‘That was a little dismissive,” I wrote to some of my colleagues yesterday morning after reading somewhere that Governor Sarah Palin had referred to The Mighty Herman Cain as ‘the flavor of the week.” Cain’s my favorite candidate in the race, Palin’s my favorite candidate not in the race, and suddenly I was all conflicted and tense — because I’m sensitive that way. Moreover, it seemed awfully uncharacteristic for the Governor to wrist-flick Cain in such a manner. In the past, I’ve never heard her speak of Cain with anything but respect and even affection.
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After mentally processing all of this I figured it was just the liberal media being the liberal and went on about the business of the day. But before the day was out I saw that a number of conservative sites had picked up the “flavor” comment and that it was taking off on Twitter.
And now we get to the beauty of new media part.
Because we live in the great, big open world of the wild, wild Web, the fact that this growing meme seemed so counter-intuitive to what I had heard with my own ears wasn’t something I had to remain confused over. Instead, I could go out and investigate on my own: What did Palin really say? What was the full context?
And lo and behold look what I found… We’ll start with the quote everyone’s still parsing, interpreting and going on about. I’ve emphasized the moment in question but encourage you to read the full quote: [There’s some dumb sideshow over whether or not Palin called Cain “Herm.” Whatever. Below is straight from the FNC transcript.]:
VAN SUSTEREN: How does, though, a politician, though, connect with the people and get it across so it doesn’t just sound like more like, Blah, blah, blah? When the politician gets up on the air, probably many of us can sort of mouth the answers for the politician because we know these people for better, for worse, so well, and that they’re going to say. It’s quite predictable. But how does a politician actually connect with someone in the heartland, for instance?
PALIN: That’s a great question. I think what helps is for that politician is to have a foundation of having come from the real people of America, the working class, those who make up the majority of Americans who are so extremely concerned about the direction of our country. Take Herman Cain. Look at why he’s doing so well right now. He’s, I guess you could say, with all due respect, the flavor of the week because Herman Cain is the one up there who doesn’t look like he’s part of that permanent political class. Herman Cain — he came from a working class family. He’s had to make it on his own all these years. We respect that. That has an automatic connection with the electorate, where we say, We can relate to him, he knows the issues, the problems that we face every day, and he’s determined to do something about it. He’s not elite. He doesn’t seem to allow us to be disenchanted with what it is that he’s proposing because what he proposes in terms of solutions, Greta, for our economy, are based on time-tested truths and common sense and true economic principles that will work. So Herman Cain is a good example of a connection with the voters and why his message, good messenger, he’s resonating with the people.
Other than the “flavor of the week” comment, this is how I’ve always heard Palin discuss Mr. Cain. But what about that “flavor of the week” comment?
Well, if you back up the interview a little bit, you get the full context:
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, it’s sort of interesting, always the people who are not in the race — I guess not always, but sometimes they get a lot of encouragement from others, a lot of glowing reports, and [Gov. Christie] certainly has been pushed by many Republicans.
PALIN: Many Republicans, but also just many in the media because for many in the media, this is like a reality show. I think Newsweek, an article that came out the other day, really nailed it when they said that there are media outlets that kind of create this reality show, this intrigue, and who’s going to be the next “flavor of the week.” And they prop somebody up in order to crush the person, it seems, later on. But I think that a lot of the push for Chris Christie and for others comes not just from those within the party, but those inside baseball, and within the media.
What Palin’s obviously talking about here is how some in the media and the GOP will amplify a candidate or a potential candidate only to ignore or move on or tear them down later. We’ve certainly seen this with Bachmann and Perry already this year and now Chris Christie has everyone’s attention. This isn’t Palin’s personal impression of Cain and she’s not in any way dismissing his impact on the race or his showing in recent polls. In fact, when Greta asks her directly if those in the heartland are surprised by Cain’s surge, this is how the Governor answered:
PALIN: We are not surprised that he, as a messenger of common-sense conservative pro-U.S. Constitution principles, is doing well. Many of the elites in the media were shocked.
Within the phony context some are attempting to unfairly lay at Governor Palin’s feet, I also don’t believe Cain is the “flavor of the week.” This is an impressive man with a strong executive record and a message of hope and truth that’s starting to resonate. Even better, his 9-9-9 plan is getting the serious attention it deserves. But within the context Governor Palin was speaking of, she’s absolutely right. Pretty soon the fickle media and the powers-that-be in the GOP will get excited over the next shiny object that enters their line of sight — and maybe that’s already happened with Christie (who I would love to see enter the race).
And so I ask you, what’s not to love about New Media? Sure, in a just world I wouldn’t have to hunt the truth down all on my own, but for decades doing so wasn’t even a possibility. Better still, I’m able to pass my findings on to you so you can make up your own mind.
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