Small earthquake in la-la land, or, Why is Sarah Palin Smiling?
“Budget cuts”? Crossed out? Tell me it isn’t so. If HufPo’s answer to Carl Bernstein is to believed,
This would mean:
A) That she knew the questions beforehand and the whole thing was a farce. (Likely.)
and
B) That she still couldn’t answer the previously agreed-upon questions without a little extra help.
Where do we start? First of all, President Obama’s addiction to the teleprompter is eminently worth mocking. The teleprompter breaks down, so does the President. He apparently can’t even address sixth-grade school children without the device. (Even Jon Stewart made fun of that.) Second, pace our ace reporter, the fact that Palin jotted some notes on her hand does not mean that “she knew the questions beforehand” or that “the whole thing was a farce.” Nor, since we don’t know whether the questions were agreed upon beforehand or not (and what if they were? So what?), does it mean that she “still couldn’t answer them . . . without a little extra help.” What the notes do mean is that she prepared for the session and thought to remind herself of something. In other words, good for you, Sarah.
The hatred and contempt lavished upon Sarah Plain, from certain conservatives as well as from the Left, presents a dispiriting and, to me, hard-to-fathom spectacle. That is, I understand that the Left would regard her as a political threat and would therefore dislike her. But why the contempt? And why the contempt (and hatred) from the Right? I have several times explained why I admire Sarah Palin. Please note that I did not say I want her to run for the Presidency. But what (a locution that comes up often among her admirers) a breath of fresh air she is! Here you have a woman from a working-class background who, by dint of her own energy and ambition, becomes Governor of her state—a good Governor, too, by all account not tainted by The New York Times. She espouses good conservative principles: self-reliance, fiscal responsibility, a strong national defense. And, on top of all that, she is a courageous and loving mother to a passel of children.
What’s not to like? That she chose to keep and love a Down Syndrome child? That sets the teeth of many on edge, I know, though they are loathe to come right out and admit it. Granted: She’s not a lawyer. She’s not from the Ivy League. She’s not part of the Washington Establishment. Heavy liabilities, what? I acknowledge that her performance in front of Katie Couric and other barracuda-like interviewers was poor, embarrassing even. But put that and all the other charges in the scale on one side, then put her virtues on the other: which side wins out? Stefan Sirucek thinks he can simply indite the name “Sarah Palin” and all right-thinking (that is, left-leaning) people will scoff and hold their noses. Maybe they will. But the aroma of rancidness and decay you sense is not emanating from Sarah Palin’s side of the aisle. The question is, when will the left-wing commentariat notice that the winds of opinion, to say nothing of the winds of political energy, have changed decisively against them? Scott Brown should have told them something. But Scott Brown was an impossibility. Or so they told themselves.
If, and that is an awfully gargantuan IF, Sarah Palin were as dumb as the left, some of the right and most of the intelligentsia/journalists, why do they worry about her so much? Why do they use some of the most foul language and off the wall descriptors? You don’t suppose they are scared to death of this folksy powerhouse do you? Nah! Couldn’t be!
Roger you know the reason for the contempt. It is a standard Alinsky tactic. Demonize the opposition and take every step to ridicule and diminish them. The contempt is a tactic to disguise the Left’s fear.
When I was in the Middle East recently, I could walk anywhere without harassment (though much stares), as long as I had a male companion – i.e, protector. As a woman alone I was considered prey.
Condi Rice, Madeline Albright, et. al, all had their male protectors. Sarah Palin does not. She is therefore percieved as vulnerable.
During the campaign, McCain was not percieved as being strong enough to shield her and therefore did not.
Yeah it’s slightly sexist and misogynist. But there you have it. If you want the instructive comparison, look at Scott Brown. Just as common, politically incorrect and (charmingly) clumsy at times – but you will never see the kind of feeding frenzy that descended on Sarah Palin (and her young children).
P.S., no, Todd does not count – he is rightly seen as being muzzled (probably as he should be) and not in the arena.
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She’s the second comin’ of Dubya as far as HuffPoers are concerned. It’s a mix of smug self-superiority and scars rubbed raw over the 8 years of W’s ‘tyranny’ that they’re scared to death could return.
I don’t want her to run for Pres either, but it is very satisfying to watch these reality-based intellectuals twist themselves into tight costiveness just at the mention of her name.
The intrepid reporter is quite fun, but as usual, the comments at HuffPo are better.
For whatever the reason it is always great entertainment to watch a Leftie’s head explode.
Great question. The Left has to demonize her because they see her as a prototype of REAL populism, if that is to be understood as a force coming from “regular” people. But the Right?
I am nearly alone among my friends in my ongoing admiration for Sarah Palin. But I commend to all to search google or youtube and look for the David Susskind interview of Harry Truman. When you find it you will see a man vilified as he left office but highly admired today.
You will also find an ex-President whose rhetorical style and abilities make George W. Bush sound like Demosthenes. And you will find the same kind of plain talk that Sarah Palin engages in naturally.
Who were the most intellectual Presidents in the past 100 or so years? Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barak Obama. And who were arguably the least intellectual? Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush.
And this one really confounds my left leaning friends: who were the best spoken? Franklin D. Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan.
Neither rhetorical skills nor advanced degrees nor being an intellectual are easily correlated with great leadership. Nor are any of these correlated with common sense.
Perhaps in the future George W. Bush will be mentioned in the same sentence as Harry Truman.
And as to Sarah Palin, it is true that in this day and age it is unlikely she could or should run for President. But she does know the pulse of the people and that is what makes the Left, and the David Brooks and Peggy Noonan semi-right very nervous. She makes them all VERY nervous indeed because her life is a refutation that one must be an Ivy League intellectual to be taken seriously.
They got nuthin’.
If you read the comments on that pathetic HuffPo story and the dozens of others like it that are posted every week, you won’t just see the usual left-wing hatred and contempt for anything that might threaten Obama’s agenda. You’ll also note a truly remarkable obsession with Palin’s most minor doings.
There are dozens of blogs and web sites devoted to scrutinizing every word she says, every scrap of paperwork that she generates, every second of video that gets broadcast, every tweet, every Facebook posting, every change of clothes, every domestic squabble or misdeed by her shirt-tail relatives, EVERYTHING EVERYTHING EVERYTHING with the slightest connection to Sarah Palin. Obama himself does not draw such obsessive inquiry into his personal life, let alone his family.
What is the matter with these people? What possesses them to spend an entire weekend reading her latest PAC filing, or jog-shuttling through her latest appearance on TV? And what on Earth can be the source of the venomous, purple-faced, spittle-flecked invective that they heap upon her? They lose all reason and become like howling beasts. All their professed devotion to feminism and bipartisanship flies out the window. It is the most remarkable thing I’ve seen in thirty years of following politics. She is becoming a VERY powerful woman simply by dint of the effect the hateful Left allows her to have upon them. I worry for their sanity, and fear that she will be the target of an assassination attempt.
You know any Presidential campaign is like a long sports season–maybe football or basketball. You play a lot of games–or give a lot of speeches and run a lot of campaigns. You win some. You lose some.
Ms. Palin has taken to the hustings; by all accounts her Tea Party speech was a good one–crib notes or not, It goes in the win column. Her Katie Couric interview was so so–it goes in the loss column. I’m perfectly content to watch Ms. Palin work her way through “spring training” and go into the political baseball season. I wouldn’t be surprised if she ultimately makes it to the “world series” in one Presidential election year. Doesn’t mean she’ll win–but she’ll be in the game.
The learned pundits of the media are all breathing hard about Governor Palin aiming to be “the leader” of the tea party movement. That’s all they can comprehend about politics – they think it’s a hyper-Survivor contest for King of the Hill, Me First. Too bad they can’t comprehend someone using their personal celebrity, not to make money or sexual conquests or acquire power, but to address the welfare of the country at large.
Palin is doing just that, by addressing the misdirected policies of the Obama administration, and by encouraging the tea parties in their resistance to his profligate spending, hyper-partisanship and disastrous national defense positions.
The MSM must be coming unglued, after its fierce campaign to deride and destroy Governor Palin, facing her success in bringing public attention to failures in public governance which the MSM ignores in its 24/7 adulation of Obama. But even the NYT today grudgingly admits that the tea parties (after its months of deriding them) are a movement to be reckoned with, and that Palin is cheering them on – without attempting to become Queen for a Day as their “leader”.
Good news for the country, bad news for the MSM and Obama.
Sarah Palin is a political rube. Kinda like Ronald Reagan was.
I know a very famous, wealthy and smart man makes similar 3-6 (few-word) notes on his hand, both as a prep for talking to a group, and as others talk to him (so he lets them finish their thoughts before responding to the points mentioned). Be an interesting bit of press research to go find how many of the fortune 500 presidents do the same.
I hear Ms. Palin crossed out (decided not to use) a quip poking fun at Mr. O’s oft demonstrated lack-of-education (if not intellect) based on “corpse” “man” (likely because she’s just too gentle of a soul).
The left’s reaction to Sarah Palin reminds me of the left’s reaction to another western governor some 40 years ago — who was widely derided as a simpleton — Ronald Wilson Reagan.
This is hilarious. Palin with the nuke codes written on her hand: http://tilt-o-rama.com/palinnuke.jpg
Gov. Palin is a viable candidate, I think, and those who vilify her often do it because it is seen as the “intellectual” position. They won’t say a word about Uhhbama when makes one of hsi frequent gaffes, such as his recent talk about a navy “corpseman” (not the fault of his teleprompter) but any slip from Palin, as for W in the past, is derided.
Well, even without crib notes, I’ll bet Palin knows the “s” in corps is silent.
Excellent article, Mr. Kimball. Very simply and clearly put. We need more of that. I also read your article “why I admire Sarah Palin” in conjunction to this. I think that the American Left wants to be the only “owners” of intellectual life. Of course, the irony in that is that they are not intellectual at all: anyone who remains obessessively obedient to Marx or Freud and refuses to have a primary intellectual goal the seeking of truth, is of course, not an intellectual (in this case, I recommend Fr. Schall’s wonderful little book “The life of the Mind” on joys and agonies of asking the meaningful questions). In any case, I think it is for this reason that the American Left (like HuffPo and other vulgar “prints”) hate Sarah Palin. She is not about to give you a dissertation on the deconstructivist view of the “dirt under one’s fingernail.” She speaks simply. But more than anything, the Left despises her virtues. I personally am not sure whether Sarah Palin is ready for the Presidency but I find her to be an honorable and courageous woman. And virtue in action is a manifestation of truth. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether one can articulate it fully or not. Thank you.
I went through the Hillman Program at the US District Court for the western division of Michigan. One thing we were taught was to know our cases cold, and that when we went to the lectern to argue we should not just read from our briefs. Instead, we should write down the issues in large letters on a note pad, and refer to that to remind ourselves to not get caught up with just one issue, but be able to focus back on all of the issues. We were not to read verbatim from briefs that had already been submitted, but use these minimal notes to prod us to remember under pressure that we need to address issue #3 and issue #4.
Mrs. Palins notes on her hand seem to me to fall in the same category – like tying a string around your finger – prods to memory and nothing more.
http://www.hillmanadvocacy.com/
I on a rare occasion go to Ariannas blog to read the commentary on any issue. The libtards who frequent it and comment are seriously out of touch with reality. The gnashing of teeth is quite humorous at times.
Sarah Palin frightens the crap out of these people and I dont even think they bother to wonder why they feel such animus. Perhaps its because she represents so many qualities they lack. Sarah is going to continue to give liberals hives so long as she chooses to stay involved in politics.
Go Sarah! Your detractors continue to impload.
Are we sure the report was correct? After all since the reporter despises the use of notes so much he cant have taken any.
As to why they despise her- she comes from the far west, and talks in a funny western accent. How often haqs that mistake been made?
iIf, and that is an awfully gargantuan IF, Sarah Palin were as dumb as the left, some of the right and most of the intelligentsia/journalists, why do they worry about her so much?/i–GMR
With all respect to GM here, I dont think that worry is precisely the correct descriptive.
They are not worried. They lack the imagination and/or the wisdom to be worried. What they are is i offended/i. They cannot believe that she is STILL here.
Shes a fool, a clown, a joke. They see that so clearly and are just enraged that the unwashed are too obtuse to agree with them. She dont use those big words like they all do. Shes a Rube !!
You think that the usual suspects in the US are abusive and disdainful. You aint seen nothing ! Here in Canada, even her name is a pejorative.
I gave up even discussing this subject with my fellow citizens here. They are beyond hope. To-day for example the big thing is their wish that she be the Republican Nominee for 2012. They are all atwitter with the inbred thought that Obama would then be GUARANTEED re-election.
Guaranteed. He could not possible lose to a Joke. A stupid woman joke at that.
I keep warning them that they have no knowledge of US politics at all and that they are merely projecting their delusional inner monologues onto the World, but it does no good.
So now I just laugh at them and mock them unmercifully. In a haughty disdainful manner, of course. They deserve no better, and I am just the person to deliver the message.
I was NOT impressed with Palin in 2008. She was frankly out of her depth. Way Way Way out of her depth.
BUT — in 2010, she pretty much rocks. I saw her on FoxNews Sunday with Chris Wallace. I like Mr.Wallace. He is very very good at what he does and is very professional doing it.
As someone on another site said rather colorfully — She clubbed him like a baby seal.
I think even he was impressed. She was that good.She really was. At least,a 200% improvement over 2008.
So I advise the usual suspects to keep right on laughing at her. It will be ever so amusing and droll for them. Right up to the point where they look up in horror to find her towering over them — club in hand.
Then bI/b can start laughing.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. — Gandhi
The Faux Aristocrats among us, mostly on the Left, hate her not only because of the reasons listed above (I have to disagree with the Caped Crusader, Willie and Bambi arent really that intellectual; good little sociopaths, they honed their techniques for manipulation in the Ivy League), but because she is from and of the working class they claim to be fighting for but actually despise. The Aristos on the Right that hate her are from the old Prescott Bush tradition and think she is too lowbrow to ever be President – something they thought of Reagan, even though they might jump on the bandwagon later.
Andrea Mitchell, an Obama cheerleader at NBC News, reported that Palin speech was red meat.
What on earth could she mean?
Oh noes!
First, the hand-
But now, an exclusive with the crib-notes the MSM spiked:
PALIN HAD OTHER CRIB-NOTES WRITTEN ON HER BODY!
http://naturalfake.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/palin-had-other-crib-notes-written-on-her-body/
At the root of all this is the idea that the people are not fit to govern themselves. Theyre too stupid, too inferior. Hence, the arrogant totalitarianism at the heart of progressive politics and, sadly, the Democratic Party.
The left succeeded years ago in convincing the American people of the false idea that the Ivy League produced the best and the brightest. The leaders who supposedly possess the rare and unique knowledge and ability to run the US. Sarah Palin greatly and publicly undercuts that idea thereby scaring the hell out of the elitists on all sides – the Brooks, Frums and Noonans and assorted progressive RINOs along with the liberal academic, political and media elites.
I like Palin, but I wouldnt condemn her to life as a politician. Losing VP candidates generally disappear (vide Quayle) from active politics — the only one I can remember who later won the Presidency was FDR, and he was Governor of NY at the time. It goes without saying that there is a double standard.
Palin is the village idiot, Obama is the greatest orator, a most eloquent speaker. The village idiot wrote a few words on her palms to remind her the key points, the greatest orator, the most eloquent speaker cannot utter a coherent thought without TOTUS. (To paraphrase a blogger: TOTUS comes to town, Obama tags along.)
Someone is elevating the village idiot to the level of the greatest orator, or lowering the most eloquent speaker to the level of the village idiot.
Somehow, I detect a joke here. Im too embarrassed to laugh.
If you mean each and every person deserves our respect, honesy, and caring, Palin does. But her speech was a spouting of erroneous misinformation and it is being touted as substantial and meaningful. She delivered sound bites at a rally whose theme seems to go back to the 60s: love it or leave it. The policies the Tea Party support seems to be the losing policies of Bush/Cheney era. If we stay polarized and not inclusive, than we all lose.
I did not know this was a word until just now: indite.
Batman @ #7 makes an interesting point about our most intellectual presidents: Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barak Obama. I would include Herbert Hoover amongst the group. What you should note about them is that with the possible exception of Bill Clinton, those who served before Clinton were failed presidents; the one after Clinton is well on his way to being a failed president. Brilliance (or seeming brilliance) in academia apparently does not make for a successful president.
Ari Tai @ #12 brings up POTUS mispronunciation of corpsman. If a Republican had done that, or if Sarah Palin had done that, dont you think the MSM would be all over her for being such a dunce? Remember Dan Quayle and potatoe? But this POTUS gets a pass.
She is a white woman married to an Eskimo man. Its a racist thing. Leftists never could abide an Eskimo. These days, they wont even eat Eskimo Pies, they are so repelled by Governor Palin.
Even worse! On her other hand, it said, REMEMBER, corpsman is pronounced like corman not corpseman This woman is just evil, thats all.
I really dont like listening to Palin, because she uses the same verbiage again and again. There seems to be no depth to her words. I know there is depth to her understanding, just not to her articulation.
Would I vote for her for Prez. Yeah. Shed be a very pragmatic President. Her instincts are solid. Her values are solid. Her understanding is generally solid. Just her articulation of things does nothing to stimulate my mind. I can live with that.
Results are all that matter, and her track record is solid. THATS what counts. Obama had no track record of success. Not very surprisingly, he still doesnt.
When my high expectations about someone are dashed, I tend to be harder on them than if such expectations had never arisen.
I noticed Palin in 2007 (sic) and viewed her as a potential President. I was delighted when McCain picked her, and elated by her convention speech. After that it was downhill.
I reluctantly excused her because she had not sought the nomination.
However, it was the last straw when she resigned as governor.
Jay: You would know.
1. Presidents have always read speeches, whether on paper or prompters. Palin read her speech today.
2. The three items on her hand were her answer to the question, “What do you think are the top three things that have got to be done?” She knew she would be asked for the three things on her hand.
3. Obama’s Q&A’s are not scripted. The Q&A last week in which Republicans were so schooled that they expressed regret for allowing cameras in was not scripted, because it was Republicans who asked the questions.
