Media focused on scandal and John McCain’s vetting (or lack thereof) of Sarah Palin fail to realize one key detail — many of the very voters who will decide this election like the Alaska governor in spite of or even because of some of the revelations the media has brought to light.
Because of that, McCain’s selection might have been brilliant — if Palin can survive the media vetting.
The issue is what one Washington Independent writer called a “backlash against elitism.” This election is going to be decided by rural and independent voters in a handful of states —
While independent voters are difficult to put in a box on issues, rural voters tend to be religious, pro-Second Amendment and favor more drilling for oil. Palin fits the mold on all of those issues. On the issue of religion, many media outlets have appropriately called her words and those of her pastor controversial, but it’s the same familiar talk many Americans hear every Sunday.
Generally speaking, rural Americans hunt and fish. It’s more than a pastime; it’s a huge part of their lives. Photos like this one with a hunted caribou, this one with a bearskin rug and this one fishing resonate with such voters.
Then there’s her gender. Though Palin has been attacked by many women’s-rights advocates for her views on abortion and funding for teen pregnancy, one could argue that she broke ground as a sports anchor for an Alaska TV station in the 1980s. She was doing a job traditionally done by men at that time, especially in a rural, conservative state. She wins respect for that.
The volunteer basketball coach who got her start in politics through the local PTA still commutes to work. She and her husband own a small business.
‘I feel like I know her’
Rebecca Powell, an independently minded blogger for NewWest.net who once lived in Montana, wrote in a Monday posting that, the more she reads about Palin, “the more I feel like I know her, that I have lived beside her, sat a few pews behind her in church, and maybe bumped into her at the local grocery store.”
Palin, Powell wrote, “reminds me of dozens of Northern women I met in
Then there’s the issue of Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy. Powell has something to say about that, too:
“Her underage, unwed daughter is pregnant, yet that story seems familiar, too, like a story that happens in small northern towns where summer nights last and last and the threat of winter makes everyone a little frenzied,” she wrote. “Having worked with teenage girls and been a particularly headstrong teenage girl, I think the appropriate Christian response to such a story is ‘there goes I, but for the grace of God.’ Show me the mother that has perfect control of her teenage daughter and I will show you a teenage girl locked in a basement without windows or cell service.”
The vetting
The media frenzy that erupted after McCain announced his surprise pick is justified. No one should get to the White House without being fully known by the American people. Some serious issues have been brought to light, including the trooper scandal, Palin’s flop on the bridge to nowhere and alleged ties to the Alaskan Independence Party.
But none of the revelations reported thus far are worse than controversies many other politicians, including New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, have faced.
Critics can complain about Palin’s lack of political experience, but she’s riding the same wave of anti-Washington sentiment that carried Barack Obama to the Democratic Party’s nomination.
Palin’s speech tonight at the Republican National Convention will be a strong indicator of whether she can withstand the heat. Assuming she can, she will help McCain win over rural voters, and that will increase the GOP nominee’s chance of winning the presidency.