Pajamas Media

281 Comments

1. Marc Malone:

Sneetches! I love it! Perfect metaphor! (Yes, I have kids, and they loved the Sneeches story.)

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:01 am 2. smilla:

Sad but true Pam. I think they protest too much, anyway. The world needs Sarah to shake it up. (I don’t have children, so enjoyed reading the Sneetches for the first time!)

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:29 am 3. wavynavy:

Prior to this campaign season my opinion of Noonan was favorable. I thought she had generally written well and sanely, sometimes with passion, regarding most issues that I was interested in. Now she seems to have had brain fart, or perhaps she is showing her true elitist stripes as you suggest. Anyway, better to know it late, than never. As far as Parker goes, I didn’t know who she was, still don’t, and do not care to know anymore.

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:34 am 4. RE:

These two women have given me a better appreciation of how the ancients could believe in demon possession and the need for exorcism.

Their behavior towards Gov. Palin is completely irrational – and very ugly. Parker’s vendetta especially so.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:12 am 5. Cato:

The truly revolting thing about Noonan is that she’s an Irish girl from Brooklyn who went to high school in New Jersey and college at commuter school Farleigh Dickinson U. She was no more a Beltway Insider than the Man in the Moon before Ronald Reagan plucked her from obscurity. She owes everything she is to the conservative revolution. And she has turned her back on us. We shall not forget.

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:11 am 6. C Smith:

Also, there has been some indication in the righty blogosphere that the Palin blowback is about 2012, when supporters of Romney or, *gasp* Jeb Bush would like to push their East Coast favorites.
So maybe the selection of Governor Palin has revealed that the Republican party is as bad an elitist swine herd as the Democrats.
Nice lipstick, Peggy Noonan (fighting the urge to s/e/i/ in her name).

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:13 am 7. Sandra M:

Peggy Noonan, born in Brooklyn and raised in New Jersey, is what New York snobs call “a bridge and tunnel person”. Because of her writing talent, she made it to the big leagues: a column in the Wall Street Journal, from which lofty perch she is trying to pull up the ladder behind her rather than extending a helping hand to a newcomer.

Sunday morning on ABC, Ms. Noonan referred to “Mrs.” Palin, and I wanted to smack her. It’s “Governor” Palin to you, Ms. Noonan. I finally found a Democrat who wants a Noonan book I had and wanted off my shelves.

It would be worthwhile for all of us to remember that she provided President Reagan with bits of poetry NOT the philosophy we responded to. Reagan was the philosopher not she as was discovered in boxes and boxes of his writing after his death. Perhaps that’s why when Governor Palin came along, Michael Reagan could say: “Welcome Back, Dad”, while Noonan was unable to recognize “Reagan in skirts.”

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:17 am 8. Brian Richard Allen:

Ms Noonan long long long ago morphed into an indistinguishable from any other part of the East Coast Estaborg. Just another natural-born E-lister who has almost often enough made it into B-reserve/backup status and, being paid enough to occasionally rub shoulders at her hotel with those actually important folk to whom the best suites are as familiar as is the kitchenette of her New York flat, to Ms Noonan, has come to know what’s really important. (To her own self-interest)

And Kathleen “Who?”

Brian Richard Allen
(Way) Over-Caffeinated Babbler, Buzzer and Blurter.
Los Angeles – CalifOBAMAcated 90028

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:28 am 9. john from cinncinati:

Even so, they hold the same megaphone as the adults and enjoy perceived credibility owing to membership in the larger world of blog grown-ups.
i like that part about being like a child. it seems a bit over the top, that is surely elitest, suffer not the children, out of the mouths of babes, the king has no clothes, etcetera, etcetrera, etcetera.

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:58 am 10. Judith:

Since President Bush’s inauguration, Ms. Noonan has sounded an awful lot like a democrat to me. It was not just the bitter tone of her writing, it was her embracing of the dems philosophy that puzzled me. Perhaps she was just an employed wordsmith for President Reagan, wowed by his charisma (which seems to apply to her awe for obama) and wrote what she was paid to write but did not share President Reagan’s vision. I am truly puzzled what the psuedo cons (as opposed to neocons) see in obama….exactly what part of his platform in any way resembles conservatism? Noonan is a new york liberal pretending to be a conservative on an ultra left station….the pay is good.

Oct 28, 2008 - 5:26 am 11. cedarford:

Meister – Beltway insiders Peggy Noonan and Kathleen Parker are placing self-interest over principle.

No, both women value their integrity more than drinking “movement Conservative” Kool-Aid. Noonan reached a point where she could not consider herself credible and honest without noting there were very big problems with George Bush and his Administration. That had to be fixed or he would inflect serious damage on Republicans future opportunities. That was back in 2005.

Both had to call Sarah Palin as they saw her – a sort of John Edwards figure on the right, with infatuated women (see Sandra M above) and Fundies that think with their heart instead of their brains falling head over heels on her “red meat to the Base slogans”.
Both saw her killing the Republicans chances with moderates and independents – which may be fine with movement conservatives that think if they were so pure they only ended up winning Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma it would be great for the Party. They saw Palin as unqualified, underprepared, not ready. That she is perhaps as charismatic and as smart as John Edwards is not important in the long haul. Where is Edwards now?

With a massacre shaping up, Republicans better be honest why they were slaughtered. No whining and blaming it all on Democrat lies, the media, and that all Republicans outside the Religious Right and outside the Deep South were not “pure” enough.

Honesty and integrity, of the sort Noonan and Parker and other brave voices have already started explainations on, on the causes of the Republican collapse.

1.Bush and compassionate conservatism.
2.McCain being largely incoherent and running between what great character he showed many decades ago and reacting in confusion and haste to emerging problems.
3.Palin’s image as a persona of the growingly intolerant Religious Right and the lecture about how no one less than a mile to the right of Saint Reagan is a “real Republican” – scaring off mainstream Americans from voting Republican.
4. Neocons and endless wars.
5. Failure of Reaganomics “supply-side”, “trickle-down”, unrestricted free trade, and unregulated un-monitored rapacious greedy people in charge of the nation and citizen’s finances, doing what they always do when they can play fox in the henhouse.

There will be lots of time to reflect on how the Republicans fell so hard, so fast – and face a country where outside a few Southern bastions, it is looked on with the same approval as Chinese tainted milk unless they offer RINOs up who have integrity and try to stop the worst Dem excesses. The exile to the Wilderness might be short, or it might be 20 years, as it was when FDR took over. Some of the problems the Party in the Wilderness faces are not easy calls. Do you curtail the power of the Regious Right so they do not scare off women, minorities, Jews, and now their noted anti-Mormon behavior on open display with Romney? Do they think they can retreat 40 years in the past and resurrect old Reagan ideas again like “supply side tax cuts add more revenue than they cost”, trickledown – now discredited by solid economic data showing they are fallacious theory? Do they try and become the Party of job opportunity again rather than the Party of outsourcing and tax cuts for the rich? What do they do about the cancer within of the Neocons?

They have time. Could be 4 years, could be 20. It could be that other elements in the Party force out the Fundies and Sarah Culties. Or end the Republicans as a national force …leave themselves to create a new Party of people outside the remnant Republican states of the Deep South not saddled with failed old ideas, warhawks, and right to life, Hate hispanic Catholics and Mormons …religious evangelical zealots…

Oct 28, 2008 - 5:37 am 12. Terry Gain:

“As my husband observed early on, McCain the mortal couldn’t mind having an attractive woman all but singing arias to his greatness.”

… couldn’t mind having ….

Is Parker’s husband really that inarticulate or is she just a poor writer?

Oct 28, 2008 - 5:47 am 13. chuck,:

Can I toss out an alternate theory? For sometime Noonan has been hinting of an impending wholesale collapse. I don’t know what her views are on stockpiling food and ammunition, but she is recommending a national spirit of niceness to get us through. That horrid Gov. Palin lacks niceness; no doubt Obama has it up the wazzoo. But you’ll have to ask Noonan about that. For my part, she can go to hell.

Oct 28, 2008 - 5:51 am 14. Xanthippe:

I cannot understand how any American who identifies with conservatism can vote for Obama, particularly after recent reports that he called the Constitution deeply flawed, and his redistribution of wealth comments.

Noonan’s and Parker’s tantrums over Palin remind me of high school. The clique doesn’t like or approve of the new girl.

Previously, only Maureen Dowd held that position in my mind. She’s now been joined by Noonan and Parker.

Oct 28, 2008 - 5:52 am 15. Bill Perron:

CEDARFORD Thanks for demonstrating that with a little knowledge and a computer anyone can write propaganda that is full of half truths and misconceptions. I will not waste my time pointing out all your errors, others with even half a brain can see them plainly for themselves….. As for the female writers who are the actual subject of this column, they are women, and any one who has any expierence with the fair sex knows they qiute often do a lot of unpredictable and unexplainable things, so whats the big deal? ….. If you really want to make this country better start a movement to make people take an intelligence test first before they can vote, there are an awful lot of very stupid voters who are voting stupidly.

Oct 28, 2008 - 6:14 am 16. tom:

I have always enjoyed Peggy Noonan’s thoughts on current events. However, I think she is way off the mark on Palin. I find that many of my opinions of people are being altered by the Palin filter. Your article is right on the money!

Oct 28, 2008 - 6:25 am 17. Last Samurai:

Talk about out-of-touch! With all due respect Noonan and Parker are full of hot pompous air and undeniably out-of-touch with ordinary conservative citizens. Noonan may be a lauded author and may have been the pen behind some of Reagan’s memorable speeches, but apparently she fails to see how disdainful and misguided her assessment is of Gov. Palin. Furthermore, she clearly demonstrates that she, like many other “country club” blue-blood Republicans, are members of an elitist establishment that does not identify with the Republican Party’s base. Peggy Noonan does not understand Sarah Palin anymore than she would understand me, a regular, ordinary citizen! Ms. Noonan is so embedded in the shrubbery of her conservative intelligentsia club that she no longer is capable of the discernment that made Reagan such a loved and respected figure. She has grouped herself right there with Obama after his condescending and disdainful comment about Senator McCain championing Joe the Plumber’s positions on taxation of success.
The arrogance of judging her because she has not witnessed Sarah Palin reveal her ideological platform on the stump just spells resentment, resentment against a popular candidate with a populist twist to her approach. Sarah Palin’s magic and connection with the people, her ability to pull masses to her ticket’s rallies is precisely what the Republican party needed. She has single-handedly revived Senator McCain’s Campaign and unified the conservative base as well as rallied it behind the man. Prior to that, let me remind you who was behind Mccain, a few moderate Republicans. Sarah Palin has given this man a shot at the presidency. That’s much more than Ms. Noonan has done to put back the Republican Party in the landscape with a verifiable chance of winning the White House!

Oct 28, 2008 - 6:44 am 18. jerryofva:

I have been thinking about the causes of the rise of Palin-hatred. Here are the two underlying causes:

(1) Suppressed liberal male rage against the feminist political correctness that dominates the Democratic Party. The appearance on the scene of a minority Presidential candidate has allowed weak men who have been cowed by feminism an outlet to vent their rage. Call it the Obama effect and we saw it begin with the denigration of Hillary Clinton.

Many liberal women hate Governor Palin because she is a meme buster. Here is this woman who has achieved all the woman’s movement goals expressed by the feminists without compromising her traditional values in perhaps the most masculine state in the union. Her success is a put down of all they believe in.

(2) Obama is the least qualified of the four candidates. Joe Biden is incoherent most of the time. Obama supporters attacks on Palin’s qualification is a defensive mechanism that they have developed to convince themselves that despite his empty resume Obama is the One. Notice that anytime you challenge an Obama supporter to describe his qualifications you get a blank stare or an attack on Sarah Palin.

I think Parker, Noonan and company fall under cause #2. They cannot justify voting for Obama on policy grounds so they lash out at Palin to make their choice feel better. McCain’s choice of Governor Palin as his running mate exposed the inadequacies of the Obama-Biden ticket. I have to admit that I thought that this would have worked to McCain’s advantage but the apparently the psychological commitment of Obama supporters is so strong that their reaction was to lash out rather then reconsider their choice.

Oct 28, 2008 - 6:51 am 19. Priscilla C.:

I know this comment will never be posted because the only thing you post is what you agree with.I am a woman, a real woman. Who has a life, husband, children and grandchildren. Which in my opinion shows I have a real stake in this election. When I look at my family, I don’t give a damn about what color or gender a person is I just want what’s best for my family. And if you were thinking with a sincere heart and mind you would want the same thing. Sarah Palin isn’t it!!
Male or female you’re not going to screw my world up and make it harder than what it already is. Sarah Palin’s ass is dumb as a damn dishrag!! And if the shoe was on the other persons foot I would feel the same way about them to. Of course she became the governor of Alaska, there’s only 5 people to choose from. Give me a break. And it scares me to know you people would vote for her and put her over millions of families just because she’s a woman!! I believe in life and I believe in abortion. Why don’t Sarah Palin try living in some of these neighborhoods where every day you could get raped just trying to walk home from the grocery store, or walking to your mailbox! Then tell me you don’t believe in abortion!! You see it’s easy to have all these high ideas and beliefs when you’re living on easy street. So you go ahead and vote for Sarah Palin and put her in white house. And if she gets in, I pray to God that she drag your life right down the drain, down here with the rest of us!! And you feel every bit of the pain along the way!! And make no mistake about it she will!! Because I’ve never been wrong about these things! WAKE UP!!!

Oct 28, 2008 - 6:52 am 20. Jim:

Would either of these two women ever be considered, let alone succeed as a candidate for a national ticket?? End of discussion; ’nuff said. (Sorry, Ms. Noonan, I meant to say “enough said”, or perhaps “nothing more needs to be said”.)

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:07 am 21. Saltherring:

RE: Bill Perron’s response to “cedarford”. You beat me to it and said it well. Thanks.

I guess this is what you get (inter-party dissension) when you allow limp-wristers and closet Dimocrats to determine who the Republican party nominee will be. McCain had already captured sufficient delegates by the time I had opportunity to cast a vote (Washington….no, not that Washington). We balance the ticket with a real conservative and the milquetoast moderates and yankee elitists climb all over her. You are now a liberal, Noonie….so be prepared to live with the guilt and shame that goes with that designation.

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:09 am 22. R a Z o R:

H A T E * C R I M E * A G A I N S T * P A L I N
________________________________________________

… http://youtube.com/watch?v=fXML5jRQL3w
________________________________________________

…… WAASUUUP * WIT * DAAT * ?

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:15 am 23. Saltherring:

Priscilla @ 19 says: “I believe in life and I believe in abortion.” With that kind of logic and intellect, you had better contact your local Dimocrat Party leaders. You are definitely congressional material.

