How John McCain Enabled the Trivialization of Sarah Palin

If you’re like the McCain campaign you’ve been very unhappy this week with much of the media coverage of Sarah Palin.

Chances are you’ve been lumping any and all criticisms of her under the label of “sexist,” so as to render everything — even the “legitimate” — out of bounds.

Clever, albeit unoriginal. But ultimately transparent. Not to mention: weak.

And, if like the McCain campaign, you’ve been worried that Republicans are losing control of Sarah Palin’s image too soon — that what the public thinks of her is too rapidly being shaped by what people read in gossip weeklies and places like The National Enquirer — then here’s the dirty little secret you won’t hear either on TV or from the campaigns:

John McCain, and John McCain alone, is to blame for the fact that Sarah Palin has been trivialized by the media so much, so soon.

Why?

Because from Day One it was clear that McCain did not make a serious, governing-minded decision when he picked her. (Hell, Karl Rove even said so!)

Instead, McCain focused on the superficial, and yes, the cynical, political calculus of what Palin would bring to the ticket.

He wanted people to focus solely on the fact that she (unlike himself) is a Rock-Ribbed Conservative, but more importantly a woman. Nothing else.

He wanted us to believe that he took her seriously before his advisors told him that he absolutely, positively could not put his BFF Joe Lieberman on the ticket. But then he goes ahead and does stuff like this, live and on national television.

Despite what the Republicans say, Sarah Palin was not vetted thoroughly for this job. This is no fault of Palin’s but entirely of McCain’s.

And aside from what it says about McCain’s judgment — putting someone he met only once a heartbeat away from potentially being in the position of having to defend this nation — here’s the other problem:

the lack of serious thought about Palin or what she brings to the ticket trivialized her right out of the gate, and showed a disrespect both for her and for what she represented as a symbolic, historic figure.

He treated her like a trophy candidate; almost as if to say, ‘Here Sarah, you go make me look good with those people, and I’ll take care of all the heavy lifting.’

People sensed that McCain viewed Palin more as ornamental to his political aspirations than integral to his ability to govern — and this completely cut Palin’s legs out from under her.

Unsurprisingly, that’s why Republicans are so happy with Palin’s speech from last night: because by proving that she can deliver a partisan attack with gusto and conviction, it begins to allay their self-consciousness over the fact that Palin’s selection was … how did Peggy Noonan put it … oh right: “political bullshit.”

So if you’re upset about the coverage Palin is receiving, if you’re upset about all the frivolity that’s surrounded her in such a short time on the national scene, don’t do what McCain wants you to do (blame sexism in the media), look squarely at John McCain himself and thank him for giving rise to the undercurrent of skepticism that Sarah Palin is truly a serious candidate for Executive Office.

Final Note: This doesn’t mean that Gov. Palin’s record of inconsistencies, flip-flops and outright lies hasn’t made it easier for the media to find fault in this pick. McCain would have known that, had he actually Put Country First.

http://meaningfuldistractions.wordp...in-enabled-the-trivialization-of-sarah-palin/