It’s pretty much undeniable that the left and the media – or do I repeat myself again? – are unenthusiastic about Sarah Palin. There’s just something about her that drives them over the edge. The carefully cultured mask of smooth superiority slips.
I don’t know enough about the former governor of Alaska to know whether she has the makings of a presidential candidate. I think she’s got the sand for the job, and I believe her heart is in the right place. She bucked a state GOP that needed a good bucking, and twisted the arms of powerful oil interests on behalf of her citizens, in both cases coming out on top: There’s the kind of change I believe in. What I don’t know – and what I will not be allowed to learn, if the media gets its way – is whether she has the intellectual heft for the job.
Because Sarah must be destroyed.
For an example, one only has to look here, where Newsweek greets Palin’s newly published memoir with a provocative photo from a running journal and asks “How do you solve a problem like Sarah,” a header that literally begs the question, while demonstrating both political and gender bias (the latter surprising, the former less so) and undoubtedly souring the faces of envious, shrewish, muumu wearing, lemon-eating scolds across the country. For more evidence, we have Max Blumenthal pulling the race card on Sarah’s associates, unconvincingly as it turns out. And then there were the legions of AP fact checkers, busily beavering away now that they’ve been apparently unshackled from plowing the infertile fields of “Dreams from my Father.”
In November of 2009, with the next presidential election three years away, you have to wonder whether it’s too early for this sort of thing, what drives this obsession.
I sort of get why Sarah Palin angers the left: She’s not only unapologetically religious – and not in the approved way – but actually appears to act in accordance with her moral code, refusing to have an abortion after baby Trig was found to have Down’s Syndrome. “Pro-choice” ostensibly means the individual right of people to choose, but by bringing her child into the world, she chose unwisely, a sin which is not to be forgiven. And anyway the controlling media narrative of social conservatives must be one of hypocrisy, which Palin fails to deliver.
Too, she’s a charismatic, powerful woman apparently engaged in a committed, sharing and loving relationship with one man, who – the muumu wearing set cannot have failed to mournfully observe – is hisself something of a hunk, contrasted to the neutered nebbishes of their own personal acquaintance. Which would probably be almost permissible, if she was from the political left, but is manifestly intolerable in one with alternative political views. For the left, women’s liberation, if it means anything at all, means endorsing the Democratic Party platform: Congratulations, you are free – now get in line.
Because heretics will be burned, and she challenges too many foundational assumptions.
And of course she didn’t go to Harvard or Yale, which deeply offends the Columbia J-School set. Witness to the Great Game, but rarely players, they are comfortable having people to look up to, and people to look down up0n. After a long series of collegiate adventures in places no one in Manhattan had ever heard of, young Sarah Palin finally got her degree from the University of Idaho. In the minds of the J-School jollies, this puts her in the category of people who one should not have to look upon at all unless with pity, and yet the media can’t take their eyes off of her. In a kind of vicious and self reinforcing circle – best personified by the more spettle-flecked inventions of a once interesting pundit – they hate themselves for looking at her, and hate her even more for making them.
She’s got personal charisma, grit, energy and character, but what we have not yet convincingly seen is whether she has the intelligence for the top political job in the country. If she was really as air-headed as her opponents claim her to be, you’d think they’d rejoice in her prominence, looking towards the time when her election campaign crashed and burned upon the altar of the polling booth.
But the tribunes of the people will not allow the voice of the people to be heard, because the character assassins will ensure that we never will get to learn who Sarah Palin truly is.
The answer might be, quite simply, too terrifying.
12 paragraphs of wasted blog space on someone who does not deserve it.
She’s signing books at the base where my family lives while I’m deployed. Guess I need a copy…
One paragraph of complaint by somebody who has neither blog nor readers is hardly a retort to the opinion.
You’re in the presence of your betters, son. Do try to remain respectful if you cannot abide remaining unnoticed.
– Max
#1 book in the country. A politician with out the stench of corruption oozing from her. A conservative, who once named PVP buoyed a sagging McCain campaign…. I could go on, But I’ve work to do here in Afghanistan and must get to it.
I’d say 12 paragraphs of valuable blog space marred only by the suggestion that Andrew Sullivan was ever an interesting pundit.
Obviously my mileage varies from that of flightlevel69.
Thank you, Lex. I thought that was very insightful. I had pretty much stricken Sarah Palin from my list of people I’d ever vote for. It’s not that I’ll necessarily change my mind on that, but it’s good to be reminded that I need to look for more information and not just take what the media offers.
Glad to see the lemon suckers so quickly heard from. Newsflash, old chum — by my count, mebbe two of the twelve paras you found so “wasted” were about the object of your scorn — the other ten about why someone so inconsequential, provokes such a reaction among your ilk. I mean really, if she doesn’t matter, why get so worked up? People over here on this side don’t give a thought to Rachal Maddow, who is about as irrelevant as Ms Palin.
