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silveradeptSo, apparently, while they were all decrying the "liberal media" narrative of Sarah Palin in 2008 that she was basically a vacuous, empty-headed MILF with insufficient experience in politics and whose best assets were planted firmly on her chest and not in her mind or policy prescriptions, the conservative blogosphere was taking notes. The fruits of their study were unleashed upon Meghan McCain when she had the stones to stand up and call Junior Anti-Sex League Chief, Satanic Panic-style Witch, and Faux Everyperson Christine O'Donnell what she is - a nutjob with no actual experience - instead of falling into line like all the other establishment Republicans and groups that apparently praise unquestioning obedience over thought.
The highlights? "Meggie 'Big Mac' McCain", "this self-indulgent set of mega-breasts doesn't belong anywhere near a TV studio commenting on anything", "I swear, if Meghan McCain gets any dumber she'll be drooling on her boobs", and the re-posting of a picture that shows, my goodness, Meghan McCain's cleavage (one that McCain herself linked to from her own Twitter account earlier that drew scorn from right-wingers about her flaunting herself), with the later comment "I think Meghan McCain speaks as a 17 year old valley girl".
Now we know full well that if someone had said any of that about the Great Prophet Sarah Palin while she was on the campaign trail, they would have been slammed with accusations of sexism. They were slammed with accusations of sexism, actually. The great hypocrisy on display here makes the canyon in Arizona look like a gentle slope. Is this conservatism displaying its roots as a party of old white dudes that liked it that much better when brown and black people weren't citizens and women had no vote and were told not to worry their pretty little heads over something as complex as politics? Maaaaybe.
More likely, it's that conservatism got caught flat-footed when someone who wasn't the designated rebel thumbed their nose at the prevailing wisdom and spoke out. Ms. McCain is regularly saying things that are in conflict with the orthodox conservative, and worse, where she's picking her fights, she's going to win and convince younger voters to side with her and not with the old white guys who used to be in charge. Knowing full well they don't have a substantive reason to oppose Ms. McCain - in fact, some of the people now supporting Christine O'Donnell were vociferously against her in the primaries and afterward, before someone cracked the whip and made them all fall in line - they went back to the schoolyard to find what they could say. "You're too young." "You're just a pair of tits, no brains there." "You sound funny."
In some ways, we kind of wish that conservatives and liberals would be more forthright about this - if they don't have a substantive objection, fall back onto a schoolyard taunt to signify that, and then move on. We'll get the soundbites the media wants, and everyone knows that there's no real opposition, just posturing.
Well-buried in all of this inanity is a sane comment that says part of what makes the country great is that anyone can run for office, so Ms. McCain was wrong on lack of experience as a disqualifying aspect. I'm inclined to agree there - people with no experience sometimes should be running for office. Ms. McCain, however, provides more than ample evidence that such a person should not be Christine O'Donnell, and she has help elsewhere that points out that O'Donnell and others that are being portrayed as outsiders are serial contenders (and losers) or state office-holders or otherwise experienced political persons. They are the fringe candidates that normally get laughed out of the primaries by the serious people. This time, though, they've managed to tap and say the things that people have been talking about in their back rooms, and then promised to do all of those things openly if elected. In an environment where both of the sane parties don't seem to be doing anything to make it better, why vote for someone who you know is going to lie? Why not try to elect the person who's going to be dangerous, but is at least honest about it, and packages it in a way that you can rationalize to yourself that it's a good thing?
The highlights? "Meggie 'Big Mac' McCain", "this self-indulgent set of mega-breasts doesn't belong anywhere near a TV studio commenting on anything", "I swear, if Meghan McCain gets any dumber she'll be drooling on her boobs", and the re-posting of a picture that shows, my goodness, Meghan McCain's cleavage (one that McCain herself linked to from her own Twitter account earlier that drew scorn from right-wingers about her flaunting herself), with the later comment "I think Meghan McCain speaks as a 17 year old valley girl".
Now we know full well that if someone had said any of that about the Great Prophet Sarah Palin while she was on the campaign trail, they would have been slammed with accusations of sexism. They were slammed with accusations of sexism, actually. The great hypocrisy on display here makes the canyon in Arizona look like a gentle slope. Is this conservatism displaying its roots as a party of old white dudes that liked it that much better when brown and black people weren't citizens and women had no vote and were told not to worry their pretty little heads over something as complex as politics? Maaaaybe.
More likely, it's that conservatism got caught flat-footed when someone who wasn't the designated rebel thumbed their nose at the prevailing wisdom and spoke out. Ms. McCain is regularly saying things that are in conflict with the orthodox conservative, and worse, where she's picking her fights, she's going to win and convince younger voters to side with her and not with the old white guys who used to be in charge. Knowing full well they don't have a substantive reason to oppose Ms. McCain - in fact, some of the people now supporting Christine O'Donnell were vociferously against her in the primaries and afterward, before someone cracked the whip and made them all fall in line - they went back to the schoolyard to find what they could say. "You're too young." "You're just a pair of tits, no brains there." "You sound funny."
In some ways, we kind of wish that conservatives and liberals would be more forthright about this - if they don't have a substantive objection, fall back onto a schoolyard taunt to signify that, and then move on. We'll get the soundbites the media wants, and everyone knows that there's no real opposition, just posturing.
Well-buried in all of this inanity is a sane comment that says part of what makes the country great is that anyone can run for office, so Ms. McCain was wrong on lack of experience as a disqualifying aspect. I'm inclined to agree there - people with no experience sometimes should be running for office. Ms. McCain, however, provides more than ample evidence that such a person should not be Christine O'Donnell, and she has help elsewhere that points out that O'Donnell and others that are being portrayed as outsiders are serial contenders (and losers) or state office-holders or otherwise experienced political persons. They are the fringe candidates that normally get laughed out of the primaries by the serious people. This time, though, they've managed to tap and say the things that people have been talking about in their back rooms, and then promised to do all of those things openly if elected. In an environment where both of the sane parties don't seem to be doing anything to make it better, why vote for someone who you know is going to lie? Why not try to elect the person who's going to be dangerous, but is at least honest about it, and packages it in a way that you can rationalize to yourself that it's a good thing?
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-20 06:11 pm (UTC)who would want to fuck her? i certainly wouldn't.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-20 09:03 pm (UTC)It was the best explanation many bloggers could come up with why people were still listening to her long after she proved she was stupid - they were too bust imagining themselves in her bedroom to listen to what she was saying.