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:16 am 24. Bonnie_:

I think women who rage against Governor Sarah Palin have had an abortion, and are wounded to their very souls, and project that damage back to the woman who holds a Down’s Syndrome baby in her loving arms and within the circle of her loving husband’s arms.

Feminists hate Sarah Palin because she illuminates the lie that is their lonely, degraded lives. Promiscuity, abortion, divorce, day-care kids and abandonment in nursing homes is the arc of their lives. Their spitting rage and anger is the terror of suddenly seeing the light (the Light) and knowing how wrong they are, and have always been.

Sad, sad women. God bless them, and bring them peace.

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:19 am 25. TalkinKamel:

Ahem! Priscilla C.:

Are you personally acquainted with Sarah Palin’s ass? If now, how can you be so sure it’s “dumb as a damn dishrag?” (Wow, what choice of words there? You kiss your kids with that mouth?)

And you’ve “never been wrong about these things?” My G-d, meet Priscilla the prophetess! With the powers you possess, why don’t you try running for office yourself? Vote for Priscilla, she’s never wrong!

P.S. No, I don’t live on Easy Street.

You believe in life, and you believe in abortion. I think that pretty much says it all. Speaking of dumb. . . or how about cognitive dissidence?

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:19 am 26. jerryofva:

Well look here, right after my post we get someone who provides a poster example for me. Priscilla is probably an astroturfer trying to sound like a “poor person of color.” She might even be a man posing as a woman.

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:28 am 27. Brutal:

Priscilla C. wrote:
“I believe in life and I believe in abortion.”

Prisc, would you please take a look at what you said? I take this as a very definite indication that you don’t have the foggiest idea of what you believe. When a persons morals are blowing in the wind, they come out with claptrap just like this.

You have to live with yourself. It’s your decision. But please be coherent!!!!!

btw, good thing your parents didn’t go along with abortion, huh? We would have been denied your clarity. I also suppose your children and grandchildren are just the lucky ones. Think about it.

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:35 am 28. SiouxLady:

Hey! Why don’t we all send our Noonan books back to her asking for a refund, then send what we get to Priscilla C. for a bus ticket to Alaska so she can buy her groceries and get her mail in safety. If that’s not enough,she can sell her computer and stop paying for internet service to make up the balance. (Of course, she may be risking life and limb to go to the library to spew her vitriol)

Also, any word from Noonan, Parker and McDonald (Heather) and their “conservative” male counterparts since the Obama “Redistribution” radio audio was released? Just asking . . .

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:38 am 29. Therese:

Thanks for exposing these women! As far as I’m concerned, Maureen Dowd, Peggy Noonan and Kathleen Parker are all the same now. I’ve read Peggy Noonan’s columns in the Wall St. Journal and I hope that they get rid of her. Maybe this is why she is looking for a job at The New York Times.

After McCain/Palin win, we should all be looking for ways to bring down the liberal MSM media, too.

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:40 am 30. always right:

I don’t believe the Palin bashers care to meet with the Gov. in person and tell her to her face their ‘concerns’?

Victor Davis Hanson said it best. Who among the Palin bashers (esp. the females) can make it this far with Gov. Palin’s background?

Yeh, that showed Gov. Palin is ‘real dumb’.
/not

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:41 am 31. click212:

Comes to show you that misogyny is not just for men. It is an equal opportunity hater. However, women who cannibalize their own are unaware of their self hatred. Want to maintain their power amongst men and resent another woman who can stand strong, self reliant and fearless. Hillary Clinton brought out the misogyny in the left and now we have Palin to bring it out in the right and the left. Women who don’t see this will remain sleeping with the enemy.

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:44 am 32. Moultrie:

Peggy Noonan seems to be very confused. Her writing @ the WSJ has been dreadful for a long time. She does however fit the pretentious attitude that has all but destroyed any respect I had for her or the WSJ Editorial Board.

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:44 am 33. Therese:

Priscilla C: Sounds to me like you need a little Hillbuzz to help you get your bearings straight!

http://hillbuzz.wordpress.com/ten-reasons-democrats-should-support-john-mccain/

These are fellow female Democrats who are giving you 10 Reasons to Vote for John McCain. Enjoy!

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:44 am 34. always right:

As for Kathleen Parker of the fame ‘conservative’ pundit, never heard of her until this election cycle. And what I saw and read, I have not observed her conservative-ness.

If she is the dubbed ‘conservative’ by msm, a la Andrew Sullivan, NO THANKS!

Oct 28, 2008 - 8:00 am 35. Robert Hurley:

Pam:

You ought to take up creative writing. I have never seen so many fabrications in such a small articles!

Oct 28, 2008 - 8:16 am 36. Ditto:

Hey Priscilla?

First off, this site is interested in divergent viewpoints, from what I can tell. So welcome! And thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I know you think Sarah is out to abolish abortion, but that’s just what the media and the leftists want you to believe. She isn’t out to abolish abortion. She’s personally against it, she chose to keep her Downs syndrome baby, and she’d like to see the issue of abortion being handled by each state, not by the U.S. Constitution.

She’s not out to teach creationism or any other ‘ism, either. She simply thinks that there is room for debate to examine all viewpoints so students understand that it isn’t right to ignore others’ points of view.

Gov. Palin’s work has brought real benefit to people – all U.S. citizens really, when you consider the pipeline, but mostly her constituents. There will always be some who are unhappy with the person in charge – that’s politics. As a mom, you know that.

But when you look at the millions and millions of dollars that Obama has gone through like sh*t through a goose and seen the total lack of benefit it brought to anybody… then you begin to get a sense of how those of us who support the McCain/Palin ticket are feeling about the election.

Oct 28, 2008 - 8:19 am 37. FLMom:

I have always enjoyed Noonan’s columns but she is agonizing to watch on TV. I don’t know where she went to college, but from her manner of speech I imagine it to be a very prestigious, very prime women’s college. Yes, ‘prim’ is the word that always comes to mind with Noonan. I would be far more surprised if she actually embraced Palin.

Let me put it this way. I think Palin would feel much more at ease hanging out on my back porch than either Parker or Noonan. I think the conversation would be much more entertaining as well.

In their easy dismissal of Palin, I hear a not so subtle reminder that I would never be accepted by their ilk, either. That’s just fine. I don’t own an appropriate wardrobe to be seen in their circles.

Oct 28, 2008 - 8:21 am 38. Ratatosk:

I don’t think sticking your head in the sand will help the GOP in 2012. Either wake up or get left behind. The GOP screwed up. They’ve screwed up for 8 years and McCain screwed up his slim (after Bush, any GOP hope was slim) chances by bringing on Palin… sure to send us Middle of the road voters away.

You may think she’s the future of the GOP and maybe she is. But, without the Conservatives (ie small, competent government) and the Independents I don’t know how much of a future you’re gonna have.

Oct 28, 2008 - 8:24 am 39. jerryofva:

Hurley is back. Another prime example of a liberal man forced to cower in the presence of women taking it out on Sarah Palin and now Pam Meister

Oct 28, 2008 - 8:26 am 40. Mad:

I find the Peggy Noonan dislike of Governor Palin quite perplexing since she was such a fan of President Reagan. I grew up in Lee County, Illinois, the same county as President Reagan, the man she admired so much. Lee County Illinois is a rural county…Dixon, the largest town has less than twenty thousand residents. It seems to me that much of the same criticism she levels at Governor Palin could be said of President Reagan. They both have the same homespun common-sense approach to life and they both seem to respect people based on the content of their character rather than the content of their checkbook or place on the social registry. They both share the same ideology of solid conservate thought. They understand it; it is not just platitudes. I believe that Governor Palin personifies Ronald Reagan better than anyone else we have seen. And perhaps that is why Peggy Noonan dislikes her so….she is the true heir to his legacy.

Oct 28, 2008 - 8:31 am 41. Saltherring:

Hurley @ 35:

Well, gee, Robert, if you want fabrications, perhaps you should listen to a Biden interview. Or better yet, if you believe Pam’s article contains fabrications, try refuting some of them. Oh, I forgot, you’re a liberal.

Oct 28, 2008 - 8:32 am 42. Brian C.:

Priscilla -

I think I’ve discovered a woman as “dumb as a dish rag” and her name isn’t Sraah Palin. What grade did you drop out Priscilla?

Oct 28, 2008 - 8:40 am 43. Kevin:

Bonnie, 24.:
Methinks you just found the “sore tooth!” I could not agree with you more. The vile and bitterness in these nags’ prose is startling and childish. I can almost picture them as teenagers pouncing on the girl in class who gets good grades, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t sleep around, dates a nice guy, and is quite comfortable doing so.

BTW, almost time to go John Gault! I will strive to make not one penny above Obama’s magic rich threshold and will lay off enough people in my practice to maintain my profit margin. I hope others do the same. Don’t give the rabble ONE extra penny of our hard work!!

Oct 28, 2008 - 8:45 am 44. FLMom:

Priscilla C,
I grew up in real poverty. I know what it is to walk through the roughest neighborhood in town looking over my shoulder every step of the way. I know how young girls are viewed in those neighborhoods.

But I know something else. We are blessed to live in a country where it is actually possible to leave those neighborhoods and build a better life. My sisters’ and I all walked away from the project and never looked back. We have made our share of successes due to our own determination and hard work.

Now we find ourselves in an election in which only one individual representing the two major parties–Sarah Palin–truly seems to understand the importance of preserving the incredible opportunities available when people are free to write their own destiny.

I want every single one of those girls living in poverty today to know that it is possible to build a better life. Yes, it takes work and determination, but they can do it. This is what I want to preserve. They don’t need a redistribution of somebody else’s wealth. They need to know that they can also build their own future.

Oct 28, 2008 - 8:45 am 45. Mrs. E:

I’ve been reading Ms. Noonan’s WSJ column regularly for years and have definitely noted that she has become increasingly frustrated with the conservative movement.

Her famous “Failin’ Palin” column, however, seemed to complain more about dumb Americans in general–something she identifies with Palin–than Governor Palin in particular, in spite of her attempts to pin it all on Governor Palin. It was in that column that she complains about the infantilization of our culture, suggesting that our sloppy diction and penchant for informality rather than formality is symbolized by Governor Palin.

I don’t like this trend either, but pinning it on Sarah Palin is unfair.

Oct 28, 2008 - 8:58 am 46. JAZ:

Over the last week, I have been struck by the number of LIBERAL feminists who have looked beyond the MSM portrait of Governor Palin to find a smart effective female political leader.

What does it say when liberal feminists who abhor Gov Palin’s policies like Camille Paglia, Elaine Lafferty and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason come to her defense, while Noonan and Parker whose policies Gov. Palin represents have done everything possible to ridicule and diminish Gov Palin and her supporters like me.

Nothing reflects the vacuous nature of these conservative female pundits than their argument that Gov Palin lacks the intellectual capacity to be vice-president while they sit silently knowing that they and we have suffered through thirty long years of the unintelligent, downright stupid and always endless musings of Sen Joe Biden.

But criticizing Joe “self-confessed windbag” Biden doesn’t get you media gigs on the Colbert Report and MSNBC. THe shallowness and witlessness of these women has been just shocking.

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:18 am 47. Nina Carlotti:

Noonan is correct in deploring the “dumbing down” of the American polity, and in identifying Palin as an especially egregious example of the trend. Once there was a place for intellectuals on the right.
Cato’s comment denigrating Noonan for her humble origins misses the point in a remarkably un-American way. Indeed, Noonan may be a mere “Irish girl”–thank you very much, sir–born in “obscurity,” but she followed the American dream and made something of herself, not simply in financial but in intellectual terms. Palin has not only signally failed to do so, but seems to feel she should be indulged, if not admired, for her ignorance.

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:22 am 48. MethodtoMadness:

This article is pretty funny. I love how you try to commiserate with Sarah Palin because you’ve both been criticized by Kathy Parker. Well, she really hates the feminists too — does that make you just like feminists?

Yep, just as long as these ladies have opinions you agree with, they’re awesome patriots who exemplify what women should be, but the moment they express a feeling against what you think, they become vile, evil women who just need more Dr. Suess in their lives.

Bonnie — saying pro-choice women are just reliving their abortion scars is like saying only black people think black people should have rights. It’s ridiculous. and offensive. We all have a stake in not allowing the government to tell us what medical decisions we’re allowed to make for ourselves.

And Kevin — maybe it’s time to mature those economic ideas past when you read some Rand book in 10th grade.

I personally don’t see Sarah Palin as stupid, just in over her head. Not deserving of the sexism she’s been given (from both sides of the aisle), but very deserving of criticism for alienating anyone who lives in a city or thinks kids shouldn’t be given assault rifles at gun shows or that government should protect the rights of individuals, regardless of whether their state thinks they should have rights. I’m disgusted by the recent story that someone in West Hollywood made a hanging effigy of her as a Halloween decoration, but I also believe that we’re too smart to still be debating whether “Intelligent Design” belongs in science class.

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:26 am 49. glc:

They didn’t want to be left out of that Washington cocktail circuit.

Or the Washington power lunches.

Or the best parties.

Or lose their contacts in the White House.

. . . . that’s unfortunate.

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:30 am 50. glc:

I used to like Peggy Noonan. She’s a good writer. But there’s a point.

I’m going to have to start writing my own stuff.

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:31 am 51. Karen:

The Palin hating is disgusting and women are the worst offenders (especially the so-called feminists who spend altogether too much time ripping her apart. Now I know why I never claimed the title feminist!).

I think she’s wonderful.

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:35 am 52. mishu:

Shorter cedarford: A “true conservative” believes that the “commanding heights” of our economy should be controlled by the government.

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:35 am 53. Slublog:

but very deserving of criticism for alienating anyone who lives in a city or thinks kids shouldn’t be given assault rifles at gun shows

I find it telling that Palin’s critics have to resort to simply making things up.

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:44 am 54. Robert Hurley:

All this is great. I take a break from work every now and then for a good laugh and I know I can get it here. I don’t know what I will do for entertainment after the election

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:44 am 55. Steven:

Priscilla, your point is well taken though not artfully articulated. When Sarah Palin was named as McCain’s pick, I told my wife that I bet your grandfather will not like her. I was right. You see her grandfather is a lifetime, hardcore conservative and a retired executive with GM. A very smart man, yet I could not disagree with him more politically. But notice how I described him–again he is smart. That is not to say that Sarah Palin is dumb, I don’t think she is, but I do think she lacks the intellectual curiosity needed to be POTUS.

