Understudy Under Study

Well, folks, I have just watched Sarah Palin being interviewed by Sean Hannity (part 2). I have not yet managed to catch up with Gibson’s interview, but now, having heard this, I’m sure you’re right – it must have been bad. I read that Gibson sounded like an impatient teacher. Sean sounded like a teacher putting words in a pet student’s mouth on the oral exam. This wasn’t hardball, it wasn’t even softball. This was T-ball. Her answers air-brushed away all previous mis-speaks, mis-takes, and mis-behaviors. His tone was “There, there, poor girl”, and in the end, he gave her an A and acted like she’d earned it.

When asked by my friend Pat Buchanan, to give his one-word impression, he said he felt she was “authentic.” He added that she thought deeply about the questions. But also, that she answered with alacrity. Sean, baby, wake up! She thought deeply about the answers to your questions weeks ago, and memorized them. When her eyes went up and sideways, she was seeking her memorized answers. Were you looking at her legs? She fooled you.

Though she didn’t please me, her answers did. She grew up in a house that sounds reasonably enlightened. Her father was a science teacher. She would never shove her faith down anyone else’s throat. An ugly image. But this was one of Hannity’s hand-outs. In a reassuring voice, he had said, “You don’t want to teach only Creationism in the schools, do you?” To which we got the above science answer. But did anybody catch that “only”? The Gov does want to teach Creationism.

And I’m all for it, as long as she teaches Darwinism too. As I’ve said before, they are both religions. Let’s let everybody into the game. In school, all these theories should be considered. That’s how people learn how to think.

Sadly for some, Ms Palin does have “faith”. But don’t we all? In something? Even if it’s faith in yourself, in your ability to get to a goal, in luck? She grew up in Alaska, folks, and she says that means you grow up respecting freedom. That’s what I’m hoping for – a little more respect for freedom, the thing that makes us feel good, that makes us happy, that makes us able to do what we want to do. I put my faith in freedom. Which means I have a higher opinion of mankind than people who want to corral them, and harness them to the means of production.

“Take Barack Obama. He’s a good-looking guy.” But what’s this “universal volunteerism” he’s got in mind for us? Universal means everybody. Volunteer means it’s up to you whether you do it or not. Folks, please … Do you think everybody is going to volunteer for community service of one kind or another? Think of the people you know. Are they all going to volunteer, every last one of them? Voluntarily volunteer? You know they’re not. They’re like you. Their lives are too busy, their schedules too full.

So how is he going to do it? I’ll tell you how: by making you an offer you can’t refuse. Such as, “Do this, and I’ll send you to college.” Not too bad, but how about, “Do this and you’ll be able to get food stamps. Otherswise, sorry.” Hmmm. Starts to sound a bit like slavery. It’s coming, guys, it’s coming.

But back to the lady. It’s always good to come back to the lady. When Sarah was trying to recall some of the talking points they’d jabbed into her, she sounded like Miss South Carolina. Remember her? She got lost in an answer and regurgitated every platitude she had pushed in when she was preparing for the big moment.

However, Ms Palin left behind the long, rambling, embarassingly pat answers as the interview wound down.

She spoke to Troopergate II. (The original was in Arkansas.) As I see it, she tried to get rid of a guy who deserved getting rid of and she was unable to do it. Cops, wherever they are, are a tight bunch. They protect each other. They’re immune to the people. They’re immune to the governor. She was not able to get the ex-brother-in-law fired, even though, among other things, he’d tasered a kid of his. If he tasered his kid, he could taser you for speeding and trying to explain why. You don’t want this guy to be a state trooper. But she couldn’t get rid of him. He’s still there. Watch out if you ever go north to Alaska.(And anyway, aren’t you libs supposed to be opposed to bad cops being continued on the job?)

I don’t know what there is in this story that would cause such a commotion, except that it’s perhaps all they’ve got against her. I admire her attempt to save other people from her brother-in-law.

I don’t doubt that she tried to get the guy fired. I don’t doubt that she doesn’t approve of some books. I don’t doubt that she’d like to haul federal pork to Alaska. But she did the right thing in the end, and that’s what it’s all about – foregoing your first selfish instinct in face of the people you serve. We all have that selfish inclination no matter how small a voice we’ve reduced it to, no matter how far and deeply we’ve tucked it away. It’s the baby in us. Fighting it is what makes you a man, ladies included. “Growing up” it’s called. It appears that most people who go into political life remain babies forever.

It’s the same old argument, folks. Do we have faith in ourselves, do we want the freedom to take care of ourselves, or do we want our Washington servants to run our lives? Unfortunately, they’re not even our servants. They’ve come to think of themselves as our masters.

If we value freedom, we must avoid the slippery slope to slavery.

That Barack is a community organizer is an important point. That’s his skill. Getting people to do things. I don’t want anybody getting me to do anything. I have enough things of my own to do, and so do all of you. When I want to “do” for somebody else, I want to be the one to pick the who, what, when, where, and why of it.

So hate me folks, I don’t want you telling me what to do. Not even the long way around, through Barack. I’m looking at the candidates as people now. Who they are. Barack has been embroiled in the seamy side of inner-city politics, in the most notoriously political city of them all. Palin has breathed the fresh, wild air of Alaska. She knows how to defend herself against encroachment. She fights it off in her office with the same determination she would fight off wolves circling in on her campsite.

Hey! You say. This election isn’t between Obama and Palin. It’s between Obama and McCain.

Oh. Pardon me. I got confused. But it’s confusing, you know. Barack behaves like it’s between Obama and Bush. The press acts like it’s between Obama and Palin. All this outrage against Sarah, all those Dems digging for oil in Wasilla. I completely forgot about John McCain.

But if you care about freedom, he’s somebody who knows all about it. By the day and by the year. He knows what it means to be without it. You don’t. Yet.

But let’s not part on that gloomy note. I offer, in the spirit of senseless mirth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww