Biting the hand that made you
Matthew Yglesias links to this Rachel Maddow bit about Sarah Palin and bloggers: That’s cute, but here’s what’s truly odd about Palin’s complaint about bloggers — they helped to make her. Let’s revisit that Jane Mayer essay on Palin from The New Yorker, shall we?: During her gubernatorial campaign, Bitney said, he began predicting ...
Matthew Yglesias links to this Rachel Maddow bit about Sarah Palin and bloggers: That's cute, but here's what's truly odd about Palin's complaint about bloggers -- they helped to make her. Let's revisit that Jane Mayer essay on Palin from The New Yorker, shall we?: During her gubernatorial campaign, Bitney said, he began predicting to Palin that she would make the short list of Republican Vice-Presidential prospects. “She had the biography, I told her, to be a contender,” he recalled. At first, Palin only laughed. But within a few months of being sworn in she and others in her circle noticed that a blogger named Adam Brickley had started a movement to draft her as Vice-President... [Adam] Brickley registered a Web site—palinforvp.blogspot.com—which began getting attention in the conservative blogosphere. In the month before Palin was picked by McCain, Brickley said, his Web site was receiving about three thousand hits a day. Support for Palin had spread from one right-of-center Internet site to the next. First, the popular conservative blogger InstaPundit mentioned Brickley’s campaign. Then a site called the American Scene said that Palin was “very appealing”; another, Stop the A.C.L.U., described her as “a great choice.” The traditional conservative media soon got in on the act: The American Spectator embraced Palin, and Rush Limbaugh, the radio host, praised her as “a babe.”
Matthew Yglesias links to this Rachel Maddow bit about Sarah Palin and bloggers:
That’s cute, but here’s what’s truly odd about Palin’s complaint about bloggers — they helped to make her. Let’s revisit that Jane Mayer essay on Palin from The New Yorker, shall we?:
During her gubernatorial campaign, Bitney said, he began predicting to Palin that she would make the short list of Republican Vice-Presidential prospects. “She had the biography, I told her, to be a contender,” he recalled. At first, Palin only laughed. But within a few months of being sworn in she and others in her circle noticed that a blogger named Adam Brickley had started a movement to draft her as Vice-President… [Adam] Brickley registered a Web site—palinforvp.blogspot.com—which began getting attention in the conservative blogosphere. In the month before Palin was picked by McCain, Brickley said, his Web site was receiving about three thousand hits a day. Support for Palin had spread from one right-of-center Internet site to the next. First, the popular conservative blogger InstaPundit mentioned Brickley’s campaign. Then a site called the American Scene said that Palin was “very appealing”; another, Stop the A.C.L.U., described her as “a great choice.” The traditional conservative media soon got in on the act: The American Spectator embraced Palin, and Rush Limbaugh, the radio host, praised her as “a babe.”
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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