This is evidenced by her inability to grasp basic concepts required of a candidate for National office. She cannot tell you what a pre-condition is, but she knows that she wants them? She cannot explain what the $700 B bailout does, but she is for it? She cannot articulate what the role of the VP is, but she wants the job? Spare me the talk of a MSM filter, these are basic questions. And finally, I think the coup de gras was her inability to name one, just one, one single Supreme Court case she disagreed with besides Roe. Now a child could tell you Dred Scott was wrong, but this misses the broader point. Pointing out so called “judicial activism” is a hallmark of movement conservatism. I know these thinking conservatives and they know what they actually believe. Here are a few cases they typically rail against, Marbury v. Madison (created the concept of judicial review) Lochner (infringed on freedom of contract) Bakke v. Ucal (gave effect to affirmative action) Griswold v. Conn. (paved the way for Roe). Now this is what I mean by a lack of intellectual curiosity, suppose one of SP’s handlers told her that Lochner was the right decision because it protected workers from long hours. I guarantee you that she would have parroted this to Katie Couric not because she is dumb, but because she does not have the intellectual curiosity to read the case and discern how it fits into modern Conservative thought. Because I can tell you that if she did, she would know that this was a poor decision from a conservative’s standpoint and has been roundly criticized by the righ–and the left–as judicial overreaching. You can get mad at Noonan and Parker all you want, you can even call them intellectual elitists. But my point is this, the modern Conservative movement was started by intellectual elitists like William F. Buckley, and these two women are simply making the case that the term “intelligent conservative” is not an oxymoron. Simply put, you can have a candidate with appeal to everyday Americans who actually has the intellectual acumen to be President. Think about your hero Ronald Reagan. Reagan is an example of the “dumb” narrative not working. Just because he was not of Washington did not matter, because he was at least smart enough to know what he did not know and educate himself on the issues. Noonan and Parker get it, unfortunately you people here do not. After this election there will be a blood bath in the Republican party, one that will pit the thinking side of the party against the culture warriors. I, for one, will watch the festivities while rooting for the former side. Because it will be great for the Nation if the once Grand Ole Party returned to the statesmanship, and leadership of men like Lincoln and T. Roosevelt–and Sarah Palin just aint it!

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:49 am 56. mick in Va.:

Funny about Sarah droppin’ her “G’s”- isn’t that somethin’ the THE ONE does all the time of late tryin’ to be a swingin’ jive talkin’ and glib? Don’t the “girl writers” love that? Just askin’.

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:58 am 57. “Even Female Conservative Pundits Embrace Palin Bashing”:

[...] and some of my son’s battery-operated Thomas the Train engines, I’ll let Pam Meister hammer home the point one last time: For a number of weeks now, conservative Beltway insiders Kathleen Parker [...]

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:58 am 58. andycanuck:

And it looks like our moral and intellectual superior doesn’t know the difference between naturalist “ape-studier” Jane Goodall and, presumably, anthropologist Mary Leakey.

And it couldn’t be the sign of a guilty mind and not ignorance, could it? I mean her wanting to write the correct analogy of, “I’ve often felt like Jane Goodall, summoned from the hinterlands to explain the behaviors of the apes,” but realized that would be too insulting and so decided to replace the correct “of the apes” with the faulty “of the indigenous peoples”?

No. She’s too much a straight-shooter to be so disingenuous, I’m sure.

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:05 am 59. Jim Baker:

Sarah Palin has more real executive experience than the other three candidates combined. She has 29,000 employees. The Presidency is an executive office. So why the yap about how SHE isn’t ready? Just more liberal pap. They don’t know what to do about her, so they slander her. Again, nothing new. Peggy Noonan has the forest and trees problem. Once again, mired in minutia.

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:07 am 60. Michelle Malkin » Sarah Palin in jeans, rocking out to “Redneck Woman”:

[...] Yeah: Pam Meister takes on the Beltway Palin-bashers. Posted in: Sarah Palin Send to a Friend Printer Friendly comments [...]

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:08 am 61. The Historian:

UNI-PARTY GOVERNMENT: A BAD IDEA

One party rule is ruinous, as explained at this link:

http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2008/10/uni-party-government-very-bad-idea.html

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:14 am 62. David Ross:

#36 Ditto “She’s not out to teach creationism or any other ‘ism, either. She simply thinks that there is room for debate to examine all viewpoints so students understand that it isn’t right to ignore others’ points of view.”

Boys and girls, here we have fundamentalist code for downgrading evolution as science in school. Ditto is, it turns out, WRONG on this; whatever Governor Palin’s personal beliefs, she has upheld federal law in her state (unlike Jindal in his).

In short, STFU Ditto; you aren’t helping.

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:15 am 63. ic:

By attacking Bush incessantly last few years, Noonan landed a writer job at the West Wing before it folded. The good life is intoxicating.

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:17 am 64. M.A.:

While I have found Noonan’s gratuitous slams of the Bush Administration nauseating, and I think a good part of this post is spot on, I have to laugh at the notion of one of the greatest supporters of Catholicism and the pro-life cause, doing anything for the administration of a man who has voted to deny medical care for babies who survive abortion.
If Noonan were to accept any position within an Obama adminsitration, she would expose herself as a fraud who hardly knows what character is, let alone when it was king.

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:18 am 65. SukieTawdry:

I don’t know anything about Parker, but who does Noonan think she’s kidding given her humble, working class roots and plebeian education. I must have laughed for a full five minutes when I first learned that she graduated from Fairly Dickinson, or, as we New Jersey kids called it, Fairly Ridiculous, the school of choice after one’s rejection by every other college in the nation. I’m surprised the Ivy-educated elites and other assorted glitterati in the DC-NY power corridor have even allowed her into their club. Perhaps that’s why she’s so disdainful of Palin and everything she represents. Perhaps she fears an embrace of Palin would cast too bright a light on her own “inadequacies.”

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:18 am 66. David Ross:

52 mishu – We at an unnamed rightish blogsite (unnamed because he is not welcome there anymore) have been aware of Cedarford’s trollings for many a year. Cedarford believes the commanding heights of the economy should serve the nation, with no money flowing out. Cedarford holds “neocons”, who are… uh… *international” in character and foreign in culture, and support Israel, as his chief villains.

Cedarford is a socialist of the nationalist school.

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:22 am 67. Steven:

Jim Baker, you are exactly the kind of idiot of whom I speak. Please tell me what does it mean to have executive experience. Since I have ran a sales force, do I not have “executive” experience. The reason that argument does not work is because you attach no benefit to it. So please, tell us what it means to us. And while you are at it, tell us what it means when you do not know what a pre-condition is. Until SP learns something about how our National Government functions, she will not have the trust of the AMerican People. As a voter, I do not think it much to ask that a National candidate know more than I do about foreign policy and the economy. And no I do not work in the government, so it truly is not asking alot.

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:23 am 68. Mary S. Spahr:

I used to like Peggy Noonan. I thought she was a gentle and elequant conservative voice for the republican party. Now I think she is just another Obama bag lady looking for a handout on a street corner. Her treatment of Governor Sarah Palin who incidently is far more accomplished than Noonan in so many ways, reminds me of a college sorority house where two entirely different thinking women are competing for a leadership position. It isn’t pretty.

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:28 am 69. Heath Jayman:

It is amusing that two aging, ugly and repugnant crones whose jealousy shows through their layers of death-mask make-up and caked-on rouge, think that they can somehow convince people that they, the crones, are still viable writers by attacking a woman who has more class, intellect, charm and appeal, than they themselves could muster in a dozen incarnations. If Noonan comes back as a cockroach, it will prove that there is no justice in the cosmos, as cockroaches are far more decent and civil than this poor, wretched and envy-ridden woman.
Perhaps they are angling for a job cleaning toilets for Michelle Obango in the future.

