General public not as dumb as Broder
WaPo columnist David Broder, who joined the Post in 1966 and should have been forcibly retired no later than 1986, pens a mash note to The Frozen Cheesecake, lauding the “pitch-perfect recital of the populist message” she delivered before a motley assortment of birfers, xenophobes, Jim Crow enthusiasts and rage-o-holics at the recent Teabagger Ball.
Like the quintessential Villager that he is, Broder found Palin’s anti-intellectualism particularly engorging:
When he asked her what role she wants to play in the country’s future, she said:
“First and foremost, I want to be a good mom, and I want to raise happy, healthy, independent children. And I want them to be good citizens of this great country.
“And then I do want to be a voice for some common-sense solutions. I’m never going to pretend like I know more than the next person. I’m not going to pretend to be an elitist. In fact, I’m going to fight the elitist, because for too often and for too long now, I think the elitists have tried to make people like me and people in the heartland of America feel like we just don’t get it, and big government’s just going to have to take care of us.
“I want to speak up for the American people and say: No, we really do have some good common-sense solutions. I can be a messenger for that. Don’t have to have a title to do it.”
Broder’s fanboy enthusiasm for Palin swerves beyond self-parody and into meta-parody territory: He is one of the elite, celebrity pundits who created and marketed a phony notion of “real American values,” and now he’s pimping an ignorant demagogue who rode the “real America” express all the way to elite, celebrity pundithood.
This kind of shit would be funny if the machinations of Broder and his ilk hadn’t done incalculable damage to the country by crippling our press corps just when we needed it most. But luckily, a survey conducted by Broder’s own paper reveals that most ordinary citizens—even most Republicans!—aren’t fooled by Sister Sarah’s schtick:
Although Palin is a tea party favorite, her potential as a presidential hopeful takes a severe hit in the survey. Fifty-five percent of Americans have unfavorable views of her, while the percentage holding favorable views has dipped to 37, a new low in Post-ABC polling.
There is a growing sense that the former Alaska governor is not qualified to serve as president, with more than seven in 10 Americans now saying she is unqualified, up from 60 percent in a November survey. Even among Republicans, a majority now say Palin lacks the qualifications necessary for the White House.
Maybe there’s more wisdom in “Real America” than Broder and brethren guess after all.
Posted by Betty Cracker on 02/11/10 at 09:12 AM • Permalink
Categories: Politics • Nutters • Sarah Palin • War In Error •
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