We've always wondered: why is the speech of the coquettish, fake presidential candidate Sarah Palin, a 2nd generation Alaskan, all ”you betchas,” verbs ending with -in' for -ing, and full of distinctly Fargo-like vowels, and dirt-farm tropes?
So why does Palin talk like that?
Turns out, her speech patterns were formed by being raised surrounded by local descendents of a very ambitious socialist program by one of our historic heroes: FDR.
The Matunuska Valley (known locally as the Mat-Su Valley) with its towns of Wasilla and Palmer, was populated in 1935 by families -- many from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan -- by Roosevelt's Matanuska Colonization Project which moved hundreds of families from their Midwestern hometowns to start an experimental farming colony in Alaska.
"Alaska Far Away: The New Deal Pioneers of The Matanuska Colony," a documentary made by Paul Hill and BlatherWatch friend, Joan Juster tells this extraordinary tale.
It was the Depression, and in a long-gone era when America could take a Big Idea and make it happen. The Mat-su Valley was relatively empty but for some Dena’ina and Athabaskan natives; the only white residents were a some coal miners, and some Russian farmers left after Alaska was bought from Russia in 1867.
But the Valley was populated and transformed when the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, one of Roosevelt’s New Deal projects, established the Matanuska Colony.
From Minnesota, Wisconsin,and Michigan, the government moved 203 families by train and ship to reach the valley, arriving in the summer of 1935. That first summer, they were housed in a tent city. Then each family drew lots for 40-acre homesteads.
It was un-apologetically and wonderfully socialistic, and collectivist.
They were chosen for their experience as farmers and in the trades and retail skills that support farming. The failure rate was high, but the area was transformed; a stable white population was installed; many of their descendants still live and operate farms in the area.
Palin’s family were not among those brave, hardworking utopians: Her father was born in LA, and her mother is from the Tri-Cities (Richland) in Eastern Washington.
To the delight of Tina Fey, and those of us who love to mock her, the Wasilla beauty queen, despite having college media training and working for a short time as a local teevee sports babe, never changed her public speaking patterns to teevee-talk.
And of course it’s not only how she says it, it’s what she says. Her narrow worldview, cultural illiteracy, lack of general knowledge and her apparent disinterest (or laziness) in improving those things have nothing to do with Roosevelt, socialism or Midwestern speech patterns.
Brilliance such as this keep us interested, if not obsessed:
“Nuclear weaponry, of course, would be the be-all, end-all of just too many people in too many parts of our planet.” -- CBS interview with Katie Couric, September 25, 2008
Although this woman, lips gleaming with Fox News lip gloss, is running second in polls of Republicans to Mit Romney, tentative front runner, will not, in the end, actually run for president. She's having too darn much fun cock-teasing it, and making money to actually go back to work doing the people's business. Exploitation can be fun as well as profitable.
Palin will run. Count on it. Her ego leaves no other option. She will be the first modern candidate to try to win the nomination based solely on celebrity rather than, say, hard work, experience, or the quality of her ideas. And she has the money and base of support to make a very, very strong run anyway.
Whether she can get the nomination depends a lot on the extent to which party leaders (most of whom hate her or don't take her seriously) can control the delegate selection process. If she did get the nomination she'd get creamed by Obama; her negatives are just too high outside the Republican base. But whether she can get that far will be very, very interesting.
Obama in large part leveraged his celebrity into the presidency; Palin takes the formula one step further. There are plenty of countries where celebrity demagogues have won the country's highest office. So far we've avoided that fate, but, left or right, the day where an empty suit or pant suit with a marketing campaign can become the most powerful person in the world is coming soon. It's a frightening thought.
Posted by: Pete | June 05, 2011 at 12:32 PM
Sorry Pete, but that "empty suit or pant suit wit a marketing campaign" has already been elected and occupies the Presidents Office at this very moment.
It is a frightening reality.
Posted by: chucks | June 05, 2011 at 01:39 PM
To be frank, Palin is relishing all of this attention. Her elongated bus trip is hurting her rise in the Republican party.
Posted by: AnthonyWeinerPeterTweeter.com | June 05, 2011 at 04:29 PM
Good!
Love your tag name...hah~
Posted by: sparky | June 05, 2011 at 05:30 PM
I'd rather see Michele Bachmann run and she probably will- less of media circus. She would suck a good share of Palin's oxygen out of the room.
What you said - AWPT -lol...
Posted by: KS | June 05, 2011 at 06:10 PM
Michelle Bachman believes the earth is 5.000 years old and that men strode alongside dinosaurs.
Posted by: Tommy0008 | June 05, 2011 at 06:45 PM
me too, KS!
Posted by: sparky | June 05, 2011 at 06:45 PM
Tommy- Palin believes that too. Both think Jesus will pull them up into heaven any day now leaving the rest of us behind.