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:32 am 70. MethodtoMadness:

“I find it telling that Palin’s critics have to resort to simply making things up.”

I’m sorry, perhaps I’m mistaking her for some other attractive bespectacled woman on TV whose been doing large campaign rallies, saying only small towns are “real-America”, calling urban areas anti-American or communist, and making a huge deal of shooting animals from helicopters with her kids. Nope…I’m pretty sure that’s Sarah Palin.

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:33 am 71. katiejane:

SukieTawdry – You beat me to it.

I was trying to figure out how I could identify FD by it’s more well known name without running the risk of offending some poster who might have attended it.

Given Noonan’s alma mater it is hard to understand how she can look down on anyone’s qualifications.

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:42 am 72. Jeff:

Noonan is a one-trick pony, that is it, that is all. She had one position, to write for Reagan.

It is so hiliarious to see her lift her nose up just before she speaks, like she had to take speaking classes to produce the drivel that comes out of her mouth.

Uh, did I mention that she is old and ugly?

Who is Parker; never heard of her?

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:45 am 73. Jeff:

What Heath said!

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:46 am 74. Jim Baker:

Right on, Sarah. Good hunting!

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:49 am 75. Delia Sanchez:

I also used to like Noonan. I started reading the New York Sun in 2002 because she wrote in the first few issues. Then I discovered a Puerto Rican columnist named Alicia Colon who is super intelligent and a greater, less insipid writer than Noonan.Although the great Ny Sun has folded, Colon is still writing on her site http://www.aliciacolon.com.
She is a true conservative and I wish the WSJ would kick Noonan out and draft Colon.

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:52 am 76. JeffM:

Noonan is an elitist,enough said.

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:00 am 77. catlady:

I believe that this article is spot on. Noonan and Parker are just setting themselves up for further personal advancement within their own elitist circle. I feel the same way about Colin Powell, though I have always felt he was somewhat of a “less forceful” character. (I.E he is a WIMP) To paraphrase a quote from an Israeli government official “The GOP remembers it’s friends and does not forget it’s enemies.”

Where the GOP party missed the boat this year was believing that they had to nominate a liberal/moderate like McCain. Don’t go off on me, I like the guy, think that he can shake things up in DC and would probably try to do so. But he is not who us down here in the weeds see as representative of “our” party. Sarah Palin is – in spades. The reason I am behind McCain is that by picking Palin he finally demonstrated some out of the box thinking, and gave me hope that he “might” be a reasonable choice.

I told MY husband that if Obama wins, for the first time in my life I am going to buy a gun (probably more than one) and learn how to use it. Then I can proudly become one of those bitter people who cling to their guns and religion, since I am already a racist since I (early) voted for McCain.!!

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:07 am 78. Noonan for Obama’s Press Sec’y? | The Anchoress:

[...] at Pajamas Media, Pam Meister takes a look at Noonan’s motivation: …one of my sources, who is very well connected, tells me that Noonan was at first rumored to [...]

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:08 am 79. Heather:

because she’s not one of them and has made it clear that she doesn’t want to be.

That’s it, basically. They never grew out of high school. The popular girls hate it when you just don’t care about trying to be a popular girl.

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:09 am 80. Colorado:

The great Ronald Reagan would not recognize ol Peg if he could come back and visit us for a day. Peg is the perfect defination of a RINO (Republican in Name only). But would she really stoop so low and accept a position in The Messiah’s administration? What am I saying? McCain/Palin will win!!

Hang in there fellow conservatives!!

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:17 am 81. Robert Hurley:

Tuesday October 28, 2008

Ed. note: From now until Election Day and beyond, GQ correspondent Robert Draper will be blogging on the ‘08 race’s final twists and turns. Check back for more up-to-the-minute campaign reporting and insight.

Palin, Alone Aboard the Bus

Almost from the very beginning, the Palin pick created tension.

An armada of handlers descended on McCain’s running mate like the flying monkeys in The Wizard Of Oz. The day after the ticket made its debut, it was August 30 and the campaign staged a rally outside of Pittsburgh, on the field of a minor league baseball team called the Washington Wild Ones. I remember seeing Tucker Eskew—an old Bush hand out of South Carolina who had never spent a day in McCain World until Nicolle Wallace recruited him to be Palin’s counselor—wandering around the premises, looking somewhat lost. He and Wallace took charge of schooling the Alaska governor on message discipline. Two days later at the GOP convention, an adviser watched them coach Palin on how to answer routine press questions and warned Steve Schmidt that she was being overly managed. Three weeks later, Wallace arranged for the interview with her former CBS colleague Katie Couric, which proved to be a disaster. Meanwhile, Palin’s debate prep was going miserably, to the point where Schmidt had to peel off from McCain (who was having his own challenges responding to the financial crisis) and join Nicolle’s husband Mark Wallace in simplifying Palin’s prep so as to avert catastrophe. The latter efforts resulted in what one senior adviser would describe to me with palpable relief as “a campaign-saving performance.”

I’m sympathetic to Eskew and Wallace, and not just because they’re decent people. They’ve held their tongue from leaking what a couple of McCain higher-ups have told me—namely, that Palin simply knew nothing about national and international issues. Which meant, as one such adviser said to me: “Letting Sarah be Sarah may not be such a good thing.” It’s a grim binary choice, but apparently it came down to whether to make Palin look like a scripted robot or an unscripted ignoramus. I was told that Palin chafed at being defined by her discomfiting performances in the Couric, Charlie Gibson, and Sean Hannity interviews. She wanted to get back out there and do more. Well, if you’re Eskew and Wallace, what do you say to that? Your responsibility isn’t the care and feeding of Sarah Palin’s ego; it’s the furtherance of John McCain’s quest for the presidency.

On the other hand, it had to be hard for Sarah Palin—who has achieved all she’s achieved with a highly personal touch—to take all this ridicule under an enforced gag order. After being introduced to the world as one of the “Team of Mavericks,” she’s admonished not to be one. She’s being called out by some McCainites for not cleaving to all of the senator’s positions. The Republicans who fawned over her superstar looks are now shocked—shocked!—to learn that her much-admired wardrobe has been purchased with RNC funds. I’ve heard from one well-placed source that McCain has snubbed her on one long bus ride aboard the Straight Talk Express, to the embarrassment of those sitting nearby. It has surely been implied to the governor that she should be eternally grateful to have been plucked from obscurity. And yet the high water mark of John McCain’s campaign for the presidency unquestionably began on September 3, when Palin gave her nomination speech—and ended precisely twelve days later, when McCain went off-script—I have that on the authority of the person who participated in the writing of said script—and told an audience that he still believed the fundamentals of the economy were strong.

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:18 am 82. Jbl:

I used to love Noonan but she’s seemed kind of miserable for a few years now.

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:18 am 83. Samantha:

I don’t get it, Sarah is picked on and nothing is said about Obama. Wake up, he doesn’t even know how many states there are!!! Shouldn’t someone running for president know that? Is he going to be “spreading the wealth” to these “extra” states he has fabricated? He didn’t know where Kentucky is when it is his neighboring state. He calls Europe a country. Where did he go to school? Oh yes, Harvard. How did he graduate? Read his book and open your eyes. May Lord help us all.