I did almost spit my coffee out this AM when, I think it was Mika, says (and I paraphrase), “Well, she is personally popular, but completely unqualified for national office.” So, I guess that became a standard, say, when? Had to be November 5, 2008, or later.
Oh, Good Lord.
So now the devine, and oh so self righteous Mz. Mika is the omniscient qualifier of who is or is not qualified for office? Spit coffee? Dare I say epithets followed?
Mz Mika and the MadCow must be coaching one another on sanctimony these days, as it seems to ooze from their respective oral fissures on a regular basis.
Well, as long as she keeps her pie hole closed, Mika is quite divine. In a shallow, superficial kinda way. Not that I would fall victim to such charms… Me and ole’ Andy Sullivan (as Larry observed) — lured in by looks. Whouda thunk it?
Gentlemen;
Mika was hired to make Joe look smart.
And also, if Sarah is so ungualified for national office, I ask, “As compared to who?” (or is that whom?)
And, and, not for nuttin, I think the answer to why they hate her is, for the first time in a long time the voters, (unwashed masses in fly-over territory), saw an alturnative and liked what they saw.
The same could be said of the contest in NY’s 23.
I would rather have an intelligent person as president than an idiot. However, intelligence doesn’t guarantee a good president. Example: Pres. Jimmy Carter. A nuclear officer is by necessity intelligent (I was a nuke, I should know), but he was a horrible president. Pres. George W. Bush, probably not as smart, but a better president. Debates will show Palin’s mettle.
Eric, I’d like to take your comment to point out that intelligence isn’t something that is easily measured. Carter was a nuc, knew his math and chemistry and such, obviously intelligent in those areas but perhaps couldn’t quite make the jump to the soft science that is politics. I sympathize, I’m an industrial engineer and know my limitations.
Lex can look at airspeed, altitude, knots on the boat and windspeed and in a nanosecond calculate when to make a sh!t-hot break and be off under 1/2 second in the landing pattern. That’s intelligence, that’s math, that’s physics. But it’s not politics.
G. W. Bush flew the F-102. You simply cannot do that and be a Poly Sci or Psych major with no intelligence, no ability at math, or a haphazard attitude towards piloting. That darned thing will kill you just taking off, let alone with your face in the radar and piloting by instruments alone.
Let us not forget Lyndon Johnson or Nixon or even Eisenhower, none of whom were probably math geeks and yet displayed intelligence in office on the politics side of the equation.
I think I’d rather an intelligent person as president, sure, but intelligent at what is the question, not the measure.
– Max
That’s as good an analysis of the dinosaur media’s bizaare, sado-masochistic fascination with leering at, and then trying to destroy, Mrs. Palin as I’ve seen. They hate themselves for finding her so interesting, and I think there is a probably frightening psycho-sexual dynamic to it (for one, I think she makes Andrew Sullivan think about switching, which he can’t bear).
It’s also interesting that as soon as a post about her appears on any blog, no matter the size, the wolves instantaneously come out. Talk about your wierd obsessions…….
It does astound me that the very women who should see Sarah Palin as a role-model – despise her to a depth not seen since Yoko Ono broke up The Beatles.
Sarah Palin broke thru the infamous “glass ceiling” in a big way – succesful career, beautiful family, loving husband. Confident and strong as a couple and as individuals. Sure they have their dysfunctions in that family – and who would be the first to stand up in their glass house and claim theirs is otherwise?
The problem is – the women who should see Palin as the embodiment of all that they dream of and hold dear as feminists – also see Palin’s religious convictions and position on abortion as the antithesis to what they believe.
Palin is the ultimate oxymoron for feminists – she does have it all and still retains her humanity.
How dare she?
Kris,
Between you and Lex I agree completely. The left, at least the most naive of them, truly think they hold the keys to the elixirs of utopia and if only people followed what they said (not, “coincidentally,” very often what they themselves DO) it would be delivered. Sarah Palin is the most personal and obvious example that their worldview on how to live life is not, at best, the exclusive and only way for women to achieve self fulfillment. What most annoys the left is that Sarah Palin is genuinely HAPPY, and she has achieved both family and career (their holy grail for women) in a traditional American framework (which was supposed to be a sexist hell hole for women.) Contrast this with their number one woman, Hillary Clinton, willing partner to an openly cheating husband and co-signer of a loveless political power marriage. Her family life is (sadly, to be honest) almost a sham and while she has risen to Secretary of State she is most known for the collapse of her healthcare proposal and ridiculous “re-charge” button gags given to the stone cold Russians that would’ve made Carrot Top blush. And you only have to see her rip the head off of a mis translated Nigerian youngster at the drop of a hat, while serving as our country’s top diplomat, to understand if she’s happy with her life or not.
