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Sarah Palin's Media Mafia
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How could Palin blame the press for her demise when she owes her meteoric rise to Rush, Bill, and others in the conservative media elite?
In his monthly Washington Post column, Bill Kristol writes that due to "psychological and sociological reasons too deep for me to grasp, a good chunk of elite America hates Sarah Palin." Coastal-dwelling multimillionaire Rush Limbaugh agrees. Reached on his six-city golfing vacation, the nationally syndicated talk-radio host noted, "When you have so many establishment types—inside-the-Beltway, elite, establishment types, Republican, Democratic, it doesn't matter—so eager to destroy this woman, it means they're scared to death of her."
Isn’t it actually the case that a good chunk of elite America loves Sarah Palin, or at least is willing to lend rhetorical and financial support to her? Why pretend otherwise?
Their remarks are partly correct: Many elite Americans do fear the prospect of a Sarah Palin presidency. Being elites themselves, however, Messrs. Kristol and Limbaugh should see the flaw in the "elites versus Sarah" narrative they're helping to shape. It ignores all the rich, famous, powerful individuals who helped orchestrate the Alaska governor’s rise to national prominence, lauded her thin qualifications as brashly as anyone criticized her, and persist in casting her as a victim rather than an erratic, flawed politician.
Why elide the fact that Sarah Palin is a darling of Fox News, the highest-rated cable-news network in America? Or that she is regularly defended by Mr. Limbaugh, famous television personality Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin, a nationally syndicated radio host whose latest book just ended a run atop the New York Times bestseller list? Or again, surely these savvy Sarah Palin defenders know that the editors of National Review and The Weekly Standard, tenured members of the political establishment, lined up behind her candidacy, and that Gov. Palin herself is a millionaire who enjoyed a six-figure family income before she ever took the statehouse—never mind the lucrative book contract and pricey speaking fees now available to her.
Isn’t it actually the case that a good chunk of elite America loves Sarah Palin, or at least is willing to lend rhetorical and financial support to her? Why pretend otherwise? The cynical view is that elite conservatives benefit by hiding this fact from their audiences. Better to convince them that America’s cultural and political tastemakers are as thoroughly liberal today as was the case a generation ago. In that bygone era, The New York Times and the Big Three networks determined the news cycle, the Fairness Doctrine constrained the market for conservative radio, and the post-World War II democratic coalition dominated two-thirds of the federal government.
But it isn’t any longer accurate to use “the liberal elite” as shorthand for America’s ruling class. The present decade witnessed the ascendance of Ivy League alumnus George W. Bush to the White House, GOP majorities in Congress, and John Roberts heading a Supreme Court with a 5 to 4 right-of-center advantage. Rupert Murdoch emerged as America’s most influential media mogul. A small group of hawkish foreign-policy intellectuals laid the groundwork for a foreign war of choice. Even the presidential race that led to Barack Obama’s election included a debate hosted by the pastor of an evangelical mega-church. Ruling elites, however broadly defined, looked pretty conservative.
Why hasn’t the right acknowledged as much? One reason is the Bush administration’s dismal performance: It oversaw perhaps irreversible growth in the size of government, an imprudent war in Iraq, and a thankfully failed attempt to pass an ill-conceived guest-worker program. The fiction that liberal elites always run the country helped obscure the degree to which conservative powerbrokers betrayed their principles once in office.
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Its all about controlling the message. This is the message that a large chunk of the population buys. If one lives in this echo chamber, they will believe it because, it is all they hear.
I'll TELL YOU WHAT!! Ms. Palin had better dump atty Thomas Van Flein a-s-a-p because I just saw him make a total ass of himself on a Greta clip. No offense.. This guy is not competent in my opinion. Just the facts ma'am.
"Rush made Sarah Palin"
...what kind of drivel is that?
Sarah Palin came out of nowhere...was a nobody...until she made her speech at the rRpublican Convention...her speech ignited everyone...Rush and everybody else jumped on her bandwagon after seeing the wildly enthusiastic welcome from mainstream America.
She terrorized the liberals and the bamster...the bamster was envious and fearful of her and has put a contract out on her to the media...
Go Sarah go!
Hi,da47ve,Hi,Ive been saying it over and over. And I do not like her politically,I would never,vote for her beliefs.But Yes, she ignited that convention, it was like a dead,boring,solemn,speeches,same old same old.When she spoke,a whole Restaurant hushed,Democrats,Republicans,Christians,Jews,Blacks,Whites Yellows and Pinks.It was like a lightning bolt.From that moment on,after she became the star,MCain,all the guys got jeolous,(Republicans) the party slowly withdrew the backing of her and the media.I have never seen such a destruction of a character,a person,her family,her kids,husband,job,defamed joke of America,and if she is stupid and ignorant,dont worry,we have many like her sitting in office.They get briefed,and educated,before they go on the news.And she will learn. If she wants to stay in politics.Nasty buss.She should go off and talk,give speeches,write books,get millions,or fly a kite.And she should go out and buy outfits,(the woman,was mutilated on 150,000 dollar wardrobe gotten for her to go on speaking tours.)Out of Alaska,overnight and people were screaming about 150,000 wardrobe when you need to look great in the public.)Yes ,SP,can look to Russia,and soon with her millions she will visiting it.!!!And she will take her family with her.Isnt that great.(We have alot of traveling wastefull politicians,that we should demand refunds.)also.Im not a republican Christian base believer,and all that blaber,blabber.And I dont really like her politics.But you bet she is getting out.And the media wont leave her alone,that is the #1 ticket meal now.So The pres is in Italy with Michelle????
