I expect cheap shots at Sarah Palin from Politico. It’s why Politico’s news operation has lost much of its credibility with me. Witness the photo Politico decided to run accompanying a hit piece on Palin — not exactly subtle editorializing of what barely purports to be a news story.
But I do not expect name calling and cheap tricks from The Weekly Standard. Yet Matt Labash of The Weekly Standard is Politico’s newest best source of anti-Palin quotes, like the one Politico splashed on its home page today:
Here is the quote (emphasis mine):
“The appeal of conservatism is supposed to be people taking responsibility for their own actions,” said Labash. “But if you close your eyes and listen to Palin and her most irate supporters constantly squawk or bellyache or tweet about how unfair a ride she gets from evil mustache-twirling elites and RINO saboteurs, she sounds like a professional victimologist, the flip side of any lefty grievance group leader. She’s becoming Al Sharpton, Alaska edition. The only difference being, she wears naughty-librarian glasses instead of a James Brown ‘do.”
Naughty-librarian glasses? Real classy. As if comparing Palin to Sharpton were not bad enough.
Does being a conservative now require that we engage in the types of sexualized portrayals of conservative women perpetrated by the left-blogosphere?
What’s next, Mr. Labash, should we double-check to see if Palin had breast enlargement surgery? That will get you quoted in Gawker, too.
Hey, how about some Palin “hand job” jokes at the next Weekly Standard lunch meeting, that should get a round of laughs.
Oh, but pointing that out must make me an Al Sharpton, Rhode Island (and Ithaca) Edition, right?
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Comments
some of the "intellectual" writers on the right are nothing more than intellecual mercenaries who form their opinions based on what will sell in the MSM and on the left of the web …
they need to get real jobs and stop trying to tell us how we should think …
that includes George Will …
Please understand that this is Matt Labash trying to burnish his credentials among the people who can help him get higher paying gigs.
Unfortunately, Sarah Palin, honest and forthright as she is, can't help him do that.
Being a bootlicking Wine Captain for the Ruling Class can.
Nice Going, Matt. When the history of this era is written, no one will ever mistake you for Whittaker Chambers.
Conservative publications have been infiltrated by leftist subversives. Witness the Palin hit piece which also served to shill for the Ground Zero victory mosque and recruiting center at the National Review not too long ago.
She's not the one complaining – WE are. We see how they treat her, and it isn't right – so are we supposed to be silent?
What we do know is – she scares the pants off them. She never votes "present." And she nails HIM each and every time HE does.
Or, you could just note, that much like you, her entire personality is a whine of resentment against unnamed enemies and dastardly libruls and leave it at that.
Dear lord, what did this woman do to earn your loyalty: she quit her job, she's corrupt, she uses the power of the State for personal grievances, she freaks out whenever a reporter asks her a question, she conducts state business on private email accounts, and you've made her a gazillionaire. Does your devotion know no boundaries?
Still, as I've said before: please nominate her
Ms. Labash,
You're becoming Peggy Noonan, Weekly Standard edition.
A "conservative" writes this?
"Being a bootlicking Wine Captain for the Ruling Class can."
First, Palin is a member of the Plutocracy now; you folks made sure of that.
Secondly, how can someone parrot Limbaugh without knowing he is exactly what he's complaining about (he's so connected to the conservative "ruling class" that Clarence Thomas can't belch without Limbaugh knowing what he had for dinner)
Thirdly, since when do you oppose a ruling class? The one thing any 'conservative" will agree with is that we need MORE tax cuts, especially for the people who now own everything. 1% of the country pockets 24% of the money; your policies support this development; and you whine about a millionaire being attacked by a millionaire wannabe?
Section, you is crazy
She sure does scare the old guard, doesn't she? Are they that corrupt?
Maybe they should change their name to
The Weakly Standards
These sort of remarks usually stem from people who have absolutely no class whatsoever. They make me think of a winery my husband and I visited in upstate New York recently called the Pompous Ass. They're so full of themselves that they don't realize that while they're putting Palin down, they're putting themselves down too.
When the history of this era is written LaRue may be remembered but Labash no.
They wrongly attack her for having no ideas. The fact is she has taken policy positions that the Big Government Democrats and the Big Government Republicans just don't like.
She:
1) Opposed START ratification
2) Endorsed Paul Ryan's "Roadmap"
3) Is pro domestic oil drilling
4) Is unabashedly pro-Israel
5) Favors spending cuts closer to Rand Paul's $500 billion than the House GOP's proposals.
6) Opposed McConnel's needless giveaways to reach a deal on tax rates during the lame duck.
I'd rate her 6 for 6 on that short list of "ideas".
But let's say she had no ideas. Does that mean the ideas of the Democrats, such as Cap & Trade, Card check, the healthcare fiasco – which is going to be a bottomless money pit, and the $800 billion stimulus that was used to keep state and local employees in jobs so the unions could siphon off more money to finance future Democrat campaigns are universally considered goood ideas? It is the wonderful ideas from earlier Democrats like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid that are mostly responsible for the $14 trillion of debt that is threatening the government's bankruptcy.
