Mad Dog Palin

An insightful quote from an article by Matt Taibbi entitled "Mad Dog Palin." The title of his article is a play on her own comment: "the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull: lipstick."

The great insight of the Palin VP choice is that huge chunks of American voters no longer even demand that their candidates actually have policy positions; they simply consume them as media entertainment, rooting for or against them according to the reflexive prejudices of their demographic, as they would for reality-show contestants or sitcom characters. Hicks root for hicks, moms for moms, born-agains for born-agains. Sure, there was politics in the Palin speech, but it was all either silly lies or merely incidental fluffery buttressing the theatrical performance.