Posted by: Peg_Everson | June 05, 2011 at 06:50 PM
Come on, both Sarah and Michele are jokes, can you really imagine either one of them answering serious questions on serious topics. I mean really they would come across as simply attractive bimbos. They will continue to be media whores and strangle every second out of their fifteen minutes of fame but I can't imagine the powers in the Fox Republican Party would ever seriously consider letting either one of them be their guy. Money again will decide this and the big money of the FRP will not follow these two wanna be's. And, it simply doesn't matter who the Party of Fox runs, no chance in he'll they could ever defeat our current President of the PEOPLE.
Posted by: Sarah | June 05, 2011 at 06:54 PM
Pete may be right about Palin running. I think her ego disallows her to be humiliated again.
On the otherhand, Rachel Maddow predicts that this may be the first year where a candidate tries running w/out granting interviews or facing anyone in the "lamestream media." A campaign only in the right-wing bubble of Fox News, talk radio, and other friendlies. Whatever, it'll be fun to watch.
Posted by: Lawrence "Larry" Fishkiller | June 05, 2011 at 06:55 PM
I think she's running. This bus tour isn't cheap and it certainly isn't a family vacation. I heard an interview with the director of the film about her (on the way back from BB0 and he's dead earnest in presenting her as a real American with all the spit and polish he can muster. He was careful to avoid the questions about his politics but he goals were clear. He's using Hollywood "Michael Moore" techniques to sell her. And he equated his feat of cinema with that of a half-hour cinematic commercial run by Obama during his campaign - which I did not see. But this Palin venture is on a much bigger scale according to him.
We'll see how "hollywoodized" and "celebrity-ized" the citizenry of this country has become.
Posted by: joanie | June 05, 2011 at 07:08 PM
You thought Mitch Daniels was also running.
Posted by: KS | June 05, 2011 at 07:40 PM
Yes, he wanted to from all I read. You ever seen his wife do a public event? Cheri said no. I don't think you know enough about him to know that, do you?
Posted by: joanie | June 05, 2011 at 07:48 PM
Yes, he wanted to from all I read. You ever seen his wife do a public event? Cheri said no. I don't think you know enough about him to know that, do you?
Posted by: joanie | June 05, 2011 at 07:48 PM
turns out KS was right and you were wrong, joanie. no surprise there.
Posted by: Puget Sound Blathers | June 05, 2011 at 07:54 PM
Back to the echo chamber, Huh, bean counter? Do you ever have anything to talk about besides back-door comments about what others post?
You said good-bye to the blog, we didn't. So I guess you don't really mean what you say, do you? You're a drama queen, bean counter. And we're stuck with duplicate posts for everything you have to say. Yes, I was wrong. Have you ever been able to admit being wrong? You are just a ponderous, pontificating echo-chamber. I wish you'd stayed away. For that matter, I wish KS had kept his promise and stayed away as well. A big dose of ignorance came back with the two of you.
Posted by: joanie | June 05, 2011 at 08:37 PM
Hey Putz; if you disregard the rest of Joanie’s post then I would consider you to be correct. But that’s the description of out of context. By the way, do you remember this post?
”this may turn out to be a Repub year for the Whitehouse. Hmmm..., you'll have to let us know how that crap-sandwhich is gonna taste come November.”
Posted by: Puget Sound | August 29, 2008 at 09:02 AM
You’re wrong often enough, still living with the sour taste in your mouth?
Posted by: BlackRhino | June 05, 2011 at 08:49 PM
Many here may just be "misunderestimating" Michele Bachmann. She has business experience, government experience, a law degree and is a tax lawyer, fostered 27000 kids, a vagina and in spite of the snarky anti-Christian bias here in Seattle, well over half of Americans (including Democrats) are Christians or religious leaning.
She will sell to Republicans, Tea people, independents and some Democrats that are sick of Obama and of being broke.
If something positive doesn't happen soon to our economy, we should consider putting an alternative to Obama on the Democratic ticket.
Posted by: AnthonyWeinerPeterTweeter.com | June 05, 2011 at 08:52 PM
Oh, and bean counter, you forgot to add "neener neener."
AWPT, I agree. Bachmann's going for it. Do you think she and the Palin are working toward the same market? Woulodn't it be funny to have a Bachmann/Palin ticket? Bachmann has a lot more credibility. I watched her speak at a rally several weeks ago and she's good. And people are ready for a woman.
Not sure about the "alternative." I'm for Feingold but I think it would split the left.
Obama's words aren't going to seem so inspiring to a whole group of Americans who have watched their jobs disappear, paychecks go down, pensions threatened, unemployment benefits end, and Wall Street bankers enjoying the fruits of their corruption.
I don't know what's going to happen. It might be nothing more than a "medicare" vote this time around which would give the dems another weak victory.
Posted by: joanie | June 05, 2011 at 09:05 PM
It might be dangerous, but exciting to have a Bachmann/Palin ticket. The Democrats would have to, at the very least, dump Biden and replace him with a woman.
That might not even be enough. A woman to replace Obama would be the most beneficial to overcome any deficit from the economy.
Not real sure about Feingold. She might just as well be an old white man as deeply engrossed in anything Washington as she is.
