Paglia's Advice For Sarah Palin

Camille Paglia offers some short, sweet and sound advice for Sarah Palin. Before people go too far with the comparisons to Reagan, they need to realize that Reagan did have a firm grasp of what mattered at the Federal level across the board. And he absolutely had a crack team of advisers around him, as well as a gift for handling the media Palin currently lacks. She may be on the road to improving given her recent round of brief interviews. But the months of silence post-campaign dealt her a harmful blow due to her own inaction. She should have been on with Rush, Levin or on Fox once a week making her case and at least dismissing critics, if not taking them on. She ceded them the floor except when playing catch up against the latest ridiculous or vulgar attack.

Her biggest fans might not care because it was just Sarah being Sarah. But that doesn't get it done in the real world and Reagan knew it: "I paid for this microphone...". Sarah Palin, too, was entitled to a microphone over the last however many months and she didn't turn it on when she needed to, unfortunately. If it's on now, that's great. But it needs to stay on without overdoing it. And that takes knowing the game, like it, or not.

Whether Palin has a national future or not will depend on her willingness to hit the books at some point and absorb more information about international history and politics than she has needed to know in her role as governor. She also needs a shrewder, cooler take on the mainstream media, with its preening bullies, cackling witches, twisted cynics and pompous windbags. The Northeastern media establishment is in decline, and everyone knows it. Palin should not have gotten into a slanging match with David Letterman or anyone else who has been obsessively defaming her or her family. Let surrogates do that stuff.

Comments

[AWW]

I am not a huge Palin fan. I think she has potential but is not (yet) the GOP rock star some make her out to be. That said, what Dan, Camilla, Krauthammer, etc seem to keep missing is that Palin has been targeted/slandered/pummeled more than any other GOP candidate, including Reagan. I am old enough to remember the 70s and 80s and the treatment of Reagan didn't sink to the level of viciousness that Palin faced.

The basketball analogy that makes sense is that Palin is being tripled teamed, fouled constantly, and has no one to pass the ball off to but then the "fans" (GOP pundits, elite) blame her for the team's loss. All the people who say she shouldn't have responded to Letterman insulting her daughters don't sound normal to me.

You are right - it is time to move on and see in 6 months to a year what she is planning on doing.

[Pete]

I have a different take. It is up the Republicans not to lose her. They have a star and yet seem bent on leaving her hang out to dry. I believe her when she says she will support Republican candidates and independant candidates. Being free of the governership, she is also free of the Republican Party.

If the party loses her, what female candidate can it field for 2012? Certainly they have seen how Palin and family has been trashed, and the little support she has received from the Party leaders to say "thanks but no thanks".

[Dan Riehl]

The current party leadership stinks. That's just a fact.

[O!]

absorb more information about international history and politics

Yeah, it's critical that she learn something about history and international relations so we don't see her make a complete ass out of herself by, for example, thanking the Russians for being suckers when they sold us Alaska.

[C.T.]

I confess I skipped Paglia's take on Palin and went right to the question about lesbian porn.

[bandit]

I'm with Pete - she may not be president but she's a very effective representative and obviously drives Dems crazy - not that they aren't close enough to walk (Sullivan). You can tell by the left's obsession with her that she hits a very sensitive nerve and the GOP would be crazy to push her away. Plus she really exposes the hate infested side of the left - which should always be brought to light.

[martin J smith]

First if Ms Palin wants to be taken seriously beyond stump speeches for others
i.e presidential material --she will need to do serious work both studyingt and getting good coaching for example from the likes of John Bolton on foreign affairs and Karl Rove types on domestic policies in addition to her own reading. She should also pay careful attention to the arguments on these issues on the other side.

As to her response to the media I say this: The republican party is in disarray partly because they are divided not only about Palin but on their response to the Democratic opposition. I firmly beleive the Republicans need to be the "loyal Opposition" --the loyalty is to this country and the opposition is to the current Democratic party. Trying to make deals or compromise with Democratic screwed up policies is not loyalty to the country. It is a sell out and pure political opportunism. When the party can get its act together it will be capable of handling the Northeast media and in turn support Palin--not until then

[Mrs. du Toit]

Palin pummeled more than any other Republican candidate? Ummm... no.

Anyone who remembers Nixon's infamous "the press won't have me to push around" speech would find that the ferocity against Nixon was enormous (and much more targeted and full of vitriol than Palin has experienced). Reagan was also personally attacked, without mercy, and it was open season on his wife and career (and their children).