I feel that the GOP was enamored by Ms. Palin. Her speech at the GOP convention ignited and for a brief moment emboldened the right, Then the wheels fell off of the cart, Ms. Palin is not intellectually able to aspire to any post beyond governor. Anyone that cannot respond to a question as simple as what papers do you read? or understand what is the responsibility of the Vice-President? Let's not go into the "I can see Russia from my back yard" embarrassment. The woman is merely a shell and has not shown that she construct and present an original cohesive thought.
The GOP would be better off keeping her on a short chain and let her stump for the party and feed the hard-core far right base. And for goodness sakes do not allow her be interviewed by someone that is not of her ilk.
The woman is a loose cannon and should not ad-lib unless she wants to implode. Her best investment, besides a ghost writer, would be a script writer, Or, she could become Rush's on-air co-host just like Robin on Howard Stern. Then she would be limited to laughing and agreeing when the Boss man speaks.
Palin's speech was written for her by one of Bush's best writers. The fact that Palin had training in media and camera helped her to make her speech.
But, the fact is that she basically was just reading script and not really saying anything that was more then that.
Like an actor with a good script.
I am enraged about these remarks about Sarah Palin. In most of the comments you don't have the facts correct. Such as the 150,000 wardrobe was her's to WEAR and returned to the Republican Party.
When she was asked what newspapers she read, she said all of them, if she had named 5 newspapers then they would have critized her for not reading 10. The silly remark about seeing Russia from my backyard was said by Tina Faye, the actress.
You really need to get your "facts straight".
Sarah and McCain are smart and reasonable and could have run this Country like a well oiled machine, but instead (my bet is you voted for Obama???) He is a disaster and will lead this country into the worst decline in HISTORY, and you have the audasity to say something negitive about an acomplished woman such as Sarah.and you don't even have your FACTS correct. The day will come when America will be on it's knees and praying to GOD that we can recover what our marxist President has done to us and you have a hand in this because you voted for a man who would only tax the "rich". well dumb ass, have you ever been given a job by a poor man?
It's people like you eaten alive with jealously that has our country on the road to the worst times we will ever know. Thanks for your ignorance.
myrawill the outrage about the clothes wasn't about their price-tag alone. It was about her billing herself as a middle-class working mom who feels the for the common family....and THEN walking around in $4,000 boots. Bought for with someone else's money.
It was the gap between what she claimed to be and what her fashion said about what she really was that was so devastating to her image.
Besides, who's ever heard of a candidate RETURNING clothing? The idea is ridiculous.
Also, referring to the President of the United States as a "marxist" shows who the real ignorant is here. Go learn what a "marxist" actually IS before you start throwing political labels around. While you're at it, look up "socialist" and "facist" too, because I'm sick of having to point out the many discrepancies in those definitions and don't want to do it anymore.
Uh, myra---We still don't know what happened to the $150K worth of clothes. As much as 6 weeks later, she hadn't returned them. Somebody on McCain's staff described Palin and her husband as, "Wasilla hillbillies on a coast to coast looting of Neimann Marcus." Why would she need to spend about $30K on Todd's suits? And thousands for her kids? I can get a couple of decent suits for $1K!
And Palin DID say she could see Russian from Alaska (but not from her backyard, that was Tina). It was in the ABC interview, I think.
And I don't get your point about newspapers. Better she reads none than five? Say what? She couldn't think of ONE, not even the ONE she read that morning. Give us a break; you know she is not a reader.
As to the worst decline in history for the US, that's what George W Bush, that giant intellect, gave us. Barack Obama is pulling us out of it, economically, militarily, and in terms of foreign relations. Check out a book from your library on FDR's economic policies and what effect they had in the Depression until the Repubs interviened in 1937, just to evaluate the economic aspect.
As a matter of fact try to do a little independent reading and stop repeating the wacko talking points of Fox News and Townhall.com. You'e really embarrassing yourself.
