Politico posted an article in which several pundits, including bow tie wearing prick George Will, criticized reality TV star, wolf huntress and one time VP candidate Sarah Palin. There were so many irritating things about the article that I find it difficult to distill them all down, but I'll try.
One of the main themes of the criticisms was that Sarah Palin uses the politics of identity and victimhood as a predominate part of her platform. According to conservatives, those are liberal strategies. Therefore, Palin's willingness to utilize them is a betrayal of some deeply held conservative principle. That's complete and total nonsense. The politics of identity and victimhood are consistently used by politicians across the board because it's cheap, it's easy and it works. According to conservative mythology, their personal responsibility ethic doesn't allow for that sort of thing. In the real world, all you need to do is listen to a white conservative discussing affirmative action to hear the whining tones of the self-appointed victim.
I also found this point annoying because it seems as if the quoted critics in the article only just noticed Palin's tendency to blame others for her flaws and cast herself as the target of discrimination or mistreatment. We've heard Palin claim to be the victim of sexism, classism and elitism, just to name a few. It isn't that she's stupid, a quitter, willfully ignorant and narrow minded. It's that the mainstream media, the liberal elite, the good ole' boys and the hoity toity rich people are conspiring to destroy Sarah Palin. This has been her modus operandi since the moment her absurd personage was thrust unwillingly onto the American public by John McCain.
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