Palin has grown popular among the conservative base primarily because she has been able to satisfy the conservative persecution lust that is at the core of the American conservative system of belief. Without an evil, stereotyped, identity group out to attack them, there is nothing holding together the conservative system of belief. So, as First Read notes, in order to raise money from conservatives, Palin has simply invented a generalized Other that is engaged in unfair and immoral attacks her:
This afternoon, the McCain campaign issued a Palin fundraising solicitation for the joint McCain-Palin-RNC fund. (After this week, McCain no longer can raise money after accepting $84.1 million in public funds, but the Republican National Committee and state parties can.)
"I cannot tell you how special last night was for me and how enthused I am to be John McCain's running mate," Palin said in the email solicitation, adding: "Unfortunately, as you've seen this week, the Obama/Biden Democrats have been vicious in their attacks directed toward me, my family and John McCain. The misinformation and flat-out lies must be corrected."
Unless we're mistaken, neither Obama nor Biden nor the campaign has attacked Palin's family.
It is true that neither Obama nor Biden, nor their surrogates, have attacked Palin's family. That fact, however, is irrelevant to the conservative worldview. That anyone even mentioned Palin's family is enough to indict several groups of people on grounds of immoral attacks against Palin, and indeed against all conservatives in general. Obama, Biden, Democrats, the media, liberals, non-Christirans, homosexuals, immigrants, judges, academia, communists, city dwellers, DFHs--they are all rolled up into a single, dangerous Other identity by Palin and her supporters. If anyone from any of those groups even said anything remotely negative about Palin, then all of them were attacking Palin and her family.
Lacking these attacks, the conservative worldview collapses. Without an immoral Other engaged in hateful attacks against the idealized, hard-working, white Christian, small town American conservative, then there is no good reason why their preferred identity is superior to others, and no good reason why the world is such a dangerous place for that identity. It is only because the idealized conservative identity is being attacked by this evil, immoral other that makes anything in conservatism make any sense at all. The attacks on the Ideal Identity from the Other Identity make the Other Identity evil and the world dangerous for the Ideal Identity.
Now, because a hard-working, small town, white Christian mom is being attacked by this vast, generalized, evil Other, conservatives are really, really excited. It doesn't matter who actually made the attacks, because stereotyping and group blame are the order of the day. Because someone they don't like is somehow attacking Palin, conservatives have their persecution lust, which for so long has gone unsatisfied, scratched, and scratched good. Without moments like these, their entire worldview doesn't make any sense. |