Sorry da47ve, you're missing a LOT of back history, which is to say you don't know what you're talking about. William Kristol and boatload of elite conservative journalists traveled to Alaska and partied at Palin's estate roughly a year to a year and a half before giving that speech. They anointed her as, what, the 15th coming of Ronald Reagan and forced her onto the McCain ticket to satisfy the conservative base (such as yourself).
read it here: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/27/081027fa_fact_mayer
Oh, and news flash, mainstream America is no longer right of center. It's left of center, and it's absolutely tired of Palin. Go read the stats at Gallup. But let's e clear, I do hope she gets your party's nomination in 2012. Tagline? Palin? She's a quitter!
Palin is a shameless promoter of herself. Shortly after becoming governor she hired a PR firm to get her name out there on the national level. She flung herself in front of the media that she now claims has been so unfair to her.
Here's a quick link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/10/politics/washingtonpost/main45 13011.shtml
Clearly the governorship was just a stepping stone. I doubt she has spent more than 10 actually governing Alaska. Her ego is as big as Alaska.
Sorry Holland, this country is still right of center to center, not left of center. After six complete years of Republican rules, with two more sitting in the presidency, it is now the time for the Democratic. People wanted a change from fighting two wars, the loss of higher moral grounds due to our actions conducting these wars, and an economy that tanked brilliantly. The same change, for whatever reason, will probably occur again in six to eight years.
Americans are not tired of Palin, freak shows always interest Americans. She is just a figure that somehow related to people like herself. She speaks like a good part of the disenfranchised portion of American who blames others for their own mistake and clings to backward thinking. We will ride this out and some one from the right will appear with some real ideas and the good ex-governor will fade into trivial pursuit.
Daveinboise,
Agreed, Americans, as freak shows go, will continue to find Palin quite the show.
However, the U.S. has indeed shifted and will continue to shift center-left. The Millennial Generation, born between 1977/78 and 2000, are currently 85 million strong (five million more than their boomer parents) and are, in the light of the Bush incompetences, overwhelmingly progressive in their views (even the young Republicans). They believe homosexuals should be allowed to marry, are generally race blind, and voted broadly for Obama either as a Democrat or an Independent. By 2020, they are expected to be 103 million strong with 90 million eligible to vote. Of the Millennials only about 18 percent identify as Republican. Voting trends show that young voters' politics cement during their first two elections, in this case 2004 and 2008, in which they rejected Republican policies overwhelmingly. More and more will become involved in politics as they grow older. Further, by 2050, 25 percent of the U.S. population is expected to be hispanic (though, in light of the economic downturn, that number by drop a point or two). Hispanics, blacks, independents, Blue Dog democrats and white women have and will define the center in America. And they are and have broadly swung left of center. Most importantly, in the South West Hispanic voters will define elections in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and Colorado. After Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio the South West states are the most important swing states during a general election. Already, Hispanic voters have made their make in the last election and as long as conservatives refuse to embrace the Latino vote, Hispanic Americans will continue to be insulted by the right and driven to the center left (and I do not mean to say hard Left, just left of center).
Ross Douthat,a conservative writer once of The Atlantic and now the New York Times notes the broader shift here:
http://rossdouthat.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/03/barack_obama_and_the _new_cente.php
Finally, the furious people you describe are the shrinking conservative base of the Republican party. They should not be dismissed out of hand because ignoring them would lead to ever worsening extremism and violence. But Palin's shrinking base really don't understand what has happened in the United States.
Cheers...
This country isn't Right OR Left of center.
This country is in favor of whatever works. That's why the two-party system has survived so long. It's less about what the ideology of the party is and more about reacting against what the other group is doing.
When Republicans screw up as badly as Bush screwed up, naturally the Democrats get a nice national boost. When the Dems screw up, the Republicans will use that to come back. That's how it works.
The wingnut media slobbering all over itself is only the latter part of the story. To begin with politically she's a bought and paid for creation of newt the toot's GOPAC operation.Nothing much more than right place, right time and a vacuous bot they could program to regurgitate wingnut blathering points on command.The only fear of her I've ever heard of her from the left is that the wingnuts will tire of her and cast her off before she's managed to finish convincing the rational majority that she and the party she represents are one trick ponies and a tired old trick at that..
Palin / Bachmann 2012!!!!!
Dear God in Heaven what rubbish is this?? You must be as intellectually impoverished as the lady in question! She frightened Obama? Mainstream America?? No, but she rightfully frightens all thinking people the world over - just the idea that this woman with not two brain cells to rub together should ever be in power - that is frightening indeed!! We other global dwellers cannot BELIEVE that ANYONE would want this dangerous person, with an IQ of possibly 95 should be anywhere near a nuclear button!! It is indeed time that America did something about its education programme!
Missmbrodie, Sweden
Ok. Let's get a little reality in here. Her speech did NOT "ignite everyone". Her RNC/McCain-campaign-prepared speech was impressive, but regrettably full of lies (like how she said no to the bridge to nowhere). And it was not "mainstream America" that was aroused, it was "real Americans" who turned out to be white-only fringe from the KKK to skinheads to 18-year-old boys loaded with testosterone and of course anti-abortionists. Her "base" represents, at best, 20% of the population for which the rest of us are truly grateful.