The sacred tenets of the religion of government simply do not work (the correlation between atheism and leftism is NOT accidental.) Look at how welfare has destroyed the communities it’s been targeted at, and look at Detroit, a city literally becoming “feral.” I think the realization of this and the lack of alternatives (since leftists have tended to paint themselves into a corner with a fundamentalist belief in the power of their government programs regulating the full spectrum of life to deliver happiness, whereas conservatives are generally content with letting people live their own lives and being morally responsible for the results good or bad) drives their blinding fury. The smartest, and most cynical, of them I think know that their programs can’t work, so they concentrate on getting themselves into political power, originally the well intentioned means to an end but now the end in and of itself. And this can only be done by making lotus-eaters of as many of us as possible through a indoctrinating school system and a compliant media, the bitter fruits of their Gramscian march through the institutions, which closes our minds to the possibility of other legitimate alternatives then progressive ideals. The complete destruction of Palin, just like the complete destruction of Goldwater, is central to this.
I earnestly pray for a Sarah Palin presidency, if for no other than the chance to watch the left melt down in a snit of biblical proportion.
I suspect that a great deal of the anxiety and anger sent towards Governor Palin is that she never once voted “present”, and actually had executive experience. Unlike the lightworker whose luminescence seems to be growing more dim by the day.
I often dream of Sarah Palin being our president, and choosing Glenn Beck for the White House Spokesman.
Nah, I want Gunnery Sgt. R. Lee Ermey for White House spokesman!
Nah, how about making RLE SecDef, that’ll rattle some cages.
LOL, no not SecDef – SecState! REALLY shake things up.
SecState? Yah, that would work; give him the ‘Reset’ button.
Can you imagine the first press conference?
“LISTEN UP YOU JOURNALISTIC MAGGOTS!”
Somewhere there’s an imaginary R. Lee press conference, but I can’t find it now…
While I was serching for that, I found this:
http://www.forumeter.com/video/168419/John-Wayne-and-R-Lee-Ermey-in-a-Coors-Light-commercial-Video-by-WildBill-MySpace-Video
and here is the press conference:
http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-116092.html
Ladies and gentlemen, Enjoy!
Never heard the remark “a large bowl of stupid for breakfast” before, but I like it.
R. Lee Ermey for Press Secretary. Ted Nugent for SecDef. That would be my administration, but I’m not known for taking stupid questions seriously or using a lot of nuance in voicing my opinions.
– Max “Skeleton-in-the-Closet-Party 2010″
I’m with Kris here on Sarah. And you AW1Tim, you wicked man. What a delicious idea — Glenn Beck as White House spokesman,replacing Gibbs, the sleazy pompous pontificator, who manages to appear to answer questions while sliding away from giving any real information.
One of the base canards of the Left is that Sarah is raacist. Nobody seems to realize that she is devotedly married to a part Yu-pik Eskimo whom she has loved since they were in high school. It also means that all of her children are part Eskimo. Maybe the leftists only accept certain non-white groups as minorities, leaving out Eskimos, Polynesians, Australian aborigines, etc. who aren’t glamorous enough, or sucker enough, to join the Victim Brigade. The world of the Left is a minefield of political correctness.
Marianne
Maybe the leftists only accept certain non-white groups as minorities…
Too right! Non-white meaning fashionable, of-the-moment. And given the hue of POTUS…a specific kind of non-white is what’s for breakfast these days.
Marianne
It’s all about power on the left. The victim card only works if the minority group is willing to enslave themselves to the left and vote them in, in return for political concessions (which in a cruel irony are completely ineffective). You left out Asians on that list of groups that don’t count. A minority group that singlehandedly and obviously eliminates the canard that racism in America is so bad that minorities can’t get ahead and need the government to help out, they must be ignored as much as possible (Asians earn, on average, a good deal more than their white neighbors). Singled out to not receive any “benefits” of affirmative action Asians succeed for two simple reasons that are so anathema to the left: 1. They have a strong, family oriented culture. 2. They study and work their a$$es off, and not at basketball or rap.
Michell Malkin for wh spokesperson!
The more they pile on the more popular she will get among the regular voters. IMHO the populace has just about had enough of the NY-Washington axis-of-weasels and will increasingly see this for what it is. They can’t control the media anymore as there is too much alternative sources. With things like You tube selectively edited videos get exposed. This “is she intelligent enough” canard sounds a lot like the stuff they tried to hang on Reagan. May Sarah rack up 49 states as well.
Agree. Based on my minute sampling of attending various “tea parties” or their variants over the past year or so, it seems very clear to me that “the people” are sick and tired of the status quo politician. Even those who went to school in the Boston area.
We will most definitely see more of her, and without any bloody McCain handlers either.
Nothing new here…recall Ronald Regan… a has been B movie actor and TV pitchman for GE…or Jimmy Carter…nuclear scientist…USNA Alum… the very exemplar of the new southern gentleman…John Kerry war hero and statesman…or Dubya…a flippen incoherent idiot…the list goes on but the bias never varies… so now its Sarahs turn…the main stream media and the left (indeed a redundancy) see their man and his dysfunctional administration self destructing before their very eyes (a joy to behold) he is clearly vunerable and they’re scared sh*tless the Sarah might have the gams, both literally and figuratively, to be a major player in 2012…this coupled with the upcomming and uncomfortably close off year elections are giving these gomers the hives…all stops are clearly out…should be a hoot to observe…I’m confident our Sarah will thrive…after all she’s got the gams… verdad ? Best
Prowler… You’re right, I shouldn’t have left out the Asians, who are such high achievers scholastically that universities are now trying to weight the admissions rules so that they won’t completely sweep the available slots for new students. What a crew the academics are! Academia has become one of my favorite targets — since they miss their own targets so often.
After the Vietnam war, Houston got a raft of Asian Vietnam refugees, who promptly and quietly began working very hard and making a good living. They now occupy a large and growing portion of Houston’s center, and have quietly made impressive achievements in the field of finance and commerce — all the while being good citizens and self-policing their own regrettable bad-behavers. This is the way newly arrived ethnic groups used to assimilate in my youth. They didn’t allow their violent minorities to give their group a bad name. They policed their own, so that the city that sheltered them didn’t have to do it for them.
Ahh, the good old days.
Marianne
Marianne
Pretty much the same in SoCal. But, horror of horrors, a culture that works without massive government assistance (begging the question I think we all know the answer to, which is there any group that does work when given massive government handouts?) must be ignored, or, as you mention, actively excluded from college admissions so that they don’t succeed too much!
I went to high school with a lot of Koreans. If they came home with a B or below it was understood they would get whapped with a broom handle a few times, usually on the backside so there would be no more than temporary pain. As a result, they almost never got a B or below.
I think Thomas Sowell (or perhaps someone else, maybe Larry Elder, both black conservatives) had a similar story of visiting the now interracial ghetto in which they grew up. He wanted to visit the library. The blacks and latinos were all playing sports at the playground across the street. The white kids were all trying to do skateboard tricks on the steps leading up to the library. Inside the library 100% of the visitors were Asian kids with their mothers quietly and earnestly studying. Sadly when this generation grows up we’ll still have all the racial inequality in results we have now, but somehow I doubt society will be any more honest about the reasons.
I watched the Oprah interview with interest yesterday (no, I don’t generally watch Oprah – in fact, my youngest was shocked – but I wanted to see the interview). It’s the most I’ve ever heard Sarah talk, I’ve only caught snippets of her before, so I was interested in forming my own opinion.
Quite frankly, I still really haven’t. She’s definitely a strong and self-confident woman, no doubt about that. In fact, my semse was that on occasion Oprah didn’t know quite what to make of how confident she is. And I liked that she admitted what she felt were her mistakes in the way she let herself be handled (by McCain’s people) in the campaign. But it’s kind of like Lex said, I still couldn’t get a bead on her ‘intellect’, for lack of a better word.
They showed a clip of an interview during the campaign where she was asked what books and magazines she read to form her world view. She didn’t directly answer the question in the clip, just said that of course she read a lot. And when pushed for names, she replied something like “I read everything, all of it”. Oprah asked if she just couldn’t remember any names when asked (which was the impression I had) and she said it wasn’t that, it was just that by that point she was rather pissed off with this attitude that Alaska was some third world back water, as opposed to a microcosm of the United States and that she had to justify what she did to keep up with world affairs. She also spoke of the interviews being edited to intentionally make her look dumb (not her word, but that was eseentially the point). Maybe (probably?) they were. But amusingly she still didn’t answer the question, even when Oprah directly asked it.
But even listening to an hour long interview, I still didn’t feel like I got much one way or the other on the issue. She certainly doesn’t come across as stupid (as she’s often portrayed) but neither does she give enough flavour that would give me confidence in voting for her. Although I must say that the reaction of supposed femminists to Sarah is … in two words… bizarrely inane.
What Palin said about the book question is right on: she was annoyed that she was being pressed for specifics, as if she didn’t or couldn’t read. The insinuation from Couric, and again from Oprah, is that Palin should justify her reading material to prove her smarts – when no other politician of any kind, anywhere, is asked that question.
Couric’s original question was condescending and cheap; Palin choosing not to answer it was right and she’s still right for not answering Oprah.
Like being asked questions about her wardrobe during the campaign. No male candidate is ever asked who he is wearing and where it came from. Even Hilary wasn’t asked that kind of thing. So why was Palin?
And the interview with Charles Gibson was edited to make Palin sound illiterate and ignorant. I think I did read and see something about the same thing happening with the Couric interview, though I’m not sure.
