Before Sarah Palin, there was Princess Diana. Tina Brown makes the comparison:
Like Princess Diana, who was both an addict of fame and its tormented victim, Palin is at constant war with the exposure she seems to live for. In Diana’s case, it was the raucous tabloids and their pitiless photographers who stalked her every waking hour alone or with her children. In Palin’s case, it’s that malign aristocratic phantom, the “media elite.”Doesn't mean it is, either. And even if she is like Diana, Diana came back more powerful than ever.
It’s hard to feel as sorry for Palin as one did for Diana. The comely governor is so cocky in her ignorance, so relentless in pursuit of her own rise to fame, her arrogance makes it much harder to see her vulnerability. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t there....
(By the way, Tina Brown's book about Princess Diana, "The Diana Chronicles," is a terrific read, full of apt analysis of media and fame.)
Posts
55 comments:
Why should any Governor serve longer than 2 years ?
Did I miss the part where Diana had to deal with accusations she didn't bear her own children from deranged bloggers set on her tail by an opposition candidate?
Maybe if Tina Brown had ever shown even the slightest inkling of fairness toward Palin, then I'd be willing to take any analysis from her seriously. She's always been anti-Palin, so this is just another yawner. Same story, different day.
Let's look at a couple passages:
"Palin is clearly terrified. Her M.O. is to cloak her terror in grandiosity."
Really? Terrified? A lot of people have said a lot of things about Palin, few of them nice and none of them have included 'terrified.' This is just made up out of whole cloth.
"Sarah Palin’s bow-out speech was the stylistic opposite of Diana’s simple cri de coeur, but its emotional twin sister."
To be its emotional twin sister, Palin would have had to say that she wanted to left alone and retreat to a life away from the public. Palin said absolutely nothing about going away and hiding. In fact, she was quite emphatic that she planned to do no such thing. Tina Brown is seeing what she wants to see, not what is there.
"She is not only a beleaguered governor of a troubled state, who is pretending to be interested in gas pipelines and “championing ethics reform” while in the middle of a cascade of ethics charges."
1) "Pretending to be interested in gas pipelines"? Really, how stupid is Tina Brown. She just put together a deal that had eluded every previous governor of her state to build a pipeline to the Lower 48 in partnership with private industry. If she's pretending, I'll take her pretend efficiency any day of the week.
2) Funny that there's no mention that the "cascade of ethic charges" were all bogus, that she is 15 for 15 beating them, and that they were the product of attempted intimidation from political opponents. Brown isn't even pretending to honesty here.
"She is also a mother trying to deal with a Down syndrome baby boy, a needy 7-year-old girl, and a teenage daughter who is herself an unwed mother with an infant whose father, a teenage self-described “redneck,” has turned out to be as fond of the red light on the TV camera as his erstwhile mother-in-law-elect."
1) "A needy 7-year-old girl". Let's just attack another of the Palin children shall we? What makes her "needy"? That's just uncalled for bullcrap and way past the line of acceptable discourse.
2) "Erstwhile mother-in-law-elect" Palin was never mother-in-law to Bristol's ex-boyfriend. This is just trying to play some gotcha with guilt-by-association. Tina Brown thinks she is too clever by half with her formulation, but her error in fact just shows her to be half-clever instead.
Another hit piece. Another day.
I was a registered Democrat but the whole Palin bashing thing disgusts me so much, I mailed off a new voter reg as an independent. Eff em all.
Fellow republicans I am obsessed by Wisconsin Supper clubs.
I can't get enough of them.
They are so American, like me.
I want deep fried cheese curds, I want deep fried Walleye and I want hash browns with cheese.
I can't get that where I live and for that I am outraged.
Also, deep fried lobster. I don't want to be picking a lobster apart from it's shell.
I would like to see Palin's tits as well and for not being able to see them I am outraged.
I liked the essay, and I think Palin is terrified. She was talking so fast in the speech I thought I had the video on fast forward.
I think women like her and Diana feel that they shouldn't bow out because of some feminist ideal but they really want to. They drank the Kool-Aid that careers are always satisfying, that everyone is special or irreplaceable.
Anyway, I hope she has better luck than Diana in finding peace and a meaningful career.
PatCA -
"She was talking so fast in the speech I thought I had the video on fast forward."
