Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Do We Like Candidates We Think Would Like Us?

In the course of explaining why Wall Streeters are reacting negatively to Sarah Palin, Dealbreaker’s John Carney makes an interesting point:

When pressed for an explanation and supplied with a few cocktails, some of those we talked with admitted that they suspected Palin wouldn’t like them very much. Her life seems almost a repudiation of the aspirations and achievements of so many Wall Streeters. She is married to a man whose job involves having a strong back, working in oil and fishing. He earns a good-enough living doing this and his recreation time is spent on snow machines (not, as we would have said, snow mobiles), hunting and exploring the wilderness. No rounds at Shinnecock for the Palins.

What’s more, she has so many children, one of whom is already having a child. It’s like the Palins are trying not only to prove that they can enjoy a life without conference rooms, spreadsheets, beach houses and bespoke shirts. They’re outbreeding those of us whose lives are characterized by those things. Even Wall Street’s former uber-mother, Zoe Cruz, only managed to produce three offspring.

The Wall Street reaction to Palin illustrates more than class snobbery. It illustrates an important political dynamic that is commonly overlooked. We often hear pundits discuss the importance of “likeability” of a candidate for public office. But the truly more influential characteristic is the opposite: people judge candidates by their evaluations of how much the candidate would like them. Obama’s supporters imagine that they’d get along fine with Obama, that he would enjoy spending time in their company. Palin’s detractors suspect she might not even to respond to an invitation to their party, and if she did show up she’d be full of contempt. We’re all narcissists in politics.

It’s an interesting thought experiment.

A Clear Choice

Belief.net’s Steven Waldman on McCain/Palin:

After a year’s worth of stories about whether the religious right was “dead,” they now seem to be flexing great muscle, helping to bring about the most antiabortion ticket running on the most antiabortion platform - ever.

Maybe. Of course, on the other side we have Obama/Biden running on a platform many pro-abortion rights advocates are calling the most pro-abortion rights in decades. As one explained:

… the Platform comes very close to embracing the full reproductive health agenda that has been consistently advocated by the pro-choice, progressive women’s movement.

The MSM Crusade against Palin and the Enthusiasm Deficit

As Howard Kurtz reports, the mainstream media has sunk so low that it’s are now following the lead of the left wing fever swamp:

The intensity of media inquiries hit a new level after an anonymous blogger on the liberal Web site Daily Kos last weekend charged that McCain’s running mate is actually the grandmother of Trig Palin, the 4-month-old baby born with Down syndrome, and that the real mother is her daughter, 17-year-old Bristol Palin. That led to mainstream media inquiries, which prompted the McCain camp to disclose in a statement Monday that Bristol is five months pregnant and plans to have the baby and marry the teenage father.

The site’s founder, Markos Moulitsas, said he did not know the contributor’s identity but thought that the admittedly “weird” pregnancy questions were a legitimate line of inquiry that he should not suppress.

Some journalists, Schmidt said, have demanded to see Trig’s birth certificate, or have asked when Palin went into labor and whether her contractions increased or decreased as she traveled from Texas to an Alaskan hospital in her home town, Wasilla. Others, he said, have asked whether Palin’s eldest son, Track, who serves in the Army and is deploying to Iraq, is a drug addict. “Categorically false,” Schmidt said, adding: “This is crazy.”

We also see the MSM uncritically spinning even the horse race coverage. ABC’s Rick Klein, for example, reports that:

US Weekly ... is taking it right to John McCain’s running mate—with a hard-hitting piece that details the “scandal” involving her daughter’s pregnancy.

“BABIES, LIES & SCANDAL,” screams the headline on the cover, with a picture of a smiling Palin holding her fifth child, 4-month-old Trig.

... this, to me, is the clearest evidence yet that the McCain-Palin campaign is losing the battle over Palin’s image. US Weekly readers are the voters her selection was designed to attract. There’s not much to like in this early take—and not much to indicate that the next round will be much better.

But Klein leaves out a key fact:

A source forwards the following e-mail from former Clinton operative and Us weekly flack, Mark Neschis, that went out to all media in St. Paul:

Thought I would send over our Us Weekly/Sarah Palin cover story, on stands Friday, if helpful in your coverage. Might be useful as an illustration of how the news is playing out.(Us Weekly has 12 million, mostly female readers)

Mark Neschis
Corporate Communications Director
Wenner Media
Us Weekly | Rolling Stone | Men’s Journal

Steve Hayes notes that Us publisher Jann Wenner is a prominent Obama donor.

Wenner also publishes Rolling Stone, which deified Obama in March.

The use of the gossip rags to shape the election is all part and parcel of the Brangelina-fication of the Obamas that I wrote about earlier this summer. They are pulling out all the stops to glorify The One and demonize all who stand in his way.

So what’s driving all this anti-Palin hysteria? The WSJ has a theory:

There is nothing more dangerous to entrenched Washington power than a populist conservative who looks unlikely to buy into Washington’s creature comforts. Take a close look at Governor Palin’s record on ethics and energy in Alaska, and it becomes clear what this Beltway outburst is actually about. The irony is that while Senator Obama is running on change, his acceptance speech made explicit that he’s promising only more power and money for Washington. Sarah Palin’s history of taking on the career politicians of a corrupt Alaskan GOP machine—her own party—shows that she’s the more authentic change agent.