Good points, Kris (I guess we’re at least regional neighbors). I recall seeing a clip of Couric at an awards show gloating about her role in defeating the McCain/Palin ticket and saving the country from the prospect of Sarah serving as VP. Wish she’d brought that up in the Oprah interview.
I suspect that Sarah is as stupid as Harry Truman, a failed haberdasher who just happened to be one of our very best presidents despite his low class (see his personal life entry in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman).
Goodness, he only studied for two years toward a law degree at that non-Ivy League school, Kansas City Law School).
Give me good people like Harry and Sarah in Washington, D.C., and we can get out of this mess.
I am sick of the self-serving superior criminal class that now infest that place.
How DARE she go against the leftist eugenicists and bring a less than perfect child into the world! That must be it. She has the audacity to not only HAVE values, but to actually hold herself to them. And to the amoral thugs that lead the left, and the MSM (is that redundant?), that someone could even have moral standards, not just some vague relativism, is truely frightening.
How about a Palin/(Liz) Cheney ticket in 2012?
I think it’s fun to watch the left tie themselves in knots over Palin. A woman who is successful, yet totally out of sync with the left. It’ll be an interesting time over the next few years to watch their antics as she gets around the country more.
Look at how they went after Ms. Rice. Not black enough, not woman enough, tool, sell out, etc. Any minority that doesn’t toe the liberal (small L on purpose) line of victimhood MUST be evil and deluded.
My God, you mean she might not read WaPo front to back everyday? She must be a bumbling moron. How could she ever get on leading the country. If only the POTUS had an extraordinarily endless amount of administrative and subject matter support.
But golly, if she gives a bad apolitical answer on a biased media outlet she must incompetent, and absolutely unfit for office. She probably couldn’t put the red triangle through the red triangle shaped hole up there in Alaska.
The bottom line is this, plain and simple. People don’t like her because she doesn’t fit the mold and they feel threatened. A beautiful intelligent woman who speaks her mind and is wildly popular? Gasps and jaw drops from the gallery. I still find it absolutely mind boggling, and very telling, that people still question her intelligence. Where have these people seen it? Was it in all of the scripted non-answers she gave during debates and interviews? Was it in the montages of ridicule from John Stewart and Rachel Maddow? The bottom line is that very few people actually know. On Oprah she was herself, and if you don’t think she came off as intelligent while watching then we should question not her intelligence, but yours. Oprah seemed astonished about who she got. She interviewed a strong, independent and intelligent woman. Not some blithering idiot that the media would have you believe. Kudos for Oprah giving her an unbiased opportunity to show people who she actually is.
What’s also equally troubling is that people do not take an objective interpretation of her political qualifications. How is she unqualified? Can anyone really, and I mean REALLY believe that Obama was any more qualified? She has been the head of an executive system. She is as qualified as Tim Pawlenty or any other governor serving. *Gosh, I hope they elect that Romney guy instead of Palin. Now HE’S qualified.*…..rollseyes.
The problem with politics is one of morality and sensibility. How dumb does someone truly have to be to take what they hear in mainstream media…from either side..without any personal reflection? I pity those who are fanatical about what news they watch…people like John Stewart, Maddow and even…gasp..Glen Beck have done nothing but greaten the divide and they are so arrogant that they have spawned the dullest of the fools.
I weep for those who deem themselves so ideologically righteous that anything against their own grain is labeled absolute libel and slander. Politics has shifted from opinionated issues to unimportant and biased personal interpretations of people. Watch any of these “news” shows and see how much time they spend on issues versus how much time they spend slinging mud onto others…
I didn’t vote for her, and here’s why. She doesn’t scare me, and I don’t hate her. I didn’t, and still don’t, need anyone in the media, either Katie Couric attacking her with such questions as, “what newspapers do you read?” or William Kristol with his swooning school-boy crush, to hold my hand, telling me how to react, how to feel, how to vote. I like to think I’m smarter than that (even though I, too, went to a state school graduating with a J-degree in 4½ years).
In an attempt to form my opinion, I researched as much as I could, from all sources, about her and her past public service. From the few interviews she held, ostensibly designed for us registered voters to find out more about her, I seriously cringed. And I found it odd that when she got tired and frustrated in her situation at the moment, like serving on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, she quit. That’s the way to bring change, by leaving? Sorry, I disagree. It may be just me, but that’s really not a virtue I want in a candidate, much less an office holder. Resigning on principle like that may work when you’re in some office job, but when you’re running to be VPOTUS, that doesn’t look to be a smart move to have on your record, IMHO. Who’s to say she wouldn’t pull a stunt like that again had she been VPOTUS (like she did when resigning as governor)? That’s a pattern of her making and it was a red flag for me.