I agree with P.J. O'Rourke who says he votes Republican because Republicans have fewer ideas than the Democrats. Give me someone who thinks the federal government's job is to have fewer ideas about how we lead our lives.
Fear of a Republican Uterus
"along came Sarah Palin, with a state-school education and five children, saying things like, “You betcha!”
Some women who had been all in favor of the presidential ambitions of Hillary Clinton (Wellesley, Yale, exactly one child) were shocked into hysteria by the appearance of Sarah Palin on the national political stage.
Here was The Problem with a potential of exercising substantial political power, and it frightened them to death — her nomination as vice president was like a terrorist act on the part of the Republican Party. She had to be destroyed By Any Means Necessary."
The Other McCain
JAMES TARANTO, WSJ
Not only does Palin take the victim route frequently, most of her supporters, like the Professor, have taken to throwing up the victim defense: "0h, oh, it's not fair to attack her that way. It's open season on conservative women."
Well, it's not. Scores of prominent conservative women can go on TV or radio and talk smartly and persuasively about every topic in current public debate — and then some. Palin can't. She deserved some slack when McCain picked her, but she ought to have been humming along within a few weeks. Instead, two and a half years later, she still finds it necessary to hide from the media and appear only pn Fox. Even then, she couldn't handle Bill O'Reilly who is hardly a political enemy.
It's really too bad but people have to come to grips with the fact that, whatever her appealing attributes, she is either stupid, ignorant or too lazy or self-delusional to bother learning. As the GOP Presidential candidate, she would be a disaster, easily blown away by Obana even if he were to be shackled with all the baggage he is carrying around today.
If you don't realize this glaringly obvious fact about Palin, give yourself a hard smack because you!re dreaming.
The thing that really gets me is that PALIN IS NO LONGER AN ELECTED OFFICIAL. Both "wings" of the media spend more time fact-checking her and slamming her than they do our own elected President.
Which suggests–to me, at least–that someone feels very, very threatened by Gov Palin.
Hey Matt…good luck selling your new book you unfunny jerk.
Palin's a rock.
She could have studied, changed the construction of her sentences, got a voice coach and modified the pitch of her voice. She could have begun to incorporate references to sooth the intelligentsia and "The Ruling Class." Got a wardrobe mistress. Thatcher went through something of a metamorphosis.
Palin declined.
As people here have commented she not stupid, she is the farthest thing from stupid, otherwise we all wouldn't be talking about her, continuously. As someone said what she knows you can't teach.
Soon she will be tested – what we are witnessing now is not the testing – that will come. If and when – I have thought for a while there is no doubt about it – she officially throws her hat in the ring, that will be the test. And she welcomes it. She repeatedly called for a fair and competitive primary. Can this rather small woman from the farthest reaches of our country take on a large part of the power structure both Democrat and Republican, their sainted incumbent and their pet media and win. She certainly has them hysterical.
Hey, J. E. Burke, let the better man win! She's got to win the primaries. If "she still finds it necessary to hide from the media and appear only (o)n Fox" then she certainly will not be the nominee. If, on the other hand, she sweeps across this nation like George Patton and his Third Army I hope as a good Republican you will support the nominee in the general election. As someone recently wrote in a column, she may just be the right man for the job.
It's not just Labash, have you forgotten the equally demeaning things said by Eric Erickson and Tucker Carlson?
These urban elitist weenies–from both parties–who attack Sarah and other conservative women remind me of the old Groucho Marx quip:
"You'll never be the man your mother was."
A lot of so-called Republicans and conservatives have completely lost my respect. Sarah is not one of them.
There certainly is something about her that scares the daylights out of a lot of people For the establishment feminists it's not hard to figure out: She is by her actions and being a direct threat to their ideology and position. And some of it, as Jennifer Rubin pointed out in Commentary nearly a year ago, is plain, old-fashioned class bigotry.
She would not be my first choice and I am astonished to find myself saying "although I'll vote for any Republican in 2013 over Obama." But a lot of people have figured out that she's just a perky ignoramus…and she's run right over them.
I hold Palin in low esteem Presidency-wise but agree, of course, that Labash's boldfaced & baldfaced slurs are beyond the pale.
@Edward Cooper "Weakly Standards" — heh!
The thing about disdain and hate is that they're not very funny. And Labash is a light comedy writer. So much for professional growth.
As Labash descends into the no talent thinking and writing that goes with hate and disdain, he takes TWS with him. Too bad.
It reminds me of the Glenn McCoy cartoon of a guy with a bag labeled "the Left" laying on an analyst's couch and saying to his psychiatrist: "Sarah Palin is obsessed with making me look like an angry paranoid nut."
Thanks, Professor, for rubbing their noses in publishing such tasteless screeching.
Yeah – they are shaking with fear! Notice the increase of troll posts on this thread. As I don't feed trolls, I will not discuss their lame comments. Enough has been said to disprove them as it is.
And, of course YOU, Professor, are a target, since MMFA sent out the signal declaring open season on you. So predictible!
They are: Scared. To. Death. Of. Sarah. She has more 'nads than the whole administration combined – even with Hil! Heh.
The Republicans trash her, IMHO, because she will stop them from feeding at the public trough. They have grown as fat as the porkers on the Left in DC, and anyone who is going to cut off their gravy train of pork is a RINO's enemy. She scares them, too. Big time.
We know danged well what they are doing. And why they hate her.
But we are not easily fooled.
That must have been that knuckle-dragging sexist LaBash I saw sporting the "Iron My Shirt" tattoo coming out of the offices at Politico. Thing is we conservative feminists (liberal feminists can bite me) are growing in numbers and power daily.
Sarah's public is who these guys are trying to herd back onto the GOP Elite Plantation. After all, what do mere voters know about picking a president, huh? Why just leave it to the beltway intellectuals and do as you are told.
That is the message they are sending. I believe they would rather see Obama reelected than have a RINO-BUSTER who is also *GASP* a female of all things, get elected as President.
2012 is going to be real interesting… and their favorite son, Romney, may play well with the Socialists, but not with the Tea Party minded folks.
God, but they just hate the Tea Party… meaning voters who will call out both parties for just cause.
What I do know about Sarah is that she has more executive experience by far than the current occupant of the White House.I also know that she was a very popular governor of the largest state in the union;she worked her way through college and got where she is on her own.She has courage and loves this country.Once upon a time, all of these things would have been applauded.Makes you wonder.
It's bad enough that Matt Labash has to stoop this low, but it's almost just as pathetic that he's so unoriginal that he can't even come up with his own material, and has to rip-off others. Craig Ferguson, the comedian/late night host came up with the "naughty librarian" description of Gov. Palin after meeting her; he was playful about it, so the phrase didn't come off as mean-spirited when he said it. Labash, OTOH, is just crude and lame.
viator and others — people are not writing off Palin because of her uterus, her family, her glasses and hairdo or her accent and among Republicans, certainly not because of her conservative politics. It's because she has proved herself consistently to be a dope. In early matchups against Obama, both of the other well known potential Republican candidates, Romney and Huckaby, are competitive, coming with five points of Obama. In sharp contrast, Palin scrapes the bottom, running 15 points behind Obama. Since everyone on the planet knows Palin and has formed an opinion of her — namely and accurately in my view, that she is a dope — it will not get any better for her. Since Obama will not be a pushover, this makes her a certain LOSER, in addition to being a dope.
Now, in addition to the lame argument that people have ganged up on Palin because she's a woman and didn't go to Yale or Harvard and thus really scares either "them" or the "ruling class," the other pro-Palin argument boils down to saying she's better than Obama. I'll buy that, but it sets up the 2012 race as a choice between a fool and a dope.
And really, what is all this railing against the "ruling class" or supposedly snobby Ivy Leaguers and people who, heaven he'll us all, have spent decades concerning themselves with seemingly intractable problems created by Great Society thinking and policies. No need for all those guys when we've got someone who can go on Hannity and smack softballs with the same half dozen talking points.
You know who is a member of this "ruling class" or eastern establishment? Professor Jacobson, that's who. As an alumnus of Harvard Law School who teaches at Cornell, he's a full-fledged member! Some establishment, when they can't even control their members.
The reality is that the Weekly Standard hasn't been worth reading in years. Bill Kristol is the posterchild for RHINOS.
Burke, don't let common sense ever collide with your snobbery, dude. You will get run over by that bus. Professor Jacobson is no elitist and that must gall you to no end.
You pontificate like an ivy league dropout. rofl
I used to subscribe to WS and enjoyed it.
Sad to hear this story.
Huh… when I first read the quote I figured you were going to mention this little number: "her most irate supporters constantly squawk or bellyache or tweet about how unfair a 'ride' she gets from evil 'mustache'-twirling elites"
Probably unintentional, but quite the coincidence when you brought up the sexualization of Palin. Did anyone else pick up on that?
I'm a huge Weekly Standard fan, but I don't think I really follow this guy. Still, I'm surprised that Bill Kristol would allow this kind of comment from his writers. I guess we'll see what happens.
Burke you're a dope.
Personally, I think I'd much rather be on the receiving end of that "hand job" we got from Sarah than the sodomizing we received from Barney Frank, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi with that ceremonious ramming of Obama-care up our posterior without any foreplay or putting any lube on it.
OMG, I'm really going to rot in hell for that.
To take Burke's argument. If Palin is such a "certain LOSER" then she will lose. She will either not run or she will shortly lose the primary. I'm not sure why Burke's so upset. He wins the argument. But what if she not a loser, rather the farthest thing from it. He seems afraid not that she will lose but that she will win.
