‘Piling on’ Palin is patently unfair

Here we go again. That was my reaction on seeing the editorial page cartoon in the Nov. 20 edition of The Daily Progress, which ridiculed Sarah Palin’s book tour.
I can’t recall cartoons, in any newspaper, that so savaged the book tours of other high-profile people, whether they were sleazy politicians, empty-headed Hollywood celebrities or Wall Street con artists.
But of course this was Sarah Palin, and anything goes in attacking a woman who had done a good job, by all accounts, as governor of Alaska before succumbing to the siren song of national politics. Ridicule would be more appropriate for John McCain and his handlers, who invited her to join them and then blocked her efforts to be herself, turning her into just another pol.
It’s not that I would vote for Sarah Palin for high office, at least not at this point. She was, and is, not ready to handle a top national post, although in more time and with proper seasoning she may be. (Barack Obama brought even less of a governing portfolio for top office when he entered the race for president, but few have raised that point.)
My disgust at much of what has been called the “Sarah Palin derangement syndrome” is based on two factors.
First, it echoes a more common syndrome: the piling-on, schoolyard-bully phenomenon. We’ve all seen the scenario where a new kid is perceived to be vulnerable because of his looks or beliefs and the other kids, led by the chief bullies, prove their own power (and loyalty to the alpha male) by taunting and demeaning a lone victim.
David Letterman certainly qualifies as alpha male in chief in this case. How many times has he savaged Palin? Is he really sorry for having made a juvenile sexual joke about her teenaged daughter? His supposed apology for that gaffe sounded a bit like “whatever.” Maybe Letterman should turn his vitriol to people like Bernard Madoff or corrupt members of Congress.
Second, it shows how successful the feminist movement has been. It is now permissible for powerful men as well as women to relentlessly mock a woman — not for her policies but for her personal traits — even attacking her role as a mother of five children. How dare she give birth to a baby with Down’s syndrome and not abort it? How could she dare to do “male” things such as owning guns and hunting? What of that out-of-style hairdo? How ... gauche it all is.
Most of the Palin jokes were lame, and all are getting stale. Perhaps it’s time to adopt that familiar Demo-cratic slogan and just move on.

Tom Doran
Buckingham County