Her.meneutics: Sarah Palin: Andrew Sullivan's Punching Bag

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« Trashing Sarah Palin's Faith, Family, and Femininity | Main | Breadwinning Moms and Stay-at-Home Dads »

July 6, 2009

Sarah Palin: Andrew Sullivan's Punching Bag

The last thing the former governor needs is journalists criticizing her for being true to her own life.

Christine A. Scheller

No writer that I've read in the past 11 months has been more - dare I say - hysterically critical of Sarah Palin than The Atlantic's uber-blogger Andrew Sullivan. Eight months after the election, he is still harping on the failure of traditional media to investigate the parentage and birth of her son Trig.

With Palin's resignation as Governor of Alaska coming days after a scathing profile appeared in Vanity Fair, Sullivan is in fighting form. Yesterday, in one blog post alone, he called her a delusional liar, "the biggest farce in American politics in living memory" and a "hood ornament of a candidate." Palin may have been the wrong person for the job of Vice President, but she's nobody's hood ornament.

Nothing Sullivan has written about Palin has been more hypocritical than his condemnation of what he alleges is her exploitation of Trig and Bristol as props for the pro-life cause. Forget the fact that it was first-wave feminists and not religious conservatives whose motto was "the personal is political," Sullivan himself drags out his family to argue for gay marriage all the time and applauds others for doing the same. Not only that, but in the wake of George Tiller's murder, he posted anonymous reader e-mail after anonymous reader e-mail detailing unsubstantiated late-term abortion stories - thereby suggesting that perhaps even these gruesome acts should be legal.

Five years ago, when I decided to write about my own unplanned pregnancy for Christianity Today magazine, my son was a young adult. I framed the story within the context of dropping him off at college and concluded it with an exhortation for him not to make the same mistakes I had made or cause the harm I had caused. I asked his permission to write what I did and gave him veto power over the article before I submitted it. Even so, in light of his death by suicide last spring, I've questioned the wisdom of having exposed him to this minimal level of public scrutiny.

And yet, in that same article (which has since been included in a Gale Cenage anthology called Opposing Viewpoints: Religion and Sexuality) I related the story of Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. Michelman became an activist after her husband abandoned their family when she was pregnant with their fourth child and she had to get his permission to end the pregnancy. Nobody accuses Michelman of exploiting her baby. How could they? The child was never given a chance to live.

Therein lies the difficulty. Critics mock the Palin family for its uncomfortable public fecundity, but we have no idea how many politicians or wives and/or daughters of politicians are aborting babies for nefarious reasons including political expediency. We never will.

Perhaps we would all be better off if issues like abortion and gay marriage were argued on their merits alone, but then we would be left with the limits and dangers of abstraction.

To my knowledge, Sarah Palin has never mentioned Sullivan by name, but she has openly condemned the highly personal attacks directed at her and her daughters. In truth, I'm relieved she is not the Vice President. I don't think she possesses the knowledge, skills, or temperament for high office. Nothing she has done or said publicly in regard to her family, however, comes close to the exploitative, hypocritical barrage she has endured from the likes of Andrew Sullivan.

Comments

Sullivan is a hypocrite's hypocrite. His personal life is lived at the intersection of anxiously competing immoral interests, yet he has the unmitigated gall to go after someone who makes him look like a moral midget (maybe jealousy is his real motive).

Like a broken clock, Sullivan is occasionally right, but to obsessively focus on Palin when there are so many better targets for his sanctimonious, ascerbic diatribes (ever heard of John Edwards?) shows a virulent lack of balance. His anonymous attacks on Palin as well as his ads for anonymous sex reek to high heaven.

Was Palin qualified to be President? Many would say no. But if you use the same criteria to judge Barack Obama then he shouldn't be President, either. At least Palin has actually successfully run something: a city and a state. We're still waiting on Obama to successfully run something....

So, truthmeister, it's okay for you to bash someone that is of an the opposite political view, but it's bad for Sullivan to bash Palin. If we, as Christians, could only try our role as peacemakers, politics might be a very different thing in this country. I'm not a fan of Sullivan, but I think we should pray for him and we should also pray for Sarah Palin, who has used her own brand of political bashing. Just give up the name calling and become a person who prays for all who lead and seek to lead in our country.

Truthmeister, thank you so very much for clarifying what the real problem is. It isn't Obama, Palin, Sanford, Edwards, Ensign, etc., etc. It is our unyielding fetish to bash and break every person who does not agree with us.
What are we doing to remake our country, our churches, our families...in this country?!? Moaning, groaning, gnashing of teeth...will not solve the problems.
Let's get with the program!
Dakotahgeo

My apologies, Truthmeister. They have their comments section set up rather screwy so one does not know who says what.