Palin and her talking points. One of the things you learn hanging around the left, particularly the professional bolshevik left, is the usefulness of slogans. The left builds and always has built their campaigns on a framework of short punchy slogans which are repeated, ad nauseam. Peace Now, Stop the War Now, Bring the Troops Home Now – no Vietnam era speech, demonstration, narrative or leaflet was complete without the repetition of these talking points. Why? Because it works. Boring, but effective. Palin, of course, was too young for the great anti-war movement and there is probably a paucity of bolsheviks in Wasilla. But she somehow knows the value of repeated talking points, of staying on message, when dealing with a mass movement.
Labash is a Frum wanna be, not worth anyone's time. Next thing you know he will be talking up Newt. Beltway Boys all roll together.
Is it possible to like Sarah Palin, agree with most everything she says, commend her performance as AK governor (until she was hounded from office by frivilous lawsuits costly to both herself and the state) and yet still disagree that she has what it takes to be elected president? If she can't handle lightweights like Katie Couric and Chuck Gibson she'll be crucified as a candidate and that means four more years of Capt HateAmerica.
Just because she'd make a better president than BO is no reason to think she has what it takes to oversome a poisonous msm and a hate machine that rivals the one ginned up against GWB.
I have to add that Labash's Politico quote was Frumesque to the nth.
I don't know Matt Labash, but I know this. Whatever Sarah Palin's shortcomings, the Left fears her. But to equate Sarah Palin, with a mob inciting, lying hypocrite and race hustler like Sharpton?
If so, I state for the record I believe Matt Labash to be the next Mary Mapes. Enjoy you're short-lived fame.
I call it "Revenge of the Nerds". All these homely republican scribes who couldn't get the prom queen to give them a second look are taking it out vicariously on Sarah Palin.
Scarlett sed:
"Which suggests–to me, at least–that someone feels very, very threatened by Gov Palin."
Why?
Because she is the first politician on the national scene in a long time who is unambiguously and unapologetically middle class. This threatens the left elite two ways.
First (according to an analysis by Arnold Mitchell–The Nine American Lifestyles–that I have long found insightful), the liberal elite lifestyle demands rejection of middle class values. No more Fords and Jell-o; Volvos and creme brulee instead.
Second, a major conceit of the liberal elite is that they speak for the working person. As long as Palin has credibility, this is manifestly not so. She must be discredited at all costs.
The right attacks on Palin come from two sources as well. There are some few "conservatives" among the liberal elite. This is the David Brooks type of attack. The right elite (at least according to Mitchell) respects middle class values, but for some that is only as long as it remembers to stay in its place. Having middle-class values asserted as the face of the party or attached to a major candidate of the party… just can't have that.
Palin represents, for a large swath of Americans, an angel sent from on high to renew their faith in politicians. Let's hope Republicans can harness rather than hamper that energy.
Scarlett sed:
"Which suggests–to me, at least–that someone feels very, very threatened by Gov Palin."
Why?
Because she is the first politician on the national scene in a long time who is unambiguously and unapologetically middle class. This threatens the left elite two ways.
First (according to an analysis by Arnold Mitchell–The Nine American Lifestyles–that I have long found insightful), the liberal elite lifestyle demands rejection of middle class values. No more Fords and Jell-o; Volvos and creme brulee instead.
Second, a major conceit of the liberal elite is that they speak for the working person. As long as Palin has credibility, this is manifestly not so. She must be discredited at all costs.
The right attacks on Palin come from two sources as well. There are some few "conservatives" among the liberal elite. This is the David Brooks type of attack. The right elite (at least according to Mitchell) respects middle class values, but for some that is only as long as it remembers to stay in its place. Having middle-class values asserted as the face of the party or attached to a major candidate of the party… just can't have that.
Palin represents, for a large swath of Americans, an angel sent from on high to renew their faith in politicians. Let's hope Republicans can harness rather than hamper that energy.
Professor
I concur – the comment is both in extremely poor taste and contra any notion of respectful treatment of women.
As to the reason – there are knowns, unknowns, known-unknowns, and unknown-unknowns.
Take your pick.
Mrs. Palin is I believe a sensation – that should go without saying, but there, I said it.
Whether or not she should or will be POTUS…
Well, I for one appreciate much of what she says and does, but am not at all ready or willing to advance her candidacy.
Having said that, the professor is correct as to his point(s) on the matter.
Just sayin'.
Professor, I commend you on staking out this position. Grown men to not sexualize women for a cheap laugh. End of story. Matt Labash needs to grow up and start acting like a man.
Hey folks, all of you who complain about Sarah Palin's locution or educational pedigree should spend some time watching videos of Harry Truman.
His locution was sing-song; his formal education was way below Palin's; he spoke with a Missouri twang in short, clipped sentences.
If educational pedigree is your standard, then I guess you think Wilson and Carter and Clinton were the most qualified. If raw intelligence and high IQ is your standard, I guess Nixon is your favorite. If the ability to speak is your top criterion I guess Reagan is your number one President.
