from Democracy Now!
Jane Mayer on “The Insiders: How John McCain Came to Pick Sarah Palin”Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin has cast herself as an antidote to the elitist culture inside the Beltway. But a new article from New Yorker reporter Jane Mayer says Palin’s sudden rise to prominence owes more to members of the Washington elite than her rhetoric has suggested.
Guest:
Jane Mayer, staff writer for The New Yorker. Her latest article is called "The Insiders: How John McCain Came to Pick Sarah Palin.” She is author of The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals.
AMY GOODMAN: No matter who wins the White House November 4th, a group of prominent conservatives are planning to meet the next day in Virginia to discuss the way forward for the movement. And regardless of the outcome, Governor Sarah Palin will be high on the agenda. The New York Times reports if John McCain loses the election, Palin could emerge as a standard bearer for the conservative movement and a potential presidential candidate in 2012, albeit one who will need to address her considerable political damage.
Most Americans had never heard of Sarah Palin when McCain first announced her as his running mate back in August. Her national debut came at the Republican Party’s convention in St. Paul, where she sought to cast herself as an antidote to the elitist culture inside the Beltway.
GOV. SARAH PALIN: I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment, and I’ve learned quickly these last few days that if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.
AMY GOODMAN: Governor Palin’s sudden rise to prominence, however, owes more to members of the Washington elite than her rhetoric suggests. That’s according to an article in The New Yorker magazine by investigative reporter Jane Mayer. It’s called “The Insiders: How John McCain Came to Pick Sarah Palin.” Jane Mayer now joins us in Washington, D.C.
Welcome to Democracy Now!, Jane.
JANE MAYER: Hi, thanks. Good to be with you.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. Why don’t you tell us the story of the cruises to Alaska?
JANE MAYER: The cruises. Well, Juneau, Alaska turns out to be a major stop for cruise ships that come through Alaska, and there are political cruises, in particular, that are run by the conservative political magazines that stop there. And so, when Sarah Palin was elected governor, she learned that a number of those Washington insider elite members of the media would be trooping through Juneau. And despite the rhetoric that she’s got that is about, you know, sort of deriding them and saying she doesn’t, you know, seek their approval, in fact, she invited most of them to lunch and to other receptions that she threw. She even brought some up on a helicopter ride to go see a couple sites in Alaska.
So, she was courting some of those Washington insiders. In particular, they were the pundits that work for the Weekly Standard magazine, which is Rupert Murdoch’s conservative political magazine, and the National Review, the old conservative magazine founded by William F. Buckley. So she made a great impression on some of these pundits when they came through. They enjoyed their lunches and receptions and went back and wrote fabulous stories about her, and this was one of the things that really got the ball rolling for her. .......(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/29/jane_mayer_on_the_insiders_how