Look up Barry Goldwater's treatment by the press. Reference the horrible feud between Adams and Jefferson.

I'm afraid that Palin is just one in a long series of Right aisle candidates who have been attacked by the press. It is how they handle it that matters, not that they are attacked. Attack by the press goes with the territory.

I don't mean to justify it or suggest that personal attacks are valid, but it is part of the game. Acting the victim is a sure way to encourage it, and appear weak to the electorate.

[mark l.]

how to really drive the dems crazy?

palin should get a sitdown with paglia and offer her the position of consigliere. Palin desperately needs an intellectual, at least in the eyes of the media, to endorse her qualifications, or potential qualifications.

nothing paglia has written would lead me to believe that she has any feelings, other than respect, for palin.

[T.G.]

I don't understand why do you have to select a genius in the white house if you want limited government.

If you believe in big government that's a different story, then the best will do. Because they make all of your decisions.

[WestWright]

I'm with you T.G., we have seen the results of electing 'genius' idiots since the idiot Pres. Wilson if not before. I believe in strictly limited government and just want a common sense American with defined principles in the WH!

[xerocky]

It was a mistake to pick her as VP, let's just face that. She's great, she could have given the keynote speech at the convention and a few years she could have been our Obama (outside of his obvious success, that isn't saying much).

But she needs to be able to handle questions better. The Charlie Gibson interview was just aweful, and if it wasn't for that, if she had done better, (or imagine if she had simply kicked ass), she may in fact be VP right now.
But she's not.
The simple fact that she's not, and were talking about her is such a big deal, I've never seen the left hate someone so much for such little reasons before, not even close. They didn't hate Rumsfeild this much, they didn't hate Tom Delay this much. Obviously she scares the living daylights out of them.
The thing that shocked me the most, is that liberal women that I know and like, the way that they reacted to her, it was like blood lust. You may not agree with her, but to call her the things that they called her, and from people who are glad to call themselves feminists, it was sick.
But when was the last time that a failed VP got this much air time? Who was Bob Doles running mate? Who was Dukkasis's? running mate?
I don't remember.

[xerocky]

And by the way, let's get down to it: Palin going away is great in the short run because it will force the focus elsewhere. And Michael Jackson can only die once.

[Slide]

"I don't understand why do you have to select a genius in the white house if you want limited government."

ahhhh... there you have it. The reason why the GOP loves mediocrity and fears intellect. They WANT that "C" student in the White House like Bush used to always boast about.

There was a time (I'm pretty freakin old) when the conservative movement was dominated by intellectual heavyweights. With actually arguments for why their positions are best for America. I used to sit transfixed listening to William F Buckley. I didn't agree with him necessarily but I respected him tremendously.

Now who are the conservative icons? Sarah (I can see Russia) Palin? Joe the Plumber? Guys you can't be taken seriously if those are the people you put up there to represent your movement. I think that you think that they represent the "real Americans" but that is condescending and grossly insulting to most Americans. Until you become a party of thinkers once again with actual ideas and not just slogans you are doomed to irrelevance. Does the Whig party mean anything to you?

[mark l.]

"The reason why the GOP loves mediocrity and fears intellect. They WANT that "C" student in the White House like Bush used to always boast about."

bush has made his academic records public. obama has not.

from the aptitude scores, bush's iq is roughly 130.

here's what a transcript look like:
http://www.iuptown.com/YaleProtest/bushs_yale_transcript.htm

can you really criticize bush's intelligence when you have the proof which contradicts you, while simultaneously ignoring the fact that obama has NOT provided equivalent proof?

57 states?
obama's iq is probably below 100.

[muffler]

America has always been about achievement, intellect and capability. How did these three items become a hindrance for advancement through the GOP? I think the fascination with Palin is she meets none of these requirements and yet the base loves her. I think this speaks volumes about who is supporting her and why I sleep better every night knowing she is more than a heartbeat from the presidency.

On a final note... Doesn't anyone realize that to being able to determine the true reason for her resignation is troubling since she spent thousands of words on telling us. Doesn't anyone find it troubling that she invited the same MSM to her first interview after the resignation as she claims was attacking her? There were so many options yet she chose ABC.

[O!]

And who are the liberal icons?
Barack (I can't read a teleprompter in Russia because I'm too tired) Obama, and Joe (Hey, you in the wheelchair, stand up and take a bow!) Biden.

Bwahahahahaha. 2010 and 2012 are going to be bloodbaths for you buffoons.

[mark l.]

one more point about obama's alleged intelligence.

if there was a test where he could demonstrate superior intelligence, the dems would have it on a 'speed-link'.