Of course, all of the above leave out Truman and Eisenhower, who meet none of the above criteria.
And to those who categorize Palin as a "victimology" complainer, how would you like to have your trash cans rifled through, your daughter insulted, your baby son insulted? How would you like to be the recipient of dozens of frivolous law suits, all of which end up being dismissed for lack of merit?
Sarah Palin is the modern version of the pioneer women who crossed the continent in wagons, taught their children and husbands how to read, tended the homestead, raised kids, took care of the animals, became proficient with a rifle, and helped to civilize the West. That she is all of that and still remains an attractive woman and devoted wife drives the Left crazy.
Matt LaBash is a humor writer. I wouldn't judge what he says in the same way as Bill Christol or Fred Barnes.
It pleases me immensely to see the Republican party becoming more and more like the wild west, while the Democrats isolate themselves by insisting on a litmus test for leftist orthodoxy. At some point "divide et impera" becomes a problem, but I think Right-thinking people know where that point is and are doing a fair job of steering clear.
As to the war between men and women – I don't think Mrs. Palin takes it any more seriously than Thurber did. There are some on both sides who have cooties.
I say lets put a financial dent in the American Standard until Mr. Labash is in the unemployment line – he really does not represent the spirit of the publication.
Neoconservatives hate Palin.
And the Bushies hate Palin.
Why?
She has enemies in the Republican Party because she is a threat to the status quo candidate mill. Much of this part of the party is represented in the National Review (not that I don't like the National Review … I just recognize when the stuffed shirts come out.)
She hasn't been "vetted" by them. She didn't go to the right schools, she talks "funny", and she's more comfortable in a jacket, jeans, and boots than she is gussied up in $1,000 skirt suits.
Not that she doesn't look damned good in those, either.
Bill Whittle summed it up well not too long after she resigned:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmEE61iVhCA
I love how the trolls come out at the very mention of Sarah Palin. And of course, they resort to the standard memes; she's dumb, she's classless, she isn't presidential material, yada, yada, yada.
But as someone who has watched the evolution of women in politics for decades, I can tell you that the objection to Palin is not her education (no tony Eastern university but gasp! a state university), not her ability to do a management job (not being allowed to vote "present" when she did not want to be labeled), or her knowledge of the constitution of Bora Bora.
What is the objection, by even those who wear the mantilla of "Republican" is that Palin doesn't fit the mold of "feminist" that they have in their minds. And, she is not an Inside The Beltway product.
You see, Palin truely believed in choice, and choose to have 5 children, one of them handicapped. That is an unforgivable crime in the mind of all the Gloria Steinham wannabes. She also isn't ashamed of her Alaskan accent, although I find it less objectionable than Teddy Kennedy's Brahmain butchering of the English language (anyone who bothered to really, REALLY listen to Obama would know that his butchering of the King's English is legendary).
Palin threatens these "insiders" because she is not what THEY think she should be. So they attack, attack, attack thinking that will destroy her. But I would point out, these are the very same fellows who unwittingly helped elect Barack Obama because they gave us McCain.
I challenge all the trolls here to give us a list of any politician, male or female, that have had the crap thrown at that that Palin has. Did anyone make fun of Hillary's daughter, or critique her clothing, or drag out her husband's infidelity during the last POTUS campaign? No, the intelligencia decided that Hillary, with her tony education and her thesis on Saul Alinsky was a "player", worthy of the lofty status they assigned her.
Palin doesn't play by their rules and that one fact is unacceptable to the players.
During the primaries, the media, and bloggers who considered themselves conservative, backed McCain because he had crossed the aisle. The motto was that the right had to move left (they called it the "center") in order to become a big tent party. Republicans needed to become "go along to git along" players in order to get more under the tent. We see how well that worked out.
Let's finally vet Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. Let's see HIS school records, let's finally find out what HE was doing all those years where his history is pretty much a blank page. Who did he hang out with? What were HIS grades? Who paid for HIS education at not one, but three quite expensive universities. What was the real reason HE went to Chicago when HE had absolutely no connection to either Chicago or Illinois. What was his real relationship to William Ayers, Tony Rezko, Edward Said and Rashid Khalidi.
But those questions will never be asked because I think then the Palin nay-sayers would have to open their eyes to the fact that their god has clay feet.
Instead, they will recycle (like good little greenies) the Old Guard: Huckabee, Romney, Gingrich, all with proven records of being "go along to git along" RINOs.
So to all you trolls who buy into the mantra of the RINOs, I remind you of this; McCain was their choice in 2008. He was soundly tromped. If you want another six years of Obamanomics, Obama failed foreign policies, Obama's DoJ who violates the 10th Amendment and sues cities over police exams, have at it. But for me, I want someone who truely believes in this nation's greatness, not travel the world apologizing for our greatness.
If Prof. Jacobson had written a post defending dopey statements made or incoherent policy positions taken by Palin, then those attacking her credentials might have a point. As it happens he did not. He is not criticizing Matt for substantively criticizing Palin. He is criticizing Matthew for behaving like a 12 year-old school boy experimenting with the use of sexual innuendo—and that while publically representing the Weekly Standard as a senior writer.
I am not a “Palin defender,” and would be very unlikely to vote for her in a primary. But that does not mean I will turn a blind eye to the last two or three years of abuse that has been hurled at Palin, and most despicably at her children. Enough is a F****** ‘nough. As J. E. Burke pointed out above:
‘everyone on the planet knows Palin and has formed an opinion of her.”
Exactly J.E. Burke, so why does Matthew find it necessary to retread the same BS that attends almost every criticism of Palin and, no doubt unwittingly, serve as an enabler to those on the Left whose attacks have been remarkably vile.
To see conservative pundits, especially (not likely Matthew) those who consider themselves among the thinking class (or the Big Idea Men even, who have wrestled with the Great Problems of the Age for lo these many years!) engage in this kind of public buffoonery is disheartening to say the least.
I also want to make it clear that I am not opposed to buffoonery in general—just keep it between you, Tucker and your beer, Matthew.
The Standard ought to fire Labash. He can go work for NPR and raise the IQ of both organizations.
"I don't know Matt Labash, but I know this. Whatever Sarah Palin's shortcomings, the Left fears her."
Uh, I'm a leftist. I'll say it again: PLEASE nominate here. Rather than running over here and stamping your tribal resentment card with a "Bill Jacobson is my co-pilot" stamp, get out there and start volunteering. Man a phone bank. Write a check. Do ANYTHING you can to nominate this woman. Please. 60 percent of Americans loathe here and only the crazified 27% (you know the ones who supported Bush by the end) have a favorable opinion of her.
Please do everything you can for this exciting candidate. From the "Left"
If "smart" is what the current president is, then I'd gladly take a "dope" like Sarah Palin.
If someone has at least dime-a-dozen, slightly above-average intelligence, believes in American exceptionalism, backs our allies and does not back down from our enemies, and is self made, all else being equal … sounds like a winner to me.
Labash also writes an unfunny humor column for the Daily Caller, which is the only place I knew him from. He seems to be from the Meghan McCain wing of the Republican party — dim, unreadable and thinks cussing makes him edgy.
I'm still waiting for any substantive support for the claim "It's because she has proved herself consistently to be a dope".
I've only seen the exact opposite. Burke mentioned Couric. Did he read the actual transcript? He seems to be judging by the heavily edited version, which is beyond her control. They made a big deal about the Bush Doctrine, but Gibson was wrong:
http://ginacobb.typepad.com/gina_cobb/2008/09/palins-bush-doc.html
Romney supporting single payer. That's a dope.
Huckabee is a "high-tax, protectionist, big-government advocate". That's a dope.
You want someone who got 1600 on the SAT. Steve Balmer did that, and he can't figure out how to make a tablet that could compete with the iPad. That's a dope.
Clinton reportedly has an IQ of 140. Would you prefer him?
Palin: not corruptible, honest, wise, common sense, intelligence, pro life, right on every issue, courageous.
You've been doing it to liberal women forever, so…
Absolutely not, WiseGuise. The media has not done anything like this to "liberal women"–present some facts to back up that BS or move along. Name one national liberal female political figure in this country whose children have been subjected to the kind of vile slander that was on display in the media during the previous election.
The Professor doth protest too much, methinks.
It seems like only yesterday that he added Kathleen McCaffrey to his blog and her "obligatory bash Palin" posting "didn't take long" as Jbuzzboy noted, albeit in a less vile manner.
Since then I haven't let my shadow cross your threshold except for the recent extraordinarily vital reporting on police complicity in the Wisconsin protesters/near riots. As Wiemar Germany showed us, when the authorities turn a blind eye to the Brown Shirts civil society will soon be the victim absent energetic and necessarily ugly counteraction. We aren't there yet but in this area we must practice CONSTANT VIGILANCE!
heh
the conservative elites cant turn off the birtherism, and they cant turn off the Palinism either.
Distributed Jesusland cant carry the presidential.
Shez your nominee, and she will be crushed in the general.
nom nom nom, your tears will be delicious.
🙂
My only questions about Palin are about who her advisers would be and how well she could work with Congress. All this other stuff is the cheap shots which are part of being in politics. I wouldn't hesitate to vote for her over Obama, even if she's not my first pick for nominee.
Sexually tinged jibes and terms like "teabaggers" and "hand job" remind me of South Park, puerile and vulgar. They say more about those who use them than they do about their targets.
The Democrats and Unions in Wisconsin are using tactics that border on sedition, yet the media made them the heroes. Ann Althouse should write a history of this
The Republicans better get their heads out of their asses before much longer or the Tea Party needs to make the move to become an "official political party" to replace the Grand Old Party…..which party apparently IS NOT listening to the voters who elected them to office this past November. Shape up or you will be sent home the next election cycle…period!