DIANE!!! Thank you so very much for clarifying what the real problem is. It isn't Obama, Palin, Sanford, Edwards, Ensign, etc., etc. It is our unyielding fetish to bash and break every person who does not agree with us.
What are we doing to remake our country, our churches, our families...in this country?!? Moaning, groaning, gnashing of teeth...will not solve the problems.
Let's get with the program!
Dakotahgeo

There is a reason why some conservative Christians are viewed as unconditional apologists for the Republican Party: because they are.

Instead of focusing on Sarah Palin's decision to leave as Governor with sixteen months left in her term, Ms. Beaty attacks Andrew Sullivan (who I view as being very, very far from perfect) to make Sarah Palin look better and to distract attention from Governor Palin's incomprehensible decision. She chose to run for Vice-President of the United States a little over a year ago. This would obviously have created far, far more demands on her time and the lives of her family, including Trig, than she faces as governor of the third smallest state (about the same population as Charlotte, NC). Yet, running for Vice-President was fine, but serving out her term as Governor and helping the residents of her state deal with the consequences of lower oil prices as opposing to ladling out the surpluses while the rest of us were paying $4 a gallon for gas is just too much???

This isn't about the kitchen being too hot or the allegations of "isolated" and "insignificant" people chasing her out of office. This is about getting the cash while the getting is good. It doesn't do the cause of Christianity or feminism any good to defend someone who wants to hide behind those shields but was obviously not up to the job.

Diane, if you think what I wrote is "bashing" then you clearly haven't read much of Sullivan. He sets the standard for "bashing." And he is not always of the "opposite" political view since he does have some conservative opinions. You need to become better informed.

Because she is in her mid-forties, Sarah Palin's star quite possibly will rise again - primarily as an Ann Coulter-like champion of everything conservative and end up as a FOX news commentator. Joe Biden was correct. If Mrs. Palin quit because the spotlight was having a negative impact on her, her family and the state of Alaska, good for her, the emotion health and well being of her family and the citizens of Alaska.

From the outset, she clearly was not ready for prime time - charming as she was. But clearly, neither was she ready for daytime (No disrespect intended to the good folk in Alaska, where during certain times of the year, there isn't any daylight). We all make mistakes and we all hope to learn from them. I'm just sorry so many evangelicals went to the mat for her.

So let's put this episode of "The Perils of Palin," to bed. There will be more episodes down the road. In the meantime, we have God's work to do.

Ms. Palin does an excellent job of bringing disrepute down upon herself, poor thing. She's a quitter, period. That's what she does, just quit when it's not fun anymore.

Sometimes, quitting is the right thing to do. I've quit some stuff myself. But, while I'm happy to see her go, and my Alaskan friends are even happier, her endless whining and ending her elected responsibilities so precipitously, is just not right...but 'so Sarah,' isn't it.

I guess the posters are joking on this one. I mean comparing Salin Palin to Andrew Sullivan. Please, Sullivan is beyond praying for him as he chooses to live in sin, while Palin chooses Jesus and life. If anybody thinks he is God, Sullivan does. Of course, he doesn't care for her, she tells and shows him he is wrong as Christians are supposed to do. None of us need to accept sin even though the sinful demand that we accept sin. Palin and McCain had bad campaign people. Despite the fact that O'Bama was extremely charismatic, the people in charge of McCain and Palin's campaign could have done a much better job and they know it, that's why they are so adament about "it was her".
I mean, there were golden opportunities for the Republican campaign to kick butt like the President Clinton tape of admittance and never once did any Republican, in our area at least, jump at the opportunity. That tape contradicted O'Bama royally. There were weeks we never heard about McCain until Palin came along. What were the campaign people doing. We don't know why Palin stepped down, only she and her husband know what is really going on with them and in the State of Alaska which just might be the real problem. Perhaps in time, we'll know, maybe we'll never really know, right now it's all innuendo which the media loves and does so well.

Media creating innuendo? Palin's the one whose rambling incoherent resignation caused it. Yes, the media is inclined to speculate (too much) since it has to fill up all that time, but Palin gave a rorschach blotch resignation speech. Her speech was incomprehensible. With all the clauses she puts into her incomplete sentences, it's difficult to follow what she's talking about.

Ultimately, I think this whole thing is going to turn out to be alot less than we're making it out to be. (Ms. Palin probably likes the drama that she's caused.) The answer for Palin's resignation may be purely banal: She probably got bored of the mundane procedures and haggling required to run a government and realized that she wanted to be free to present her ideas (without the burdens or responsibilities of having to implement them) to her adoring followers.