That's Palin's speech pattern, not terror. It's something that my wife - who is understandably a huge Palin fan - has said time and again that she needs to work on. It's quite evident that she is rushing to get through everything she wants to say because she knows she has a very limited window to get everything out. She hasn't yet mastered the art of saying a whole lot of nothing until you reach the sound bite you want aired.
Make everything else you say completely non-newsworthy, and then hit your point with a single sentence or two. That's how politicians control the media, and it's something she will no doubt improve at over the next couple of years.
It's something that comes with time, and as Palin gets active with more speaking engagements and learning the ropes of politics on the national stage will correct itself.
"Doesn't mean it is, either. And even if she is like Diana, Diana came back more powerful than ever."
hmm...
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
I was a registered Democrat but the whole Palin bashing thing disgusts me so much, I mailed off a new voter reg as an independent. Eff em all.
Reap the whirlwind! A tiny, tiny whirlwind, but a whirlwind nonetheless.
Meanwhile, if any Palin supporter wants to actually use leverage to have a major impact without a great deal of work, I'll show you how.
First, I need people to nominate the worst instance of an MSM reporter telling lies about Palin. Note the bolded bits: speculation doesn't count (i.e., Sully). And, they have to be outright lies or fabrications. And, they have to be from a reporter.
Nominate a few instances then I'll show you how to send a strong message.
Lonewacko -
I'm sure there are far more aggregious examples, but here's one from very recently:
Mike Allen from Politico getting his ass handed to him by John Ziegler after telling multiple lies about Sarah Palin on MSNBC.
I can't watch videos right now, but the Hot Air link doesn't say anything about lies.
In any case, here's how I'm dealing with one of Mike Allen's colleagues: search (note: 24ahead.com is my new domain name).
"It's something that comes with time, and as Palin gets active with more speaking engagements and learning the ropes of politics on the national stage will correct itself."
Or we'll get used to listening to her and not notice so much anymore.
I know I've mentioned this before but Palin's accent is transparent to me. I grew up listening to it. I've been away from home long enough that I can recognize that she has *my* accent (unlike when I was a kid and couldn't tell the difference between the people on the television news and the ones all around me) but the accent itself isn't something that has prejudicial baggage for me.
By that I mean the way we perceive someone with a British accent to be cultured or someone with a southern drawl to be mentally slow as well. It seems that Tina believes that Sarah Palin's speech patterns indicate terror. It has to be her speech, because it's just not *there*.
I think I can tell when Palin is putting it on... and she often enough does. I think that she's often quite angry when she seems most jovial. But I can't see terror there.
I also (to change the subject) I recall a fun book "Uppity Women of Ancient Times" and find that there was a feminist magazine called Uppity Women, "This is a place for uppity women. You know who you are. You are a woman who refuses to keep your place, to limit yourself in any way," it says when I google...
And I think it's interesting and probably significant that a woman who refuses to keep her place or limit herself is referred to as "cocky" and "arrogant" who only *pretends* to be interested in the nuts and bolts of real world problems while she apparently neglects her motherly nurturing duties.
Do these women like Tina ever *listen* to themselves?
"so cocky in her ignorance"
Well, Tina Brown at least does projection fairly well.
Heh, that was such a clueless bit from Tina that it hardly needs comment. This part was particularly amusing:
"The comely governor is so cocky in her ignorance, so relentless in pursuit of her own rise to fame, her arrogance makes it much harder to see her vulnerability."
Yes, Tina. Know anyone close who actually fits that profile?
Why tell people how to get to you if you plan on staying in politics?
I once received a call from Tina Brown. I was working for somebody who was at that time important in Washington. She wanted an interview. She sucked up to me and was just so lovey-dovey, this despite the fact that I told her up front that I had no power of any kind.
It was hilarious.
I watched your "conversations" with Michelle Goldberg - well, as much as I could.
She was more interested in her own voice than anything she had to say, or you had to say. She stepped all over you every time you tried to speak. I must admit, I would have shut off my computer and gone out for coffee and a doughnut or something. Anything but sit through those conversations. I hope you got paid for sitting through it.
Palin's football rally cheerleader style strikes me as empty, but I was never into pep rallies.
Anyway it's fatal if the audience isn't going along with it. It is in fact, when you come down to it, empty air that enthusiasm is shown for.
Don't insult the audience.
The comparison to Diana is interesting and I like the line like Princess Diana, who was both an addict of fame and its tormented victim, Palin is at constant war with the exposure she seems to live for.