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:20 am 84. Arthur:

The Anchorage Daily News (largest newspaper in Alaska) , Christopher Buckley, Scott McClellan, Warren Buffet, Paul Volcker, Colin Powell endorse Obama. Enough negative talk. Let’s really put Country First and elect Obama.

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:21 am 85. Ratatosk:

Samantha… there’s a large difference between occasional slipups when talking and not having actual knowledge. Obama knows how many states there are, Palin doesn’t know what the VP is supposed to do. Which do you think is more important, Obama making a slip of the tongue, or Palin being ignorant of information she should know well before wanting the job of VP?

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:28 am 86. Conrad:

I don’t think Sarah Palin has been shopping at Wal-Mart anytime recently. Nieman Marcus, yes … but not Wal-Mart. And maybe that’s what Parker and Noonan are really getting at … Palin is nothing more than a symbol, there’s no substance. She doesn’t want to be VP because she will be in a position to influence public policy. She wants the cool clothes and the state dinners and all that go with it. She’s really a Trophy VP. And that’s what Parker & Noonan don’t like.

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:45 am 87. me:

What offended me most was calling Todd Palin a hick from Alaska just happy to be able to come along for the ride. Who does she think she is? We are all the same, just because we don’t live in a city doesn’t make us all stupid hicks; and I’m not even from Alaska.

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:51 am 88. jim russell:

Palin is a joke, a disgrace to the Republican party, and makes McCain even more of a joke for picking her as a running mate. I had a lot of respect for him as a hero, a politician, a ‘maverick’ who spoke his mind and didn’t give a flying f**k about where it got him, as long as the job got done. Giving in to the base’s right made him a loser, both of the election and in my mind. I won’t be voting for Obama, but I will be voting against the sellout, McCain. I DIDN’T LEAVE THE PARTY, IT LEFT ME!!!!

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:52 am 89. katiejane:

Conrad – do you make your stupid comment based on anything other than your own shallow opinion?

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:52 am 90. me again:

yea, they wish they could be a trophy vp. I think that is the real issue: jealousy and resentment.

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:54 am 91. Samantha:

Dear Dear Conrad,
Go on about the clothes to get off the real issues. Obama is a symbol himself and not a good one. If you fall for it, you haven’t done your home work! Poor, misguided Conrad. The clothes were bought for Sarah Palin. She does shop at Walmart, she has a modest salary unlike Obama who can afford luxuries and can take from everyone else and flush the money down the toilet. What is 150 thousand on clothes compared to the hords of cash that Obama robbed from innocent people? Look at all of his adds and greek temples. Obama is a insult to America! He thinks we are stupid.

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:57 am 92. KI:

Palin’s problem is exactly that, she is too ordinary and some of us confuse that with folksiness. I think my wife who has been running a successful business for many years and has travelled around the world much more than Ms. Mosse Hunter is better qualified for the job. Same is true for thousands of other women. Even Peggy Noonan and Ms. Parker are better qualified for the job. So here-in lies the problem, an issue of fairness. Any women who thinks she has payed the dues and is more successful than Ms. Palin would feel envious.

Ah, Palin is what she claimed she is, a “Hockey Mom” — add to that “Incidental Governor”. Hockey Moms are not trained to be VPs or Presidents.

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:03 pm 93. Phil:

As a registered Republican, I see no value in your lambasting Noonan and Parker for speaking their truth about Palin. Palin is unqualified to be president, let alone Vice President. McCain put this woman into a situation and let her hang herself. Unprepared for issues, unschooled in, and unfamiliar with national and international issues, Palin never should have been selected by McCain. He embarassed her; he crippled himself; and he showed that he lacks good and sound judgment about the most important issue of this campaign, namely, whose VP could serve as Presiden in the event of the death of the elected president? He lost my vote because I love this country too much to place it for a candidate, 72 years of age who suffered with cancer, and designated a former part-time mayor of a 6000 population city and a governor of 24000 employees as his successor. McCain, you disappointed me!!

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:03 pm 94. myth buster:

Sarah Palin wouldn’t be afraid to walk around a poor inner city neighborhood. If anyone was dumb enough to try to rape her or anyone she could see, she’d blow the poor fool’s head off.

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:04 pm 95. SukieTawdry:

I wouldn’t worry about it, katiejane. One of my best friends, whose parents wouldn’t countenance her going away to school, graduated from FD. Even members of the student body and alumni refer to it, albeit affectionately, by its pejorative.

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:08 pm 96. Colorado:

Priscilla C. says ‘Sarah Palin’s ass is dumb as a damn dishrag’!! Wow I am impressed. I wonder how she came up with this. Quite a Wordsmith isn’t she?? Do you think Priscilla’s ass is more intelligent?

Colorado

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:21 pm 97. TDenise:

Sarah Palin is a national disaster! The reason her “base” adores her is because they are just as dumb as she is so they feel “connected.” That’s all well and good but we don’t need to “dumb down” the society. We have enough ignorance to last a lifetime… at a bare minimium…we need informed, intelligent, articulate and inclusive leaders. This is not the time for Palin-skinhead-red neck rallies… what good will that do. She came out the other day in “her own” jeans and (consignment shop) jacket singing, “I’m just a redneck”… while her base cheered and sang along….I mean get real…this is 2008 and this is America…United We Stand..Divided We Fall!! Also, we don’t need leaders caught up in the trenches of life with children-gone-wild, troopergate, moosegate amongst many other issues. We need leaders that have risen above all of that and can set positive examples! Even her own Republican party knows the gig is up….. and everybody is running for cover! And why does that goofy husband of hers hover behind her at all the campaign stops….. on Sunday in FL, he was so “into it” that he wouldn’t even take the baby from the 7 year old who was CLEARLY UNCOMFORTABLE holding the baby for a long period of time. It was a spectacle!! Sarah and her family need to back to Alaska and hope the people don’t “turn” on them for the national embarrassment.

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:22 pm 98. TCompton:

Noonan is the Senator at the end of The Ugly American: she’s so comfortable in her Beltway womb, she’s forgotten why she went there originally. She’s embarrassed of her roots. I wonder what she’d say if Reagan appeared now on the scene as a presidential contender. Actually, I can guess.

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:27 pm 99. funky chicken:

6. C Smith:
Also, there has been some indication in the righty blogosphere that the Palin blowback is about 2012, when supporters of Romney or, *gasp* Jeb Bush would like to push their East Coast favorites.
So maybe the selection of Governor Palin has revealed that the Republican party is as bad an elitist swine herd as the Democrats.
Nice lipstick, Peggy Noonan (fighting the urge to s/e/i/ in her name).

Oct 28, 2008 – 4:13 am

Yep. These are the deluded fools who were just certain back in 2006 that the perfect ticket for this election was going to be Romney/Bush. Now they have to destroy McCain/Palin to have another chance at their dream. Nothing more, nothing less.

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:29 pm 100. Donna V.:

Yeah, Phil, so you’ll vote for a leftist with numerous shady associates and no executive experience at all – yes, that’ll be sooooo much better than a VP you don’t like.

If you’re really a Republican, I think you’ll forget all about how McCain disappointed you and hurt your little feelings when the bill from the Obama administration starts coming in.

Or maybe not. A large percentage of the American public appears to be ready to bend over and take it from Obama/Reid/Pelosi/Frank and Co. as long the elite manages to toss a few crumbs their way.