So what is Palin's legacy as governor of Alaska: Remember the pipeline that was supposed to be her crowning achievement? That was never finalized as the tax deals for Exxon Mobil and TransCanada Corp. to build the pipeline have yet to be negotiated. The tax deals were supposed to be the hard part as Exxon is demanding it and Alaskan taxpayers will not be very angry if they wind up subsidizing Exxon, et al with this pipeline.

Compare the financial status of California or most other left-leaning states to that of Alaska. That's part of Palin's legacy. And it ain't a bad one.

Palin's legacy? Compare the financial status of left-leaning states like California to that of Alaska. That's part of Palin's legacy. And it ain't a bad one.

"Sarah Palin: Andrew Sullivan's Punching Bag
The last thing the former governor needs is journalists criticizing her for being true to her own life."

I haven't read Andrew Sullivan's work about Governor Palin. I've just never found his stuff to be particularly interesting or engaging. And, I haven't needed to get opinion or information about Governor Palin from him since so much exists in more credible and esteemed places.

But, I think that Ms. Scheller may have missed the point -- at least, she missed the point that I saw. I don't believe that Governor Palin has been criticized or attacked for being true to herself. I think that she's been targeted because so many people believe that she has NOT been true to her life.

Wow, I didn't know Christianity today 1. was so concerned with politics 2. sought clarification through verbal revenge and 3. was defensive of Republicans (or any politician).

The Atlantic is a secular political magazine. Perhaps Christianity Today is also in some ways.

This means that Sullivan may be right after all. Wow.

It is very convenient, isn't it, that an anti-Gay organization like Christianity Today would come up with a scapegoat who just happens to be Gay, to blame for Ms. Palin's self-pitying, self-righteous and self-inflicted bad press.

Sullivan isn't her problem, she is. She doesn't act like a grown up, and she's more childish than child like.

Oh please. Andrew has been more than fair to SP. The fact is, her story about her pregnancy with Trig never made any more sense than her resignation speech. The woman is a documented, provable repeated liar, to the point of being pathological. The idea that she quit to protect her family is just laughable--remember how she proved her daughter wasn't Trig's mom? by outing her as pregnant on the kid's second day in the nat'l spotlight?? Nice.
Folks, if you want to claim her as some kind of Christian model, you've got a lot to learn about Christianity. it's not supposed to be a shield or a sword.

Sorry, I have to question the judgment of anyone who thinks Andrew Sullivan has been fair to Sarah Palin.

Outspoken gay activists like Sullivan seem to feel very threatened by attractive, heterosexuality-proclaiming females like Palin, perhaps because they feel sexually outcompeted by them.

Alaska is the biggest welfare state in the country! They receive more federal funding per-capita than any other state. Plus they're the biggest oil producing state in the country which fills the coffers. It doesn't take a genius to govern that state, but even Sara Palin wasn't up to it.

Andrew Sullivan, while wrong on the Iraq War and the financial crisis, hit the nail on the head with Palin.

"Sorry, I have to question the judgment of anyone who thinks Andrew Sullivan has been fair to Sarah Palin. Outspoken gay activists like Sullivan seem to feel very threatened by attractive, heterosexuality-proclaiming females like Palin, perhaps because they feel sexually outcompeted by them." - Truthmeister

I'm confused. Is this blog about Truth in Christ or Truth in "bash Sullivan and those that agree with him since he bashed Palin"?

Hi there. Thanks for the comments. Just wanted to note that this post is not as much about Sarah Palin or Andrew Sullivan as it is about the difficulty of charging pro-lifers with exploiting their children for the cause.

Christine:

Anytime you use big personalities like Sullivan and Palin it is going to be more about them than whatever topic you were trying to illustrate. Just look at the other blog posts about Palin on CT. Virtually all of them have 30 or more comments.

John, Andrew Sullivan has earned his "bashing" quite apart from the vitriol he's doled out regarding Palin.

As far as "truth" is concerned, it seems to me that fidelity to it in all endeavors is a requirement under the "Truth In Christ" dictum.

Geez. Sarah Palin is to government as a cheerleader is to a sports team.

The Republican elite worked this with the 'athelete' George W Bush who in prep-school and college only made the cheer leading squad. And it did work to get that empty shell elected.

So they picked another cheer leader for AK Governor and VP nominee. She eventually learned that governors are supposed to govern and not just live in their house hundreds of miles away from the state capitol and occasionally phone in their opinions, or sometimes cross the country for photo-ops.

