Pushing Back on Politico’s Sarah Palin Hit

Matt K. Lewis Senior Contributor
Font Size:

Politico’s recent column, “Palin ‘becoming Al Sharpton‘” was predictably controversial.  Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh devoted significant time to it on his show both Monday and Tuesday.

While the Sharpton analogy was obviously a good media hook, the truly interesting debate relates to whether or not Palin is experiencing (as they put it) a “backlash, not from liberals but from some of the country’s most influential conservative commentators and intellectuals.”

Among the most prominent names cited by Politico (to reinforce this narrative) were conservative columnists George F. Will and Charles Krauthammer.

These are big names and smart people, but it’s also worth noting that their disapproval of Palin is certainly not a new phenomenon.

Writing in the Weekly Standard way back in September of 2008, Steven F. Hayward noted (in words similar to Politico’s) that: “Doubts about Palin have come not just from the left but from across the political spectrum, some of them from conservatives like David Frum, Charles Krauthammer, and George Will.”

If Will and Krauthammer were critical of Palin back in September of 2008, it is hard to argue that any of the actions cited as cause for backlash against Palin (“identity politics,” populism, calling the Bushes “blue bloods,” using the term “blood libel,” etc.) are to blame.

Whatever Will and Krauthammer don’t like about Palin, they saw pretty early.  This, I think, is telling.

Speaking of Steven F. Hayward — as a Ph.D., author and F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow at The American Enterprise Institute — he certainly qualifies as an “intellectual.”

Hayward emailed me yesterday, saying: “I came to [Palin’s] defense right after she was named in 2008 … and I think this article still holds up right.”  (Of course, like other intellectuals who may like Palin, Hayward was not cited by Politico).

In his 2008 column, Hayward sought to explain why some elites like Will and Krauthammer dislike Palin:

Part of what bothers the establishment about Palin is her seeming insouciance toward public office. Her success with voters, and in national office, would be an affront and a reproach to establishment self-importance. Anyone who affects making it look easy surely lacks gravitas and must not grasp the complexity or depth of modern political problems. Partly this is the self-justification for establishment institutions and attitudes, but partly it represents the substantive view that the size and complexity of modern government require a level of expertise beyond the reach of ordinary citizens. Some of the doubts about Palin are doubts about self-government itself.

As someone who has both praised and criticized Palin, I have some additional theories as to why some intellectuals may be turned off by her.

First, it is important to distinguish between different types of criticism.  For example, my criticism of Palin has almost always been based on strategy and tactics — not on her political philosophy.  For example, assuming it is true that Roger Ailes advised her against making the “blood libel” video, I would tend to agree (both because my gut told me it was a bad idea — and also because I would always defer to Ailes on matters regarding image and media).

Lacking political sagacity is, in my estimation, not a disqualifying factor for a politician in the way that being wrong philosophically would be.

Second, I just finished editing a book called “The Quotable Rogue” (due out in late June).  This is essentially a collection of some of the best Sarah Palin quotes.

What I learned from going through this process is that — in print — Palin’s quotes read much more eloquently than I would have imagined.  This leads me to conclude that Palin’s folksy style, Alaskan accent, and vocal tone may be contributing factors in regards to the negative perceptions about her.

Could it be that east coast elites are simply turned off by someone who doesn’t sound like they live in New York or Washington, DC?

Matt K. Lewis

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel