Sunday, July 5, 2009

The politics of victimhood

Josh Marshall on Palin's future:
What very little shot she had as a future presidential candidate (and it was a much longer shot than I think many realized) is over. She's done. She's back to what she was -- a small person looking for someone to be angry at.
Well, she didn't have to look far. Now she's angry at all the people who are criticizing her decision to resign as governor. As she said on Facebook recently,
How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country. And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make.
I've quit jobs before, although it never occurred to me to inform my boss that I was doing it for my country. And I'm hard pressed to name an elected official who was praised for quitting in the middle of a term. But whatever. She's the victim.

This whininess is of a piece with Megan McCain's recent appearance on Bill Maher's show, when she argued that Obama is blaming too much on the Bush administration. When guest Paul Begala shot back that Reagan blamed Carter for everything, McCain replied, "You know I wasn't born yet so I wouldn't know." Begala then retorted, "I wasn't born during the French Revolution but I know about it." McCain, having been exposed as a fraud who couldn't back up her arguments, decided to play the victim at that point: "You clearly know everything and I'm just the blond sitting here."

So there's the tactic. Say something stupid. Get criticized for saying something stupid. Say that the critics are persecuting you and are evidence of what's wrong with this country. I don't think this is a great way to get elected to anything. But if your goals is to make liberals mad, this is pretty effective.

2 comments:

Eric Rubin said...

mccain on maher - she has done nothing of value and I'm shocked she was on the show. she was way way way out of her league and that french revolution line was awesome!

and wasnt it palin who bashed hillary for pulling the gender card during her run against obama?

this is the beginning of the end for palin. there is no way this move resonated with fence sitters. if anything it pushes them further and further away from her. she'll have her staunch supporters but i cant see her winning over the undecideds, especially with her god talk and higher calling bullshit. she is a farce!

Seth Masket said...

I think you're right, Eric, that this is the beginning of the end for Palin. Her time in the limelight isn't over yet. I foresee her giving a barnburner of a concession speech sometime in January of 2012 when she realizes she can't win the GOP presidential nomination. Set your DVR now!