I have to say I'm starting to feel sorry for Palin now though. This woman clearly isn't a political threat to anybody in 2012. There's no way she could survive a year of primaries and all the rest of it. If she's a threat to anyone its the Republicans, in fact David Frum seems to be getting his knickers in a right old twist on New Majority. So let's lay off the ad hominem stuff and stop dehumanising and defeminising her.
Tina Brown - she put together words good. She smart. Must be she smart. She put lots of words. Words together. Tina smart. Smart Tina Brown. Lots of words. Smart.
Sarah Palin Stupid. She talk funny. Stupid Sarah.
Tina Brown is still living the same same worthless life she always has. Nothing new here. Hypocrisy is her strong suit. She has again contributed absolutely nothing of value. Her only good work is to shut up and not be heard or seen from - that is the only way she can possibly benefit the world.
What is it with women writer/editors - is it some sort of affirmative action that allows them to get away with such ridiculously catty and poorly supported writing? Tina Brown, Gail Collins, Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich - all taking bitchiness and whining to new heights. Is it long-term menopause? No real man would write something so catty - it's beneath a man's dignity. How anyone gives the women's putrid blood stained output the time of day is the question of the last 30 years. Read them and be a self-polluter.
Tina Brown has Palin in the cross-hairs alright: A woman can spot another woman's terrified mental illness a mile off. Next. Doubting Palin's strength because "she has all the worst Woman's stereotype weaknesses oozing out of her" meme is false on its face but a nice rock to throw all prepackaged by an expert slanderer.
It's interesting to watch a pack of feminists encircle a woman, annihilate her, and dance around the carcass, lips red from her blood.
Feminism seems a lot like masculinism, but the violence comes with pretty smiles.
Aww, come on, Ann. Say something about Sarah Palin thinking there is a Department of Law. ROFL.
It is touching how you devote yourself to her defense, though it's probably not necessary. One need only consider the Republican base to see that Palin is a strong contender for the 2012 nomination.
"the exposure she seems to live for."
Palin seemed to keep her need for exposure very well hidden for 45 years, until McCain picked her.
Does Tina think Sarah bribed Letterman to talk about Willow that way?
Palin seemed to keep her need for exposure very well hidden for 45 years, until McCain picked her.
Your kidding right. She was a FREACKIN' BEAUTY QUEEN for god's sake. Nothing says vanity more than someone who stands on stage waving to the group because they look good in a bikini.
"Nothing says vanity more than..."
Nothing?
Oh, the video of John Edwards primping and feeling pretty beats that example by a country mile.
Aww, come on, Ann. Say something about Sarah Palin thinking there is a Department of Law. ROFL.
here you go
http://www.law.state.ak.us/
just a google away.....
Quote of the Day. Becuase it is all her fault!
Every morning on the Web you can see her kvetch
She stands three foot six when you gets up to stretch
KInda big in the ego like a New York Times hack
So she stabs Sarah Palin with a knife in the back
That's brave Ann
Brave Ann
Brave Annnnnn
Braveheart Ann
Diana was a princess who became famous the way all princess' do - being part of a royal family. Diana was controversy mostly for her personal life. No one hated Diana. They either loved her or didn't care.
In contrast, Palin is a self made woman. She is mostly controversial for her views. Most liberals despise her for who she is and what she represents - a modern conservative woman.
Comparisons between the two are stupid other than that they are both good looking.
Aww, come on, Ann. Say something about Sarah Palin thinking there is a Department of Law. ROFL.
After Obama is done destroying the rule of law we may need to establish one.
But you guys! Princess Diana and Sarah Palin both have vaginas! It's like they're the same person!
And, obviously she's desparate for attention! Why else would a woman seek a political office? Well-adjusted women only seek attention by writing angry articles about how awful it is when a woman steps outside her designated role.
Duncan, that was the line (Palin is at constant war with the exposure she seems to live for) that lept out at me as well. I think it's true of just about any politician, however.
Part of her problem, as alluded to by others, is that she's enough of a neophyte that she hasn't mastered the art of controlling the exposure part. Time will tell if she learns.
[blockquote]It’s hard to feel as sorry for Palin as one did for Diana[/blockquote]
I'm afraid Tina has it precisely backwards.
I'll tell you for whom I have no sympathy: Tina Brown.
Jack wrote:
Aww, come on, Ann. Say something about Sarah Palin thinking there is a Department of Law. ROFL.
Aww, come on, Jack. Now that ChuckR provided the link to the Department of law don't you feel really stupid? Really really stupid? ROFL.
Our British cancer can't sink so deep that we have to endure Tina Brown's second-hand fumes.
"Your kidding right. She was a FREACKIN' BEAUTY QUEEN for god's sake."
Oh for pete's sake. She entered, what, one pageant, years ago? You call that being a beauty queen? That qualifies as "lives for exposure" as Tina Brown said? Had you ever even heard of her before last year?
Diana was a magnificent clothes horse with no brain whatsoever. Sarah's got the parts and the smarts.
Oh for pete's sake. She entered, what, one pageant, years ago? You call that being a beauty queen? That qualifies as "lives for exposure" as Tina Brown said? Had you ever even heard of her before last year?
Laura,
I didn't hear of Heidi and Spencer until about a year ago either, that doesn't mean that they aren't gaga over the exposure.
But let's see, whether it was years ago or not, I think that most people would agree that beauty pageant contestants pretty much like exposure. Check. Then there is the fact that she resigned from the Oil and Gas Commission because she couldn't publicize the things that she was doing there. Check. She demanded to speak after the Presidential defeat and resorted to begging McCain to let her take the stage and promote herself. Check. Even loyalists use as a reasoning over her resignation, that she can't get enough exposure in Atlanta. Double check.
Invisible -
There are so many errors of logic in your post, it's hard to know where to begin.
First, unlike people who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, some people have to earn their way through college which Palin did partly by winning - gasp! - beauty pageants. I know how much it destroys your narrative that it was all about lack of substance, but the average American relates to having to do whatever you can to pay your way through college. Yeah. Keep on attacking a person for having to do it on her own, see how far that gets you.
Second, she didn't resign her seat on the commission for more exposure. She resigned because it was corrupt, so she ran for a higher office to change that. But go ahead with that little self-deception if you think that the average Joe thinks that politically-run commissions are bastions of virtue and integrity. Another politically losing argument for you.
Third, she had every right to speak to voters who only voted for the ticket because she was on it. That McCain didn't voluntarily allow her to do so is a discredit to McCain whose own ego was a big part of his problem throughout the campaign. But you go ahead and try to tell people that it was Palin's ego at issue.
Fourth, no one said it was about exposure. What has been said, is that she can have a more powerful voice outside the governor's office than in it. Kind of like exactly what Palin said on Friday. Go figure!
That's makes you 0-for-4 on your analysis which puts the batter on first base. Care to walk him the rest of the way home too?
"pretty much like exposure" = "lives for exposure"?
You'd have to "pretty much like" exposure to want to be a politician, don't you think? If you run for political office without "pretty much liking exposure" you're a complete idiot. "Lives for exposure", on the other hand, indicates a personality defect.
"resorted to begging McCain to let her take the stage and promote herself."
Resorted to begging? Look, if you don't like her, you don't like her. You don't have to "resort to" this hyperbolic crap.
Sarah Palin to media - "If you strike me down I shall come back more powerful then you could ever imagine"
ok, enough Star Wars metaphors
Dick Cheney speaking to Palin -Good! Use your aggressive feelings, boy/girl. Let the hate flow through you.
/Sorry had to do one more
Sarah Palin after her resignation - "Oh no, young Jedi/liberal. You will find that it is you who are mistaken - about a great many things. "
/This is your fault Alex
well i frankly prefer that option that she just goes mum for a few years. if i miss her i can just scratch a blackboard with my fingernails.
Resorted to begging? Look, if you don't like her, you don't like her. You don't have to "resort to" this hyperbolic crap.
Read the accounts from insiders some time. She asked Steve, who told her no. She asked him again and then to speak to McCain about it, he told her no. Then she approached McCain, who told her no. She then apparently was still trying to convince him as they were walking on stage in Arizona, and he again had to tell her no. Sorry, that sound about like begging.
Invisible -
"Sorry, that sound about like begging."
Sounds more like not taking "no" for an answer.
Tina Brown is commenting on someone's cocky ignorance and relentless pursuit of fame?
That's like Winston Churchill calling people ugly.
Cedarford, you're missing a big opportunity. Did you know Tina Brown is Jewish? How are you missing out on the Phantom Jewish Bolshevik menace right here on your screen? Go on, take a crap on her!
Oh wait, she's on your side this time. Next!
Hmmmm.....who's Tina Brown?
hdhouse - learn English before posting again. You write like an infant.
NVKD - boring
Post a Comment