Going Rouge (27 page)

I’ve grown less interested in Palin than in her people. After all, without them, she’s nothing. I went to the 9/12 tea party march on the Mall. I observed these folks (lots of Palin signs there) and chatted with a few.

They were incredibly nice and polite. A couple in full America-Is-Doomed regalia stood on a Metro platform consulting a city map, trying to figure out which subway stop was nearest their desired restaurant. I told them. The husband shook my hand as gratefully as if I’d just pulled his dog out from in front of an onrushing bus. If you saw them at the mall—the suburban lower-case one, not the National upper-case one—and started talking to them about football or sitcoms or what was
really
up with Jon and Kate, you’d be able to have a perfectly pleasant conversation.

But... well, you know. What is going on in this land of ours? I have this imaginary conversation that I indulge in every once in a while. I’m talking with a stone-cold Palinite. I try to get through to him. I say, for example:

“But she couldn’t name one Supreme Court case in American history beyond
Roe v. Wade
. Not one, sir. I mean, even if all you care about is abortion rights or the absence thereof, wouldn’t you at least hope she knew one or two of the other abortion-related decisions—
Casey v. Planned Parenthood
, anyway?

“And not knowing the Bush Doctrine. Doesn’t this, you know, bother you? Okay, I understand. You don’t know what the Bush Doctrine is exactly, either. I agree—your average citizen would have trouble with that one off the top of her head. But you, sir, and the average citizen, aren’t hoping to be the president of the United States. She is. Do you really think the president shouldn’t maybe know more about stuff than you do?

“And finally, what about that whole quitting business? I mean, imagine that upon being hired, your boss suggested that he expected you to stay for four years, and you’d pretty much said yes. But what if you quit your job, just said you were tired of it, a year and half in, after having led him to believe you’d stay four? Would you then expect a promotion?”

I win, sometimes, in my imaginings. My foe grunts and says: “Huh. Never thought of it like that.” But I know I’m fooling myself. I also sometimes imagine: What could Sarah Palin do that would cause her base to turn on her? Well, she could suddenly embrace evolution or abortion rights, I suppose. But short of that, none of the normal things that usually hurt politicians—scandal, incompetence—would do it. Virtually anything would be seen as a plot by liberals and the media. And once it’s that, it’s merely another jewel in her tiara, another basis on which to rise to her defense.

This is different from how many on our side adulate Obama, and it’s even different from how their side lionized Bush. There’s a much deeper sense of protectiveness in it. Maybe it’s because she’s a woman (and because many conservative males’ ardor for her may well emanate, shall we say, from a region about three feet below the brain). The woman above who said she hoped Palin has Hillary’s backbone? She sounds to me like she knows Palin may not. But that’s only because “that Hillary” is so desperately ambitious that she’ll endure anything to get what she wants, while Sarah sets honorable human limits on what she will endure (and therefore quitting was the right thing to do, get it?).

We will never win this Palin argument. If you have relatives or whatever—trust me, don’t even try. Just remember: They’re 20 percent of the country. Best if we just talk to them about Jon and Kate.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The idea for this book—and its title—came from the clever and enterprising literary agent Deirdre Mullane, who proceeded to nurture
Going Rouge
into its present form with unflagging enthusiasm and resourcefulness through the mad rush to the publishing deadline. We are extremely grateful to her for all of her efforts. It was our amazing luck to have Colin Robinson in our close circle of friends when Deirdre approached us with her concept. He not only understood our vision instantly but enriched it immeasurably with his unique blend of wit, imagination, sharp political insight, and P.R. genius. He worked tirelessly to pull off what at times felt like a Sisyphean task, and inspired us to toil into the night—yet somehow, as if by magic, made it all fun. John Oakes, his partner at OR Books, embraced the book and shepherded it into print (and e-form) with great warmth and impressive efficiency. We’re deeply honored that
Going Rouge
is the debut title of OR Books, a bold experiment in publishing and a brilliant response to the industry’s current doldrums.

