This letter is associated with the following article:
Letters
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 12:00 AM

The dominatrix

Sarah Palin is trying to seduce independent voters. But she comes across like a whip-wielding mistress who wants to discipline a naughty America.

Read other letters about this article

  • Monday, September 8, 2008 08:25 PM

    Neither the right or the left can get Palin right (no dom she)

    As Barack Obama’s early insurgent and wildly successful primary campaign proved, Americans are hungry for a fresh faced Washington DC outsider who will bring real change to the political landscape.

    Two things have happened to weaken the Chicago Senator’s hold on the change mantel:

    First, this campaign has gone on so long that the press has literally taken photographic note of the graying of Obama. Meaning, BHO has been in this fight so long, has made so many speeches, and appeared in so many thousands of political ads that he seems less fresh than old hat.

    Second, Obama made a tactical choice in the face of blistering attacks from Hillary Clinton to abandon (or at least set aside) his core message of hope and change to crawl into the gutter and knife fight it out. In other words, Obama became politics as usual. Obama’s shift from his original core message has been incremental, and culminated with the selection of Joe Biden—a political has been who garnered all of 10,000 votes in the primary and had to chuck his 1987 bid to become president after lying about his resume—and getting caught.

    Enter Sarah Palin in the final act.

    Fresh face. Reformer. Fought the good-old boys and entrenched interests in Alaska. By most accounts the real deal. In any event, with the ring of that rarest of political commodities: Authenticity.

    Thus, Palin’s appeal is not as “dominatrix,” cultural warrior, standard bearer for the right, tongue talking religious extremist—or any other of a dozen labels that the Republican’s tried to pin on Barack Obama when HE was unstoppable: She has taken on the mantle of change. SHE has become the embodiment of America’s change hunger.

    In addition, like Obama—before he wore out this mantle—nothing, no rumor of baby fraud, no bridge to nowhere inconsistencies, no preacher-gate, no trouper-gate, no nothing will dislodge Sarah Palin as the living embodiment of America’s hope-change dream.

    At least between now and election day. Or have you all forgotten how NOTHING could stick to Obama in the early days, no Jeremiah Wright, no nothing.

    Stephen R. Gianelli

    Registered Democrat

    Former Hillary Clinton Supporter

    9-8-2008

    San Francisco, CA

Most Active Letters Threads

523

The crazy, irrational beliefs of Muslims

Tom Friedman explains the real problem: stupid Muslims think the U.S. is about war and aggression.
422

The face of rotted Washington

Evan Bayh demands more debt-financed war - fought by others - while boasting that he's a stern "deficit hawk."
186

Bigotry wins in Switzerland

By voting to ban the construction of minarets, Switzerland apes the most extreme intolerance in the Muslim world
130

Facebook, the mean girls and me

At 34 years old, I finally feel like a popular seventh-grader. How sad is that?
103

Polanski moves from jail to ski chalet

The rapist director is granted bail, and one of his most vocal apologists celebrates

View all »

Letters Help

Currently in Salon