Sexy Sarah, What Have You Done?

Nick Gillespie | September 8, 2008

Columnist Ron Hart says Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's sex appeal is a big part of her persona:

Gov. Palin is a stellar pick who will energize the GOP base (I know that she energized my base when I met her). This is clearly the case, because the left is scrambling to tear her down.

To me, Palin resembles one of those naughty librarians in a Cinemax movie—that I never watch. She is just one insignificant male prompting away from pulling her hair clip out, shaking her hair down and doing the Dewey Decimal System dance for him.

My guess is, and it is only theory at this point, that guys will dig her. She combines substance and sex appeal. I have found that if one of these traits does not appeal to a man, the other one will. When you have both, as she does, it is a winning combination.

More here.

Indeed, even the openly anti-Republican host of last night's MTV Video Music Awards, Brit wad Russel Brand, dubbed Palin a VILF on the way to dropping more bombs than George Bush has on Baghdad (and the hard-core SCTV fan[s] out there, Brand dropped more bombs than McLean Stevenson had TV shows).

However understandable all of this might be, the mingling of sex and politics bothers me, whether it was back in the day hearing about Bill Clinton's emanations, or more-current talk about Barack Obama, or the common appearance-based putdowns about Hillary Clinton, etc. I know that Hank Kissinger is famous for the line that "power is the ultimate aphrodisiac" and all that (though I keep dreaming that there weren't enough nuclear bombs on the planet to make Kissinger look good in a Speedo) and that power corrupts and sexual power corrupts absolutely, but for the love of Warren G. Harding, can't we wall off politics from sex, if only for the rest of the hour?

Non-obligatory Joe Biden ("vital" not sexy) equal-time mention here.

Comments

|9.8.08 @ 9:15AM|#

To me, Palin resembles one of those naughty librarians in a Cinemax movie-that

That's a good line that is easy to agree with. Red Team defenders and blue team attackers, have at it.

Boston|9.8.08 @ 9:27AM|#

That is a good line. Though i have heard it like eight billion times.

I know that she energized my base when I met her

This however is a stupid line.

Boston|9.8.08 @ 9:30AM|#

And another thing. Guys see good looking women all the time. One need only a cable internet connection. Why these people think that one relatively attractive lady would make your average male go out and vote, when he would not have otherwise, is beyond me.

|9.8.08 @ 9:37AM|#

common appearance-based putdowns about Hillary Clinton

Hugo Chavez in a pant-suit.

|9.8.08 @ 9:42AM|#

Thanks for the image of Sammy Maudlin on this Monday morning. Nothing like laughing out loud in my cube. And after just having read about the lack of "freedom" at either convention I really needed it.

|9.8.08 @ 9:42AM|#

and the hard-core SCTV fan[s] out there, Brand dropped more bombs than McLean Stevenson had TV shows

Ok, Nick, you have me here. I am a relatively hard-core SCTV fan and I have no fucking clue what you are talking about.

Mike Farmer|9.8.08 @ 9:46AM|#

Those who are indignant at the suggestion Palin will attract Hillary voters because she is woman, are quick to suggest that men will vote for Palin because she is a HOT woman.

There might be a little truth to both, but not much -- perhaps a relative handful of each will vote for such superficial reasons.

Most of us know personality is the main criterion. Duh!

|9.8.08 @ 9:46AM|#

Boston,
I think you are correct. I don't see men who wouldn't have voted otherwise actually going out to the polling place and pushing the button for Palin just because she is attractive.

Still, not to accuse anyone of being gay (god forbid), but attractiveness sways people of both sexes. A lot of women will look up to Palin because she is successful, has a family, and is still attractive. That makes her an alpha female.

Perhaps I am being cynical in thinking that presidential elections aren't much better than high school elections when it comes to such things, but I am pretty certain that I am not.

Citizen Nothing|9.8.08 @ 9:49AM|#

Obviously Tim is a bigger SCTV fan than Epi. Valuable info to file away.

|9.8.08 @ 9:53AM|#

The "sexy librarian" thing is a pretty poor fetish to indulge. The proportion of attractive librarians is roughly the same as the proportion of attractive lesbians. For every Portia Di Rossi "librarian" there are about 100 Rosie O'Donell "librarians."

|9.8.08 @ 9:53AM|#

Fuck, Sammy Maudlin. I lose.

|9.8.08 @ 10:01AM|#

The "sexy librarian" thing is a pretty poor fetish to indulge.

Oh, I disagree. She doesn't have to be a real librarian, just play one in the bedroom. Rrowr!

Sambo|9.8.08 @ 10:03AM|#

"To me, Palin resembles one of those naughty librarians in a Cinemax movie-that I never watch"

And to me, Obama resembles a house nagger in one of the Mandigo films.

|9.8.08 @ 10:06AM|#

RC,

Just like the fake cheerleader who can't do splits, or the fake lesbian who won't munch rug--the drawback of the fake librarian is her inability to submit interlibrary loan requests through WorldCAT.

You'll find it's a real bonerkiller.

|9.8.08 @ 10:10AM|#

"house nagger"? Someone in the house who nags you? Wouldn't it just be simpler to say "wife"? Or it is someone who nags you about houses? If so, then shouldn't this be in the Freddie Mae thread?

BDB|9.8.08 @ 10:11AM|#

The guys who find Palin incredibly attractive to the point of drooling on her overlaps with the demographic that gets off to girls-with-guns porn, I think.

MAVRICK|9.8.08 @ 10:12AM|#

USA USA USA

|9.8.08 @ 10:19AM|#

the drawback of the fake librarian is her inability to submit interlibrary loan requests through WorldCAT

You are the biggest library nerd since Dewey.

