Fishing permit violations. A blue-collar husband who racked up a DUI citation as a 22-year-old. An unmarried teenage daughter who is pregnant and a nasty child custody battle involving a family member.
But these revelations may have the opposite effect: In one sense, they could reinforce how remarkably unremarkable she is.The travails of the Palin family probably seem awfully familiar to many average Americans.
It is this averageness that makes her such a politically promising running mate for John McCain — and such a dangerous opponent for Democrats.
Many voters will find it easy to identify with her family’s struggles — a significant advantage in an election where the voting calculus is so unusually and intensely personal.
How far this story will go is uncertain.
One thing is certain. Powerful media organizations are beginning to pour resources into this story.
Florida Congressman Adam Putnam says the media just doesn’t ‘get it.’ He says:
“The media doesn’t understand life membership in the NRA; they don’t understand getting up at 3 a.m. to hunt a moose; they don’t understand eating a mooseburger; they don’t understand being married to a guy who likes to snowmobile for fun. I am not surprised that they don’t get it. But Americans get it,”
Representative Putnam goes on to say:
“A mooseburger means she is like one of us. She is not some jackass who’s gone Washington .”
The media would do well to tread softly on the Palin story or fall into a trap that could help elect the GOP ticket.
With a pregnant teenage daughter and an infant with Down syndrome, the Palins, it seems, have been caught up in the same struggles of everyday life that confront many American families. And it poses a difficult challenge for Democrats because she will be juxtaposed against Biden, a United States senator with 35 years of experience.
A picture of my cave
..
..