So when will it all end and what will the ultimate fallout be? Tom Smith’s got a typically insightful analysis:

This is probably too optimistic, but I think I detect a slight change in the tone of the Palin coverage.  Or it may just be a pause in the frenzy.  On the CNN coverage of the RNC tonight, the CNN team talking among themselves sounded defensive, explaining why they were covering Palin as they were.  The latest batch of stories in the N.Y. Times, while hardly laudatory, seem to be making some effort not to be downright scurrilous.  So possibly the push back by the McCain forces, the blogosphere and maybe even readers (probably women) is starting to be felt.  OTOH this could be wishful thinking on my part.

Interestingly, when the MSM goes out on a limb with a message of, what will be the next shoe to drop on Palin, then if there’s no shoe, they end up looking stupid.  The looking stupid is starting to set in, perhaps....

... The problem with this story, is that there is no story.  Some stories lack legs; this story has no head.  The vetting angle ends up sounding stupid.  Did McCain know about Bristol’s pregnancy?  He says yes, and the facts seem to bear him out.  Oh.  Well, what about Todd’s DUI 20 years ago (is driving drunk in Alaska even illegal?)?  Knew about it and decided it was irrelevant, as it obviously is, especially when you consider Todd seems able to navigate snowmobiles through thousands of miles of wilderness.  The They Should Have Known! line lacks punch if they did know.  Member of the Alaskan Independence Party?  Apparently not true, as Palin was a registered Republican during the years in question.  Hmmmm.  Pat Buchanan supporter?  Buchanan’s campaign manager, his sister, says no.  They’ve met though.  Troopergate?  The trooper Mr. Palin was trying to get fired threatened his family with death.  Arguably a state policeman who threatens to kill family members of the state’s chief executive should be fired.  Oddly, the death threats never make it into the MSM stories.  She seems to have had other reasons for firing the head of state law enforcement, as she had every right to do as governor.  There just doesn’t seem to be anything for the MSM to work with here, and it’s risky just to make stuff up, or to run and runn silly stories along the lines of “Women Question Gov’s Commitment to Family Values”.  So I think they need to come up with something meaty and fast, or open season on Palin will close.  I will be very disappointed if it turns out she has been grilling seal pups, but if there are no surprizes, watching the MSM get frustrated and cowed on this will be fun.

As long as John McCain doesn’t start taking advice from idiots like Garry Wills, who wants him to pull a McGovern, I think this ends up helping McCain. In particular, it may redress some of the enthusiasm deficit. Lots of Republicans who had no fire in their belly for McCain are now seriously pissed off at the media. If McCain sticks by Palin, I may even open my wallet.

College Football Weekend 1

It’s bad enough that USC is now #1 in the AP poll. The fact that they got there by drubbing my alma mater adds injury to insult.

On the plus side, UCLA’s character and toughness was rewarded with an overtime wine over Tennessee.

Final note: You can’t trust The Conglomerate for your late breaking football news. They’re a clean living bunch who believe in “early to bed, early to rise,” so they miss the occasional amazing comeback and overtime win. In contrast, us late night degenerates stick it out to the end. Plus, they get their news from CNN!

Here’s the ad Barack Obama Doesn’t Want You to See

Dem Sleaze

Who made public Dem opposition research containing Sarah Palin’s social security number (minus the last 4 digits) and home address?

Should you Handcuff your RB-1?

SI.com’s Michael Lombardi goes with the conventional wisdom:

Protect your investment and handcuff your top RB. Drafting LaDainian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson, Clinton Portis, Marion Barber and Marshawn Lynch all require you to draft their backups as well. Your opponents know this, so they may try to pull one over on you.

I don’t buy it. In one of my fantasy leagues, I’ve got Joseph Addai as my RB-1 and Marion Barber as my RB-2. (It’s going to be a good year!). I don’t have either Dominic Rhodes or Felix Jones on my bench. but I do have Darren McFadden. If Barber goes down, wouldn’t you rather promote McFadden than Jones? By mid-season, at the latest, McFadden should be getting the bulk of the Raiders’ carries, while if Barber goes down, Jones, at best, will be top dog in a RBBC. Ditto Rhodes.

I have handcuffed my RB-1 in some situations. In fact, in the PB.com league, I handcuffed Addai and Rhodes. But I took Rhodes in the last round. If the draft had played out as I hoped, so that I could have waited to take a K or a D/ST in the last round, I wouldn’t have bothered.

WTF is Shawne Merriman Thinking?

I desperately want somebody--anybody, maybe even the loathsome Cowboys--to keep the New England Patriots (a.k.a., the Evil Empire) from winning Super Bowl XLIII. I’m counting on the San Diego Chargers to be one fo the teams that achieves that goal. Plus. I’ve got the Chargers as my D/ST on one of my fantasy teams. So I need short term excellence from the Bolts defense. Even so, I have to wonder WTF is Shawne Merriman thinking? The guy has not one but two ”partly torn ligaments in his left knee.” Four doctors have told him to take 2008 off and have surgery, but Merriman apparently is going to risk permanent disability to play this year.

SI.com columnist Ross Tucker is moved to exclaim that:

I am sick and tired of reading and hearing all of the media pundits and fans denigrating Shawne Merriman for his decision to play football in 2008 despite reportedly having PCL and LCL tears in his knee. ... The reason I am so angered by the overwhelmingly negative response is very simple: It is Merriman’s life and ultimately his decision and he can do with it what he wants.

Of course, it is ultimately Merriman’s decision, but that doesn’t mean his decision is—or ought to be—free from criticism. The harm principle may counsel against using legal sanctions to prevent you from doing things that will injure yourself so long as they don’t injure another, but it doesn’t preclude me from pointing out that you’re being an idiot to do so.