Roger Kimball
What you are missing is the pure high school clique style status games that Palin brings out in our Political Elites.
I had a conversation with a political semi-pro friend of mine about the women’s high school clique status games that seemed to be involved in the Main Stream Media’s and particularly female Democrats attacks on Gov. Sarah Palin when she first emerged in the Summer of 2008.
My friend asked me to talk to my wife about it.
What my wife said was the status games I talked with my friend about were (and still are) there. What we both missed was the “politics of women’s fashion.”
Palin’s fashion style is more overtly sexual and is very much a red flag for Hillary’s “Pants suit brigades.” Who adopted a slightly softer male style as their “class uniform” to break the glass ceiling. The skirts and heels denote a “conservative” (i.e. old fashion, women as men’s pets) style.
This fashion meaning is most obvious to those somewhere between my folks generation (60′s) and hers (early 30s).
Really feminist women in their late 40′s and 50′s see the use of more feminine styles on a subconscious level as a sell out to men…and a threat to them.
Palin’s fashion appeals to women of my mother’s generation — who were turned off by the 1st Generation Feminist’s “Mao uniform” pants suits.
Women of wife’s generation (early 30′s) and younger like Palin’s “sexy librarian” style. But those in the middle see it as a step back for women’s rights.
For those women, Palin might as well have been wearing a bustier and leather hot pants.
My wife actually pointed this out to me before I asked via high lighting a conversation about Palin vs Hillary’s style. Specifically a comment between my Mother (late 60′s) and my Aunt (early 70′s) that Palin had the nice legs to wear a skirt that Hillary didn’t. And that was a “typical women” conversation my wife had difficulty in getting into in terms of cattiness. (She is a Texas Aggie Bio-medical Engineer, AKA nerd-girl, at heart.)
See the video at this link starting at the two minute mark through to the end.
http://military.rightpundits.com/2008/08/29/craig-ferguson-sarah-palin-is-naught-alaskan-librarian/
My wife and I agree that it catches the societal vibe that is driving the “pants suit” types nutty.
I sent the above observation — with an September 13, 2008 Alex Beam column titled “The discreet charm of Republican Women” — to an e-mail list I am on and got the following analysis:
“Okay, let’s break it down.
A few thoughts ahead of that.
My girl friend says that when women are in public they are in competition for attention. I think that is, at least in part, self-reflection but that’s something to keep in mind with that sub-set. (She’s also the type that would be a ‘red-state to blue’ if she didn’t essentially like and enjoy America. She had huge issues with small-town ‘name’ girls growing up.)
Subsets:
1. Abortion flinch. Many liberal women of the 30-60 subset had abortions or were ‘supportive’ with friends on abortions. Palin’s clear ‘walk the walk’ position puts them in an automatic guilt condition. They can try to spin it but at 3AM the ghost of children lost come back to haunt them. Especially the ones that are past reproductive and ‘choice’ is just a word from their past.
2. Baby-envy: Call it a voice from the past but alot of women who ‘never had time’ for children miss them. For males, the cultural and biological imperative, whatever feminists and new-age guys might think, is ‘get the girl.’ For women it’s kids and to a lesser extent a good husband. We’re culturally and biologically wired for it. Palin has gotten the kids and…
3. Husband-envy: Just as a bunch of conservative males are going ‘Where is Wasilla and are there any more like her around?’ women of all strains are looking at a long-running marriage between a hard-working but only moderately successful man and a female powerhouse who still cooks and takes care of the house and are just shaking their heads in envy. Todd is one of the unsung heroes of this thing. He doesn’t seem to have a trace of envy for his power-house of a wife (which is really rare) and whatever their internal strife they’ve made it through alot of rough times together and are still ‘fun’ enough to take bets between each other with a tatoo as a pay-off. They survived the birth of a Down’s Child. That’s a major hit in any family no matter how devoted.
For ‘First Wives’ (or second or third or fourth) that has to hurt.
4. Homecoming Hate: Face it, most liberal women are dogs. They may or may not have been quite as abused by the ‘prep’ girls in school as they whine about but they certainly weren’t in the in-crowd.
There’s plenty of evidence that neither was Sarah Palin but she has that look. She was a beauty pageant contestant, a jock and still has the ‘hot’ look in her forties. For the unwashed, patchoulli-smelling ‘I-don’t-shave-my-armpits’ liberal type female that has to just piss them off.
5. Out-cliqued: This is, at base, one of the things I think is going on in this. The elite women, the ‘lunching ladies’ from WaiterRant, the hyper-feminists, the media elite women, have their clique and it has its specific dos and don’ts and they decide who is and is not a female elite.
Suddenly along comes this…hick who has just totally thrown off their control of the process. She can’t even be dismissed as a Gold-digging little whore like that bitch who slept with Husband One. She’s a successful woman who has clawed her way up through the ranks of the political process and even if she skipped a few steps at the top she still can’t be totally dismissed.
It’s a loss of control over who’s who. Which is, for them, all they really have left.
6. ‘Did it all’ envy: Faced by a person who just shines who has some similarities to the viewer, people who are clearly extraordinary cause automatic envy. ‘There is no admiration without scorn.’ Studies of monkeys cover it nicely. Betas constantly test and pester the alpha because they feel they should be alpha. Happens with males and females. We call it ‘envy.’
Palin has done it all. Happy marriage, kids, good husband, successful career… and she’s done it all from the ‘enemy’ camp.
This is the basis of Palin-Hate but I think it’s only one part.
There are others and I may not have articulated the above well.
But the real killer is unified and overlapping sets. Say that each of these has some ‘hate’ numeric against it. Give each a rating of 1-5. But they’re not additive, they’re more like a log function as is any psychological response. ‘Stress is not additive it’s synergistic.’
Say you’ve got a woman who never had an abortion but has been a strong ‘pro-choice’ proponent her whole life and has emotionally supported and encouraged friends who had abortions. Give her a 2 on that. She, herself, is childless. 3 numeric. She was once married to a power-husband who ditched her and got Wife Two. 5 on that one. She’s probably fairly good looking so give her a 1 on Homecoming. Etc.
Eventually she’s seeing red.
This is especially going to be the case among the lunching lady set. The ones in this article, as described, mostly are childless and that is rarely from 100% successful birth control. I would guess that most of them are divorced at least once (and not ‘starter’ marriages but are discards from ‘power’ husbands.) Ditto the core of women in the media, most of whom hit two or three, even five, of the above.
At a certain point you hit full-out, 100%, eye-searing, blood-blind hatred.
Which works for me because nothing spells disaster for her own side like a woman who is acting scorned while the men in her life are going ‘Jesus, she’s off her meds again…’
A great deal has happened since Nov 2008, but those cultural markers have not changed.
This is the base reason for Sarah Palin’s enduring Love/Hate in our media culture.
Andrea Mitchell, an Obama cheerleader at NBC News
She’s still alive? Who knew.
From what I gather, she cleaned up a lot of corruption in AK. That alone would be enough to terrify any of the current crop of grafters, errr I mean politicians…
using 3×5 cards?
sounds like she was taught to give speeches by my professor of Speech 200 at the state university…
That is how you give speeches: You use cards and talk spontaneously, instead of reading, which can lead to very boring talks.
Hooray for Palin! I saw her on Fox News Sunday today and she was pretty terrific.
I like the line about TOTUS comes to town and Obama tags along. America needs a leader, not a reader. ABO 2012
Yeah. Palin is so stupid. She probably doesn’t understand that there are 57 states in the US and she probably doesn’t understand that there is a language called Austrian, unlike our illustrious Harvard educated leader.
Get a grip people. If you want to mock anybody for being ignorant and/or stupid there is no better target than the current President of the United States. Anyone who needs a teleprompter to address a group of elementary school children is, to put it mildly, mentally challenged.
“Obama’s Q&A’s are not scripted.”
BS. This is a guy who had a special teleprompter built into the back of the White House press room before he went to talk to them. That way the normal ones wouldn’t show up in the pictures, but he could still be fed his words, like a sad little Muppet.
BTW — Obama also writes notes on his hands. They’re to remind him which teleprompters to look at, and read “left” and “right”.
Of course, Johnson over at Little Green Nutballs picked this up and ran with it. You know it’s bogus if it shows up there.
If I knew that every time I opened my mouth liberal journalists heads exploded, I’d smile too. That’s a win win situation, “You betcha”.
For some real fun, go over to the HuffPo and read the commments. Those libtards actually compare her crib notes to Obozo’s use of the Teleprompter. That’s right, they’re calling her a hypocrate for criticizing Obozo because she has those crib notes.
Just for the record, I think I’ve discovered why BHO won’t speak without a teleprompter. It was revealed when Obozo met with the Republicans.
He accidently told the TRUTH. (Remember his comments about things “snuck” into the health care bill?)
He needs the teleprompter to remind him of what lies he’s telling today.
jd
http://www.jaydee007.net
“Huffing and Puffing Post”
LOL
Too funny!
How can any MSM journalists change their minds when they have their heads up Obama’s rear-end? They can’t see anything.