Too, she ran and served as Governor as one who crossed party lines to get stuff done for her state, which is really how it should be and I commend her for doing. Sadly, none of that bi-partisanship was on display during the campaign. Why? WTF? Where did that Sarah Palin go? That, too, was a major turn-off for me. She and McCain did zero to welcome independents (and those legitimately questioning Obama’s policy ideas) into their camp, and certainly not enough to convince people that their administration would be any different than W’s. Had they done so, if McCain ‘08 was more like McCain ‘00 (for whom I voted in the 2000 primary), maybe they’d be in charge. Their campaign playbook consisted of the following: demonize Obama and the left, demonize the media, and demonize everyone else who weren’t in lockstep with them, and it backfired. The public didn’t buy it. And unless she heads for the center it’ll happen again, should she choose to run.
Will the real Sarah Palin please stand up?
My $.02
PS – Byron: I like your thinking on GySgt Ermey. That would be a hoot!
I lived in ANC when Ms. Palin served on the AOGCC. As I recall, her politics were pretty middle on the road. ‘Quitting’ is not how I would characterize her actions in regard to the AOGCC incident. Randy Ruedrich was head of the Alaska Republican party and another AOGCC commissioner. He was spending a large proportion of his AOGCC office time on party business, which she considered unethical. She was prevented from ‘publically criticizing’ other commission members by legal rules. The solution proved to be resignation and taking Ruedrich on in the public arena. The MSM spun one this a little differently but I would say this is an example cutting through the BS and solving a problem.
Your Ivy league school snobbery comment is right on target. Wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen for my own eyes one such distinguished alum thumb through my voters guide saying aloud, “I wonder what state school the repubulicans went to.”
undoubtedly souring the faces of envious, shrewish, muumu wearing, lemon-eating scolds
You’ve become an excellent writer over the years, Lex. The prose has lurched into poetry.
I think a lot of this has to do with status anxiety.
There are a lot of people in America today who drank the academic kool-aid and spent a lot of money/incurred a lot of debt, getting advanced degrees in squishy-soft & unmarketable subjects. They are now working as untenured adjunct professors (if they are lucky) or a Barnes & Noble (if they are not). The idea that someone can succeed on as big a scale as SP *without* academic credentials is a huge psychological threat to these people.
What I find interesting is that so many beltway bandits on the conservative side can’t stand her either. I wish I had bookmarked it, but I recently caught George Will sneering at Palin as the modern William Jennings Bryant, asking why anyone would want to emulate a man who lost three elections?
The country-club conservatives who’ve made a career out of DC connections tend to react just the same as the DC liberals.
I find it peculiar that Newsweek should show any interest in the well-being of the GOP…
Where’s Skippy-San? Not that I’m looking to egg on a fight, but it’s odd he hasn’t touched this one. Anyone know if he’s alive and well?
His looney fey leftisism notwithstanding he does style himself ” the far east cynic”…been AWOL for some time… must be reverting to form. Best
UA, SE, UA….
Your comment, assuming it was addressed to me , has completly gone over this old dogs head. Best
Most of the middle, and certainly all of the left, will never vote for her. All they needed to see was her complete fumble during the Katie Couric interview where she repeatedly shot herself in the foot. She looked totally inept and out of touch. Watching that put a lot of doubt in my mind.
Banning library books or the suggestion of banning library books followed by the attempt to dismiss the librarian without the authority to do so for standing her ground also probably doesn’t sit well with most Americans either. Myself included. Books are kinda cool you know. Banning them only makes people more interested in them rather then less interested.
She earned no points with me by quitting her governorship at the of outset of an ethics investigation. This would be 2nd position she’s resigned from. Will she quit on us when she’s tired of the white house?
My view is that she essentially doomed John McCain’s presidential bid. The election was NEVER about the far right because they were not gonna vote for Obama anyway. It was all about attracting the middle away from the bright and shinny Obama campaign as well as assuaging fears and grievances among moderates left over from W. A McCain Romney, McCain Giuliani, even a McCain Liberman ticket probably would have scored better. She was not a well vetted candidate. But alas, the Republican leadership lacked someone with enough vision and enough moxie to see that course set. There seem to be no shrewd card players left that can rise above the fray.
For a fiscal conservative like myself this new Republicanism is very troubling. Too much religion. Too many internal purity tests. The purging or marginalizing of people deemed RINO by Rush or someone else. Either way, lots of people supposedly on the same team, spending a lot time and energy pointing their fingers at each other bent on imposing their will on the rest of us rather than addressing the basic needs of society. Meantime the rest of us sit here waiting to pay the tab as we watch the liberal left of center majority take the reigns of power we handed them as they rewrite the American landscape to their liking.
Some lessons are hard learned.
Spencer
To be honest I like Sarah Palin but probably wouldn’t prefer her to be the Republican candidate. If she was though, whether or not I’d vote for her would depend on the Democrat, but since I’m pretty solidly conservative I’m not really at play and it’s the moderates who would determine the election.
