The Messiah and St Joan

by digby

Yesterday, I wrote about Palin potentially becoming the Orthogonian Joan of Arc if the McCain campaign succeeds in framing her as a victim of elitist, anti-Christian, woman hating liberals. (I think her warrior mien last night may have actually made it more viable rather than less.)

It remains to be seen if they will be able to flog this sufficiently to create a real backlash. They did go hard after the “liberal media,” thus cowing them sufficiently that they began sputtering about how they are being blamed for what the dirty hippie bloggers are saying. But we won’t know how this whole thing has shaken out until the smoke clears, probably next week. I remain skeptical about the efficacy of criticizing Palin as a trailer park icon because the problem for the Dem ticket is white working class voters — they need to get some — and I’m not sure they won’t see these kinds of criticisms coming from liberals and the media in the same vein they saw attacks against Bill Clinton from Sally Quinn and David Broder. Any whiff of condescension from us plays right into their game plan.

Palin is from the far right wing of the GOP and that should provide a lot of fodder for criticism. I have certainly urged that we heavily scrutinize her ties to to the AKIP and look into her extremist religious views. But her appearance last night as a polished professional (female) politician makes that more difficult as well. She doesn’t look like some frothing wingnut, even though, for all her “reformer” claims, her ideology is really as right as it gets. She’s a clever stealth pick to solidify the base. Whether she and McCain can successfully draw independents is another thing and I’m still doubtful it will work (unless the backlash becomes a wildfire and the working class whites all desert Obama.) Once people get used to the idea of her, I think they will refocus on the presidential candidates and she will spend her time exhorting the base to GOTV.

Batoccio (who, along with Dover Bitch did an incredible job of pinch hitting while dday and I were at the convention) noticed that the Republicans are not only creating the “Joan of Arc” narrative, they are creating a “messiah” narrative as well. I hadn’t realized it, but that’s exactly what’s happening. No issues, no substance all symbols and totems. Here’s an excerpt from The Passion Of St McCain

The fake cornpone patter of rich lobbyist Fred Thompson at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night made the bullshit and lies he was flinging all the more insufferable. His rallying cry for Sarah Palin was one echoed by other Republicans – the press and those liberals look down on you reg’lar folks (no mention of the leading critique, Palin’s lack of qualifications for the job). It’s a gambit that plays into the familiar victimization claimed by so many conservatives, but particularly those of the authoritarian religious right. Despite conservative wealth and power, and holding the White House, the rank and file still feel persecuted by those George Bush referred to as “the angry Left” – never mind that Bush was really describing roughly 70% of the country. (More on the conservative shell game on economics elsewhere.)

But Thompson ramped things up with a lengthy account of John McCain’s POW experience, complete with numerous pauses to allow the full emotional weight to sink in. He took some liberties of course, but he was delivering more than a Hollywood prison movie tale. Did you see the rapt, near tearful crowd, re-living this ordeal and suffering along with Thompson – and McCain? The GOP knew their audience, and this wasn’t Top Gun, Stalag 17 or heaven forbid, Grand Illusion they were selling – Thompson was selling The Passion of the Christ.

Watch the speech again, listen to the story Thompson constructs, and pay special attention to the faces in the audience (the “rapt” MSNBC version linked above has some great reaction shots). All political parties have their beloved narratives, of course, but the GOP is tapping heavily into the “culture wars” that they’ve exploited so successfully for decades, and also (I believe) appealing to religious tropes. Mel Gibson’s Passion… features lengthy depictions of Jesus being tortured and mistreated, most notably with the scourging and the crucifixion itself (although lead actor Jim Caviezel as Jesus carrying the cross also falls down in slo-mo what feels like at least five times). Although some viewers found Gibson’s approach gratuitous, it was a powerful, cathartic experience for some religious viewers, and the movie was quite a financial success. I’m not sure how conscious this appeal in Thompson’s speech was, but especially given his abortion-Rick Warren reference (“pay grade”), I wouldn’t be surprised if it was very calculated. John McCain’s story was presented as one of suffering and deliverance, rebellion and redemption, of stubbornness and faith rewarded. And the subtext was, John McCain is one of us, whereas Barack Obama is not, in more ways than one. A quasi-religious suffering stood in for economic suffering, perhaps, especially since the GOP hasn’t discussed the economy much compared to “character” and personality.

I urge you to read it all if you’re interested in this kind of analysis. It’s fascinating. Their campaign is coming down to a passion play featuring St John and St Joan vanquishing the heretics — of both parties.

I believe that politics is more than personalities or issues. There are cultural, tribal and political undercurrents that also determine the direction of voters’ decisions, which exist outside the spectacle of election campaigns. But in our current celebrity culture, the candidates are totemic and the spectacle itself is the message. If you look at the two conventions you can clearly see the choice the two parties are offering: an inspirational call to march into the future or a forceful war cry to help defend a besieged and threatened tribe. There’s power in both of those spectacles and it depends on the country’s mood and inclination as to which one will appeal.

Three months ago, I thought the Democrats couldn’t lose. I still think they will win, although I believe the race will be closer than we thought. The Republicans are as good at campaigning as they are bad at governing so they picked the one guy who could even remotely claim to be a “different kind of Republican” even though his only distinction from them is that he lashes out incoherently at members of both parties. Unlike the monkish, ascetic post-partisan Obama, who appeals to people’s better nature, he is an angry bipartisan warrior who (along with his brave, martyr’d second) will bring down the wrath of God on all those who fail to put “country first.” If he can convince just a few more people that that’s what it’s going to take to fix the country’s problems, then he’ll win. I don’t think people are that dumb. But then I always underestimate the prevalence of that particular characteristic.

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