You know you’re over the target when you’re taking a lot of flak. Obviously Sarah Palin is right on top of the target since she is constantly being bombarded by flak. What is so disappointing is that she seems to get as much flak from the conservatives/republicans as she does from the liberals/democrats. Maybe the only difference is that the republicans aren’t quite as nasty. I’m for Sarah. We definitely need a breath of fresh air. If we have to put Romney, or Huckabee, or God Forbid Gingrich up against Obambi in 2012 we may as well not even have an election.
After President Obama uses teleprompters for a 6th grade class & committee meetings & everywhere else he talks, the MSM has the gall to criticize Palin for using little notes on her hand? The MSM is scared to death of Sarah Palin & this just underlines how desperate they want to destroy her.
We are often TOLD that Uhhbama is intellectual, brilliant, bla bla bla. What we observe, though, is that when the TOTUS is absent, he can barely craft a coherent sentence.
And– this is very important– we have NO DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE of his brilliance. No grades, no papers, no NOTHING, not even from high school.
Almost every loud lefty intellectual will immediately produce such things whenever challenged.. witness Olberdork and his degree from Cornell cow-feeding school. They are HYPER sensitive about their intellects and credentials.
So why has NO LEFTY, no journalist, nobody, ever publicly demanded that the brilliant intellectual Uhhbama produce such things? Forget the birth certificate, as that will most likely show that his parentage is rather poorly documented. Who cares, really. But what about his GRADES?
If a man is sold to me as a brilliant intellectual, I’d like to see some perfunctory attempt to prove it before I accept it wholesale.
First of all, President Obama’s addiction to the teleprompter is eminently worth mocking.
Oh please, you bow-tied buffoon. Even if you don’t like Obama, you have to admit that he tore every Republican customer a new one at their little retreat for hours. Palin would have been stammering and looking for help from the moderator after about three minutes. Why is she smiling? I assume it has something to do with the vast amounts of chemicals that are inserted into her body before every appearance, so that she can approximate the behavior of a normal person and not a bat-sh^% crazy millenarist meth-addict.
Happy, well-adjusted woman with husband who loves her does well in another public appearance. Those who hate happy, well-adjusted people have a very bad day.
With respect to Senator Brown:
“Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
Oh, how I wish he’d go away”
— Antigonish (1899)
William Hughs Mearns
The Left demonizes Sarah Palin both because they fear her, and because she puts a spotlight on the Left’s lie that “women” HAVE to promote abortion whenever abortion is an option.
Those on the right who demonize Palin because they feel they are building their “intellectual credibility” by doing so. In fact I have pretty much decided that the best way to identify a poseur intellectual on the right is by how much they hate Sarah Palin. It’s like a badge of honor for people whose insecurity in their own intellectual abilities is so severe that they have to look for ways to advertise their credentials.
They aren’t crib notes. They are a bear-scare.
TELEPALMTER!
If she keeps doing that Todd will go blind.
Why do people on the Right show contempt for her? Coastal people express contempt rather than hatred. It is a substitute, you see. To express hatred, you have to have balls. Oh, by the way, George Herbert Walker Bush expressed contempt for Reagan in the most dramatic fashion, calling his economic policies “Voodoo economics.”
John McCain and his crowd are coastal people. They and Palin are like oil and water.
People on the Left hate Palin because she is honest and straightforward. Reagan had the same qualities. Leftists can engage in conversation only when given the nappy blanket of Hegel or, better for them, the Frankfurt School.
I am shocked that folks do not remember that Reagan was hated and distrusted more than Palin is. Johnny Carson was not an ideologue but he said on his show that his old friend Ronnie was to the right of Atilla the Hun. “Doonesbury” did a series on Reagan that lasted for months and caused the cartoon to be moved from the funny pages to the editorial pages. “Doing yourself in” on the funny pages shows a form of hatred that is clearly self-destructive.
Palin has as much a chance of success as Reagan did. Reagan proved that what the country wanted and needed was not a genius but an honest and straightforward American. Obama has proved conclusively that the trappings of genius are worthless in a president and ever so dangerous in a candidate.
Palin has the advantage over Scott Brown that he is not a conservative but a liberal Republican. I believe that she has as good a chance at getting the nomination as Reagan did in the same time frame.
I started posting on Huff&Puff a couple months ago just to add to a growing sensible community of conservatives who could slip a countering thought into the realm on occasion. I would like to see a lot more conservatives start participating there and demonstrate that the Huff&Puff Oba Mao 20%s really are out on the lunatic fringe. Besides, the Rahmtards are perhaps the most incompetent opponents you will find on the net to play with … absolutely.
Adviser to Palin: “Sarah, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I asked you if you wanted to use DIGITAL media during your speech….”
“First of all, President Obama’s addiction to the teleprompter is eminently worth mocking.”
Especially when it accidentally speaks Ebonics and needs a phonetic spanking!
I don’t know, Roger–are you being a bit feint of heart here? Praise Sarah, but be sure to indicate you don’t want here as president?
After two-war, deficit, bush, and obama, just what exactly constitutes a qualified candidate? Folks thought the liberal washingtong business as usual mccain made a good republican candidate?
I don’t know that conservatives are after Palin so much as RINOs–establishment liberal republicans who are finding that going along to get along isn’t working for them.
Oh, come ON now. Don’t leap to the defense of the palm-notes, it’s patently ridiculous! Aren’t any of you worried that the three notes she wrote on her hand weren’t detailed policy notes, like a high schooler would use when cheating on a test — you know, tricky stuff like specific dates or names of bills. She wrote down thematic talking points: things every tea partier should be able to rattle off unconsciously!
I don’t begrudge notes if you’re trying to remember something specific and difficult, but PLEASE. “Tax cuts” “energy” and “lift American spirits”?! Those aren’t specific trip-wires, they’re rallying lines. That’s just incredible.
Unfortunately on the left and on the right exists as David Brooks would say the educated calss, or is the self appointed educated class. They come frmm mostly Ivy leagues schools of stature that haeve been riding ont heir high prices, high profile faculites and on basically on fumes for decades. Unfortunatelyt these self appointed thin they were annointed to sit in judgement of everyone. They are scared silly that someone will expose them for what they are, worth less to society. Ms. Palin on the ohter hand scars the liver out of most of theses folks, she is real and they can’t deal with real. They know litlle of real, they are the spoiled brats of society who must step on someone elses neck to inflate themselves. They exist to a large degree left of center but we have these folks on the right also. None of thes folks right or left believe in liv berty of the unwashed and th is why Sarah scares them, liberty you see would make them more useless to society than they are now.
BATMAN writes ‘Who were the most intellectual Presidents in the past 100 or so years? Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barak Obama.” Can you pleas explain how Barack got on your list what EVIDENCE do you have of his intellectual prowess have you seen his SAT scores his College dissertation his College results. No thought not you are just parotting what everyone on the left says without any EVIDENCE at all. I know you are not a ‘lefty’ but please don’t be duped by their BS.
Mr. Kimball:
“What’s not to like? ”
Exactly. She’s smarter than she’s credited for, is easy on the eyes,(and always has been), is fertile, loyal to her husband, whom she apparently does NOT treat like a big mangy dog that would like nothing better than to plop down on her parlor carpet during a dinner-party and commence licking his own johnson,(consider Hillary Clinton’s demeanor towards Bill, even if Bill was EXACTLY such a critter, which he was…it was still unseemly); she was apparently popular in school and was good at sports.
Is it any wonder that they hate her guts?
In many of the Left, her presence causes panic attacks related to their own repressed latent heterosexuality.
To others, she represents the thin, pretty, popular girl that they were NOT.
And to still others, she will be disliked because, like George W. Bush, she “talks funny”, so she must therefore be some flavor of imbecile.
I’m not advocating that she run for President, I’m not advocating that she not run. She’ll do what she thinks is best for her and her family and the nation, and she doesn’t need any advice from me…I’ve never been Governor of anywhere.
But I think that I could live with her for at least a term.
Could she muck it up worse than the Ivy League boys have?
@56 Original Child Bomb:
You are getting all wee weed up.
Bwahahahahahahaha.
#54 the only tearing he did is because he was PROTECTED by Rules of Engagement not allowing the REPUBS to respond to his lying answers to their questions. and by the way your vile post proves you to be yet another lib with little evidence of functioning cerebral cortex.
#67 Pragmatist: I consider myself rightly chastened. Yes, there is really no evidence that BHO is ACTUALLY an intellectual. (He just plays one on TV — LOL) But he has been anointed as one. Wilson was somewhat of a scholar and actually wrote books that are still read in some circles — especially Congressional Government. Carter was a nuclear engineer. Nixon wrote quite a few books of some note. Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar. But you are correct that BHO’s bona fides for being an intellectual are primarily the creation of the MSM.
And by the way, I personally do not find him such a great speech maker, but that may be a matter of taste. True greatness has been found only in Lincoln, Churchill, and perhaps Jefferson, if we are looking for political leaders who could speak or pen rhetorical excellence.
Bilgeman at #68:
“But I think that I could live with her for at least a term.
Could she muck it up worse than the Ivy League boys have?”
Right on Bilgeman!
John @ 29: Yeah, I just love that inclusive feeling I get from the Left! Or maybe… not so much, eh?
Al Fin @ 32: Todd Palin is an Eskimo? Huh. Who knew? Or really… cared? According to the link he is maybe 1/8th.