She didn't "terrorize" liberals or Obama, who ignored her and focused on the presidential candidate, despite her pretensions to more importance. Your accusation about Obama's involvement in what the media said is yet again one of the paranoid accusations (not facts) of the Far Right. You spend too much time on right-wing Web sites that fuel racism and divisiveness and too little time on thoughtful commentary.
Thank you, sippewissett. By the time I almost finished composing a come-back to the "igniting everyone" speech, you had already written my thoughts.
Right, because DailyKOS and the Huff dont fuel racism or divisiveness...
Its funny, each party feels they are right and the other party is full of liars, cheats, racists, sex scandals, and every other form of debauchery. The right has Limbaugh, Hannity and Levin. The left has Olbermann, Maddow and Matthews. They are all saying what they say is the truth, thats how we should believe and if you dont, the hell with you, you are stupid. How about each side show some respect for the others. We believe one way, you believe another but that doesnt make you ignorant, or stupid or unpatriotic.
Well, you said it all for me. The only thing I would add is that directly following an extremely impressive democratic convention and the poor start to the GOP convention, almost anyone who took up their cause would have ignited the GOP followers. They were looking for something to get excited about so they just ate up lies.
I like to call it the Hillary/Palin 20% Appalachia axis.
Nice daydream but, reality is that several neocons on editorial boards of some conservative magazines took a cruise and docked in Alaska where they lunched with Palin.
Kristol saw her as a perfect retread of Bush. Little knowledge of the world, charismatic and evangelical.
Her charisma and religious beliefs would make the base go gaga while the neocons could shape her world view in the neocon view.
The fact that she did the same dog whistle to the base that Bush did and got the same Pavlov dog's response was perfect in their eyes. They felt they could get her elected to national office and be able to influence her policies as according to their view.
Kristol was very instrumental in getting her picked as vp nominee for McCain.
"The bamster" as you call your Commander in Chief, patriotic American that you are, was one of the few who didn't panic when Palin "came out of nowhere." The infamous Vanity Fair article quoted him as saying it had taken him four months to learn how to be a national candidate. He knew Palin, no matter how talented she is, was not and wasn't going to be ready.
Palin is like Obama in one respect: politicians with Rock Star levels of charisma do not come along very often, and surely charisma helps if someone is going to compete with Obama.
But beyond charisma, it remains to be seen if Palin has the intellect, the judgement, and self-discipline needed to compete on the national stage.
Palin is just another empty vessel waiting to be filled by her advisors (Rove types), she has no ideas of her own and speaks only in generalities and slogans. Palin makes GWB look like an intellectual giant.
But hey, I'll say it again: Palin / Bachmann 2012!!!
Soon we will be looking back in fondness to the days when Palin was handcufffed by her responsibilities to the state of Alaska.
Nah, there are plenty of others out there who aren't handcuffed. I don't see Rush or Newt driving policy decisions except among the base.
That is a depressing thought.
Ms. Palin would be well advised to watch her back in this bunch of low tolerance rightist groupies - they have often shown an ability to eat their own... I see similarities between the packaging to 1st Fishwife with the Joan of Arc presentation of Anita Bryant - another beauty queen with personal agenda.
Watch at the end of the day,anything about SP gets the most posts.She has that thing,..It was the same with Hillary......The ticket in the future,should be HC and SP.Who knows,.....We should all be laughing to the bank with SP.I think her rambling is anger at what has been done to her.
Joe the Plumber does pretty well on posts too, that doesn't qualify him for anything.
You are correct about the most posts. John Edwards made much worse decisions personally and he lost as VP also, but his media attention barely musters compared to Sarah's. Is this a double standard?
And amapola101 makes most of them.
Oh no! Elizabeth made sure that he got what was going to him appearing on every outlet for weeks. By the time she was through, the only class act in the triangle appeared to be the mistress.
Sarah Palin, the victim?? Conservative women have jumped to her defense claiming the badge of feminism (which they have never before rallied to), all the while vehemently crying sexism. As a woman it makes me sick.
Right of center,left of center, in beetween,leave religion out of it.we all have our beliefs, and thats what makes the Us what it is, but we need leaders,This country is in the dumps. And this is the greatest country on earth.Well,SP.will certainly show us all, how much money she can make in a free economy,and the left,the media,and even her own party,have done this.We need industry,work,entrepernaruial,less travel by our politicians.They need to be doing the work here.
The misleading "media elite" issue goes well past Sarah Palin. Many right-wing politicians feel comfort in blaming others. As the conservative ideology had the stage for several years, you'd think they would stop complaining about others who have the power. But they didn't, and now that they are out of power they are more angry than ever. They don't blame others for anything other than not being liked; they have something - they grasp onto the phrase "media elite" to bring it to life - that they must use to show how insecure they are. For conservatism - not the real thing, but the stuff that in the past decade or more pretends to be - has fear as its constant companion. This article is right: the fact is, like it or not, Fox News and Rush Limbaugh are power brokers, and to act like they're not - all to create the illusion that everybody is against the God-fearing, correct-thinking, hard-working, real Americans - makes me sick. It would sicken anyone who really - really - loves this country's ideals.
