New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
You'll never guess who the New York Times is praising today. Sarah Palin. Really. They say her speech last week was "intelligent and wise and fresh about the present American condition."
It's nice to see that the Times could actually calm down enough from their insane Palin rage to see what some have admired in the rhetoric and politics of the former governor of Alaska:
But something curious happened when Ms. Palin strode onto the stage last weekend at a Tea Party event in Indianola, Iowa. Along with her familiar and predictable swipes at President Barack Obama and the “far left,” she delivered a devastating indictment of the entire U.S. political establishment — left, right and center — and pointed toward a way of transcending the presently unbridgeable political divide.
The Times points out that the media completely ignored the ideas she spoke about in favor of another boring discussion of whether she would run for higher office. So the Times decides to focus on those ideas. Here they are:
She made three interlocking points. First, that the United States is now governed by a “permanent political class,” drawn from both parties, that is increasingly cut off from the concerns of regular people. Second, that these Republicans and Democrats have allied with big business to mutual advantage to create what she called “corporate crony capitalism.” Third, that the real political divide in the United States may no longer be between friends and foes of Big Government, but between friends and foes of vast, remote, unaccountable institutions (both public and private).
She lamented both parties' big talk and no action on spending and politicians' ability to come to Washington poor and leave fabulously wealthy. She noted that 7 of the 10 wealthiest counties in the United States are in the Washington, D.C. area.
She talked about how the political class exploits its position between the federal bureaucracy's huge budget and lobbyists' attempts to get a bigger piece of the pie.
And she talked about crony capitalism and the ability of megacorporations to live off of bailouts and tax loopholes while creating no jobs.
“This is not the capitalism of free men and free markets, of innovation and hard work and ethics, of sacrifice and of risk,” she said of the crony variety. She added: “It’s the collusion of big government and big business and big finance to the detriment of all the rest — to the little guys. It’s a slap in the face to our small business owners — the true entrepreneurs, the job creators accounting for 70 percent of the jobs in America.”
Is there a hint of a political breakthrough hiding in there?
The article ends by discussing how populists are concerned about all big institutions and basically says a Palin run for president would be interesting.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
But I am very happy to see anyone discuss the problems Tim Carney has been writing about for years -- crony capitalism and the lobbying industrial complex.
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Sep '10
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
Angelo Codevilla, call your office.
Jun '10
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
Apparently Mrs. Palin has read Angelo Codevilla. If the citizens of this country can reclaim our republican form of government, the Codevilla essay will become a document on a par with the Bill of Rights. Rush Limbaugh is the only one so far who seems to understand its significance.
May '10
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
I've been saying it: this woman nails the moment like no one else out there. And there's no doubt she has the moral stuff for the job.
I hope she runs.
May '11
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
I'm guessing the Times think she would lose to Obama and therefore they want to get her to win the nomination.
Mar '11
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
Does anyone really need to read a Codevilla essay to recognize the problem? It's been the topic of dinner table conversation for decades, if not centuries. What is remarkable is that it has taken so long to become a topic of national discussion.
Dec '10
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
I find it fascinating that the New York Times considers what Sarah Palin actually says and does and gives it serious consideration. Far too many people who claim to be conservative fail to do so.
In deciding whether one agrees or disagrees with Palin (or any politician), it helps if one becomes familiar with that politician's actual statements and actions, rather than a second- or third-hand media cariacature of them.
Mar '11
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
And they would be wrong.
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
katievs: I've been saying it: this woman nails the moment like no one else out there. And there's no doubt she has the moral stuff for the job.
I hope she runs. · Sep 9 at 8:40am
I am of two minds about her running. But I will say this. She is as smart as a whip, and she is quick-witted. She has the best political instincts of anyone now alive, and she is fearless. I very much regret her pursuit of celebrity.
But what next? Do you think that Krugman will praise her? I shudder to think of it.
May '10
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
Paul A. Rahe
I very much regret her pursuit of celebrity.
Are you so sure that's what it was? I'm not yet. I'm open to the possibility that her aim has been to let Americans get to know the real her, in place of the grotesque media caricature. Some of her attempts may have been misfires. But I like her willingness to stick her thumb in the eye of convention and forge her own route ahead.
Feb '11
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
"Republicans and Democrats have allied with big business to mutual advantage to create what she called “corporate crony capitalism.”"
Crony capitalism (aka corporatism or economic fascism) is not always about preferences for *big* businesses...aggregates of politically-favored smaller businesses can also benefit. The farmers benefitting from ethanol subsidies are not just the large ones, and many ethanol plants are in fact fairly small enterprises.
The key thing about economic fascism is that *the primary factor affecting the success of a business is the govenment's attitude toward it**. If you are a large business, you will have more likelihood of being able to successfully lobby the government directly; if you are smaller, collective political action will usually be a better bet. But in either case, innovation and economic rationality take a back seat to politics.
Jun '10
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
katievs
Paul A. Rahe
I very much regret her pursuit of celebrity.
Are you so sure that's what it was? I'm not yet. I'm open to the possibility that her aim has been to let Americans get to know the real her, in place of the grotesque media caricature. Some of her attempts may have been misfires. But I like her willingness to stick her thumb in the eye of convention and forge her own route ahead. · Sep 9 at 9:18am
We have a celebrity in the White House now. I'm not saying Palin is the right's equivalent of Barack Obama, but we should be careful not to put the person ahead of the program. Sarah is doing fine as a speaker for our values, and that's quite enough. She doesn't have the executive creds of either Perry or Romney.