Original Child Bomb @ 54: Criminy, Pot. Meet. Kettle. You are proof of your own points.
Palin is what Liberals and intellectual RINO elitists fear most – a real person with a real life. A person happy in their own skin. These demented soul-crushed ghouls hate anyone who is not the same depraved type as themselves. They hate us normal people who have normal lives. We are just so…… normal. When they are faced by us they shrink as a vampire splashed with Holy Water would react – they screech, cry and run in fear mouthing vile insults.
Who woulda thunk that the progeny of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thacher would be a gorgeous babe from Alaska?
And y’all talk about Obama’s cult of personality? LOL!
See what is written on Obie’s palm:
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2010/02/sarah-palin-has-had-us-in-palm-of-her.html
Sarah has replaced Doris Day as my secret love. I love it when the Treasoncrats go nuts.All you have to do is say her name and you can bet blood pressures will rise. Have a stroke Dems. Sarah is here to stay, get use to it.
RUN SARAH RUN
It’s too funny. In the late summer of 2008 when candidate John McCain announced his curious choice of a running mate, I immediately ran to the computer to do a google-search of the name, “Sarah Palin”. I knew next-to-nothing about the woman other than the fact that she was the governor of Alaska. The first thing in her paper-thin biography that stood out for me was the date of her birth: February 11, 1964. I remember that day – distinctly! That was the day my beloved grandma, Loretta Doran Clements, died in South Bend, Indiana at the age of sixty-eight.
But other than that interesting coincidence there was not a heck of a lot in her biography that really stood out. Truth be told, I was more than a little puzzled as to why the GOP would think her an asset to the ticket. The moment she opened her mouth at her first campaign stop in Dayton, Ohio, I could only think of one thing:
Sally Field as “Gidget”.
When someone like Sarah Palin can make it as far as she has, it can mean only one thing and it’s not a particularly good sign: we are living in a culture that has been custom-tailored for idiots. When a person who can barely put two coherent sentences together without the aid of a teleprompter becomes one of the best-selling non-fiction authors of the decade, that’s usually a pretty good indicator that society is spiraling downward at a fairly decent clip. Fasten your seat belts, kiddies!
I had always believed that Monty Python alumni Michael Palin was the funniest person in the world to bear that name. In fact it should be stated for the record that the two Palins are equally funny. The only difference is that Michael works very hard at it. Sarah’s funniness, on the other hand, is purely accidental. The woman is a scream; the Buster Keaton of unintentional comedy.
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
“Hi Mom!”
@38. Trent Telenko
Thanks for trying to explain it. Makes sense to me. Your analysis explains why much of the Palin criticism is so over the top it’s actually counter productive.
Like for example comment 54 by Original Child Bomb.
sarah palin is a gem of a human being. who cares what the obamanation’s say about her. they recognize the ‘threat’ that she is to them and they recognize the strength of her character. with all the liberal democrats puke they try to smear her with, they can’t get it off their own clothes and faces. go sarah. keep up the good work. go conservatives.
Better watch out Lefties and RINOs — Sarah Palin is going to gobble you up. Remember humankind cannot bear very much reality.
38. Trent Telenko:
The analysis you posted has much to commend it. My own take is that Sarah Heath Palin is the Straight’s ambassador to the rest of the nation. She embodies all the virtues of a normal, free and life-loving society — and the Crooked, who dominate our coasts and our political class, absolutely cannot stand to be compared with her.
One of the most telling things Ayn Rand ever wrote was in Atlas Shrugged, when philosopher-in-hiding Hugh Akston described the heroes of the story to Dagny Taggart as normal men. A free, normal man among other free, normal men is capable of achievement, innovation, generosity, justice, and heroism…all of which the detractors of Sarah Heath Palin must see destroyed, if their agenda is to triumph.
A cusp is upon us, friends. Be vigilant.
“Those on the Right” who hate her are not really on the right. They are republicans who socialize with, and want to be liked by, leftists. They are pro-abortion, they and their kids have the same worthless degrees from the same ripoff colleges, they know what confit is, and they only pop the xanax when things are really, really tough. Their wives have all had work done and they are tireless viewers of Law and Order. They are the ones who actually believe that people like Rosa Delauro will respect them if they can demonstrate to her how reasonable they are.
Forget them.
With regard to Obama’s performance at the Republican meeting, only simple questions were allowed and above all, no, I repeat, no, follow-up questions were allowed.
That meant that the session turned into a monologue, a preaching performance by Obama. He would be asked a question and would reply for a ten minute pontification, filled with misinformation, outright falsehoods and non-answers. And could not be called to account for all these false statements.
These include hisdevious answer to the Republican complaint that the WH did not have them participate in Health Care analysis. His ingenuous response, suitable for an 8 year old, was, ‘but I read your submission’. So what? A further question, not allowed, would be: ‘But what did you have against the advice in that submission’? Not allowed.
And his equally ingenuous comment that some things he had previously publicly rejected had ‘snuck in’ to the Bill. A question would be: ‘How did they sneak in? All by themselves’? Who and why did it? And what are you going to do about it? No questions allowed.
As for Palin and the crib notes – if they are not photoshoppd, then they make no sense. They provide no information. The word ‘energy’ is informtionally empty. Does it mean internal drilling? Or kinetic energy? Or emotional energy? And so on.
They are informationally empty keywords. What is puzzling is that they are the basic principles of conservativism and the Tea Party. Palin repeats these key themes every day. All day. She needs no reminders. These themes aren’t some obscure formula or theme. I repeat – they are the key principles of the Tea Party conservativism. Since Palin is promoting these principle every day – and has been for over a year – she needs no ‘crib notes’.
Obama, on the other hand, can’t answer a question without it being pre-screened. And can’t give a speech without a teleprompter. And can’t engage in questions-and-further questions on his answers. That’s why they’ve kept him from press conferences and confined him to rehearsed presentations and screened interviews.
Why do the left hate Palin?For all the reasons others have listed. And because she is the Voice of mainstream America. The left, and that includes Obama, considers these people as ‘unwashed rednecks’, as peasants to their elitist authority. As such, the left considers these people should just ‘shut up’ and do as they are told. Heh. But they are speaking out – and Palin is speaking out. The left reject criticism from the peasants.
#78 Tom Degan:
“When someone like Sarah Palin can make it as far as she has…”
Really? Just out of curiosity, clarify what Sarah Palin is “like”…be SPECIFIC, please. She’s “funny”, okay…we got that. Now what else?
“The moment she opened her mouth at her first campaign stop in Dayton, Ohio, I could only think of one thing:”
That not-so-deep down inside you is an English upper-class Public School “Received Pronunciation” twit?
“When a person who can barely put two coherent sentences together without the aid of a teleprompter becomes one of the best-selling non-fiction authors of the decade, that’s usually a pretty good indicator that society is spiraling downward at a fairly decent clip.”
Whereas such a one becoming President is a sign of progress?
“…we are living in a culture that has been custom-tailored for idiots.”
Well, you certainly provide the proof for your own assertion there, chummie.
You are right…Obama can’t put two sentences together without the aid of the teleprompter. Palin may have had a couple of words on her hands to prompt her speech…prompt not dictate the words that someone else wrote for him to say….If these “hand notes” are coming from Huffington, they are probably cut and paste anyway…
“you betcha”!!! GO PALIN!!!
55…ditto
Also, I agree that Palin is a real person with a real life. She has a real family, real bills, real friends. Not some made up Alinsky crap like Obama…
Obama uses a teleprompter and can’t talk to a group of children without it, huge difference there… he is a failed community organizer, and a failed president. Will he take that teleprompter thing with him when he leaves? Does he not have an original thought? Obama’s handlers will never allow his grades or writings to be published.
I think they are hermetically sealed in an underground cave..somewhere..
the demons of hell sourround them from do gooders..
I am not comfortable with Sarah Palin running for President. Not that I don’t like her – I do. She’s my kind of woman.
Natural beauty, motherly, athletic and fit, comfortable with gender differences without feelings of inferiority, the kind of smarts that you can’t get from a school book and worth far more. “Betcha” Sarah Palin is a joy to be around and a lot of fun. Married to one like her, not afraid to take a fish off the hook and cook dinner, though my wife wouldn’t bother to get pretty to work in the kitchen for an interview with the press. Heck, my wife might not even put make up on (except lipstick, like her mother) and would have stuck with the sweatshirt. Did I say my wife is the achiever in the family? What sane man wants to be married to a nobody nagging shrew or hag – the same type always most critical of Sarah Palin, and the type that frequents the PuffHo board regularly?
I think maybe my hesitation about Sarah is that protective instinct males have if they’re not some effeminate sissy (like the left), though Sarah certainly doesn’t need it. I find myself holding my breath while Sarah is interviewed, knowing she can’t afford one mistake without being unmercifully mocked. Kind of like you do with your own kids.
So I ponder, “why is it I’m hesitant to want Sarah to run?” She damn sure can’t be any worse or more dangerous than what we’ve got now. And I’ll stake my life that the citizens of Wasilla, AK, could run D.C. better than D.C. To paraphrase William Buckley: we could pick 536 souls from the phone book, have a lottery for one as President, and do better.
