It is beginning to look like the old conservative movement is feeling challenged by the new one. From here though, the only difference is that the ones criticizing Sarah Palin and the ‘Tea Party’ are old, where she, by comparison, is not.
It’s not the difference between ‘old school’ conservatism and modern because conservatism is timeless. There is no difference.
When Sarah Palin started in politics, she broke the mold of how things got done and she was good at it. She saw the opportunity to spread the conservative message more than she could have done behind a governor’s desk in Alaska, so she did it.
Sarah Palin is nothing like what has been all too common for those ‘old’ conservatives. Their inability or unwillingness, maybe both, to stand up to unfair criticism, to stand up to media bashing, and to not lose focus on the conservative message. All of which Bush, McCain and the so-called blue blood or establishment republicans are guilty of. They feel threatened.
George Will exemplifies that in this statement . . .
“This is a problem for the movement,” said Will about what Palin represents. “For conservatism, because it is a creedal movement, this is a disease to which it is susceptible.”
Matt Labash, a longtime writer for the Weekly Standard, said that because of Palin’s frequent appeals to victimhood and group grievance, “She’s becoming Al Sharpton, Alaska edition.”
Again, look how standing up for principles and conservative values are interpreted. As ‘frequent appeals to victimhood and group grievance.’ It is not her fault that the media and the Left frequently single her out. Well, in a sense it is her fault. They single her out because she is so effective. And because she is so effective, they consider her to be the biggest threat to their liberal agenda.
Sarah Palin needn’t change one thing. Those old fogies who cannot adapt to the new ‘new world order’ in American politics are more a strain on the conservative movement than anyone out there. And that includes democrats.
Links: The Right-Wing War Against Sarah Palin | ‘She’s becoming Al Sharpton, Alaska edition’
