As I have been watching the right-wing reaction to Sarah Palin, I have been trying to put myself in their shoes. What left-leaning politician would be the equivalent of Sarah Palin? What left-leaning politician would fire up the elected delegates but leave the Establishment of the party in a panic?
I’ve come to the conclusion that there isn’t any perfect parallel. Russ Feingold would fire up the base and take a lot of heat for being too liberal, but he really isn’t that radical or terrifying to the powers-that-be. To scare the Establishment the way Palin in scaring the Establishment, we would have to nominate Dennis Kucinich or Cynthia McKinney. But neither of those candidates would fire up more than a tiny fraction of our elected delegates. Most Democrats would see their nomination as an act of irresponsible political suicide. In other words, our party delegates are a lot more practical.
McKinney is probably the best parallel. She is a 9/11 Truther which puts her somewhat on a par with people than sincerely believe in Creationism and deny global warming. In the Democratic Party, being a 9/11 Truther is disqualifying, while the same is not true for Exxon/Mobil-funded politicians like Jim Inhofe and Sarah Palin who deny global warming. McKinney also espouses opinions on Israel that are taboo in any major party in the United States but which accord, at least modestly, with the majority opinion of elected delegates. McKinney is a real fringe Democrat that has twice lost her seat in Congress and who is now running as the Green Party candidate for president. She is the rough equivalent of Sarah Palin for the Republican Party.
But it is okay to be a fringe right-winger as long as you support the war.
If Barack Obama or any conceivable Democratic nominee had selected McKinney as their running mate, they’d be instantly marginalized and lose any hope of winning the election. McCain is flirting with that fate right now with his selection of the secessionist Sarah Palin. But she is not quite nutty enough to assure that McCain will be crushed for picking her.
Why is that?