Jun '11
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
Beware Greeks bearing gifts.
Running the column has the feel of an editorial push to blur the lines of distinction between Governor Palin and Obama, a sort of "hey, we're all not that far apart on the issues" campaign as we get closer to the election.
Interesting to remember that while Obama is part of the "elite," he ran as a populist.
Governor Palin is a populist running as a..........populist.
Aug '10
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
Does anyone else think that Palin might be positioning herself for a third party run? That speech, plus her facebook page entry addressing her 'union brothers and sisters' seems to me to be a bit of a political shift for her.
If she's testing the waters for crossover appeal with moderate Democrats, independents, and even those on the far left who are disillusioned with their own big institutions, and she continues to get a welcome response like the one she got from the Times, she may decide to go all 'mavericky' and run on a 3rd party ticket.
Don't forget that in Alaska she did exactly that - she ran against her own Republican establishment, and in so doing gained plenty of support from Democrats which she held until she was picked as VP and the national machine came down on her with both boots.
For a third-party run to be even feasible, she'd likely want Romney to win. With him representing big business and the establishment, and Obama representing big government, Palin could be positioned as the populist outsider championing small business and the individual.
It would certainly make for a very interesting election year.
Apr '11
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
I appreciate Mollie's comment "I don't know whether to laugh or cry."
I found myself getting annoyed with numerous passages like this:
"Because her party has agitated for the wholesale deregulation of money in politics and the unshackling of lobbyists, these will be heard in some quarters as sacrilegious words."
and this-
"Ms. Palin may be hinting at a new political alignment that would pit a vigorous localism against a kind of national-global institutionalism."
For some time now, the media has been gleefully reporting on a Republican 'civil war' that pits a crazy right-wing establishment against an even crazier right-wing fringe. They're still completely baffled by the Tea Party movement, why it came about and what it stands for. They might even think (weirdly enough) that Palin is beginning to outgrow her racist & reactionary Tea Party roots by saying what she did.
Oct '10
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
Dan Hanson: Does anyone else think that Palin might be positioning herself for a third party run?
Don't forget that in Alaska she did exactly that - she ran against her own Republican establishment, and in so doing gained plenty of support from Democrats which she held until she was picked as VP and the national machine came down on her with both boots.
Sep 9 at 10:09am
Sarah Palin is running for president in 2012. She is not running as an independent third-party candidate. She is running as an independent candidate, period. She is doing what she did in Alaska... campaigning against the political class. She isn't collecting IOUs, because she will not owe anyone anything.
My guess. November 1, Sarah Palin will register for the South Carolina primary as a Republican, owing them nothing, and knowing that the GOP establishment is scared to death of her and the Tea Party. She isn't going to campaign so much against Obama as against the political class. And she will have the largest political voting block in America... Republicans, Democrats and Independents who are all sick of the power lobby.
Dan, katievs, never give up !!
Go Sarah !!
May '10
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
~Paules
She doesn't have the executive creds of either Perry or Romney.
Nor does she have a history of crony capitalism or flip-flopping on abortion. She's been scrutinized and put through the national media grinder, coming out strong on the other end. Perry has only just hopped on the conveyor belt.
Her executive experience, short though it was, proves that she's willing and able to take on the "permanent political class" for the good of the people.
May '10
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
I don't think she'll do a third party run. Nor do I think her "union brothers and sisters" talk represents a shift. She was doing on that on the campaign trail with McCain.
And it's just what the normal union types need to hear: Someone who knows them and likes them and is one of them persuading them that their leadership does not have their real interests at heart.
She's appealing to the "Reagan Democrats" the way he did.
Dec '10
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
Don't see anything different between what Palin said in Iowa last week and some of the things she said when running for Alaska Governor 5 years ago.
Mar '11
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
katievs
Paul A. Rahe
I very much regret her pursuit of celebrity.
Are you so sure that's what it was? I'm not yet. I'm open to the possibility that her aim has been to let Americans get to know the real her, in place of the grotesque media caricature. Some of her attempts may have been misfires. But I like her willingness to stick her thumb in the eye of convention and forge her own route ahead. · Sep 9 at 9:18am
Does anyone remember that at the time of the 2008 election more voters knew about her $150K wardrobe than which party controlled Congress? I always thought that one purpose of her Alaska TV series was to show her in sporty and grungy clothes to dispel the image of the the clothes-obsessed diva. I think it might have worked.
Dec '10
Re: New York Times Praises ... Sarah Palin?
The populist approach she's using makes me a little uneasy. It's a little too least common denominator for me. She rightly points to the problem of crony capitalism (or crony socialism in the current administration), but she misses the cause and the cure. The problem is that the national government has usurped powers not entrusted to it through the constitution. The favor factory that is Washington would not be possible if the government operated within its constitutional restraints. Underlying this is also the ability to collect enough revenue to attract suitors (16th amendment) and the removal of the singular restraint that would have prevented the national government from having a product worth selling to the highest bidder (17th amendment.) Put government back in its cage and all this ends. Her approach treats the sniffles with decongestants but does not prescribe antibiotics to attack the infection.