You've noticed there are no real ideas from the right; just venomous - and in Palin's case - incomprehensibly incoherent attacks on anyone who disagrees.
I personally don't care whether she runs for anything. I'm not afraid of her. She's too powerless and intellectually unformed to make a difference. (Although he was (and remains) intellectually unformed, George Bush had many connections when he began his political career.) I wish Palin would go into private life so we could forget about her, but as long as she insists on being front and center, she has no right to insist that those who write about her be subject to writing what only she wants others to know. The thing is, though, even as she herself promotes her views, those views - uncriticized by anyone else - make no sense at all. I feel sorry for her; she's clearly in a world she doesn't belong. People who think she ought to be President are clearly nuts.
Thank you for your post. Ever since Sarah Palin's resignation speech, my native Texan Republican friends actually raised their eyebrows and wrinkled their noses about her. At first they were ecstatic when McCain chose a female, but then they saw who she really was. I'm sorry for this country that she won't go away and that she actually has believers. Now that the basketball barracuda has tasted blood, she is even more eager to get back in the national game.
And you are a FOOL.
The man you voted for has already broken every campagne promise made and will take this country down in flames, financially.
Mc Cain should have won, the election was "crooked," stolen with Acorn's help and you haven't figured it out yet? What's it going to take????
Flavorina, you have started your two comments above with a thank you. Thank you!
2012 is so far away, Like most shooting stars, her heat and light will most likely burn out well before the fall of 2011. That is 2.5 yrs from now. She doesn't have an attention span that will last that long. Her defenders have already lost thier credibility. Wm Kristol, Fred Barnes, Coulter, Hannity, Limbaugh....please. Oh I forgot Beck. Yeah, with friends like that she'll make a ton of money, host several teabag parties, do lots of fox TV and talk radio, but never make a difference in most peoples lives. It's all about the economy stupid. If it comes back by 2011, Obama will get a second term. Maybe even with Hillary as a running mate. If the economy does not recover in a measurable way, any republican could win. PS: I do love it with ACORN references.
Hey Myra, quit calling people names, OK? You're just embarassing yourself even further.
And the victimhood BS is getting a little boring. The election, unlike W's '00 and '04 elections, was won in a near-landslide. A majority of 9.7 MILLION votes.
Now that the Southern Strategy is played out at the national level, the Liberal Media canard is all the so-called conservatives have to rile up the rubes. No matter that, as pointed out in this article, the premise is demonstrably false - even absurd. It works.
The place where it will actually get interesting is during a Republican primary - where Sarah Palin will have to defend herself against other Republicans - if she runs. How will she blame it all on the Liberal Elite then? Oh - wait, I forgot. She's still got the Old Boys' Network. Sarah's brilliant at finding someone to victimize her.
Cultural victimhood, umbrage and resentment will always be part of the right wing game plan, note Palin's "real americans" campaign speech, read what George Wallace or Spiro Agnew had to say...The left blames corporate america the right blames people of color, immigrants and liberal elites...Love that Eric Hoffer quote, everybody should read "The True Believer".
Two things. Americans love an underdog and the innocence and wisdom of the natural and free wild west. Sarah is a mythic figure. The outdoorswoman who can do it and has down to earth sensibilities that are brutally challenged by a bust of efite snobs who just don't know how to dress a moose in the wild or hunt down wolves from a helicopter.
Mythic figure? Only if you read those romance novels with burly men and damsels on the cover of PBs, but for REAL skills for national/world politics, Palin needs to develop the more mundane skills like policy and platform development, national financial acumen, economics 101, and advanced world displomacy. Oh, yes, and Ethics 1001 too. Regrettably this dreary set of skills require smarts, which obviates the need for her to apply.
Part of Palin's talent is changing a falsehood into something right. (check her son's record and the why he joined the military, yet she rolls herself in the glory of his service. Her daughter getting inpregnated by trailer trash and parade her anyway) This is the poster child of High School cheerleading, advanced to beauty queen and using those qualities, was able to achieve the Peter Principle. Going yet for higher ambitions, the latter qualities only got her so far and when scrutinized by less gullible people/media she cannot stand the heat and like many times before, is bailing out and will again try to progress in her own little world, in which she probably will do quite well! Bottom line though, SHE'S STILL A QUITTER!