I think any score above 120 is substantial, and would bolster a candidate's resume.
neither palin, nor obama, have such a score to hold up as sign of their brilliance.

the reason?
neither of them has demonstrated their intelligence in ANY testing.

relevant to the job? not really.

relevant to conversation comparing obama and palin's intelligence?
absolutely.

[ajacksonian]

No one ever, not once, tried to make a rape joke about Nixon's daughters.

Nixon faced criticism, and small dose of vitriol. With Gov. Palin it has been 99% vitriol.

There is something horrifically wrong when this becomes the norm in politics: you are very close to sliding into a despotic realm where the supporters of a regime feel they can say anything and that soon becomes DO anything they wish to those they don't like. Until, of course, you get factionalism and then things go from horrific to 'how many dead in the street this morning?'

No one on the Left wants to stop that, and they have decided that civil society isn't worth having. Where were feminists on the rape joke? After prodding they put out some tepid response at the last moment... and feminists still cannot stand up for the rights of women overseas. That is pure and utter hypocrisy, to say you want a better society for all women, when you only want it for a select few in a certain political arena that meet certain litmus tests. And if you aren't in that realm, well, so sorry, you don't deserve any support.

So universal is their support!

So narrow are their actions.

That fathers would not stand against this stuff is more than awful. Where were the fathers of young girls standing up against this? This is non-political in the worse way, and yet politics, favoritism and 'she deserved it'.... ahhh, what was that about rape again? These were not rednecks from the deep south spouting this misogynist line, but Liberals from urban centers doing so. The guys who supposedly support 'women's rights'. Yeah, and I have a bridge in Brooklyn for you, cheap.

Gov. Palin has taken more attacks, more vitriol, more intensely with less support than Richard Nixon got in his entire career... and with less cause, far, far less cause considering Nixon used the CIA to block the FBI. That deserved recrimination and the failure of his Administration.

Gov. Palin?

Her great crime is?

I support her because she is a good woman and a decent politician who carried out her agenda to reform government and get rid of local corruption. That is a hell of a lot more than I've seen from other candidates running for office from either party in Incumbistan.

[Lala]

Paglia did a great article knocking the little mouse Katie Couric about a month ago.

[xerocky]

"can you really criticize bush's intelligence when you have the proof which contradicts you, while simultaneously ignoring the fact that obama has NOT provided equivalent proof?"

He's admitted to having been helped by AA. So there's that.

All they would have to do is produce the transcripts and the B.C. and all of the talk about it would be over, yet they won't.

Furthermore, when they speak of Obama's smartness, it's in past tense, already proven sense. As if to say "of course he's smart".
But it simply hasn't been proven.

[unseen]

But the months of silence post-campaign dealt her a harmful blow due to her own inaction. She should have been on with Rush, Levin or on Fox once a week making her case and at least dismissing critics, if not taking them on. She ceded them the floor except when playing catch up against the latest ridiculous or vulgar attack.

what part of ethics complaints do you not get. she could NOT do what you suggest because if she did she would be hit with an ethics charge due to AK laws. Everytime she poked her head up be it evansville or Albany she was hit with a complaint. She wanted to do what you suggest yet was UNABLE to do so in her present circumstance and thus her only alternative was to change the rules and she did and got hit with that.

[mark l.]

unseen has a point...

every campaign trip she was going to make in 2010 was going to be investigated by "private citizens"(or a**licking dem loyalists 'privately funded'). The tactic only works if you want to ground a state pol with national clout.

let me be the first to say, here, at least...

IF (big if) the dems every get a candidate in a similar circumstance(state office/national prominence), I will torture said candidate in the style that has been employed upon palin, pro bono.

she knew if she left the state to speak it was going to cost her time and money.

no chance foia can allow and individual to see the people who were pursuing her...love to warm up on those guys.

[wally sadaber]

Sorry I have missed the Palin discussions. So you guys can help set me straight. Are the following things true?

Palin was driven out by the MSM, which is leftwing because it is owned by General Electric, Westinghouse, Time Warner, Rupert Murdoch, Disney, and other multinational corporations.
Palin was unfairly critized by Democratic Party bloggers, such as Charles Krautkammer, Karl Rove, Peggy Noonan, Dan Schnur, George Will, David Brooks, and Fred Barnes.
Palin is a team player because in the middle of her FIRST term she stopped working with the team and left the Lt. Gov with all the work.
Palin quit because of those who made the ethics complaints in the past, including two she has paid large fines for already.
Palin was concerned about the exploitation of her children, who she prominently displayed or mentioned at every campaign rally.
Palin, who suggested or actually said that Obama was a socialist, a terrorist, an elitist, a loser for working as a community organizer, and not a "real" American, was destroyed by the politics of personal destruction.
Palin is a good candidate for the White House because she quit her job as governor in an extremely challenging fiscal climate.
Palin, who thinks she had foreign policy expertise because one can see Russia from an Alaskan island, who could not remember which periodicals she reads, and who claims to have rejected the Bridge to Nowhere after she campaigned for it, has shown Presidential bonafides.

[narciso]

Well Wally, GE underwrites MSMBC which is Air America TV, Time WArner, is a very liberal organization, they showed Obama as some super being, despite his almost nonexistent record, whereas her record of reform was obscured or distorted, I respect Rove, but didn't he have to step down for legal issues; we don't hold that against him Dr. Krauthammer, really needs to point where her knowledge is faulty; as opposed to the incumbent president who doesn't understand who won the cold war. Her full unexpurgated comment about Alaska's trade and military relationship is more informative than what Gibson, tore out of it.

[wally sadaber]

Just so you know, GE and Westinghouse make nuclear weapons parts narciso. HOw that makes them lefty is a mystery to me. Why is Time Warner "liberal?" Do you have any particular evidence of that besides you don't like Rachel Maddow? What you percieve as liberal, someone else can call right wing (e.g. the really stupid trader dudes on CNBC).

On the other points, I was um, being facetious.... The big critics of Palin have not been Democrats but have been REPUBLICANS. And many are leading conservative Republicans who dread having her around in 2012 and 2016. I don't think anyone who values knowledge, intellectual discourse or rational thought cares for Sarah Palin, including partisan right wingers like Rove and Krautkammer. What I don't think the Riehlrightworld understands is that liberals, unlike sane Republicans, DO WANT Sarah Palin to be nominated in 2012. She will be annhilated. But what many of us also want is intellectual discourse and a reasonable opposition, not demagoguery, red meat, and proud ignorance.

[unseen]

wally,

You say you worked in government. I believe you. I believe you because I have really never seen the level of stupidity in your posts except in government and possibily in the MSM.

[xerocky]

"The big critics of Palin have not been Democrats but have been REPUBLICANS."

You start your post by saying that you havn't been up on the Palin discussions. Perhaps you should have read before you spoke. The fact that she's been ripped up by Republicans has been discussed here.

But it wasn't R's who wrote the article in Vanity Fail and who turn red and get angry when you speak of her in slightly positive tones.

[xerocky]

"Why is Time Warner "liberal?" Do you have any particular evidence of that besides you don't like Rachel Maddow?"

How often and how favorably has O been on the cover of Time?

[Darth Venomous]

"ahhhh... there you have it. The reason why the GOP loves mediocrity and fears intellect. They WANT that "C" student in the White House like Bush used to always boast about."

As opposed to the F - - dunce we have there now, moron.

[DaveinPhoenix]

I don't need another intellectual in the White House or Congress. I don't need another media spinner. I don't need another smooth talking glib person representing America. I need someone who understands common sense and who understands what makes America work best. And I think Sarah Palin will do a pretty good job of it.

[gaspar]

"Guys you can't be taken seriously if those are the people you put up there to represent your movement."

I wonder when it will dawn on YOU guys that these personas, like JTP, are of much of your own creation. YOU could have just acknowledged that Obama stumbled into a great zinger, laughed it off, and forgotten about it. Instead, JTP had to be humbled, for what was Obama's sin and not his. YOU couldn't bring yourselves to acknowledge that Obama was just another overtired, overstressed, sometimes tongue-tied politician on the stump. YOU made that nobody into JTP. Now, YOUR lust for blood has loosed Sarah Palin from her quiet corner. Only time will tell just what YOU may have done to YOURSELVES.

[wally sadaber]

Xeroxy, Okay, that settles it. Favorable articles by Time on the POTUS mean that all of the MSM is biased towards that politician. For 7 years Bush got favorable Time covers. For 8 years Reagan got favorable covers. Basing your views of MSM objectivity on the cover of one magazine of POTUS is a pretty limited way to consider bias. I think ownership and actual biases are a better way. The cheerleading for unprovoked invasion, government spying, and torture are pretty indicative. Remember that the Bush DOD had a program to train ex Generals to go on CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS, etc. to parrot the party line on Iraq in the guise of independence. These media companies KNEW it was a propaganda effort and supported it. Time covers?