Linda Beail - Framing Sarah Palin: Pitbulls, Puritans, and Politics

FRAMING SARAH PALIN

Sarah Palin's 2008 vice presidential candidacy garnered tremendous levels of interest, polarizing the American publicboth Democrats and Republicans alike. While many have wondered who she really is, trying to cut through the persona she projects and the one projected by the media, Beail and Longworth analyze why she touches such a nerve with the American electorate. Why does she ignite such passionate loyalty and such loathing? How did her candidacy mobilize the electorate and spark debates about partisanship and gender roles?

Using the notion of framing as a way of understanding political perception, the authors analyze the narratives told by and about Sarah Palin in the 2008 election from frontier woman and political outsider to pit bull hockey mom, beauty queen, and post-feminist role model. They discuss where these frames are rooted historically in popular and political culture, why they were selected, and how they resonated with the electorate.

Framing Sarah Palin addresses the question of what the choice and perception of these frames tells us about the state of American politics, and about the status of American women in politics in particular. What do the debates engendered by these images of Palin say about the current roles and power available to women in American society? What are the implications of her experience for future candidates, particularly women candidates, in American politics?

Linda Beail is a Professor of Political Science at Point Loma Nazarene University, where she serves as Director of the Margaret Stevenson Center for Women's Studies.

Rhonda Kinney Longworth is a Professor of Political Science, Associate Provost and Associate Vice President for Academic Programming and Support at Eastern Michigan University.

FRAMING SARAH PALIN

Pit Bulls, Puritans, and Politics

Linda Beail and Rhonda Kinney Longworth

First published 2013
by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2013 Taylor & Francis

The right of Linda Beail and Rhonda Kinney Longworth to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Beail, Linda.

Framing Sarah Palin : pitbulls, puritans, and politics / Linda Beail and Rhonda Kinney Longworth.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-415-89333-6 (hbk) ISBN 978-0-415-89336-7 (pbk) ISBN 978-0-203-80679-1 (ebk) 1. Palin, Sarah, 1964Public opinion. 2. Sex rolePolitical aspectsUnited States. 3. Political cultureUnited States. 4. Communication in politicsUnited States. 5. Women political candidatesUnited States. 6. Women in popular cultureUnited States. 7. PresidentsUnited StatesElection2008Public opinion. 8. Public opinionUnited States.

I. Longworth, Rhonda Kinney, 1967- II. Title.

F910.7.P35B43 2012

979.8052092dc23

2012015196

ISBN: 978-0-415-89333-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-89336-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-80679-1 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo
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DEDICATION

To our children, Caroline and Joshua Beail, and Colleen and Jack Longworth, who challenge and inspire us every day. Thank you for adding so much love and laughter to our own narratives.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful to everyone who has helped us with the research and writing of this book. Thanks to Michael Kerns, our editor at Routledge, for his patience and encouragement; the Wesleyan Center for 21st Century Studies at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) for a summer research grant; the provost's office at PLNU for sabbatical funds; colleagues in the History and Political Science Department and the Women's Studies Program at PLNU for their generosity and support, especially Kelli McCoy for references on Western women's political mobilization, and Rosco Williamson and Lindsey Lupo for their wonderful camaraderie in the trenches of teaching politics. We also want to thank Eastern Michigan University (EMU) for sabbatical leave and research support funds that spurred early work that grew into this project, and the Political Science Department and Women's and Gender Studies Department at EMU for their invitation to present our research as part of their Women's History Month Program in 2011. We are especially grateful to PLNU students in Linda's courses on campaigns and elections, and women and politics, as well as colleagues in the PLNU Social Issues Discussion Group, for reading and discussing early drafts. Enormous thanks to Kelly Kennedy for her invaluable student research assistance and indexing, to Kim Frey for her bibliographic research, and especially to Andrea Nauta for her expert editing efforts and research support.

We owe a special note of thanks to Lilly Goren at Carroll College for putting together the Midwest Political Science Association panel on gender, the presidency, and popular culture for which this work began, and to the Politics, Literature and Film section for hosting us. Thanks, Lilly, for your vision and encouragement to expand the project, and for cheering us on to completion. We'd also like to thank John Nelson at the University of Iowa for encouraging our interest in political communication and popular culture, and for providing generous opportunities to us throughout our careers.

Linda would like to thank:

Rhonda, I'm grateful for the opportunity we've had to work on this project together. Thank you for the many years of friendship, and many hours of thought-provoking and enjoyable conversation about American politics, feminism, and popular culture.

Like all writers, I've discovered what a strong community one needs in order to engage in this solitary task. I am grateful beyond words to the friends who provided support in so many ways: Jennifer Lang, Melissa and Jeff Burt-Gracik, Heather Ross, Catherine Chadwick, and Jo and Bob Birdsell. From listening to my ideas, to letting my kids come and play, to encouraging me to keep going, I couldn't have done this without you. Sylvia Cortez Masyuk, thank you for the many cups of coffee and the one-word email: WRITE!

Most of all, I'm grateful to have the amazing family that I do. My parents, George and Sherill Beail, have always believed in me, and proved it tangibly once again by providing encouragement and countless hours of childcare while I was working on this project. Thankfully, I believe that time was as delightful for them as it was helpful for me. My husband, Eric, held down the fort while keeping my spirits up during the writing of this book. Thank you for being such a generous partner, not just in this endeavor but also in all of our life together. Your love and unwavering support are gifts of incalculable worth, and I hope I return them in kind. My children, Caroline and Joshua, are the lights of my life. Thank you for sharing your mom's time and attention during this project, and for the much-needed distractions of songs, jokes, stories, and hugs. Caroline, your prolific creativity as a budding author yourself was a great example and inspiration for your mom.