Sarah Palin 2012 'with Lou Dobbs. To add a bit of gravitas'

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Lijkt me een winnend duo, Lou voegt een hoop gewicht toe ;)

Groet / Cees

Sarah Palin, the Musical
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-11-16/sarah-palin-the-musical/

The media is ecstatic that the Palin show is playing again. And the
timing of Going Rogue may be just right.

That Sarah Palin, what a tease!

This book tour of hers is one of the all-time great hoochie coochie
dances. The tea partiers are lining up like rubes at the “Direct from
Gay Par-ee!” tent at the Dingleberry County Fair.

The star attraction knows that you may take it off, but you don’t take
it all off. As governor, she left the stage when she still had her
political pasties on. As “author,” she knows that the key is to take off
just enough to keep the crowd transfixed and wanting more, but not so
much as to stand revealed in all her nakedness.

Maybe she doesn’t always get the proportions right, but it’s unwise to
underestimate her. The timing of Going Rogue—a.k.a. “the most
substantive book on policy” that Rush Limbaugh has ever read—couldn’t be
better. The media are dying for relief after three months of health
care, Afghanistan, and the economic slump. Obama’s cerebral aloofness
makes him a cold fish in a hot medium, and Michelle, who used to provide
the human crackle, looked as downcast as her husband’s latest poll
numbers when peddling health care to seniors last week.

While Palin has been back in Alaska dictating imagined grievances to a
ghost, America itself is mired in grievances that are all too real.
Palin is hitting the airwaves at a time when crossover voters in the
last election have been left without prospects by the self-dealings of a
callous financial elite. There’s a growing lack of connection to a
passion-free president whose advisers all seem to be chosen from the
same bloodless class. There’s an uneasy longing for something or someone
to punish. Hence the desire on the right to prove, before there is
evidence, that the Fort Hood shooter was a terrorist rather than a nut
case.

Not that Palin betrays in Going Rogue the slightest clue how to provide
any answers to the hornet’s nest of problems swarming around Obama. Her
book offers just the usual stale jeremiad about "fiscal responsibility"
and a need to return to the policies of Ronald Reagan. Anyone want to
guess whether she’s found the time to read that copy of The Looming
Tower that McCain adviser Steve Schmidt gave her when she joined the
campaign so she could bone up on the roots of terror in Afghanistan? She
spends so many pages trashing Schmidt in her own book we never find out.

One of the problems with the Republican argument right now is that
government red ink isn’t your No. 1 bugaboo when you’re wondering how
you’re going to hang on to what’s left of what you thought was your
life. Just as the GOP’s representatives in Congress don’t seem to
recognize that a majority of their constituents want a public option in
the health plan (despite poll numbers resoundingly telling them just
that), they don’t seem to understand that the American public is willing
to load the government with debt if doing so will pull this economy back
from the brink.

It’s an index of the fog we’re in that Palin’s confrontational ignorance
still feels refreshing to a lot of Americans. With waves of sullen anger
rolling through the country, her stringent vitality, her media mistakes,
her unpredictability, and her pert victimology at least give us a
reality show everyone wants to watch.

Someday there’s going to be a Broadway musical about Sarah, maybe based
on the book. I see Going Rogue! (the exclamation point will be a must)
as a blockbuster in the tradition of Annie Get Your Gun, Gypsy, and
Funny Girl. Or, come to think of it, Evita. Every 40-plus diva on both
coasts will fight for the starring role. And there will be juicy parts
for those cast as Todd, Bristol, and Levi.

What a hoot—except that this musical isn’t a comedy. Just by being out
there again, Palin will fuel the tea party cranks, the talk show
ranters, and the suicidal wing of the GOP with the sheer force of her Q
rating. To many people who feel marginalized and left behind, Palin’s
brashness seems to represent clarity when in fact she represents
ignorance. David Brooks might consider Sarah Palin “a joke” and “a
potential talk show host,” as he told George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.
And he’s probably right that there’s no way she can actually get elected
president. But that won’t necessarily stop her from getting the
nomination. I have a persistent hallucination: Sarah Palin atop the GOP
ticket in 2012, running with—yes, Lou Dobbs. Just to add a bit of
gravitas.

Tina Brown is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. She is
the author of the 2007 New York Times best seller The Diana Chronicles.
Brown is the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and
Talk magazines and host of CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown.

