The sudden endorsement of Sarah Palin by Shelly Mandell, president of the L.A. chapter of the National Organization of Women, wasn't the weekend's only girlish fluttering over the divine Sarah. On Friday night, comedienne Margaret Cho on CBS's Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson came right out and said she wanted to sleep with the distinguished governor of Alaska. It's getting clearer by the hour that Palin, whom Chris Matthews likes to refer to grumpily as "perky," is hitting the hot buttons of bipartisan horniness even as her hope fades of attracting the hot flash vote of Hillary Clinton supporters.
Mandell and Cho notwithstanding, though, it's men whom Palin seems to have most mesmerized. In CNN's coverage of the debate, where they had people hooked up to dials, the green squiggly line tracking men's instant reactions zoomed upwards every time she opened her moist mouth. Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, the conservatives' political Bible (Old Testament division, Murdoch's Weekly Standard being the New), said, "I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch..." (yeah, Rich, I betcha.)
I too loved Palin's Ethel Merman star turn, especially when she said that special needs kids would have a friend at the White House and the cameras cut to baby Trig Palin.
"She's got that challengingly authoritarian air that some of us find erotically stimulating," mused a lefty screenwriter friend of mine morosely. "Nurse Ratchet. Ilsa, She-Wolf of the S.S. Sigourney Weaver in Working Girl. We want to shut her up so that when it's all over, that nasal bark of hers becomes a breathy 'Oh, Mr. Democrat!'" No wonder John McCain charged exultantly around the podium in a gymnasium at Colorado State University the day after the debate like Uncle Fester on Viagra, hollering "How about Sarah Palin last night? Heh! Viva la Barracuda! Heh!''
The irony is that it was a woman who drained the Botox from Palin's rootin' tootin' appeal to other professional women. Katie Couric's sweetly steel stiletto punctured the balloon (and literally wrote the script for the best moments of Tina Fey's demonic takeoff.) For Couric herself, it was satisfying vindication after the Hell's Angels' initiation ceremony that greeted her move in 2006 to the CBS Evening News from NBC's Today Show, when news legends, media hacks, and cable heads lined up to urinate on her leathers.
Yet Couric's tar-and-feathering may have been psychically useful to her. It seems to have left her with a defiantly focused calm and a what-have-I-got-to-lose determination to cut the fluff and bring in the story. Now when she glances up from her notes in half-moon reading glasses with an enquiring gaze she looks authentically grave rather than someone wearing an I Am A Serious Anchorperson costume.
John P. Avlon is the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. He writes a weekly column for The Daily Beast and is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Previously, he served as Chief Speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and writing fellow at The Nation Institute, whose book, Republican Gomorrah (Basic/Nation Books), is forthcoming in Spring 2009. Contact him at maxblumenthal3000@yahoo.com.
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Kevin Buckley was a reporter and Saigon bureau chief for Newsweek between 1968 and 1972. He is the author of Panama—The Whole Story (Simon & Schuster, 1991). He is a contributing editor of Playboy and an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Michael O'Hanlon specializes in national security policy at the Brookings Institution. He is senior author of the Iraq Index. As a defense budget analyst, he advised members of Congress on military spending.
Abby Ellin regularly writes the "Vows" column for the New York Times, and previously wrote the "Preludes" column for that newspaper about young people and money. Her work has appeared in a range of publications, including Time, Marie Claire, More, Self and Glamour. She is the author of Teenage Waistland, but her greatest claim to fame is naming “Karamel Sutra” ice cream for Ben and Jerry's.
Tina Brown is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. She is the author of the 2007 New York Times best seller The Diana Chronicles. Brown is the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Talk magazines and host of CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown.
Tina Brown is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. She is the author of the 2007 New York Times best seller The Diana Chronicles. Brown is the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Talk magazines and host of CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown.
Tina Brown is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. She is the author of the 2007 New York Times best seller The Diana Chronicles. Brown is the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Talk magazines and host of CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown.
Tina Brown is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. She is the author of the 2007 New York Times best seller The Diana Chronicles. Brown is the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Talk magazines and host of CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown.
Tina Brown is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. She is the author of the 2007 New York Times best seller The Diana Chronicles. Brown is the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Talk magazines and host of CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown.
Tina Brown is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. She is the author of the 2007 New York Times best seller The Diana Chronicles. Brown is the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Talk magazines and host of CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown.
by Tina Brown
Tina Brown is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. She is the author of the 2007 New York Times best seller The Diana Chronicles. Brown is the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Talk magazines and host of CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown.
Palin is an reflection of a majority of Americans; she's litigious, vindictive, evangelical and martyr prone. The pathological strains matter much more than whether or not she'll make it to the white house.
Tina, never seen you before. You're pretty cute yourself.
If McCain had chosen Tina Brown as a running mate, I would vote for the Democrats.
I think that Katie Couric may have actually saved the world
forgetting palin for a minute, i love the idea of greta or katie taking over meet the press; even rachel maddoe would be a good choice. unfortunately, except for charlie rose, none of the other msm talking heads know how to listen and ask the good follow up question. tim russert really was in a class by himself.
Rachel Maddow would be much better on "Meet the Press." But I do give props to Katie for her Palin interviews.
The women of the Left is absolutely terrified of Sarah Palin. She is smart, beautiful, Republican, and their husbands are in love with her.
I never once took Katie Couric's interview seriously ... with editing these days, you cannot believe anything the msm puts on the air.
I was ready to vote for McCain while holding my nose, but now I am so ready for McCain/Palin to take over the White House in 2009!
i have become more and more nervous as the mating dance of John McCain and Sarah Palin has played out on the national stage. Their mutual eye massages (and messages), her splayed hands across his back when they hug, his protective he-man strutting. The body language connection they each have with their respective spouses looks grim, cold, dutiful. His delight in the good fortune of discovering a worshipping fire-cracker that might both feed the huge sucking ego- vaccum and the image he cultivates has sparked him from eyes to toes. She clearly knows the sexual equivilant of the fisherman's tricks: purposeful baiting and reeling. Her indomitable delight in the lucky discovery of both a vessel and a venue to "shore up" the acent that might feed her ambitions. Unfortunately this public woo-fest between the two means that their pride in appearances and protectionism of the obsessive posturing that accompanies the early stage of the sexual dance will take center stage.
TinaBrown, I am so happy to see you again. I loved your TV show. It was so far above the others.
Rachel Maddow can listen, be balanced (when necessary), and has an enormous depth of knowledge. I have followed her for a long time and think she would be great on Meet the Press because she will not let lies slip by. She calls them out, but with grace and humor.
Tina, why do you and all of the white journalists write as if all women were white and that only white women's responses to Sarah Palin matter? I'm a professional African American woman (with a Ph.D.) and a feminist., and I do not share the identification with Sarah Palin that is experienced by so many white women of various class backgrounds. NOT AT ALL!! I understand why she's appealing, but I do not identify with or root for her. Other women of color are left equally cold by her. (Like many Black women, however, I have always found Hillary Clinton impressive and inspiring.) Why not be a responsible journalist and note that all of the women you're discussing in this article are white women. Certainly the majority of Brearley mothers are white, and all are wealthy. Perhaps you assume that all "Power Girls" must be white. Please contact Oprah, she didn't get the memo. If that is your opinion, then please state it clearly and rename your article Palin vs. The White Power Girls. Again, as a woman of color, I am tired of being erased by journalists.
Tina:
I'm so pleased to see you back after that most-fabulous cable show you had on a few years ago.
You are right on the target about Palin, but I will not be swayed by her in any way. I'm a white middle-aged female with a need to have a woman only if she's intelligent enough to answer the questions!
wow, am I the only positive person here? Reading through these comments, all I see are a) she makes McCain strut like a peacock, b) she leaves me cold, and c) I liked Hillary better.
For Frozen61, calm down. Sounds like you are "frozen."
Why are all of you so darn scared of Sarah Palin? Frankly, a woman is raising five children has all the diplomacy and ball-busting experience she needs.
Everyone ... calm down about Sarah and start panicking over the possibility of Obama turning us into the People's Socialist States of America. There go your REAL freedoms!
"Now that would be a triumph for professional women: for a tough dead-aim broad like van Susteren to be hold court in Washington rather than those swimsuit "strategists" that keep popping up on cable news."
Apparently Tina hasn't seen Rachel Maddow in action!
Greta Van Susteren is a scientologist. She may win the rating wars but that alone makes me question her sanity.
Tina,
You couldn't be more right. Katie Couric may have saved the world.
How can anyone put Hillary & Palin in the same SENTENCE? Hillary is a Great Lady, who was done in by lousy political strategy. Sarah Palin is yet another Trojan Horse for Morons, put forth by the Republicans not to make the country better, but to distract, defame & slander anyone who runs against them. Maybe when she comes on stage, "Devil With the Blue Dress" should be playing...
... not quite Winnie Mandela eh ? - An African Perspective
It is so strange that Governor Sarah Palin has stirred up so much latent lefty hatred toward strong,successful women. Her accomplishments are not even acknowledged in any real way. What happened to civil discourse?
I love a cat fight.
Dear Tina, I am new to your website and have enjoyed reading several of the articles including your blog post. I disagree with you about the choice of Katie Couric for Meet the Press. Rachel Maddow at MSNBC would be a more plausible candidate to replace Tim Russert. Her PhD in Political Science and her Rhode Scholar background would rival George Stephanopoulos on ABC.
As for Sarah Palin I applaud her willingness to accept the offer John McCain made. My problem with the Republican VP candidate is that there were so many qualified Republican women I would have gladly supported. Kay Baily Hutchinson, Olympia Snowe, Elizabeth Dole and Condoleezza Rice.
As a woman I feel that Senator McCain has insulted my intelligence by selecting as his running mate a person with limited experience in national matters, laughable credentials in international relations, and a shallow knowledge of the issues threatening our country's stability, independence and sovereignty.
Sadly as you point out Sarah Palin is the current national champion of the MILF. Regardless of the outcome this November, she will be the 2012 Republican nominee. You betcha!
I only hope that you chose wisely for next election, in a recent past, twice you made the same mistake, turning the world in one big confusion. Palin its a sort of Bush in skirts, they both represent the worse of America, I hope that the average american can be capable of using his or her best judgement to chose with care, the next american war lord.
Palin is ridiculous, and the cynical and opportunistic selection of this highly impossible candidate for VP rules out McCain's judgement immediately. It's a loser.
I don't think Couric did anything any decent journalist should do when questioning Palin who has the stones to run for VP and would be an eyelash away from the Presidency. As for Tina Fey's satire, it's not a matter of being fair. The heart and soul of satire is to cut to the quick and exaggerate the absurd which Fey did brilliantly.
As for Brokaw he looked air brushed and out of it. He reminded me of my old aunt Becky. Follow up? What's that? Ifill was bad enough. This was boring and Brokaw did not move the time along which would have added pace and more pressing questions could have been answered
Either Greta,Rachel, or Katie would do a great job with Meet The Press. It's time for women to enter the Media Sandbox that has been male territory until now. We have seen what women can do in Media, Politics, and public life. It's time.
XLaura, you need to get some serious help. The women of the left are not terrified of Sarah Palin, they are terrified that an old man (who seriously may die in office) is standing for President of supposedly the greatest country in the world, and if he does die then a woman who can't run her own family (unplanned teen pregnancy is not a good thing for anyone) and who has no experience worth rattling a stick at, may become President.
Is that what you really want? Just because she is a woman! And your husband loves her. If he loved the woman next door would you vote for her too?
Shame on you and shame on all those Americans who are thinking the same. This is important folks, we are in a big mess (I am from the UK) and we need a real leader, not a winking dolly who can't even say what newspapers she reads, and won't even answer some questions (moderator I may not answer the way you want me to) It's not about the moderator stupid it's about answering the people you want to lead.
You were going to vote for McCain while holding your nose, guess that says it all. Lots of real thinking behind that statement. No wonder you love Sarah Palin - maybe you are her? Checked what the kiddies are up to lately?
Rachel Maddow would get my vote for Meet the Press - she's the best qualified, is whip-smart and a lot of fun.
As for Palin, she's old news already. Yawn.
Thank you.
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