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Sarah Palin may wax and wane as a significant figure in national politics. But there’s no one quite like her to rouse the passions of The Base, so it’s with interest that I read about her appearances in Missouri leading up today’s primary.
Palin’s candidate in the three-way I’m-more-conservative-than-you slugfest of a GOP Senate primary is, unsurprisingly, Sarah Steelman, the fellow-Mama-Grizzly and former State Treasurer who has been lagging a bit in late polls.
This account at WaPo from Missouri-based freelance journalist Diana Reese of an appearance by Palin over the weekend hits a lot of old familiar notes for aficionados of La Pasionaria of the Permafrost:
Palin started her speech with a comment about the Missouri’s state flag, which does indeed feature three grizzly bears, representing the strength and bravery of the state’s citizens. Whether any of the grizzly bears is female, however, is open to debate.
But when Palin talked about Steelman, at age 18, working on Ronald Reagan’s campaign in 1976, the former Alaska governor turned to her and said, “You couldn’t have been 18, you must’ve been 2…what a hot mama grizzly you have!”….
Later, referring again to Reagan’s 1976 campaign, Palin said, “Back when Sarah and I were itty bitty babies.”
Ursine shout-outs and dubiously tasteful references to “hotness” aside, Palin’s redundant references to the spirit of 1976 was a big nod to the inside-baseball belief of movement conservative types that people who didn’t back Reagan for president until 1980 were front-runners and parvenus. ‘76 was the good, pure, raw ideological campaign against a sitting Republican president. So Steelman was on board back before hard-core conservatism was cool.
Here’s more from Reese:
The tea party’s mantra of cutting spending and limiting the power of the federal government struck a chord with the audience, but never did the subject of jobs and job creation (my personal obsession) come up.
Instead, Palin reiterated Steelman’s slogan: “The status quo has got to go.”
She said Steelman was not heading to Washington to get invited to “frou-frou chi-chi D.C. cocktail parties.” Instead, she wants to “save our country’s economy and God-given freedoms” while protecting “the sanctity of human life.”
Stands to reason. People like Palin may exploit a poor economy or budgetary red-ink to make their case, but it’s never really about some ephemeral issue like job creation or the budget: it’s the Eternal Cause of getting rid of the New Deal and Great Society and such horrors as legalized abortion that makes the heart race.
You can read Reese’s full post for her less-than-positive impressions of Palin’s sartorial choices (there’s a photo which shows what she’s talking about, including the “Superwoman” t-shirt that is apparently the Steelman Campaign Uniform of the Day), but I won’t go there.
Palin’s on something of a roll with her RINO Purge campaign for a more right-wing Republican Senate Caucus (she issued timely endorsements of Richard Mourdock in Indiana, Deb Fisher in Nebraska and Ted Cruz in Texas, and was smart enough not to fish into the stillborn revolt against Orrin Hatch in Utah). So a Steelman win today would further burnish her credentials. And if Steelman loses to one of the other wingnuts running against her, it was all just a matter of Mama Grizzly solidarity.
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Citizen Alan on August 07, 2012 5:07 PM:
I will hate John McCain until I die for inflicting that satanic harpy on the nation. We will never be rid of her. Twenty years from now, when Republican policies have turned this once-great nation into an apocalyptic wasteland, she'll still be around, vamping around the ruins dressed like Tina Turner from "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome."
Kathryn on August 07, 2012 5:11 PM:
@Citizen Alan.....your first sentence is perfection, I could not agree more.
martin on August 07, 2012 5:21 PM:
Time for Warner Bros lawywers to send the Steeman campaign a reminder about trademark and copyright violation. Why is is right-wing politicians think they have the right to use other people's (because corporations are people, right?) property.
Steve on August 07, 2012 5:56 PM:
Palin may be beloved by movement conservatives, but she's hardly the genuine article herself. Before she was tapped for VP she barely knew anything about national issues at all, let alone the history of the conservative movement. Do you really think she understands the deeper significance of Reagan's 1976 campaign? That's not a dog whistle that too many people can hear today, anyway.
exlibra on August 07, 2012 5:56 PM:
Ursine shout-outs and dubiously tasteful references to “hotness” aside,[...] -- Ed Kilgore
Why should we put them aside? There were lots of yard signs and bumper stickers in my area, in'08, which had "I'm voting for the hot chick" on them. I don't doubt that Missouri has as many susceptible-to-female-pheromones Republican men as Virginia ever had.
MuddyLee on August 07, 2012 6:13 PM:
Right on, Citizen Alan -- because of McCain, Palin became nationally known - the country has been suffering ever since. And because Palin endorsed Nikki Haley in South Carolina, our state government got even crazier than it was under Mark Sanford. And let's not forget John McCain's endorsement of the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2004 - after they had demonstrated their incredible incompetence with the war on Iraq.
SecularAnimist on August 07, 2012 6:37 PM:
What Sarah Palin understands is that "conservatism" in America today is not a political ideology, but an entertainment demographic -- like the audience for professional wrestling.
Anonymous on August 07, 2012 6:48 PM:
Ahh... irony, I voted for Reagan both terms -and lost my slot while in flight school in the military because of him (Gramm-Rudman Act); although I didn't learn the details 'till years later. I still find it hard to believe that NCO's and Commissioned officers alike mentioned this to me.
It wasn't until Bill Clinton -whom we were 'told' to despise by the military- wanted to intervene in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Republicans, shot down the idea that I started to shift politically... cue eleven years later when the Republicans, led by George Wobble-you Bush collectively wet themselves over the idea of invading Iraq for 'humanitarian' reasons.
c u n d gulag on August 07, 2012 6:57 PM:
Sarah "The Whore of Babblin'-on" Palin will be with us until they pry her tongue from her cold, dead mouth.
AndThenThere'sThat on August 07, 2012 7:42 PM:
the three-way I’m-more-conservative-than-you slugfest
I'm going to miss the primaries here in Missouri. Watching the TeeVee, every other commercial seems to be a political ad. The Chamber of Commerce runs an ad telling viewers that Steelman and McCaskill are "birds of a feather" and to "oppose them both". Then immediately afterward, an ad comes up with Palin telling viewers that Steelman is a mama grizzly and "the true conservative". Another Pac attacks Todd Akin for being an earmark sellout who steered a "billions" in wasteful spending which included a $3.3 million road improvement near real-estate property he invested in. Yet another attacks Brunner for saddling his company in debt and taking credit for jobs he didn't create.
One thing for sure after today, Missouri Democrats are going to be in a world of hurt with all this Citizens United money now being turned squarely on them.
robert mcclellan on August 08, 2012 4:42 AM:
I wonder how many Tea Party people know that Palin ran for the Governor of Alaska as a moderate. Her boast at the time was that she had as much Democratic support as Republican.