How the Right Wing Thinks (and why they’re wrong)

Bill Kristol is out on the Sunday talking head shows, trying to defend Sarah Palin, saying that all of her image problems are (of course!) not her fault. She doesn’t deserve the scorn that thinking people have for her hypocritical folksy bullshit, it’s all the fault of campaign staff. Of course. Via Huffington Post:

Kristol Rips McCain Camp, RNC For Handling Of Palin
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Kristol said Palin had been “ill served by some of the staff,” particularly in light of anonymous aides ripping her as a diva and/or rogue agent in recent news articles.

He chided the RNC for not taking the hit for the clothing that was purchased on Palin’s behalf.

“Why wasn’t a staffer out there saying, ‘you know what, I made the mistake’?” he asked. “Since when do the staffers go into hiding and let Governor Palin be the one who has to explain it? It’s a total disgrace the staff has ducked responsibility for this mistake, which was not her mistake. Whatever people’s criticisms of Governor Palin, no one thinks she lives high on the hog in Alaska, shopping at Neiman Marcus… I think the staff has ill-served her.”

So here’s the flaw in this typical right-wing thought process. The one where underlings have to take the heat for the mistakes of their superiors, while those superiors swan around claiming how much of a “decider” they are. One of two things is true in regard to this situation, both of them being equally damning of Sarah Palin and her ability to lead so much as a parade, much less the free world. Either:

1. Sarah Palin knew full well that this clothing expenditure was inappropriate, out of keeping with the hockey-mom character she’s been pitching, and possibly illegal. In this scenario she was well aware that this was not an OK thing to do, she just hoped it wouldn’t come out. If this scenario is true, then Bill Kristol seems to think that her staff should be falling on their swords, lying and covering up what Sarah Palin knew and didn’t know. Very typical of Republican (and corporate) thinking – save the boss’s face at all costs, no matter which disposable underling gets thrown under the bus. Why this scenario is damning for Sarah Palin: Do we really need one more cunning, ruthless leader who does whatever they want and then denies knowledge/responsibility for it when it comes to light, sacrificing those under them whenever it’s politically expedient?

2. Sarah Palin had no idea that this clothing expenditure was inappropriate, out of keeping with the hockey-mom character she’s been pitching, and possibly illegal. In this scenario Sarah Palin was the helpless puppet of a ruthless McCain campaign staff (the same staff who are currently running Alaska, by the sound of it.) She didn’t have any choice about what clothing was purchased for her and what was worn. She did not question from where the money came or how much was spent. She didn’t question the legality or the ethics of spending more money than most people see in 3-4 years on 2 months of clothing and hairstyling for herself and her family. Helpless against this overwhelming tide of powerful McCain staffers, she meekly donned whatever boxy jackets they held up, and never made a peep. She had NO IDEA they spent that much, but if she’d known she’d have said “Thanks but no thanks,” by golly! Why this scenario is damning for Sarah Palin: If this person can’t question or stand up to people who are trying to dress her, then what chance is there that she can stand up to her advisers once she’s in office? What chance that she can stand up to foreign leaders? If she didn’t question where these magical clothes came from, what else will she not question, not think about? If she was out of touch on campaign finance law and didn’t have the knowledge to identify this as inappropriate, what else doesn’t she know?

No matter which way Kristol tries to spin it, she looks bad. His saying that the staffers need to step up and take responsibility for this either confirms that Sarah Palin is another ruthless politician who will lie whenever necessary to protect herself, or that she’s a helpless puppet, buffeted along in an overwhelming tide of political machination over which she has no control.

Just what we don’t need in a leader, no matter how you spin it.