Love her or hate her- coverage of Sarah Palin's resignation rivaled that of Michael Jackson's death, and most of us just learned of her last August. She is a rockstar because she has it all. She's built a great career she has a hot hubby & a happy family. She's also a lot smarter than those of u who only watched a couple awkward interviews realize. In her speeches, she makes great sense & she doesn't need a teleprompter! I look forward to seeing what she will do now that she is in control and unleashed. Sarah Palin is definitely a force to be reckoned with- hide and watch! ~Cea*
Preview~
REVELATION in Poetic Bits and Pieces by Cynthia Wolf
http://stores.lulu.com/cynthiawolf
Like the departed Michael, she does have a freakish quality...When the going gets tough, the tough get going, except for Palin, who quits.
Sorry, Cea, but she used a teleprompter to deliver her "You guys are mean, I quit" speech. It is clearly visible in the video posted on the Anchorage Daily News site at about 1:11. She was so incomprehensible that I was sure she was speaking off the top of her head, but no, she really did write it out beforehand.
(This whole teleprompter thing is one of the stupidest memes used by the right, as if no politician in history ever used one before Obama, or as if there's something weak about wanting to make eye contact with your audience while making sense.)
Palin actually is as incoherent and shallow as she seemed in those TV interviews. Read her new interview in Time magazine for gems like this:
"President Obama is growing government outrageously, and it's immoral and it's uneconomic, his plan that he tries to sell America. His plan to 'put America on the right track' economically, incurring the debt that our nation is incurring, trillions of dollars that we're passing on to our kids, expecting them to pay off for us, is immoral and doesn't even make economic sense."
I wouldn't say she's smart, but she's cunning. Anyone who complains on Friday about how awful the media is to her and then invites national TV crews to a photo op in Dillingham, Alaska, on Monday is a media whore, plain and simple.
Friedersdorf is right. She wouldn't haven't gotten anywhere if the MSM hadn't helped her create her image before our eyes, and if Limbaugh, Hannity, etc., weren't propping up the falsest version of it.
You bought it, after all.
Up here in Alaska, we're waiting for the poll that shows just how low we think she's sunk. The prevailing tone here is: Good riddance, loser.
Bluedog: What really blows me away about Palin is that she seems to speak in a kind of stream of conscousness. Has she always just bullshitted her way through things like that?
I was really surprised she used a prompter in her Iquitarod speech, because no speechwriter would ever run sentences on like that. Do you think she wrote it? I was in a roomful of people watching it, and everybody was dissolving in laughter.
I'm hearing she has an attention span of a gnat, and I'm beginning to think that it's true. She's been on the national stage for 10 months, now, and she's no closer to being conversant with politics, economics, history, or foreign relations now than she was back in August.
In fact, I would say that her level of preparation consists of memorizing slogans. And that seems to be it.
cynthiawolf:
Don't you realize how empty it is to say of anyone, "love them or hate them, they get a lot of attention", as if that qualifies them for something?
And how silly it is to say Palin is a "rockstar because she has it all"? She's not a rock star, and she doesn't have it all. Far from it. Her career is NOT great--among other things, there was that thing in the news recently about her resigning from something. In addition to that classic good ole boy pitfall, of directing lucrative contracts to friends, thinking they can get away with it because they have the sociopath's idea that nobody notices the things they don't want people to notice.
And how irrelevant and childish it is to say Palin has "a hot hubby"? Who gives a rat's ass about her supposedly hot hubby? How does that make her admirable enough to help qualify her for public office, as a substitute for rationality, knowledge, etc.?
And how bizarre it is to say Palin has "a happy family"? Have you noticed this thing called coverage of her family? Palin's older daughter is not happy at all with what happened between her family and her ex-boyfriend/father of her child.
And how incorrect it is to say Palin is "a lot smarter than those of u who only watched a couple awkward interviews"? We've all been watching far more than that since last year, and you know it, or you should. Maybe it's you who have engaged in limited and selective news gathering.
And how dumb it is to say Palin "makes great sense"? She makes sense to you, only as long as you are unaware of what Palin is wrong about. If you simply pay attention to her world view, of course you'll think she makes sense, but that's not how sensible people form their concept of "sense".
And how incomprehensible it is to say Palin is "now in control and unleashed"? She's exactly not that. She just resigned as governor of Alaska. She's no longer in control of that office. She's not supported by many influential members of her party, and that list grows nearly every day. Watch it shrink to an even more irrelevant minority if she ever tries to seek public office again, or any position of authority. As for being in control of herself, without any inconvenient "restraints" of public office--watch how much that doesn't work for her. She's proven over and over that whenever she "goes rogue on ya", she just makes things worse for herself. There have been no exceptions to this rule ever since she was picked by McCain. Do you think that will improve, now that she's removed herself from her elected position, so that now even fewer people are in a position to officially mention to her how to make sense?
Ms Palin is chronically telling us how she is "wired" for this and isn't "wired" for that and admittedly she certainly appeared to be "wired" during that incoherent resignation. Nonetheless, maybe someone should tell her that some of her wires are loose.
