The Old, Old Party

I didn't watch Palin's speech last night. I saw a bit of Giuliani's - enough to know that venomous dishonesty is not something I want to spend a lot of time looking at.

One reader who saw the speech found it ugly, and sad; she "kept waiting for the heads on Mt Rushmore behind her to weep hot, salty tears."

The audience in front of Palin wasn't in tears either.  They were joyful. And they were old. My own parents were fiercely independent people who moved eventually into a retirement community. Watching Palin's supporters reminded me of New Years Eve at the "assisted living" facility. Old white people in silly hats drinking a bit too much - trying to recreate their youth, or at least their middle age of half a century ago.

There were significant differences -the people at the retirement home were not nearly as bitter as those at the convention, nor were they as male.  The crowd at the Xcel Center was composed of twice as many men as women, which is really astonishingly unbalanced considering the age of those in attendance.

Part of Palin's appeal of course is that she is a throw back to an earlier era - she's a virtual fountain of youth for the delegates.  She's from Alaska. Everyone I know who has been there talks of it as the America of 50 years ago. Fishing, hunting, and teen aged pregnancy are part of the culture. Wasilla is a town described as "the worst kind of suburban sprawl of highway-fronting shopping malls and gravel lots." The opening of a Target store in Wasilla next month is hailed as a major accomplishment.  The first Target in the lower 48 opened in 1962.

Segregation was legal in 1962.  A "communnity organizer" from the South Side was lucky if he was only mocked in the early sixities. In the early sixties, a high school diploma was sufficient to guarantee a good living. In Alaska it still is. Todd Palin, who never graduated from college, earned $100,000 to $120,000 per year as an hourly worker.  His passion is finding training others for similar jobs: (in fact he actually sounds like a community organizer himself)

"For those of us who learn by touching and tearing stuff apart and for those who don't have the financial background to go to college, just being a product of that on-the-job training is really important," Palin said one morning over pastries at an Anchorage coffee shop, before meeting with trainers at several companies "

Those listening to Sarah Palin in the convention hall remember when lacking an education was not a problem across the U.S.A. They simply don't get that a high school diploma won't be enough in the globalized 21st century.  It doesn't bother them that Bristol Palin hasn't shown up for the start of her senior yearof high school. Neither has Levi Johnston - even though it started three weeks ago. It is far more important to the G.O.P that teen aged pregnancy be applauded than teen agers get educated.

Sarah Palin is not the future. As Gloria Steinhem wrote today

She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.

And the Grand Old Party loves her for it, as does the adolescent septuagenarian himself, John McCain.

(memeorandum)

 

Comments

[Rick]

I hate to break this to you my old friend but "coloreds only" drinking fountains and restrooms and entrances and restaurants were not the exception but were the rule from Amarillo to Atlanta in 1962. I can only speak for areas that I personally visited and observed that year and it was many years later until I first found my way to Alaska. So, your part of the country had not already been through the racial renaissance with every one singing "Kumbaya", whilst her part of the country was barely removed from the Spanish inquisition. But nostalgia is an odd an uniquely human emotion. You can believe it to be anything you want. If you visit Anchorage or Fairbanks or Tok or Wasilla (all of which I have) you will find them to be oddly tolerant places which sounds like it might run contrary to what you believe or want it to be, because you have discovered that a lady, with whom you are predisposed to dislike, is from there. (Sorry. I'm making you sound intolerant.)

I forced myself to watch the speeches in Denver the week before. I am lying to you. I didn't really have to force myself at all. It is another human emotion that causes one to slow down and leer at an accident. I don't know why I do it, but I do. I was struck watching a middle aged AA couple during the BHO speech and he was holding her and sheltering her in his arms in front of him as they watched and listened and swayed back and forth and they were blubbering with tears streaming down their faces. You know what I'm talking about? The kind of tears and emotion you feel when you are thinking "I will be able to tell my grandchildren I was here". And BHO was saying the usual heart grabbing stuff like "punish the oil speculators and tax windfall profits", and you know the kind of rhetoric to which I refer. It is the red meat of the class envy / warfare crowd. By the way, I think I must have missed when he said "punish the cattle futures speculators." And, I found myself wanting to believe that this was a real couple who had been married for many years and really did believe this stuff because I know that some folks really do believe that you can tax the wee wee out of corporations and they will do "what is right and pony up their fair share" and not simply pass it along to those who purchase that which the corporation produces nor will they take their jobs and move off shore in search of more favorable tax conditions. And, these people somehow believe that Exxon mobile is owned by Darth Vader and not by me and their retirement programs. But, I digress. But, then it dawned on me that I was only watching a movie and this was just two teachers who had met in the lounge the night before and were now sharing their 2nd most emotional experience of the last 24 hours. How deflated I was!!

And, you are completely correct in your observations on the age thingy. In Saint Paul you were watching folks who had earned their own money over the years, while in Denver you were watching a younger crowd who was cheering for their elected officials to confiscate money from the Saint Paul crowd and give it to them so they won't have to spend all those years earning. I suppose it is two utterly different 'American Dreams'. I will grant you that some of the Denver crowd were not teachers but were 'guilt ridden' inherited wealthy. You can tell the difference because the teacher's Birkenstocks are 'knock offs'. I wasn't in Denver last week, but I am just guessing that the make up sales did not soar whilst the partiers were in town. Here's an interesting thought. If you and I both dawned masks and you robbed the crowd in Saint Paul and I robbed the crowd in Denver, what would you do with all the diamonds and sapphires and gold and what would I do with all the turquoise and silver? Betcha never pondered that before!

So, all in all, you get another A+ on your observations.

[bbbustard]

I'm guessing you missed the diamonds on Cindy McCain's ears - the same way that I missed how John McCain earned his money.
I've never been to Alaska, but I actually assumed it was a tolerant, live and let live kind of place.
I am well aware that segregation was widespread in '62 - those signs you mention were actively in force where I grew up until the late '60's

[Rick]

Well, yes I did see Cindy's diamonds. That, of course, is the humorous part. If you robbed the RCon and I robbed the DCon, you would have lots of valuable stuff and I would have worthless Turquoise and odd junk. Limousine liberals do not, for the most part, attend their conventions. Teachers and others looking for government handouts do. Lots of libs have money and wear make up. It is just that natural fiber wearin pie wagons attend the conventions. It is not a criticism, simply an observation. While make up sales in Denver were likely down, I am sure that patchouli oil sales were booming.

And, I am guessing that McCain doesn't have much money. Not many 3rd generation academy guys would. But his wife sure does, and that's just fine with me. I think money is a wonderful thing and I don't envy anyone who has it.

[bbbustard]

Sorry I got it screwed up at to who was robbing who at the convention. My Bad.

Also sorry that I thought you were implying some sort of respect for the St Paul people when you talked of them earning their own money. You don't care how they got it.

3rd generation academy guys may not have much money, but some 5th generation slavers inherited a lot. So maybe John was paying alimony from the money he inherited, rather than from his second wife. Now I understand your admiration

[Rick]

I must simply accept the fact that you are not going to get it. But, that's ok. I like you anyway.

And, 5th generation slavers? To what, pray tell, do you refer?

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