But I was wondering if you could expound on the Republican party being “too religious / too many internal purity tests?” McCain was a big govt progressive. Dede Scozzafava??? In my view the Democrats are very far left, and the Republicans are just Democrat lite, promising only to overspend a little bit less than the Democrats.
IMHO the Republicans are more “moderate” than they’ve ever been, more left of center than ever, less back-boned than ever, less willing to take a stand on their principles. So I’m confused why there are so many people now claiming that they’re some restrictive group of radical, ideologically pure zealots. Do you have any further explanation of your comment? Because I really don’t understand where it comes from.
Prowler,
I’d say you sort of touched on it. I think the issue is geography and Dede is a good example. A democrat in NY is not the same as a Democrat from Nebraska and vise versa for the Republicans. We live in a pualist society. You cant impose a purist definition that would apply to Southern Republicans or Midwestern Republicans on NY and California Republicans because you’ll end up outing candidates like Dede (supposedly told she didn’t have rep party support and oh by the way we want you to endorse our guy). Kinda back handed if you ask me. Then there is Arlen Specter, not liberal, a strong incumbent but here comes our party trying to push a guy against him in the primary?
In the end we live in the most successful democracy in the world. A sad by product of that is the evils of the election cycle. Candidates have to run every two years and it costs millions of dollars. To raise the money to survive they either have to cowtow to party leadership for help as well as accept special interest monies in exchange for earmarks and favorable legislation. A guy I know during law school worked in a congressmans office one season and saw first hand the lobbyists drop off the legislation for a bill they wrote for the congressman on his behalf. Or they drop a version their attorneys redacted to show what they want taken out. On some level this lobbying has insured strong employment and commerce. Take note of the fact that the Air Force says they have plenty of C-17s but Congress just authorized 10 more. Read between the lines and imagine why the CIA converted from human intel to satellite intel in the 80s and 90s. Cause that was more lucrative for some contractors. Now business line up for earmark free hand out train. That. Has got. To be fixed.
I think the polarization you also touch on that leads to your belief that candidates are more moderate than ever comes from knowing more about them than you ever wanted to. The blogosphere and the 24hr news cycle are responsible for that. These guys cant take a dump anymore without it getting caught on tape. All these little snippets and fragments of twisted words and sentences are shaping our view of our elected officials. In the past, I believe 1980s or earlier, it was safe for a congress person to take a stand because the local paper and evening news were not going to document your every move. Work could get done. Now that we are documenting their every move no one of them is really willing to stick his or her neck out anymore. Soon the smart ones. The good ones will stop running. And the ones that will run will be the leftovers which will give us more fat to chew.
Categorically untrue, according to Factcheck.org:
Scott,
good post. I gave the impression she banned books and that was not the case. Nor was there ever a list. What concerned me was why the heck is this woman asking these questions of the librarian?
In reading further I found a Time article that was, shall we say, a bit more in depth than the Anchorage Daily News piece on the same subject that was widely circulated. Apparently the library’s book review, selection, and contesting policies were up for review. She was asking most of the questions regarding the library policies as a new mayor in an effort to understand what the policies were from an administrative point of view.
Whats sad about the above is that neither Sarah Palin nor the McCain campaign ever adequately addressed that misinformation to discredit it. In the end the left, and those meant to do her harm, were successful in their misinformation campaign against her. McCain and Palin didn’t seem to grasp the extent of which this one part of the story was doing damage to them.
At the end of the day. Come 2012. If she’s the candidate that you expect to take the White House from Obama you better hope that Obama’s popularity falls to where Bush’s did. She is not widely regarded and has yet to demonstrate she’s capable of doing the job. My advice, to my Republican brethren, is to embrace someone else with a lot less potential baggage.
I like her, but ain’t no way she’s presidential material. If you can’t take the heat in Alaska, no way you can survive the summer in Washington.
I think she’s reinvented herself in a way that allows her to stay on the stage as a national political figure with some influence, but certainly not as a candidate.
What was happening in Alaska was simply the left running away with the ethics commission and using it to harass her and limit what she could do by keeping her distracted. She did the right thing, perhaps at serious cost to herself for the future.
State ethics commissions were not set up to deal with the frivolous garbage she has been subjected to as Governor. And the left has done little more than abuse them. If the Feds had the equivalent, yu would have seen the same thing against Bush. It’s a current strategy of the left that has a name, I just can’t recall it now.
Unless there is some sort of sanction against those bringing frivolous complaints, you will see a lot more of what she had to endure.
Absolutely correct. She did the honorable thing for her state, and has been villified by a self-serving adolescent media ever since.
Sarah Palin is eminently qualified for the Presidency, and that is what so frightens those who attack her. She’s found their weakest point, and they fear the death blow she will deliver to their memes.
You can tell a lot about a person by who their enemies are.
In this case, I have never seen the media, and the left (but I repeat myself) so desperate to destroy a person by any means possible. We have witnessed “the politics of personal destruction” played to the maximum.