If Palin really wanted to be president she would have continued as governor. I think she's perfectly happy to continue as a highly paid mascot, and won't do anything that might tarnish the earning power of her brand.
I really don't know where this idea of her as some kind avenging angel of the heartlands comes from. I think conservatives have projected too much onto her. To give you an idea of who Sarah Palin really is, go back and find the piece about the the unknown Palin driving two hours to meet Ivana Trump, not Phyllis Schlafy, or Nancy Reagan, but Ivana Trump. Her true passion is for wealth and celebrity, not politics
Even if you do not agree that Palin is a dope (which she is), people do not like politicians who aspire to high positions of leadership to whine about how nasty opponents or the media are to them, or to shift blame and point fingers (eg, at McCain campaign staff, et al). I know that George W. Bush is no longer supposedly a bona fide conservative in some circles of self-appointed guardians of conservatives, but one thing about old W is clear: he was viciously and irresponsibly and relentlessly attacked day in, day out for nine years beginning in 2000 variously as a nincompoop preppy drunk, a ruthless fascist skunk, a liar, a warmonger, an illegitimate President who actively undermined the Constitution and on top of all that, an inarticulate moron. But W took it all and kept on going, leaving it to Cheney and otters to fire back, doing his job and never complaining about his opponents or the intractably hosteled media. Come to think of it, he had continued to comport himself that way out of office. Now that is a leader.
My head is going to explode if I don't answer the ludicrous comparison of Palin to Truman and Eisenhower. Suffice it to say that the comparison with Harry begins and ends with the fact that he and Palin did not complete college. Truman was a lifelong serious student of history, government and military affairs, handily one of the best read and informed people ever to sit in the White House. While Ike was lampooned by lefties for his occasional public obfuscation, Ike was singled out by Gen. Marshall, put in charge of developing America's global war strategy and plans, and fast-tracked to high command because Marshall appreciated his penetrating intellect, his quick grasp of complex politico-military problems and his ability to synthesize and present clearly to anyone in writing or orally compelling arguments.
I mean, really, people, before you write some of this silly crap, you ought to make sure you know something.
The problem with Palin is not that she didn't go to Harvard or Yale. It's that she is a dope and apparently proud of being a dope and determined to do nothing to change.
Real funny how much time is spent on a dope, isn't it?
But I think Matt has a crush on Sarah. You know, how a 12-year-old boy acts when he likes a girl. Yep, she's in his dreams.
Matt hearts Sarah. Picture the old oak tree in the school yard.
For what it is worth, and it is only my opinion, J. E. Burke has finally established that he believes Palin to be a dope…well done! You do have some work to do with respect to whining. When has she whined about, well, anything? I’d like to see the transcript.
I do agree that McCain and McCain staff demonstrated a great lack of character and leadership by blaming and finger pointing following their defeat in the last election—to some extent it made me regret my vote, and not for the first time with McCain. Oh, wait you suggested it was Palin blaming and finger pointing at McCain et al.—that is funny or delusional I can not quite decide which, throw me a bone.
I do wish Prof. Jacobson’s post had refrained from defending her dopiness. Although I suppose it is just the Ivy League Graduate’s Burden that compels him to do so.
Maybe J.E. is that ill informed, now there are more than a few similarities between Sarah and Truman, their small town background, their reformist history, (although Truman did have a leg up from the Pendergast gang in Kansas City), there are some differences however, Truman ws rather demagogic against American business and even the USMC and Army, Having come against the oligarchy that runs the state, she strove for fair and opening dealings on the pipeline, and the ACES tax, she challenged her boss on the oil commission, who was the head of the state party, she worked with the Democrats
on the former, so when she criticized Obama, they ginned this up; the WAsilla project;
http://sarahpalininternetcoalitionblogger.blogspot.com/2009/08/note-to-sarah-palin-it-was-soros.html
I don't think Sarah Palin is a dope and Burke proves he's at least a dope himself with his outbursts minus backup.
But just because Palin is a fine conservative who ran her state better than most other governors is no reason to think she'll be able to handle the absolutely vicious msm come campaign time. She's had almost three years to get out there and mix it up in the public arena and she hasn't done squat. Just because the press gives Obama a complete pass and Palin could run rings around his empty suited, teleprompter-dependent self is no reason to think she is the best we can do.
I don't want a candidate that has to be shielded from the media a la Sharon Angle or Christine O'Donnell. I want a Chris Christie type who not only is able to stand toe-to-toe with biased, unfair and downright disingenuous reporters, columnists and talk show hosts (not to mention political opponents) but also relishes it. I've seen him take people trying to smear him, casting him as a heartless villian, and turn them instantly into public buffoons wondering WTH happened by his having the facts ready and knowing how to present them as he did as a prosecutor and well-practiced advocate . THAT is what I want going up against Chairman Zero in 2012.
>> If Palin really wanted to be president she would have continued as governor
Actually, the opposite is true.
>> Palin is a dope (which she is),
You have yet to provide any substantive support for this wild assertion. After reading most of her postings on Facebook, I see a very well informed and intelligent person, with an extraordinary amount of common sense.
>> people do not like politicians who aspire to high positions of leadership to whine about how nasty opponents or the media are to them
I haven't heard any whining.
>> But W took it all and kept on going, leaving it to Cheney and otters to fire back, doing his job and never complaining about his opponents or the intractably hosteled media. Come to think of it, he had continued to comport himself that way out of office. Now that is a leader.
Actually, I see that as a major problem. It's a sign of weakness. 99% of the people will take the lack of standing up for yourself as being weak. You're in the 1% of the people who see it as strength. Everyone is left asking "when is W going to fight?" Answer: Never.
>> Harry begins and ends with the fact that he and Palin did not complete college
Huh? She received her bachelor's degree in communications with an emphasis in journalism in 1987.
>> Truman was a lifelong serious student of history, government and military affairs, handily one of the best read and informed people ever to sit in the White House.
Yet, when the railway workers turned down a proposed settlement, Truman seized control of the railways and threatened to draft striking workers into the armed forces. That's a dope.
Truman fought the republicans bitterly on domestic issues, but fortunately failed to prevent tax cuts or the removal of price controls. Truman is a dope.
After mis-micromanaging the Korean war, he fired General Douglas MacArthur. This is regarded as among the least politically popular decisions in presidential history. It doesn't stand the test of time. Truman was a dope.
Burke, your promoting of "best read and informed" over actually coming to the correct conclusions shows how you judge people. Since being right doesn't matter to you, it's no wonder you think smart people are dopes and vice versa. Carter, Clinton, Bush and Truman were all dopes because they were often wrong on crucial issues. Sarah Palin is not a dope because she gets it right. Being correct is the test.
And who is the number one TV pundit in America?
Mediaite
"Sarah — can I call you Sarah? — your time is now or never.
The uninspiring cast of characters range from previous failed presidential contenders like Romney, Huckabee, Giuliani and Paul to charisma-free bores like Pawlenty and Daniels to “why even bother” candidates like Santorum and Bolton. So it should come as no surprise that Gingrich is a leading contender, because he at least is a “fresh” face to presidential politics and capable of occasionally being provocative. However, one problem underlying all of these candidates is that none of them can fire up a crowd like Obama. Palin can. Another problem is that none of those Republicans generate interest with every media interview like Obama always did as a candidate and continues to do as President. Can Palin generate generate interest with every media interview? Yes she can.
Sarah, it is time to listen to your own advice. Don’t retreat, run for President."
Matt Schneider, Mediaite
"There is tremendous interest in political and media circles in America over Sarah Palin's visit to India," said a press release from the India Today Conclave.
India Today
The Concluding Gala Dinner Address – My Vision of America – Sarah Heath Palin
India Today Conclave 2011
Other speakers who have spoken from this podium: Benazir Bhutto, Gerhard Schroeder, Hamid Karzai, William Jefferson Clinton, Pervez Mucharraf, Colin Powell, Paul Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Craig Venter.
viator, the rules of election politics determine that it would be unwise to declare before this summer.
Hey Gunnar, I agree, although she has the personality of a point man she is better of letting others take the point right now. They can make the mistakes, become the targets of the MSM, punch each other silly, meet the stringent requirements of a formal campaign, run the physical risk, be hindered by security, lose income, suffer falling poll numbers,and reveal each others weaknesses. Palin can go to India and speak to a prestigious forum. Meanwhile, Obama is doing a great job running her general election campaign for her.
viator,
Good points all. However, I don't think Obama will be the opponent. The democrats (read Clintons?) probably have enough on him to take him down. He could surprise us and come up with a birth certificate, but I doubt it. Several states now have laws in place requiring it.
You may be right. Unless he does an LBJ I don't see how the Democrat Party can turn their back on the first African American President of the US.
You two are hysterical
Meanwhile, William "my blood runs Sarah blue" Jacobson doesn't do a post on this
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/post-abc-poll-shows-sarah-palin-losing-more-ground-among-republicans/2011/03/15/ABRtiNb_story.html
Wow, normal Republicans are running away from her…
Tim, no is saying that if she ran, she would definitely win the nomination. It will be a dirty fight. All some people are saying is that there is no real reason not to support her, except, the lefties and msm don't like her. If that were sufficient reason, we'll be stuck with RINOs ad infinitum.
Wow, reading the ravings of liberals is amazing when a conservative female strikes such fear into them by just existing. Ironically, Palin is a liberal creation of their own making exactly by vilifying her. The Alinsky action has backfired. As they say in showbiz, all publicity is good publicity, no matter how negative.
One thing you can say for Sarah Palin, she will never be an Al Sharpton because she would NEVER stoop to pulling a Twanna Brawley. I'm still waiting for an apology Al… for your racist behavior.