Last week, The AP described what living the life of Palin is like:
Among the perks laid out in the contract, the former Alaska governor will fly first class from Anchorage to California - if she flies commercial. If not, "the private aircraft MUST BE a Lear 60 or larger ...," the contract specifies.
Palin also must be provided with a suite and two single rooms in a deluxe hotel near the campus in Turlock in the Central Valley. During her speech, her lectern must be stocked with two water bottles and bendable straws.
I like bendy straws too! People seem shocked that she's earning so much money ($12 million). But you shouldn't think of her as a politician, but as a televangelist. Sure, she doesn't talk about God so much, but she's really no different. It's all about the revenue. Steve M. described Glenn Beck this way, and it also fits Palin:
So now we see what Glenn Beck really is: He's basically a televangelist. A huckster. A late-night pitchman selling seminars and book/DVD/audio combo packages that will allegedly help you get rich through flipping real estate. A human-potential-movement cult leader who promises life breakthroughs in exchange for participation in costly "religious" or "therapy" programs.He wants you to attend one (or, surely, many) of his "conventions." Will they be free? I strongly doubt it -- oh, maybe the first taste will be free, but after that, I'd guess no. And he wants you to buy the next book (and, surely several after that). And there's a "100 year plan" in the works -- you can't ever get off the mailing list because the good work he's involving you in is never done!
...Yes, it has a lot to do with the midterms. But really, I think it's about having a large number of opportunities to build loyalty to the Beck brand and separate the rubes from their money.
You look at, say, Rush Limbaugh, and he may sell products on his Web site, but he's really all about the broadcasting and the dissemination of ideology. He makes a pretty penny from his main job. He's written a grand total of two books in his twenty-year career as a right-wing talker; Beck's published three books this year alone.
Since Palin's a 'political' televangelist, why should we be surprised by an 'elite' lifestyle?
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Thanks, the televangelist analogy makes things clearer, but I don't quite understand why so many get taken in. Is it a psychological or a sociological issue? And in the long term, I cannot see how it would benefit the GOP to get dumbed down by accepting demagogues into their leadership, incompetence is incompetence.
BTW, dmabus has been spamming other posts as well...
Thank you for clarifying Palin & Beck's real position Davey.
Please rapture yourself already.
nice post. KABOOM!
Birger: As with other cons, people get taken in because they want to believe what the con man is saying. There are many people out there who quite rightly distrust the elites, and people like Palin and Beck have found a way to tap into this distrust. Their audience picks up on what they are saying, but most of the audience are not skeptical enough to check out the facts as long as Palin and Beck are playing to their worldview.
As for the GOP, getting dumbed down is not in their long term interest as long as the US remains a democracy. However, in the short term it can (and has--see 2002 and 2004) help them win the next election, and that's what they want.