So here is my advice to the beautiful Mrs. Palin: avoid Oprah at all costs, be yourself, and forgo the overexposure. Not good to be in the news all the time. Smart people know you’re not perfect. Don’t be afraid of a mistake or to misspeak. And lay low for a while gal – you risk looking phony and self-serving. And I don’t think you are.
—————–
Who or what defines intellect? Did I miss the vote to allow the moronic press to determine wisdom? A few degrees from overpriced universities filled with idiot instructors, who also hold too many diplomas and designation themselves as intellect?
How is it intelligent to always arrive at the wrong decisions, make poor choice in friends, and be corrupt? Hell, half of these dolts can’t operate a car. Want a good laugh, dare them to operate heavy equipment but watch at your own risk.
They tell me Jimmy Carter may be our most “intellectual” President? How can that be when Jimmy is probably a twofer? (1) Worst President in history; (2) Worst Ex-President in history.
Am I now to believe a journalism degree from Columbia is more difficult than a degree in engineering, computer science, medical, architecture, physics, accounting, and a host of other difficult subjects from any top-tiered state university? Baloney. Like my dad used to say, “That’s a crock.” Many of the smartest people I know were smart enough to never step foot in the halls of academia. If I were as talented as they were, and knowing what I do now, I wouldn’t either.
I think SP has is probably not a serious contender or the presidency until the 2020s when she will have the majestic appeal of the grand conservative dame. She can become further polished in those intervening years and still be of a good age (late fifties-sixties) to run.
In the near future she will be elbowed out the resurgent blue state attorney I-95 bunch: McDonnell, Christie, S. Brown. This will of course only add to her appeal to women and even get the Bella Abzug types behind her.
68. Bilgeman:
Palin is “easy on the eyes” and “fertile.”
So is Britney Spears, but I don’t turn to her for leadership in our complex and dangerous geopolitical world. Then again, I realize the right has “different’ standards. Unless, of course, ti comes to teleprompters, which Palin uses too.
Hail Rush. Go Sarah! Breed Britney!
why is Palin smiling?
Because she’s retarded. (I’m using satire there, so it’s ok.)
Hail Retard. Go Sarah.
I am no fan of Obama; in fact I think his intellect is mediocre at best. Nevertheless, I think it’s important to be correct in our attacks–my understanding is that he talked to the students without the teleprompter, but used the device for comments to the press afterwards. Another frequent mistake about him is the assertion that he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review–in fact he was President, not Editor (check out his entry on wikipedia). Interestingly, Editor positions are awarded on merit–place in class ranking etc., but no such qualifications appear to be required for the position of President. Finally,I do not think he was a PROFESSOR of law–he was just an instructor/lecturer–a position most colleges have for freshly-minted graduates. Nobody expects original scholarship of such folks, like they do of Professors (even the lowest ranking, assistant professors, are expected to do original work and publish it). Obama did virtually no original scholarly legal work.
Someone needs to tell the Leftists and Palin-haters that they are helping her by dissing the hand notes!! I think this is hilarious. I saw portions of Palin’s talk, and it seemed clear she was reading from notes. The hand notes just make her look like a real person–I’ve got 3 college degrees and I have written on my hand once in a while! Not only that, I see that she wrote “Hi Mom” on her hand while in Texas yesterday–way to go Lefties, giving Palin a chance to make a joke at your expense!!
Palin says Limbaugh meant to be “satirical” in using word “retards”
From the February 7 edition of Fox Broadcsting Co.’s Fox News Sunday:
CHRIS WALLACE (host): OK, but, Rush Limbaugh weighed in this week, and he said this: “Our politically correct society is acting like some giant insult’s taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards, retards.”
PALIN: He was satirical in that –
WALLACE: Wait, let me finish. “I mean, these people, these liberal activists are kooks.” Should Rush Limbaugh apologize?
PALIN: They are kooks, so I agree with Rush Limbaugh. Rush Limbaugh was using satire to bring attention to what this politically correct –
WALLACE: But he used the “R” word.
PALIN: Using satire. Name-calling by anyone — I teach this to my children. You teach this to your children and your grandchildren, too. Name-calling by anyone, it’s just unnecessary. It just wastes time. Let’s speak to the issues and again, let’s move on.
WALLACE: But you know what some people are going to say, Governor, and have said. They say, look, when it’s their political adversary, Rahm Emanuel, she’s going to call him out — he’s indecent, apologize. But when it’s a political friend like Rush Limbaugh, oh, it’s satire.
PALIN: I didn’t hear Rush Limbaugh call a group of people whom he did not agree with “f-ing retards,” and we did know that Rahm Emanuel, it’s been reported, did say that. There’s a big difference there.
Palin spox originally criticized Limbaugh, calling his comments “crude and demeaning”
Responding to Palin-Emanuel controversy, Limbaugh says liberals who complained about health care reform “are retards.” On the February 3 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Limbaugh said: “There’s Rahm Emanuel out there, who is in big trouble for calling liberals — for calling liberal activists ‘f-ing retards.’ Sarah Palin demanded that he be fired. Instead he has apologized to liberal activists. He was getting mad at them about health care. … So now, I think the big news is, the crack-up going on — but our political correct society is acting like some giant insult has taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards “retards.” I mean, these people, these liberal activists are kooks. They are loony-toons. I’m not going to apologize for it, I’m just quoting Emanuel. It’s in the news.” [The Rush Limbaugh Show, 02/03/10]
Limbaugh also assured listeners Palin would not denounce his comments. On his February 4 show, Limbaugh addressed his use of the word “retard,” saying Palin “knows that I do this kind of — Sarah Palin is a lifelong listener of this program. … [T]hey’re trying to goad her into denouncing me like they did Emanuel, but she knows that all I’m doing is quoting Emanuel and highlighting that it’s these people who say this kind of stuff.” [The Rush Limbaugh Show, 02/04/10]
Palin spokesperson responded to Limbaugh, saying his words amount to “crude and demeaning name calling.” After Limbaugh’s February 4 comments, the Washington Post Co.’s Greg Sargent posted a comment he received from Palin spokesperson Meghan Stapleton in response to Limbaugh’s words. Stapleton said: “Governor Palin believes crude and demeaning name calling at the expense of others is disrespectful.”
Stapleton told Politico she was not singling out Limbaugh. A February 5 Politico article reported that Stapleton “told POLITICO that the comment given to The Plum Line was not specifically aimed at Limbaugh.” The article quoted her as saying, “The Washington Post is trying hard to take the pressure off the White House by creating a side controversy, but it is missing the point. … As the governor has said, it doesn’t matter who says the ‘r’ word. It should no longer be part of our lexicon.”
Limbaugh says Stapleton called “sort of in a panic” to explain. On his February 5 show, Limbaugh said Stapleton called his chief of staff “sort of in a panic” over the Politico article saying, “I didn’t mention Rush in particular. They kept asking me about Rush, and I kept answering generically. But they kept asking me about Rush, and I just wanted you to know.” Limbaugh said he believed Stapleton over Politico, “no question about it.” [The Rush Limbaugh Show, 02/05/10]
Sargent posts email showing he received Stapleton remark in response to question about Limbaugh. Following the publication of the Politico article, Sargent posted on his blog the “email I sent to Palin spokesperson Meghan Stapleton,” which reads, “[Former Palin spokesperson] Jason Recher said…you’d be reaching out to me about Rush’s use of the term ‘retarded.’” Sargent added: “I subsequently emailed her to be absolutely certain that it applied to Rush. She didn’t dispute this, answering that it applies to “anyone” who uses the term.”
MM
Apparently, unlike many commenters here, I have done public speaking. I don’t write on my hand, but I use an index card or two. And I ABSOLUTELY put the high points on those cards. Why? Because I’ve learned that it is surprisingly easy to FORGET an ENTIRE SUBJECT when you are in front of a crowd, in the lights and speaking without a teleprompter. Without my index card I would have completely forgotten to mention CRITICAL points of my subject. Having that high level item is all I need to remind me to TALK ABOUT IT, and once I remember to talk about it, all the details are right there in my head where they always were.
To criticize Sarah Palin for writing this on her palm indicates to me a complete lack of understanding of what speaking in public is really like when you are speaking on subjects you know well and don’t need detailed notes to cover.
Again, the more someone attacks Sarah Palin, the more they are revealed to be poseur intellectuals. Just like the people who attacked Reagan as “Bedtime for Bonzo B Movie guy.”
Go on and keep underestimating this women. It only makes her look smarter and you look dumber.
The “conservatives”, “republicans” that have harsh/unjust words or snicker when discussing Palin running for office, speeches, or book etc, need to be watched, looked at in a new light, questioned, not to be trusted until they can fully explain themselves outside soundbites.
This is not to say Sarah is a perfect saint, but she’s giving us a new hope. If as a conservative you diss her….we should talk. Why do you disagree…we need sentences with meaning, not flip remarks. She’s an excellent speaker-auditor . Everything Obama does and says has to be orchestrated so that he does not trip over himself with foolish words.
A word on hand to remind you of what you want to cover is nothing compared to a teleprompter to tell you your entire speech written by someone else.
Palin’s a conservative and walks the walk.
