One can always judge the strength and viability of a conservative presidential candidate from the amount and intensity of hatred and vitriol directed toward them from the left. If the left fears a particular individual, meaning a sense that they are gaining popularity, have strong convictions, or might actually be able to stand toe to toe with the liberals, they will begin the odium, name-calling and derision. Since they aren't able to effectively counter the tested and proven rectitude of conservative principles, it's all they have. The media, always willing to chip in to help the Democrats in any way possible, publicizes the loathing and chimes in right along with them. It's like a choir: the leader sets the note, passes out the lyrics, and the singers start right along with them. Every Republican leader in my lifetime has had to face this sort of idiocy. It is tired, transparent, and predictable. The recent resignation of Alaska Governor and former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin gave the leftist media types a perfect opportunity to begin such an effort in advance of the 2010 midterms and 2012 Presidential election. In keeping with their time honored traditions, they immediately began to spew lies, half-truths, and bitter invective. It is a measure of their shallow intellectual abilities: if they can't win the debate on ideas and principles, they resort to personalizing the issues, pointing fingers, and generally denigrating the individual. The abhorrence of Sarah Palin from the liberal left has begun in earnest, and the reasons for it are clear.
Governor Palin is everything the left once claimed to support. Here is a strong woman serving in a largely male dominated field, a woman who has made her own decisions and has carved out a career for herself while at the same time raising a family. She has had to withstand a tidal wave of insults and snide comments few men ever face. Late night comedians have referred to her look as a "slutty flight attendant", members of her family have been made the butt of crude and insulting attempts at humor, and the morality of her decison to raise a Downs Syndrome child has been questioned, along with her intelligence and experience. The focus on her clothing, appearance, and style is indeed remarkable. Not a day goes by without a negative column or asinine comment from the liberal talking heads. Their focus on her is obsessive and without apparent end. They keep saying how dumb and irrelevant she is, yet their parade of bile continues, actually torpedoing their efforts by giving her more airtime and keeping her in the national conversation. Palin is what the liberals fear most: a strong, conservative woman, and that's why they spend so much time attacking her. Were she a socialist-leaning liberal, they would be lauding her accomplishments, but since she is, to them, on the wrong side of the aisle, her remarkable achievements are scoffed at and belittled. It's the same old double standard from the left. They cannot tolerate a woman who has raised herself into the national spotlight while espousing conservative principles. They would be a singing an entirely different tune if she were supporting gay rights, infanticide, and socialized medicine.
The Democrats and other assorted liberals who strike out against her would prefer the GOP remain a disorganized entity with no recognized national leader. Governor Palin's emergence since being named John McCain's running mate highly disturbs them: it gives the conservative movement a stalwart leader and guide for coming elections. Far better to the liberals would be a chaotic party without guidance, foundering and doubting while the Dems consolidate their power base of minorities, homosexuals, illegal immigrants, greens, pro-abortionists, big government socialists, and the hippy set. The Democrats have always been a coalition party of interest groups instead of a party united by common values and principles, and there is no questioning their effectiveness at cobbling those groups together into a united voting bloc. The largest threat to that alliance is a party on the other side united by ideas, especially if the leader of such a philosphical union appears to be someone who would ordinarily be a member of one of their interest groups. That is why they so vehemently assail black or female Republicans. Surely, they think, no black or woman with a brain would join the GOP, as usual demonstrating their pompous intellectual snobbery. It galls them to no end and is a manifestation of their elitism. Sarah Palin offers the Republican Party a chance to once again unite around core conservative principles, something the left simply cannot allow.
Governor Palin came from humble origins and raised herself up through individual effort. The left has always despised any person who came from common stock to national prominence. It exemplifies the very conservative principles they so fervently oppose. They cannot admit anyone could possibly survive without the support of a massive and extensive government. Liberals prefer a biography replete with federal government handouts and affirmative action. Only Democrats can be permitted to elevate themselves, and even then only with a guiding hand from a nanny government. Governor Palin knows how to handle a firearm (gasp!), hunts, fishes, and rides snowmobiles (snowmachines, she would correct me). She demonstrates unusual comfort with every day folks because she is one. A prime example was provided by today's Washington Post:
"When a photographer prepared to take pictures of the interview, Mrs. Palin, wearing open-toed shoes, said laughingly, 'Don't get my toes in the picture - they are green on the bottom.'
Indeed they were. She said the marks were grass stains from mowing her lawn the previous day"
Horrors: a woman who cuts the grass! The Democrats know they can't allow any conservative with an ability to connect with average people to gain national prominence: it's a lesson they learned by repeatedly having their behinds thrashed by Ronald Reagan. No matter how dumb they said he was, his ability to relate to voters overcame their insults and hatred. Governor Palin has the same ability, and the left fears that more than anything.
Sarah Palin is detested by liberals because they know she can win. It's no more complicated than that. They know she is the strongest candidate to oppose them in the upcoming midterm elections and is the strongest candidate to oppose the Obamessiah. I will admit to a certain amount of vulgar sexism when judging Presidential candidates, but for me Palin has destroyed that by championing the tenets of Ronald Reagan the GOP unwisely ignored in 2008. Those principles transcend time and gender. Governor Palin is the best leader the GOP has at this moment in time. If you need proof, look at the amount of time and energy the left spends attacking her. Anytime you see the liberal set nearly foaming at the mouth with hatred of a conservative, it's a good bet that individual is a leader they fear they cannot defeat.