Since I disagree on the policy viewpoints of nearly every person or entity who have attacked her, that raises her credibility, and every time she speaks on an policy matter, I find that I agree with her.
She may not be the best qualified person for President. However, she is far better qualified than the Community Organizer in Chief foisted upon us by the media last years. I think she has the right instincts and integrity to do as good a job as any President since Reagan. I prefer her over the “axis of weasels” who habitually claw their way to the top of the candidate lists, and certainly more than the plodding politicians who think they are entitled to “their turn.” I will not vote again for moderate/liberal light turkeys like McCain or Dole. Give me a real conservative, or forget it.
I have read about the first half of her book, and I have found it to be a fairly articulate statement of her beliefs and values system. She even veers into a slightly wonkish territory whenever she writes about energy and Alaska’s oil and natural gas production. After what I’ve read so far, she certainly seems like she would be a very credible candidate.
I also can’t help but think that the frontleaf insertion of a world map from the perspective of the North Pole is a response to the ridicule that greeted her claims of seeing Russia. I certainly believe her after looking at it!
While a little bit of a country cousin in terms of not understanding the virulence of the self sold on their own divine right limo left; or the depth of the alinskiite suborning of what passes for main stream press/TV lately; and very ill served by McCain’s clown car of bozos misrepresenting themselves as candidate handlers and campaign architects; Ms Palin is likely no dummy.
Mauled in the first match, she may have the will to gain the chops to grow into the demoradleft’s nemesis.
after about 12 years of careful rebuilding. If the NY 28th (?,CRS – sorry) district recount flips the result, the Saracuda may be a lot scarier than Jaws to the bottom feeders on the left side of the political pond.
Or she may just take the book money and run. Living well is the best revenge. Mud rasslin just gets you stinky, sore and dirty, whether you get a laurel or not.
IMHO.
Sure is fun to watch from the shire, if you ignore the nazgul buzzing around, and reports about the shadow changing shape and growing.
Interesting times.
I am sure as long as they make Progressive noises, the Media and the Left will welcome the Nazgul. After all, Sauron is POTUS, Gollum is Senate Majority Leader, and Shelob is Speaker of the House.
I love how they get so frenzied about this ‘nobody’ that they pee themselves in their excited disdain. When asked why the pee most can’t help but damn her for her total lack of experience. One counters that she was way more experienced in government than the One and only running for Vice and after that the patter of pee on the floor overwhelms any meaningful patter of argument about justifying the sheer breathtaking rage at the woman.
Scott the Badger:
Actually in my mind Bin Laden is the Head Orc and we have a plague of Wormtongues in our councils. Gandalf hasn’t shown up yet and nobody knows about Mordor. So there are a lot of players yet to come…
And I’ve stretched one wisecrack concerning viewing events with detachment and denial about as far as it will go.
Curtis:
I’ve watched the little drama you describe more times than I can count.
Maybe cheap sake residue in the bloodstream and calcium hypoclorite in the potable water tank counteracts whatever the lizardoid aliens are slipping into the municipal drinking water systems, since everybody here seems to have retained some common sense. Maybe it’s the GI bug juice, I dunno.
Yeah, but do you really want to call the SEALs hobbits? I don’t.
I suppose we could call them Halflings? I’ll wander down to McPees when I get back and shout that, “all SEALS are Halflings!!!!” at the top of my lungs, at 4 O’clock in the morning…..
I’ll let you know how that turns out.
All I can say is that when she arrived on the scene, I wanted a “Run, Sarah, Run” bumper sticker so badly I could taste it. I’ve never been one to put up stickers on my car.
She’s from a town only 35 miles away from my hometown, went to the same Univeristy of Idaho that I did, and has a strong and happy marriage to a strong and steady guy with well-mannered children (excepting the teenage-hormones-in-action one, but she’s taken responsibility for her own actions, too). I found her fascinating and familiar at the same time. She strikes me as one who knows her own mind and knows what she wants. She may not articulate it well on the fly, but that she can learn if she’s serious about a future candidacy.
I just love how the media and the left (yes, they are the same) are in such a swivet over her and even the potential that she might maybe run for office someday. It kills them to think of her success. Why, she’s be worse than W for them, and that’s a good thing! For us in fly-over country and for the country. A Reagan-ite woman with morals, standards, and backbone.
Wow.
Tolkien called the guys in that niche in the book “Rangers”. But that was in the late 30’s and 40’s and SEALs hadn’t evolved yet. Besides there are larger issues…who are the ENTs?
Have we wandered off topic?
For the state run media, the left wing, bathrobe wearing pundits/bloggers and the self engaged liberal/university elite………….Cromwell comes to mind. The Cromwell that brought down Charles I of England.
I know Tom Bombadil liked badgers, ( he found them absurd ), so maybe I’ll just head for the Withywindle Vally until Sauron’s term expires.