who the woman is.

2) The character factor — Palin says some things repeatedly. "Ramping up oil production", "hungry American markets" and "culture of life", to name a few. Perhaps the thing she says most often is “politically, if I die, I die”. News flash, folks. It’s really no skin off her nose if she doesn’t end up in the White House. Remember the Christian thing? It's consistent with that. Various belief systems, be they Christian, Muslim, Jewish or even atheism, have some sort of thread of consistency that holds one's beliefs on individual topics all together whether tightly or loosely. Palin's thread of consistency is so tightly ingrained and woven together in her individual tapestry of character, criticisms about her not having a Beltway staff are rightly described as being utterly devoid of thoughtful political analysis.

3) The communication factor — Forget about analyzing her beyond the things she actually says. Guess what. She really did step down from the governor’s office because she’s fundamentally opposed to the waste of taxpayer money on frivolous charges that will now go away with her gone. It’s your own idiotic fantasies that she did it to run for the White House that is the garbage upon which you build your theories such as what kind of staff she needs to get there. I openly laugh about these arguments because they are based in the same kind of uninformed "reasoning" I hear out of my kids when they try to second-guess the things I do. It’s that immature. Really.

4) The "servant's heart" factor (her philosophy on power) — Again, detractors totally ignore what she herself said about how she can, at least in this moment in time, bring about change more readily without a title. Government, in Palin's mind, is about SERVICE, not power. It’s about getting results, not about getting titles and accolades, because the intent is to serve the interest of the people (something else she's said over and over and over again). She is the Anti-Obama when it comes to what is necessary to bring change to America. The power is with the people, not Washington, hence she stepped down and became a private citizen to (gasp) become MORE powerful. Chew on that one for a while, folks. Imagine that concept of becoming a private citizen to gain power. You don’t get much more conservative and freedom-loving than that.

That’s who Sarah Palin is as an individual and it is why she has such adoring fans. I personally don’t care one way or the other if Sarah Palin personally is ever president or not. If someone else comes along with these qualities and the policy positions I also share with her, that person could very well have my support... but the country is in a sorry condition right now and neither party is helping matters any. It’s up to citizens to work together and fight to end corruption whether it is in Washington, the workplace, or in some leftist group trying to infiltrate your parish.

I don't see anyone else who comes remotely close to providing the kind of leadership through personal service and sacrifice that Sarah Palin has shown since she began running for office. While I do not think Palin is a saint, I have no doubt whatsoever in my mind about her being a Godsend. She's not only got what it takes to be president. She's got what it takes to put the country back on track as a solid Democratic Republic.

Disagree? Fine. But at least know who you’re talking about before you start analyzing. Disagree with who the woman really is. Lay out all of your disagreements with her policy positions and her public record in the open.

Just make sure that what you are disagreeing with is something that actually exists in reality. Otherwise, you aren't fighting Sarah Palin at all. You are fighting the myth you have created for yourselves.

- LG

Lisa Graas blogs at Mommy. She also created the Palin Twibe Twitter group and the Palin Twibe Blog, where this diary is cross-posted.

- JP