She’s a Christian, and walks the walk.
She’s an American and walks the walk…something Obama needs to learn.
I am not a Christian. However the United States is a nation built on Christian values and I respect this.
I respect Palin for her views and the fact that she lives them. If we were a Muslim or Jewish nation it would be different…
The press needs to be questioned, their backgrounds looked into. The conservatives of America need to speak up for what is right…insead we sit as they stomp us ..Where the hell is the conservative Media!??
It is amazing to me that the very people who will rush to Obama’s defense after his repeated broken promises and outright lies will point to a laughable communication between Palin and a spokesperson as some sort of proof that Palin lacks principles. It’s like calling an English teacher incompetent because he misspelled the word “height” in an email.
Again, the purest way to measure the intensity of an ideologue or a poseur intellectual is by how much they hate Sarah Palin. It’s like wearing a big “I’m a hack!” sign in bright red letters.
Excellent article.
May I add one thought: imagine, just imagine for a minute, that Barack Obama would call a press conference and say: “I would like to ask all my supporters, friendly media and commentators to stop harassing, remeaning, insluting and otherwise demonizing Sarah Palin,” that “she is a decent, intelligent, talented, successful woman and an excellent political figure, wife and mother, a role model for our young girls.” To further ask them that, “this is a civil society, a Nation that other countries look up to, and to which the citizens of the World aspire to visit or even live in with their children.” And end his remarks with: “I would like to tell my supporters that I don’t wish to preside over a Nation in civil war, a Nation in which we treat our political adversaries as mortal enemies, but as our friends and neighboors, brothers and sisters in our common endeavor for the wellbeing of all.”
I know one thing, had he the courage and wisdom to do so, he would have been the most popular President this country has ever had. Imagine for a moment, just imagine.
In war you always want to keep your enemy distracted, so you stir up some action on the left flank and attack the off guard right of the enemy. Sarah Palin is a really good distraction, she has great ability to have the left display all their weakness and vulnerable positions so the real charge can be made relatively unopposed. She is fantastic and I for one am certainly glad she is on our side. The enemy fears her greatly, as well they should, they are not stupid and should never be underestimated, they can be treacherous.
“Hey she’s a Rock Star !” apologies2Pink:)
Comparing Sarah to celebrities:
Eartha Kitt, who got herself ~blacklisted
(pun intended) for speaking truth to the
wives of the Powerful: A woman who bears and
raises a child, then has him come home from
Vietnam in a bodybag, is not likely to say
“I find it sweet and proper that my son died
for his country”. Now if it is somebody else’s
son…
Doris Day, America’s sweetheart, who toured
with a Jazz Band for a couple of years before
becoming an eternally innocent virgin.
SarahCuda’s family and political history prove her capable as POTUS, or better, unelected 1st Mom, during the Hard Times ahead.
Always can depend on the Skeeziks to make one correct observation somewhere by accident. PJM is better for it, as Skeez provides the classic case of progressive ‘intellect’ most of us can only attempt to describe in a thread.
Like porn, the elitism of the left is hard to describe, but you know it when you read it.
JF – what a magnanimous suggestion. It would indeed be the gesture of a wise leader.
Unfortunately, Obama is neither wise nor a leader. He’s a malignant narcissist. There’s no room in his world for anyone other than himself. This self, in his view, is all that the masses ought to focus on. No other eminence is allowed.
Remember, this is the man who has had the White House walls plastered, not with pictures of great Americans, nor great American inventions nor key points in its history nor past presidents. No, the walls of the White House open to the public are now covered with pictures..of Obama. Obama.
This is the man whose gift, as head of state, to the British Queen, was an ipod with His speeches on it.
This is the man whose world view is that the pre-Obama era is worthy of endless apologies to the world, and whose current actions in the world are to redefine terrorism as ‘civil misbehavior’, to ignore the democratic aspirations of Iranians, to make repeated ‘final date’ demands to the Iranian dictators, and thus to actually allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
CosmicConservative @ #95 has it right, the words on her hand are just focus points.
The real question is, “Why are the liberals trying to make this out to be proof she’s incompetent?”
The answer, “It’s just a distraction”.
They don’t want anyone to talk about the points she brought up in her speech.
It’s much easier to just vilify her because she had “crib notes” than it would be to defend their point of view with actual facts because there’s a chance they would lose.
I am truly puzzled by the republican establishment’s character assasination of Palin. The left I can understand, but the right? I hear all manner of assertions about here, but I can find no substance.
She did a terrible interview… I watch the interview and she looks very articulate and thoughtful. It goes on and on.
In the manner of Diogenes, I guess I am on a ceaseless quest to find a substantive objection to Sarah Palin.
Obama is not addicted to the teleprompter he simply can not give a speech without it!I believe this is because most of what he says is prompted by someone else, he is merely a mouthpiece. It is simple to give a speech when it is from the heart and TRUE I know because I have done it myself many times.
But if you have to come up with figures that are perhaps not true or exaggerated and are telling stories about other people who you might not even know like the corp
sman then it would requires notes or in his case a teleprompter.#38 Trent – I was thinking similar thoughts before I read yours.
I think the greatest reason the Left hates her is that she is an Alpha Female. The Left is FILLED with Beta Males and Females. She exposes them for their Beta status. They hate her for it, because these weenies who seek power, do so… so that they can masquerade as Alphas… so that they can be perceived as fit to breed. They simply cannot accept that they are Betas.
Obama is a Beta Male, which is why our country is less safe. No one fears a Beta Male. One should never elect a Beta Male or Female. I know it is primitive, but the world is very much a primitive place.
The Russians call Palin, “Okhotnitsa” (Huntress). It is HIGH PRAISE! They respect Alphas.
Much of the silly criticism of Palin is just the leftist ruling class indulging in class warfare.
Okay, I admit the only candidate that countless millions passionately want to run for President, aka The Thrilla from Wasilla, is only 98% perfect. Bummer. However, Darling Sarah is gradually turning voters with negative views of her into voters with either neutral or positive views. Less rabid liberal media are sometimes reporting her straight, with little or no spin. Time is on her side if she wants to run. To get a clue about Sarah Palin you need to go back to Alaska where her rivals and opponents had no delusions about her intelligence or competence. End of civilization as the progressives know it.
Ronald Reagan had a hostile press to deal with his whole career. Reagan also WAS a pioneer in both RADIO and TV, With over 40 years in radio and over 20 in TV before he ever even ran for political office. Any pol running today would be wise to see how Reagan handled the media-remember all the times Reagan would cup his ear with the moron Sam Donaldson shouting at him and telling Sam “sorry Sam, I cant hear you , the chopper is too loud”? Or when he was shot telling the doctors”I hope you are all Republicans”? Reagan was much more than just a conservative politically-he was an example of how to defeat media bias. Notice how Reagan never interviewed with CNN? No accident there. Reagan was the pioneer of the radio address, a practice that continues to this day. Lets look at Sarah Palin and play to her strengths. Shes a whiz in front of a crowd. She looks like a fireside chat type format would play to her strengths. Keep her away from one on one interviews, especially since you know the far left will treat any misstep there as a got ya moment. Sarah Palin is a national asset-lets treat her as such.
I seriously dobut Palin could EVER!! cause more tension, distress, economic and international woe than Obama has and continues to do.
Maybe Obama “does” want a civil war…maybe that is what he and the unwitting MSM are going toward.
There are those on the “right” that are trying to tear Palin down. what is their reason?
I think we need to take a second look at them.
Dems in disguise???
You can have a difference of opinion but this thing on the right is different, they snicker, laugh, little bites here and there
Men are the ones that go crazy on the right…why..
Palin is indeed an alpha!! Hillary has always tried to be, but falls short. Obama, well, NO alpha, perhaps a maimed beta..or..
next time she needs to write “bite me” on her palms
While Palin is not yet ready for the Presidency, she has far surpassed Obama in readiness.
===
Also, #106 .. good point, but I would put Obama at Gamma or less.
Palin is smiling because she got paid a hundred grand for an hours worth of dollar words from an old stump speech. And she also knows those people that paid 500 bucks a ticket to hear that old speech proved P.T. Barnum right…once again. You would be smiling too would you not?
#91 Skeeziks:
“So is Britney Spears, but I don’t turn to her for leadership in our complex and dangerous geopolitical world.”
Maybe you should, it would make as much sense as some of the OTHER choices the Left has made:
John Kerry…Michael Dukakis…George McGovern.
That all aside, I’m old enough to remember “Little Britney Spears” on “Star Search” back in the 80′s, so considering her in a sexual or intimate way kinda skeeves me out.
And, in contrast to Sarah Palin, who has apparently always handled her “loaded uterus with attached vagina” in a responsible and mature manner,
Britney is a skank.
I’m sorry to have to say it because she WAS a cute kid, but she is what she is…totally skankilicious.
When Kevin Federline is adjudicated as more fit to be a guardian of the children than you are, there’s really not much more that need be said, is there?
Corpse-man meet snowbilly. Be afraid.
Palin will donate her money for the speech, and I really don’t care if she keeps every penny. why would it matter? She’s a happy person, has good things to say to a people that are looking for answers to the mess we are in due to Obama.