It was too much work for her because she was supposed to be the pretty cheer-leader, not somebody that knew about politics or how to get things done.

Palin's idea of government is Imperial - as if she has been elected Queen of the Prom, and as Queen she can absolutely rule against things she doesn't like - from library holdings of books, brother-in-laws she hates, to all sorts of other political topics she has little grasp of.

Palin was a supremely incompetent front person and she didn't have the staff to make her look competent.

Adam S.,

I'm glad to see you're still adding to the discussion at Her.meneutics. I haven't seen Christian Lawyer since our debate on the Hooking Up post.

My absolute favorite phrase here...

"left with the limits and dangers of abstraction"

Reminds me of a conversation going on elsewhere today (CAS, I think you know where I mean). Whenever we reduce people to issues and numbers, we court danger.

L.L., I gather you mean the twittersphere (cascheller). I hadn't noticed a debate there. That's the problem with intersecting orbits. We only catch glimpses of the universe.

Christine, I did try to comment on this post, but it was held in "moderation." Since that also happened the last time I tried to include a link to an Andrew Sullivan post on late-term abortion, I'll have to assume that CT has some ban on commenter links to Sullivan. (Particularly since this post misrepresents his position.) I know CT has the ability to let comments out of "moderation," so I'll also assume that CT chose not to do that.

The shorter version of my attempted post was that this post appears to do exactly what it decries -- call names and avoid substance. In other words, just like the last post, it makes it all personal. If you've got something to rebut Sullivan, let's have it. If not, I don't see what your point is.

I was away for awhile because I've had a family member in the hospital.

Welcome back, CL. I think I did just fine with this post. Won't be adding to it.

I'm sorry to hear about your family member. I pray he or she is well again.

I hope those of you who feel that Andrew Sullivan is being unfair and attacking Palin for simply asking her to answer questions about statements and claims she made also feel the same about the large variety in the 'press' (really just entertainers) when they say hateful, vile and threatening things about the President of The United States. They call him racist, nazi, communist, socialist, facist, hateful, murder of babies and elderly, violence and revolt might be necessary, tea parties, screaming down others who try to speak, etc. yet there's NOT ONE SHRED OF PROOF TO ANY OF IT! No just reason to go after him in such a vile and hateful way.

But you feel concern and sympathy for a woman who told an incredibly hard to believe story when someone says Hey wait no fair, you need to elaborate so we have a better understanding of your story.

She tells in more than one interview and in her book about hours and hours of labor, leaking fluids, contractions while far from home, giving a speech, taking two flights back to Alaska, then driving another 1.5hrs on treacherous roads in AK with a known special needs baby to a hospital that doesn't have a NICU, when the city her plane touched down in did. Just 1.5hrs from home, yet she chose to risk that drive, now in labor and leaking fluid for almost 20hrs to have the baby delivered by a non ob-gyn who delivered only 3 babes that year.

Yet, she's being attacked because he'd like her to elaborate. And yes she does deserve criticism over her use of Trig. Several photos of Trig on the book tour without his glasses, hearing aids, shoes or socks. One pic she's screaming and pumping her first outside the bus. Her own caption says it's 11:44, she and Piper and all the crowd in coats, Trig is hauled out in long sleeved tee and diaper, no pants, no shoes, and the temp was 41 degrees. A lot of people regardless of party or religious affiliation with a woman who says 'Hey no talking about my kids', yet in the next breath says 'Hey did you see Trig'. It's hypocritical and unfair to the baby. Search Flickr for Trig on the book tour and see what you find. It isn't pretty. You'll find most times he isn't dressed properly and seems to be the only one without a coat and NEVER has his glasses on unless Todd is around. You'll see her almost drop him coming out of Franklin Grahm's private jet, you'll see Sarah's mother carrying him out of the bus holding him by nothing more than 2 belt loops. He's never seen with his hearing aids and Sarah told Barbara Walters that at 19months he still can't eat solid foods. He should have been at home receiving his daily therapy sessions so he can grow up with more functional abilities. So criticism is deserved.

Those who didn't vote for Obama or are crazy that he won and the person they wanted didn't are deemed legitimate and fair for calling him vile, vile, unchristian things even calling for violence against the man. Where are the Christians defending this behavior?

Jesus wouldn't approve of the so-called self styled 'Christians' and how they seem to feel justified treating Obama the same way they once treated him. The morals and values are completely reversed. He would certainly be appalled at the comments on this page.

Time to get back to reality. Labeling yourself Christian means nothing if you don't possess a Christian's heart.

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