Boston|9.8.08 @ 10:23AM|#

So now we are judging fantasies by there basis in reality?

|9.8.08 @ 10:24AM|#

Dewey was actually censured by the ALA in 1905 for sexual harassment. What did you have to do to be called out for sexual harassment in 1905? Did he try and grab every ass?

|9.8.08 @ 10:31AM|#

The fact that you know such things makes you an even bigger library nerd than I thought possible. Congratulations, you are an uber-library-nerd.

Alan Vanneman|9.8.08 @ 10:33AM|#

Nick,

I hope you mean, as I'm sure you do, tht McLean Stevenson had so many TV shows because they were all so good! I mean, seriously, did "Hello, Larry" capture the entire 70's DJ ethos, or am I crazy? Oh, and what about "In the Beginning," which so nailed the Baltimore drug scene as "The Wire" (ludicrously over-praised, IMFHO) so painfully did not. I mean, Priscilla Lopez as a hip street nun? Talk about NILF! (Is that a sin?)

|9.8.08 @ 10:36AM|#

uber-library-nerd

Says the guy with the science fiction reference posting handle.

David Brin can't even get himself laid with his novels, what hope do you have? Unless it goes over well with all the lovely ladies where you work...

|9.8.08 @ 10:43AM|#

David Brin can't even get himself laid with his novels

Dude, I could nerd out like you and I'd still be fine. I have my looks. Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.

|9.8.08 @ 10:57AM|#

It's been a decade since I've set foot in a library. I use to be a full time library nerd, but now we have Barns and Nobel, and the internet. But in my experience librarians look like everybody else. You're as likely to find a sexy librarian as a sexy nurse, sexy female cop, or whatever.

for the love of Warren G. Harding, can't we wall off politics from sex, if only for the rest of the hour?

No, I don't think we can. Personally I can't wait for the "Girls of the white house" Playboy pictorial.

|9.8.08 @ 11:10AM|#

You're as likely to find a sexy librarian as a sexy nurse, sexy female cop, or whatever.

Hey, if you're into chicks-in-uniform role-play, that's cool, too.

Sambo|9.8.08 @ 11:30AM|#

""house nagger"? Someone in the house who nags you?"

See South Park episode # 154.

|9.8.08 @ 11:40AM|#

I got your joke. I just ignored in order to make mine.

Mad Max|9.8.08 @ 11:52AM|#

"Dewey was actually censured by the ALA in 1905 for sexual harassment. What did you have to do to be called out for sexual harassment in 1905? Did he try and grab every ass?"

If that happened (it's not in Wikipedia), then there's probably a very obvious reason why the complainants persisted until they obtained a vote of censure. They were pissed that Dewey's manhood could only be measured by using decimels.

Mad Max|9.8.08 @ 11:53AM|#

decimal.

|9.8.08 @ 12:04PM|#

Case is well documented in:

Irrepressible Reformer: A Biography of Melvil Dewey by Wayne A.Wiegand

Abstract: This book is a biography of Melvil Dewey, the man behind the Dewey Decimal Classification System. Tracing Dewey's life and early influences that shaped it, the book explores Dewey's employment experiences, enterprises, and innovations and present a range of views on them; he was seen as an organizational genius but also as arrogant, manipulative, immoral, and bigoted. The book gives accounts of Dewey's experiences as New York State Regents Secretary, State Librarian, director of the New York State Library School, a period which ended in a public dispute over his exclusionary treatment of Jews, and explores Dewey's further troubles with anti-Semitism and sexual harassment as he built the Lake Placid Club in New York State into a $15 million property. The book is divided into three parts: (1) Launching a 'World Work,' 1851-1888; (2) The Albany Years, 1889-1906; and (3) The Lake Placid Years, 1906-1931. Fifteen figures and 27 plates are included throughout the work. An epilogue sums up Dewey's historical legacy. A list of abbreviations used in footnotes to designate sources is also provided. (Author/AEF)

mufassa|9.8.08 @ 12:19PM|#

dude that has got to be the most hippie-liberal thing i have ever read.

|9.8.08 @ 1:08PM|#

"To me, Palin resembles one of those naughty librarians in a Cinemax movie-that I never watch."

Plagiarism alert -- this was a Jon Stewart joke on the day Palin was announced as the veep choice.

Trig|9.8.08 @ 1:51PM|#

"Plagiarism alert -- this was a Jon Stewart joke on the day Palin was announced as the veep choice."

No. Here at Reason it isn't plagerism, it's just advancing the story.

ghost of steve finnan|9.8.08 @ 1:57PM|#

Whatever. She is very pretty and since both candidates for Prez completely fucking suck , why not choose based on the vp's looks. What difference doies it really make?

|9.8.08 @ 2:18PM|#

Library nerds, uber and otherwise?
Haven't you heard of Conan the Librarian?
Crom!

DFD|9.8.08 @ 2:23PM|#

No. Here at Reason it isn't plagerism,[sic] it's just advancing the story.

What the hell is Trig talking about (does he even know?). The quote that Daze claims was plagiarized wasn't from Reason, dumbass. It was from "Columnist Ron Hart" as the very first line in the post clearly states.

|9.8.08 @ 2:32PM|#

Jon Stewart's segment on Palin 8/29/08:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=183521

|9.8.08 @ 4:27PM|#

Palin is like another Ann Coulter, conservative guys really get off on attractive bitches saying horrible things about other people. They are always turned on by the bullying of the weak by the strong, but to see a man's woman like Palin(who strongly agrees with the chauvinist that women are inferior) being a bully is just so exhillerating for the conservative...

|9.8.08 @ 5:27PM|#

Palin is like another Ann Coulter, conservative guys really get off on attractive bitches saying horrible things about other people.

Coulter looks like a jack-o-lantern. Attractive? Not so much.