Sarah Palin: The Xena of the War Party

Sarah Palin: The Xena of the War Party

by Justin Raimondo

The Palin-mania that is sweeping the GOP reminds me of the publicity surrounding "American Idol," the popular American television program that catapults complete unknowns on to the national stage and gives them a chance at stardom: the anticipation, the gossip, the frenzy (and partisanship) of the fans. In the last days of the old Republic, this is what American politics has degenerated into: "reality" TV.

Prior to being plucked from obscurity by the neocons who run the McCain campaign, Sarah Palin was a complete unknown. Today, she is the object of a burgeoning cult that proclaims her to be the virtual incarnation of the Republican renewal. And never did a party require renewal like the GOP. What with G.W. Bush's bottom-of-the-barrel poll numbers, after eight years of nightmarish mismanagement on the home front and frenzied recklessness abroad, dispirited conservative intellectuals and activists have been asking themselves "What went wrong?" Now, they don't have to bother with such worrisome introspection, their identity crisis has been indefinitely delayed, all due to the appearance of a messiah on the horizon – Sarah, the new Wonder Woman of the Right.


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McCain and his top advisors are ideologues who care about one thing and one thing only: war. The glory of it, the utility of it, the necessity of it. It's the McCain panacea, like "free silver" was to William Jennings Bryan and socialism was to Eugene Debs. It's his answer to everything: it solves all problems, and, more importantly, stifles all criticism. If you doubt his veracity, question his good intentions, or point out his inconsistencies, you're attacking a war hero, doubting the divine wisdom suffering is supposed to impart.

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Sarah, who looks – and acts – an awful lot like Xena, the Warrior Princess, is the perfect messenger for the GOP's credo of unmitigated militarism. Her speech to the Republican convention was, in large part, a continuation of the theme of the previous night: aggressive nationalism rationalized by religious fervor. The references to God were interspersed with worshipful references to all things military along with a full catalogue of all the current neocon targets: not only Iraq, but Iran, Russia, and "dangerous enemies" who are oil-rich (the Saudis?). The anti-Russian trope has been taken up with special alacrity by the McCainiacs, who are touting Palin's position as commander-in-chief of the Alaska National Guard and her proximity to the Russkies to highlight her readiness to take the helm in the Situation Room. I wouldn't be too surprised to hear tales of Commander Palin's derring do when confronted with previously unreported Russian incursions across the Bering Strait.

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