The wire that enables one to put nouns, verbs, adjective, adverbs, prepositions, etc. into a coherent sentence is obviously disconnected as is the wire the would enable one to discern that saying, "I'm not a quitter, I'm a fighter. I got into plenty of fights before I quit" is baffling to 300 million of us faux Americans.
She probably should have someone check the wire that would prohibit a 45 year old grandmother from getting into a trashy, hillbilly feud with the 19 year old father of her grandchild over the national news.
Then there is that wire that allows someone who is playing fast and loose with the truth to shut up after being exposed as a liar.
Maybe Ms Palin should look into a complete rewiring.
this is circus maximus. you're all out of control. she isn't as smart as you say nor is she as stupid. why are we still talking about her? she can't be blamed for connor f's diatribe. look in the mirror or at least get a life. i'm completely over her but i'm transfixed by those of you who are transfixed on her. oh, i just got it! i need to get a life!
jus1drun:
We who, as you characterize us, are "transfixed" on Palin, do have real lives. It's because we have real lives, that we can tell how phony Palin's political life has been. We've seen too many goofballs "succeed" in politics, to let yet another one, Palin, off the hook, since we're concerned that without hammering her, she may still succeed in fooling enough people to overcome even her current morass, and manage to get into another influential position. You seem to think Palin is done, but those of us with a longer memory know that's not necessarily true, so we contribute our voices to try to make sure it does become true.
An intellectual nitwit taken up by rightwingnuts. Incompetent at governing, arrogant, and dysfunctional. Talks on speed and says nada. She belongs at Fox and to Fox. Kristol & Co are doomed in current USA political atmosphere. Use of the same word frames; "liberal elites", "socialist", are meaning less and less, and Palin's talking points are jingoistic and old fashioned.
Palin and the GOP have made themselves irrelevant. Actually this woman is unimportant and we should ignore her and get on with the issues of real important facing us.
I dare you to not comment on any new articles on Palin. In fact, I challenge all of us. I bet it's just like the old Lay's Potato Chip commercial.
I like potato chips.
"How could Palin blame the press for her demise when she owes her meteoric rise to Rush, Bill, and others in the conservative media elite?"
Well, that's easy to answer. If the press would stop shamelessly reporting on what she actually says and does, and instead focus on giving her icon-like worship (a la Obama before his election) she'd still be a contender for 2012 and not in an active state of demise.
Even so, like many a Hollywood boogeyman (or woman), Palin will be back. The party of simple reassurance and slogan based solutions needs her. It is as simpleminded as she is, and having any sort of sort intellect behind it (as in a thinker like William F. Buckley, Jr.) would break the soap bubble of Republican thought as it exists today.
When I use the word 'simpleminded' I am not meaning to say that Palin is stupid. She is by no means stupid. Ignorant, inexperienced, and unable to focus on what it takes to be a politician in the United States of America, but not stupid. The Republican Party on the other hand, I think it's gone stupid.
wow, i think you got it. i would only add the dems to complete the picture. dude, ugly picture! and all of 'em is us.
Well, there are a couple of points left unaddressed.
Independent polls by Gallup and others of American journalists, reports, news organizations, and news producers indicate a strong liberal bias amongst the people who report the news.
The bias is both acknowledged and unacknowledged.
While FOX may be the biggest network, many other organizations do select both what to report, and the tenor of the reporting.
I am by no means defending Sarah Palin.
Or Mr. Obama.
I am pointing out that anyone who gets news from one or two sources is playing into bias he/she may not even recognize.
This bias may have contributed to both the idolization and the demonization of Palin.
Certainly, reporting is polarized concerning many topics. Palin is not the exception - she is the rule.
If the reporting is done by an organization with a liberal bias, she is a demon, If it is done by an organization with a conservative bias, she is an idol.
I do wish we could dispense with the polarizing crap and just get an organization that reports as objectively and dispassionately as possible the news as it happens.
Walter Cronkite, where are you?
I dont understand.
You all say that SP is an idiot. Ignorant. Unqualified. Insane. You spend SO much energy and time trying to convince us of this. TDB has pages and pages of anti-Palinisms every day.
Why?
If she is what you say she is then you should have nothing to worry about. She is, by your definition, irrelevant. So why waste your time on the outrage?
I don't know. But when my children protest something really vigorously, I usually smell a rat. They either really fear something. Or love it, but are scared to admit it.
Do you fear Sarah Palin? Do you love her?
me thinks the left doth protest too much. but i would be surprised to discover we have overlooked a saint.
opedanderson -
1) I don't think Palin is an idiot. I do think she's ignorant, if not concerning Alaska then certainly concerning greater America. Not sure about the insane part. I suspect many of my co-workers are emotionally or mentally disturbed. I know I am. So if Palin is insane...
2) She's not irrelevant. I don't believe that she stands a chance at getting the nomination for the Republican P candidate in 2012 or even beyond but I don't think she's irrelevant. I think she's a rather excellent candy thermometer of a certain spectrum of the electoral rainbow.