Lena de Casparis donated her time and labor to this project in all sorts of generous and helpful ways. Joana Kelly did a stellar job gathering permissions under extreme time pressure. Sebastian Jones, a crackerjack researcher, has a great career ahead as one of the world’s leading Palintologists. Prem Krishnamurthy and Adam Michaels of the design firm Project Projects provided the handsome interior design. Daniel S. Dunham designed the knockout cover; you can insert your own joke about lipstick here. Josh Garrett-Davis is an eagle-eyed and extremely fast proofreader and copy editor. Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor and publisher of
The Nation
and our beloved boss, supported us, indulged us, and guided us. Ben Wyskida stepped in with crucial publicity assistance. Our friends and families cheerfully tolerated us. But the greatest debt we owe is to the contributors whose work is assembled here. They rose valiantly to the challenge posed by Sarah Palin, and for that the whole world should be thankful.

CONTRIBUTOR BIOGRAPHIES

Amy Alexander’s work has appeared in the
Washington Post
, National Public Radio, TheRoot.com, and the
Nation
. Her next book,
Minority Opinion: A Story of Race, Media, and Reinvention
(Beacon Press), will be published January 2010.

Emily Bazelon is a senior editor at Slate and the Truman Capote Fellow at Yale Law School. Her work has appeared in the
New York Times Magazine,
the
Atlantic
, and
Mother Jones
.

Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for the Daily Beast and a contributor to the
Nation
, Al Jazeera English
,
Salon, AlterNet, the Huffington Post, and the
Washington Monthly
. His new book is
Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party
(Nation Books). Research support for his article was provided by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute.

Juan Cole is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. His most recent books include
Engaging the Muslim World
and
Napoleon’s Egypt: Invading the Middle East
. He also has a regular column at Salon and writes the blog Informed Comment.

Joe Conason is national correspondent for the
New York Observer,
a columnist for Salon, and the director of the Nation Institute Investigative Fund. His books indclude
Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine
and
How It Distorts the Truth
.

Jeanne Devon, based in Alaska, blogs as AKMuckraker and Mudflats.

Eve Ensler is an American playwright, performer, feminist, and activist, best known for her play
The Vagina Monologues
. Her latest work is her first book,
Insecure At Last: Losing It In Our Security-Obsessed World
.

Amanda Fortini has written for the
New Yorker
,
Slate
,
Elle
, and
New York
, among other publications. She contributed to
Going Hungry: Writers on Desire, Self-Denial, and Overcoming Anorexia.

Thomas Frank is a columnist for the
Wall Street Journal
. He is the founder and editor of
The Baffler
and the author of
The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule
and
What’s the Matter with Kansas?

Dana Goldstein is an associate editor at the
American Prospect
. Her writing has also appeared in
BusinessWeek, Slate,
the
Guardian
,
the
New Republic,
and the
Nation
.

Michelle Goldberg is the author of
Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism
and
The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World
. She is currently a blogger at the Huffington Post and also writes an online column for the
American Prospect
. Research support for her article was provided by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute.

Jane Hamsher is the founder of firedoglake.com and the author of the best-selling book
Killer Instinct.
She has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, PBS, and the BBC.

Christopher Hayes is the
Nation
’s Washington, D.C., editor. His articles have appeared in the
New York Times Magazine,
the
American Prospect,
the
New Republic,
the
Washington Monthly
and the
Chicago Reader
. He is currently a fellow at the New America Foundation.

Katrina vanden Heuvel is the editor of
the
Nation
. She is the co-editor of
Taking Back America—And Taking Down The Radical Righ
t and editor of
The Dictionary of Republicanisms
. Her articles have appeared in the
Washington Post,
the
Los Angeles Times,
the
New York Times
and
the
Boston Globe.

Jim Hightower writes a nationally syndicated column carried by seventy-five independent weekly newspapers and other publications. He also writes a monthly newsletter, “The Hightower Lowdown.”

Mark Hertsgaard is the environment correspondent at the
Nation
. He is the author of five books. His next book is
Living Through the Storm: How We Survive the Next 50 Years of Climate Change
.