Nuld001
Tina,
Loved the write-up!
Sarah Palin w/Lou Dobbs on the GOP ticket = Vomit.
Must be the LSD talking that was slipped into your champagne!
Cheers
5:14 am, Nov 16, 2009

alaskagal
Those of us who have endured Palin's proclivities and pathological lying
these many years are just so thrilled to have had a chance to share her
with you all!
In the parallel universe between her ears, simply stating something
makes it true.... From her campaign comments you would think she had
actually built "a gas pipeline, the largest energy construction project
in US history" and was ready to turn open the gas valve herself any day.
She actually just gave a lot of state money to her allies at a Canadian
firm to research the proposal. The gas producers themselves aren't
interested in her pipeline and are doing their own thing. And there is
barely even a survey marker to show for it all yet. But she touts this
as her major energy credentials....the pipeline is "real" because the
voices tell her it is.
4 am, Nov 16, 2009

Granite
Thanks Tina, for brightening up my Monday morning!
8:14 am, Nov 16, 2009

marinepro2
While on the subject of Sarah jokes. How about pairing her with the
other one--Silverman. One would be serious, politically savvy, engaging,
bright, brilliant and Palin could do walk-on-stand-up, kind of be the
comic relief. It'll be a sure thing. Your basic American voter would be
mesemerized--which is all it takes to get votes.
8:40 am, Nov 16, 2009

piktor
By the time the musical is made the only obvious title would be
"Saritah!", the subtitle: "Palinisin' you!, Palinize me!"
9:02 am, Nov 16, 2009

rjcrawford33
"confrontational ignorance" - that is sooo good, Tina.
9:16 am, Nov 16, 2009

liviapeacock
I hate to say it, but I too am enjoying Sarah's resurrection. I believe
it will take over the entire week; but not go over into next week as
much. She's so damn entertaining!
9:17 am, Nov 16, 2009

mkaiser
Not a huge fan of yours, Tina, but this was a great column up until the
point that you equate Palin with ignorance. You're implicitly saying
that those who believe in the principles she espouses are likewise
lacking knowledge. How exactly is that accomplishing anything other that
further dividing an increasingly polarized political citizenry?
9:42 am, Nov 16, 2009

NanCMac
Hysterical! Thanks for the laugh, Tina. Tina Fey, get ready for
Broadway....
now, who will play McCain?
9:54 am, Nov 16, 2009

Chuckv
"As governor, she left the stage when she still had her political
pasties on."
What a wonderful sentence. It says more than paragraphs of cogent
political analysis. A clear victory of poetry over prose.
9:57 am, Nov 16, 2009

Llplo99
She is cheap entertainment and a musical of the Far Right nuts along
with the tea parties, NY23 election, birthers, Prejean, Limbaugh and
Dobbs would be hysterical.
10:02 am, Nov 16, 2009

Frivolous
Ms Brown's description of President Obama as passionless and cerebral is
stupid. Americans should desire gravitas and calm in their presidents,
not someone who is excitable and prone to snap judgments. I suspect she
is speaking mostly from the position of a media person, for whom drama
and chaos are bread and wine, and not from the position of an American,
who wants a leader who can actually think.
10:25 am, Nov 16, 2009

Veronicaxy
Usually Tina's editorials seem geared more to provoke a torrent of
comments rather than make astute points about our world (although
they're always a fun read, and so are the comments).
This one got a laugh (While Palin has been back in Alaska dictating
imagined grievances to a ghost) and a nod from me (To many people who
feel marginalized and left behind, Palin's brashness seems to represent
clarity when in fact she represents ignorance.).
She is the foil to Obama. The Obama admin needs to step up to the circus
they're in. Bill loved being the ring master and relished the spotlight,
therefore he seemed to know and love us. It doesn't have to be Obama, he
can easily round up a clown or acrobat to take the light on his behalf.
But allowing the Repubs to be the loudest commentary voice is one of the
Dems most frequent political gaffes, loud and brash is extremely
effective.
10:32 am, Nov 16, 2009

loloo33
Tina Brown is one of the best writer, I always enjoy your work not
necessary that I agree or dissagree, but your piece is always has this
unusual charm and insightful thoughts. Thank you Tina.
10:33 am, Nov 16, 2009

loloo33
The poppularity of Sarah Palin shows how America is under fear, and
willing to sacrifices everything it has. It's the same climate Hitler
rose to the to. ,
10:39 am, Nov 16, 2009

Reenilou
Fabulous. And I agree with Chuckv -- your sentences pack all of the
diatribes into concise, smart bits of observation. I, personally, love
"To many people who feel marginalized and left behind, Palin's brashness
seems to represent clarity when in fact she represents ignorance."
Perfect, perfect.
10:41 am, Nov 16, 2009

winston1
I think it will be a great play and win the Tony Award.
10:51 am, Nov 16, 2009

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