3) I don't fear Palin. She will never be President. So fear is not the word. Perhaps amazement is the word. Not that she can't be salvaged, with some effort. All it needs is a Henry Higgins and she might make it to the US House or US Senate.
I neither fear, love nor hate her. If Obama is very lucky, she will be the Republican nominee in 2012, and her party will be demolished as it was in 1936 and 1964. By that time, all the deficit spending, public investment and easy money policies will really have taken hold anyway, and it will not be a good year for the Republicans.
opedanderson!
I already explained this to you!
Yes, she is ignorant & unqualified.
But the main point is:
She is PURE ENTERTAINMENT.
She is not dangerous, or upsetting, or worrisome.
She is outrageously FUNNY.
She is a walking reality show.
A farce.
A soap-opera.
She is not a threat to any canidate or political party. (Maybe the Republican party!)
Everybody likes to watch person make a spectacle of themselves in public.
And that she does.
We love to watch her.
opedanderson, she is a fool and a joke.
No we don't fear Palin, because she'll never get anywhere on national level. But the people who take her simpleminded sloganeering and demagoguery, backed up by NO fact, at face value scare the crap out of us.
And what's really scary is that she can't even construct a grammatically correct sentence--and that's after attending 4 or 5 colleges! And none of these people seem to mind! If she can't do that, how could she govern? Doesn't seem to enter any of the Palin people's minds.
Like many Republicans, Palin has a populist style, but no populist substance. Her views are strictly free market capitalism of the Reagan-Thatcher type, which no real populist in America has believed in since about 1870.
Republicans are very good at appealing to this false populism of the right, and always mixing it with plenty of Bible thumping and flag waving--but in reality they have nothing at all to offer the common people.
Republican VP candidates are selected in part for their ability to appeal to this false, right-wing populism, including Spiro Agnew and Dan Quayle, to name a couple of recent examples. In reality, though, Republican policies during the Second Gilded Age have overwhelmingly benefitted the upper 20% of the population and various big business interests.
This is not to say they haven't had help from the Democrats, particularly the DLC-NAFTA-WTO wing of the party, who are sometimes called Boll Weavils, Dixiecrats, Bourbons or Blue Dogs.
if you could have just avoided Reagan-Thatcher i would have said slam-dunk baby! but life and politics are not that simple. there's no way of getting around those two were giants. except,of course, on the internet where you get to say whatever you want no matter how stupid it is.
What we object to is her drumming up hatred and her real America foolishness. Anyone who wishes ill to the US because of leadership is not a real American. We are entering age of acceptance, appreciation of diversity, and open mindedness. Palin flies in the face of these values. That was the objection! She is perky, cute, and energetic and charismatic. But so is the Progressive spokeswoman, but she isn't running for president. We need leadership capable of thought and capable of bringing folks together. Palin's talent is creating the us vs them divisions. Not what the world needs.
It is a little more than chilling to see the rich, elite folks from the GOP using the "just folks" types to keep the lower income voterers voting against their own interests. Of course, they probably think if they vote Republican, they too will become millionaires.
PS Our very high real estate taxes are a legacy of Reagan. He wan't that great for the US.
Palin is popular now only because we have an African American President. We are close to moving beyond racial hatred, but we haven't reached that plateau yet. Palin made it clear when she was campaigning with McCain that she was anti-black. Her record on race is sub-par at least in Alaska. The Republicans have a rogue segment in their ranks who are blatantly racist and proud of it. After all this has always been part of their strategy to garner votes. The 'we against them' mentality still stagnates the GOP and fortunately for the democrats who embraced the nation, won the Presidential election. If the GOP continues to ignore the changes this country has experienced in the last 20 years, they will be doomed for a long time. Until they remove the harsh hate rhetoric from their platform, we may never see a republican president again. No, Palin will not ever sat in the oval office, nor anyone that is as totally ungualified as her.
wiseone:
You say "Palin will not ever sit in the oval office, nor anyone that is as totally unqualified as her." You may be right, but it's dangerous to assume so. We just had one, for two administrations, with Bush Jr. That's why people continue to hammer her--it's like a movie in which the bad guy keeps coming back, and often strikes some major blows before they're finally vanquished. If it weren't for the protagonist striking back every time the bad guy makes a move, it's assumed the bad guy stands a chance of winning. Palin supporters have the odd idea that continuing to hammer on Palin somehow means she has some substance that we're "afraid" of. It's her lack of substance that we're "afraid" of, since we've found so many times, that a lack of substance is no barrier to gaining damagingly influential positions, and in many cases is one of the biggest reasons they manage to get into such positions, because they either appeal to enough dumb people, or they appeal to the power brokers who manage to package them to win public office, so that the power brokers can manipulate them while in office.
Bill Kristol can't understand why "a good chunk of elite America hates Sarah Palin"? Uh, because she's a lying, hypocritical little whiner, Bill. How dense can a pundit get?!
Thank you.
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