I think somebody younger with more energy and charisma would be advantages.
Posted by: AnthonyWeinerPeterTweeter.com | June 05, 2011 at 09:34 PM
Feingold is a man - Russ Feingold. Who are you thinking of? Probably Feinstein. No thank you. She's too corporate. Feingold of Wisconsin - he could rally the nation like his home state is rallying the union movement. Maybe? Hmmm I hadn't thought of that. Maybe a Feingold run would be possible . . .
Obama is frittering away an awful lot of capital gifted by the right. I don't get it.
Posted by: joanie | June 05, 2011 at 09:46 PM
BTW, AnthonyWeinerPeterTweeter, I'm know as Joanie Hussein in these parts. Except, of course, maybe not so much any more 'cause my guy's been letting me down.
I post at Whitehouse.gov everyday and message that I don't like what he's doing. If everybody on the left did that, maybe we'd be able to make a difference.
BTW, I heard three great interviews from Democracy Now: two from seymour hirsch on Iran and one wikileaks divulging what the US has done in Haiti at the request of big oil. That is one of the poorest countries on the planet and we kept them poor to help big oil. It is disgusting. There is nothing this country won't perpetrate for big oil: kill countries, kill people, kill the environment. Well, we are all about war.
Posted by: joanie | June 05, 2011 at 09:56 PM
Sorry, I had to post - just saw it:
Homeowners Foreclose On Bank Of America (VIDEO)
Sweet justice.
That's how foreclosure defense attorney Todd Allen described the feeling of going to a Bank of America branch in Naples, Fla. to seize their assets.
Faced with a pair of sheriff's deputies locking down his building, the branch manager capitulated and handed over a check for $2,534. The sum was to cover Allen's fees from a case where he represented clients that the bank had tried to foreclose on -- despite the fact that they paid for their home in cash.
According to the News-Press in Fort Myers, Bank of America opened their case against Warren and Maureen Nyergers in February of 2010 and voluntarily dropped it two months later, but never coughed up for the couple's legal fees as ordered by a judge.
North Carolina's WFMY has the details on how justice was served:
Sheriff's deputies, movers, and the Nyergers' attorney went to the bank and foreclosed on it. The attorney gave instructions to to remove desks, computers, copiers, filing cabinets and any cash in the teller's drawers.
After about an hour of being locked out of the bank, the bank manager handed the attorney a check for the legal fees.
Right and left should find some pleasure in this one.
Posted by: joanie | June 05, 2011 at 10:01 PM
It's both hilarious and pathetic at the same time to see the leftist/mainstream media weasels in frenzy/uproar every time Sarah Palin opens her mouth. This phenomenon is unprecedented. She is the best smoke screen out there and can match Obama stride per stride w/ or w/o his teleprompter in coverage.
I don't see either Romney or Palin getting the nomination when its all said and done - Romney is reviled by the Tea Party and conservatives as much as any liberal and Sarah has not thrown her motorcycle helmet into the ring yet. Michele Bachmann likely will and don't see those two debating each other - but both of them will debate everyone else.
"I post at Whitehouse.gov everyday and message that I don't like what he's doing. If everybody on the left did that, maybe we'd be able to make a difference."
Posted by: joanie | June 05, 2011
If you had a different on-line demeanor than you display here, more people may take you seriously - or send them lots of money. Otherwise chock it up to money talks and bullshit walks.
Posted by: KS | June 05, 2011 at 10:23 PM
Feinstein is whom I was thinking of. Sorry. Must be bed time. Obama has let many of us down.
A big disappointment. He will promise us anything he thinks we want to hear and continue about his merry way. Makes no sense to me anymore. How he could have pissed away all of the opportunities when he had the House and Senate is really perplexing.
Posted by: AnthonyWeinerPeterTweeter.com | June 05, 2011 at 10:35 PM
Sarah, that should be "President of the World". And if you think back to the 2008 campaign. Did Obama ever seriously answer a serious questions without invoking the Shrubs name in there somehow. Not that i recall. Matter of fact, it was those moments of him mentioning the faild policies of the shrub that actually won him the debates.
Posted by: ProgBlogJunky | June 05, 2011 at 10:43 PM
Feingold's problem is that his own state kicked him to the curb. Since he was defeated we've since entered into a third war; Gitmo remains open, rendition, etc (how's that Pres Obama hope and change workin' for ya?)
But if he was to go into the primaries as an anti war candidate he may make some headway tacking Pres Obama to the left a bit ala Gene McCarthy in 68.
Posted by: Puget Sound Blathers | June 06, 2011 at 04:56 AM
Obama and Weiner having lunch. Breitbart at it again.
Posted by: ProgBlogJunky | June 06, 2011 at 10:58 AM
Sure we have a distinctive variety of English here.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest_English
Posted by: Ben Lukoff | June 06, 2011 at 12:57 PM
Looks like the snowbelly grifter has some trouble headed her way.
Posted by: BlackRhino | June 07, 2011 at 09:01 PM