I believe the main problem here is she is a “female”…gasp. Smarter than the “male” you have in the WH now and you are having a difficult time weeweeing up your leg over that one.
When you do not have plausable arguments, you revert to sexual inuendos, typical.
It is interesting that this thread has twice as many comments as any of the other articles posted today. And it has attracted the most trolls.
I admit to being aghast when Palin was chosen to run with McCain. But between Obama lowering the bar for POTUS like a limbo rod and Palin finding her voice and confidence a little bit, I would vote for her in 2012. Her biggest attribute by the way is her commitment to personal freedom, personal responsibility and limited government. This has to be there – without it, no level of experience, political skill, oratorical skills, etc. means anything. You don’t have to be an eloquent speaker (we don’t have one now) or have a real PHD (ditto) to say “no” to bad legislation and to fill important government positions with reasonable and knowledgeable people and let them do their job.
I was there at her Tea Party speech in Nashville, and yes, that is my poster on the balcony in the photo on the front page of the New York Times from Saturday morning.
Sarah was on fire. She is a force of nature attacking the current statist administration and she is EFFECTIVE.
I handed my Gadsden flag to Jason Recher near the stage asking him to give it to Piper and Trig.
This woman will probably run for POTUS. The primary will be tough, but she will probably win. The GOP establishment will then unite with her and the TPM to win the POTUS back for the GOP because they will see that she is a winner.
After the primary, she simply has to get Ohio back (which has been hammered economically and whose Indies are abandoning Dr. Utopia) which gets her Indiana too. Then she easily takes Virginia back Red with North Carolina following. She gets Florida on the economy or because of a Rubio VP pick. After that, she ONLY needs ONE state from the following due to the movement of electoral votes to red states: Iowa or New Mexico or Colorado or Nevada.
That’s it. She’s POTUS.
Obama is sssssssooooooooo one-term.
And, that’s without his embarassing college transcripts being released showing his poor grades and missing a few units to graduate.
Imagine if Chicago got to host the Olympics. Obama steps up to the teleprompter to make the welcoming speech:
Obama: O! O! O! O! O!
Rahm Emmanuel runs up to the podium and whispers in The O’s ear:
Mr. President, The text is farther down. You’re reading the Olympic logo.
…I long ago placed it in the sacred category of “too good to check.”
As I always suspected, Rog, youre a perfect candidate for Fox News.
…Sarah Palin, when she delivered her speech to the National Tea Party Conference last night had actually scribbled a few words on her left palm.
Yeah, the words said: South Korea-good, North Korea-bad.
i don’t think it a big deal that palin used a cheat sheet or that obama uses a teleprompter. I couldn’t give a speech without one. The part that is somewhat hypocritical to me is that Palin ridiculed Obama’s use of the teleprompter while she herself relied heavily on her notes. I also find it amusing that the far left criticizes Palin so much, but I see the very same kind of criticism the Huffpo folks use on Palin used here on this site against Obama. And i think she is smiling because she is now rich, rich, rich!
Señor Wences just rolled over in his grave.
I gotta learn to flip the chanels faster so I don’t have to see even one second of olberman doing a hand puppet bit. How lame can he get?
103. R.L.Hunter:
CosmicConservative @ #95 has it right, the words on her hand are just focus points.
“Energy,’ ‘Tax Cuts’ and ‘Lift American Spirits’ . . . who needs to be reminded of such things? On the other palm she had written, “See other hand.” Just a reminder. Face it, folks, this is quintessential Palin, a charismatic woman with a telepalmter lecturing about the evils of lecturing. In Russia they call her ВРУН, which means “liar.”
113. Bilgeman:
I think you know a little too much about Britney Spears.
Marc Malone: You wish this were true. Alpha Female? She is MANUFACTURED.
Look, the woman is an embarassment and she is playing both left and right. The woman doesn’t have a genuine bone in her body. I wish, oh how I wish, she were the female Reagan. But she ain’t. And if some of my colleagues on the right don’t own up to this fact, then you have screwed us all. For the gods’ sake (look how I employed the leftist nomenclature) wise up. She will be the ruination of us all. And this is NOT a gender “thang.” I can check off 100 or more Rep reps of the male persuasion who are equally as challenged. But they haven’t been “made” into media mavens. Stop it. Stop drinking that kool aid. You know the Dems are feeding it to you. Why do you think they are keeping her in the limelight? They ain’t scared. They are playing you.
Wise up, get serious, or the country is lost.
She didn’t write anything on her hand. Todd wrote it for her.
>>>>Roger you know the reason for the contempt. It is a standard Alinsky tactic. Demonize the opposition and take every step to ridicule and diminish them.
It’s stage I of the standard Democratic election strategy, based on the (alleged) “five stages of grief”.
Stage I: Denial. “The other guy is so stupid, nobody could vote for him!”
Stage II: Anger. “The other guy is gaining in the polls! How can this be when they’re so stupid? The voters are such morons and idiots! It’s the Republican smear machine again!”
Stage III: Bargaining. “Ok Ok Ok… they’re now dead even with us in the polls… maybe we will claim we are reaching out for them, and call for bipartisanship and stopping personal attacks? Sure it’s obviously hypocritical, but we must convince the voters we don’t REALLY think they’re stupid morons, despite the fact that we obvious do think just that.”
Stage IV: Depression. “Damn. The stupid, idiotic moron was elected by the stupid, brainwashed electorate. Again! America is going down the tubes. I’m moving!”
Stage V: Acceptance. “Well, on the positive side, in opposition we can call everything the president says stupid and evil! That’s cool! And just LOOK what MORONS might run NEXT election! Nobody will vote for them!”
…and back to stage I.
In the last 40 years, this has always been the Democrats’ election strategy. Despite having totally failed to stop the election of Nixon (twice), Reagan (twice), Bush Sr., and Bush Jr. (twice) — not to mention losing them numerous local elections — they keep using it.
Go figure.
SOMEBODY’S being a moron here, but it isn’t Palin.
#123 skeeziks:
“I think you know a little too much about Britney Spears.”
Aye…true dat. But then, don’t we all?
#118 Erica Brigid:
“The text is farther down. You’re reading the Olympic logo.”
Now I don’t care who your are, that there’s teh fun-nee!
Watching the haters go ballistic over Palin writing a note on her palm only serves to illustrate who the real wing-nuts are.
SATIRE ALERT!
Palin is a egotistical f&^king retarded fraud whose only worth in this world is handj&bs abd riling up the ignorant bones&$kers who populate the extreme right wing of a desolate philosophy known as conservatism.
#117
Virginia will be ultimate hypocrites in 2012, clinging to the Obama federal largess that keeps the family fed in outer NOVA. Why do you think he exempted defense spending in his 3-year domestic spending freeze? The defensive black vote may also keep VA, OH, MI, NC and even FL in the O column. While Obama will lose in 2012, I think he goes down only 238-300 or so, strictly on Red State census gains and a few northern state (WA, OR, CO, IA, MN, WI, New England) reversals.
#78 Tom Deegan: You are right;Sarah Palin CAN be hilarious,not as funny as Obamas attempts to pass himself of as an interllect,or as your pathetic attempt to substitute libtard condescension for argumentation.But for a creep afflicted with tertiary syphillis,I think youre a scream!
#129 SKWEEZITS: VD alert!put on your rubber rubber glove PJMers !SKWEEZITS is trolling without his penicillin again!
Why does the left dislike Sarah Palin so much? Because she makes their lie obvious. Consider her family situation when she ran for Vice President. Mom works for state government. Dad is steelworker with some part-time businesses. Hobbies: hunting, fishing, dogsled racing. Oldest child finishes high school, then what? Harvard? Stanford? No, Army. #2 child: knocked up. Throw all these facts at your typical supercilious leftie and they scream “lower class,” and of course the Left is the self-appointed guardian of lower class interests. So for Sarah to reject the Left is an act of presumptuous ingratitude. The Left despises her in the same way, and for the same reason, that they vilified Clarence Thomas 20 years ago.
I don’t think the crib notes on the hand mean anything. I remember seeing a picture of a WWII fighter pilot smoking a cigarette before taking off on his mission–he had notes from the “time hack” briefing written on the back of his hand. And this was a guy who might well have been killed on that mission….
131. deguello:
“You are right;Sarah Palin CAN be hilarious,not as funny as Obamas attempts to pass himself of as an interllect . .. ”
Oh, of guello . . . of guello, of guello, of guello . . . Did you have that written on your hand?
The reason that people mock her I believe is because she seems completely out of her league in the world of politics, it really is that simple. Oh and she thinks the world was created 10.000 years ago by jesus. Please don’t let morons run your lives, we in Britain separated the church and the state hundreds of years ago after countless un-needed wars and Americans (right-wing) seem to want to bring them back together again. On your heads be it.
ps I read some of her book, hahahahaha haha ha h….
109. Knotacommie:
Yeah, and how about that time he created a shadow government that sold arms to Iran? For profit! And lied through his teeth to the American people about it. That was great. Really great. Then again, he did host 20 Mule Team Borax.
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I don’t care if sarah Palin went to 5 colleges. I don’t care if Sarah Palin reads alot. What she has is the ability to make right decisions and do things that no else has done or can do.