Sheila Kaplan is a lecturer in political reporting at the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Her work has appeared in the
Washington Post,
the
Nation,
Salon,
Legal Times,
the
Washington Monthly
and
U.S. News & World Report
.

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist, and author of
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
and
No Logo.
Klein’s regular column for the
Nation
and the
Guardian
is distributed internationally by the New York Times
Syndicate.

Richard Kim is a senior editor at the
Nation
.

Michael T. Klare is the defense correspondent for the
Nation
and professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College. His latest book is
Rising Power, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy.

Linda Hirshman is the author of
Get to Work: And Get A Life Before It’s Too Late
. She is also a columnist with
Double X.

Jane Mayer is a staff writer for the
New Yorker
and the author of the best-selling book
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals
.

Elstun Lauesen is a rural affairs specialist in Alaska.

Dahlia Lithwick is a senior editor and legal correspondent for
Slate
, and is a weekly legal commentator for the NPR show,
Day to Day
. She is co-author of
Me v. Everybody: Absurd Contracts for an Absurd World
.

Amanda Marcotte is a blogger for Pandagon. Her book is entitled
It’s a Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments.

Shannyn Moore is a broadcaster based in Anchorage, Alaska, who has interviewed Sarah Palin numerous times. She has appeared on
Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman
, Keith Olbermann’s
Countdown
and the
Rachel Maddow Show
.

Brentin Mock is a Metcalf Institute Fellow for Environmental Reporting at the
American Prospect
. He also writes for
Essence, GOOD
, and
Next American City
magazines. His work has also appeared in
Intelligence Report, Harper’s,
the
Source
,
and the
Pittsburgh City Paper.

David Neiwert is the author of
The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right
,
Death on the Fourth of July: The Story of a Killing, a Trial, and Hate Crime in America
, and
In God’s Country: The Patriot Movement and the Pacific Northwest
. Research support for his article was provided by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute.

John Nichols writes the Online Beat at TheNation.com. He also writes for the
Nation
as its Washington correspondent and is a contributing writer for the
Progressive
and
In These Times
. He is the author of
The Genius of Impeachment
,
Jews for Buchanan
, and
Dick: The Man Who Is President
.

Katha Pollitt is a columnist at the
Nation.
Her work has been compiled in:
Reasonable Creatures: Essays on Women and Feminism
;
Subject to Debate: Sense and Dissents on Women, Politics, and Culture
; and
Virginity or Death! And Other Social and Political Issues of Our Time
.

Tom Perrotta is a novelist and screenwriter best known for his novels
Election
and
Little Children
, both of which were made into films. His latest novel,
The Abstinence Teacher
, has just been published in paperback.

Rick Perlstein is the author of
Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America
, and
Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus
. He previously wrote a column for the New Republic Online.

Betsy Reed is the executive editor of the
Nation
. She was the editor of
Unnatural Disaster: The Nation on Hurricane Katrina
, and the anthology
Nothing Sacred: Women Respond to Religious Fundamentalism and Terror
.

Robert Reich is co-founding editor of the
American Prospect
magazine
.
He has written twelve books, including
The Work of Nations
. His commentaries can be heard weekly on public radio’s
Marketplace
.

Frank Rich is an op-ed columnist for the
New York Times
. He has written his childhood memoir,
Ghost Light
; and a collection of Rich’s drama reviews,
Hot Seat: Theater Criticism for The New York Times, 1980–1993
, was published in 1998.

Hanna Rosin is a contributing editor at the
Atlantic Monthly
and the author of
God’s Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America
.

Hart Seely is an award-winning reporter for the
Syracuse Post-Standard
. He is the author of
Mrs. Goose Goes to Washington: Nursery Rhymes for the Political Barnyard.

Jeff Sharlet is a contributing editor for
Harper’s
and
Rolling Stone
and the co-creator of two online journals; Killing the Buddha and the Revealer. He authored
The Family: Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power.

Marilyn Berlin Snell is a San Francisco–based journalist and editor who has written for the
New York Times, This American Life,
the
New Republic, Discover, Mother Jones, Harper’s,
the
Los Angeles Times, NPQ
, and
Sierra
. Research support for her article was provided by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute.