The buzz this weekend was that there may be another line you can add to Sarah Palin's impressive resumé: the rumor was that she may be a moose-killin'-trash-talkin' -good-ol'-girl- former-beauty-queen mother-of-five-married-to-an-Eskimo-creationist grandma. Now, if this kind of claim could be substantiated, I'd be the first to admit that her motives for protecting her teenage daughter from public embarrassment would, arguably, be noble (if not slightly twisted, from my perspective). But--and I underscore that this kind of speculation is just that, speculation--then it would demonstrate a remarkable capacity to blatantly lie to the press and even those closest to her. Not to mention the fact that she would be politically naive enough to believe that this kind of story wouldn't eventually be outed. I don't know how this will play out and I'm sympathetic to those that claim we should refrain from subjecting the personal lives of politicians and their families to undue scrutiny. But it's another thing altogether when part and parcel of your political message are the details of your own rosy-hued "personal story." And hers is a personal story worth paying attention to.
[update at 3:30 pm on Sept 1: it now turns out that while this rumor was probably false, the campaign has announced that her unmarried 17-year old daughter is currently pregnant. I tend to agree with Obama's statement that nobody outside the family has any business mucking around with this issue. But it can't be good for the Republicans that they're getting this much soap opera drama only three days after the announcement that Palin was McCain's choice. If this kind of decision on McCain's part in choosing Palin in the first place--the "maverick" shooting from the hip, advisors and pundits be damned--well, then I think I've seen all I need to see of the governing style he would bring to the White House].
I'll just say one more thing about Palin, at least for now. I don't know what LDS church members will make of her but I think it's fair to point out that one of the items that has been touted to sell her to the socialcons is her former leadership of a chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. This, of course, is an organization that very pointedly does not allow members of the LDS faith to join. In fact, they made a show recently of stripping a high school athlete of an award once they found out he was Mormon. John McCain sure made the right choice if he was determined to appease the evangelical socialcons that had threatened to stay home. There's nothing they would have hated more than to see a Mormon on the ticket.
As for McCain, there was a time (about eight years ago, to be precise) when he really did seem different from other Republicans, when his candidacy seemed to betoken an uncommon willingness to work with colleagues across the aisle for the common good (remember the old "Straight Talk Express"?). But the crude calculations involved in his selection of Palin is disappointing in the extreme. In fact, those calculations are so transparent--"let's throw a bone to the evangelical nutcases and see if we can pick off a few Hillary supporters as well"-- that you almost have to believe that he intended for his motives to be regarded as both transparent and crass. And that would represent, for me, a willingness to make contemporary politics postmodern in a brand new way: maybe this is the new Straight Talk Express after all.
For the sake of comparison, consider Obama's selection of Joe Biden. I confess that I felt a certain disappointment when he announced his choice. Certainly, Obama made this choice as the result of a kind of political calculation as well: Biden helps with the Catholic vote, he helps with the blue collar vote, he helps with those worried about Obama's lack of experience. But Obama at least intended his choice to be construed as one that was principled. And, in some sense, it is. If anything were to happen to Obama, I don't think there's any doubt that Biden would be capable of competently assuming the presidency, and I think both Democrats and Republicans would agree on that much.
But here we have McCain, choosing a former beauty queen and darling of the socialcons, not caring that his motives simply are just what they appear to be: winning the election, no matter the cost. And that, my friends, is the true postmodern spirit. Who'dda thunk that a crusty old war veteran would be breaking ground like this? Give the wrinkly old white guy--to cite the ever-relevant Paris Hilton--his props.
In a not-altogether-unrelated item, take a gander at this clown from the "Christian"-oriented organization, Focus on the Family. Isn't he witty and droll? Do you suppose that this guy's finely honed comedic chops include an appreciation of irony? Nah, probably not. (That's not to say that the Republicans have the market cornered on such trash).
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