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:31 pm 101. jabbermonger:

Bonnie 24, and Kevin 43 have it exactly right. Can’t say it better myself. Real men and real ladies love Sarah Palin. Real Men want intelligent, motherly women around them that offer more than a roll in the hay, or the other extreme, so prim and proper! (drinking secretly or not so secretly). Women that admire in others what they see in themselves love Sarah Palin. That is why the floosey Left and the elite Left can’t stand her. Tne the Right elitests? They hate themselves so intensely and what their “perfect” life lacks, they can’t stand being reminded of what they wish it could be. They are all put under condemnation by Sarah Palin. As Bonnie said, “sad but true. God Bless Them.” You Betcha!

And yes, Kevin, I am following John Gault too. All these foolish people with their heads in the sand are going to wake up one day and wonder what happened to the Good Ole U S of A. And we told them, but the wouldn’t listen. “For Lack of Knowledge You will be Destroyed.” It is written.

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:32 pm 102. Colorado:

T Denise, we already have a “dumb downed” society. The proof is in your post!! Several months ago we had women fainting at Obama rallies when the Messiah appeared!! You don’t call that a little “red necked” T Denise? The hatred for Republicans is so evident you should be just a little bit ashamed.

Go back up to a mirror and view your more intelligent than Sarah Palin behind

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:35 pm 103. david campbell:

Parker and Noonan, are both sell outs but maybe not you first have to be real members before you can be a turn coat. They go hand and hand with the rest of the so called members that have turned their support for a person who has no understanding of the Federal Republic. If you are truely a member of the GOP and you belive that RR was the best person of those beliefs you could never support an LSD. Sarah Palin is an american woman, her family is true americans they share the beliefs that my family and those of the true americans. The rest need to go across the oceaan with the rest of the goverment first crowds and leave this country alone. If BO does win we are all in for the night mare of life. You who support him best be sure that his change is the change you want because this guy has not spoke the truth of his meaning of change and who he will side with. It is front of you but you do not see. All because you want the government to take care of you or you want what others have. I want only that of which my hard work brings me and that which is in Gods plan for me to have. I do not want the government wrap around my family nor my life.

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:39 pm 104. Samantha:

T Denise
Look at your own candidate… Obama wants to be President of the United States and he doesn’t even know how many there are. Maybe you don’t either and that is why you haven’t noticed that one. All you care about is clothes. Who cares about clothes. Have you read Obama’s books and read about what he stands for? Maybe you should take a pander at those before you you go pointing fingers at Sarah Palin. Remember your words, if Obama is elected. The United States will weap the rewards from his presidency.

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:42 pm 105. Lewis:

The last line said it all and I tend to agree. “Journalists”, whether MSM or in the blogoshpere are almost (maybe more) narcissistic than politicians, entertainers and athletes. And, much less relevant. “Journalism” is just as poisoned by its self-serving atttitude as politics, sports and entertainment, only less profitable these days.

My guess is that Parker and Noonan are sick of the “conservative” wing of the Republican Party (as if there is another wing) sounding like uneducated fools, waving the flag and guns in front of the “faithful” to generate interest in the boring US Senator that the Republicans have put up to counter the less boring US Senator the Dems. have put up. I have to say that the party I tend to hold allegiance to, the GOP, looks nothing like the dynamic party with ideas that Newt Gingrich led in 1994.

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:48 pm 106. Palinh8er:

Yes it’s possible to be pro-life and pro-choice. For myself and my body, I would always choose life (and always have) no matter the consequences – therefore I am pro-life, just like Palin. For society as a whole I believe that there should be the choice – therefore I am pro-choice. Isn’t it funny that the only friend I know who actually had an abortion is a pro-life Republican Christian woman who now regrets her own choice and now thinks that abortion rights should be taken away from everyone.

Palin is an idiot and if she became VP or worse yet, President, it would be an insult to anyone of substance, education and integrity who ever held that position. Let’s see, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Roosevelt, Sarah Palin – which one doesn’t belong? Get freakin’ real – she can’t name a single Supreme Court case? She can’t name a newspaper she reads? She thinks the bailout was about Healthcare reform? She thinks she has foreign policy experience because people in Alaska might be able to see Russia on a clear day?

We hate Palin because there are so many intelligent, educated, experienced, qualified Republicans that McCain could have chosen from – both male and female. You’ve got to wonder why he picked this particular woman – therefore I think Noonan offers a plausible hypothesis. Maybe he was having a senior moment or just being “mavericky”. No matter what the reason – anyone with some sense has got to question his judgement.

Any journalist or politician who defends Palin as the VP choice risks blowing their professional reputation.

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:56 pm 107. XXXKarenXXX:

Those who can become mayors, governors, VP candidates. Those who can’t write carping, small minded and disparaging essays about their own party’s 1st woman nominee, but get invited to all the tony insider parties. Sad and shunworthy.

Oct 28, 2008 - 12:57 pm 108. braininahat:

Barack Obama is a national disaster! The reason his “base” adores him is because they are just as dumb as he is so they feel “connected.” That’s all well and good but we don’t need to “dumb down” the society. We have enough ignorance to last a lifetime… at a bare minimium…we need informed, intelligent, articulate and inclusive leaders. This is not the time for Obama-socialist-anti-American terrorist loving rallies… what good will that do. He came out the other day in “his own” ’spread the wealth’ (Marxist) philosophy, slogannering “I’m just a socialist”… while his base cheered and sang along….I mean get real…this is 2008 and this is America…United We Stand..Divided We Fall!! Also, we don’t need leaders caught up with known terrorists, anti-Americans, convicted crimininals and organizations comitting voter fraud, and many other issues. We need leaders that have risen above all of that and can set positive examples! Even his own Depublican party knows the gig is up….. and everybody is running for cover! And why does that goofy wife hate America so?…recently, she has been so “into it” that she wasn’t anywhere to be seen until Barack went to visit his healthy grandma. CLEARLY FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES. Barack and his family need to Chicago and hope people don’t look into their past for the colossal fraud they’re trying to perpetrate on America.

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:04 pm 109. Mary Jackson:

Another female journalist who doesn’t like Palin is Heather “college girls are sluts” Mac Donald. But she has form for misogyny.

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:10 pm 110. lrobb:

Kathleen Parker is anything but a beltway insider. She lives forty miles down the road in Camden, SC, which is only slightly larger than Palin’s hometown, and teaches journalism at University of South Carolina in Columbia.

Her stock in trade is humorous hyperbole, and she doesn’t for a minute believe McCain has designs on the Divine Sarah.

I happen to agree with her vis a vie Palin. The woman only opens her mouth to change feet. It still baffles me why, if McCain wanted to energise the small town evangelical base, he did not pick Huckabee who not only has an endearingly goofy charm, but 10 solid years experience as a governor, a peerless grasp of how to handle media, and a huge, highly efficient and a still extremely active volunteer group.

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:13 pm 111. Byron in Wahroonga:

Why is anyone surprised?? The first half of ‘What I Saw at the Revolution’ (the book that made Noonan’s rep) is a defense/apologia for her prior employer, Dan Rather.

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:15 pm 112. Bill:

The Screeching is because an ERA (ha) is ending as the old bats find they can’t change anyone’s opinion. Shut up and go away, its time for the Reagan Generation to take over. I love the death of newspapers and other propaganda outlets.

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:17 pm 113. Zion:

Well, I am a black Republican female, and I must say that Palin is a disappointment to the ticket. If for whatever reason, Palin/McCain get elected, they will end whatever is left of the Republican Party. Either way this election goes, defeat is staring us in the face either in the long or short term. In addition, you know if this were a conversation about race, the question would arise, should I vote for Obama because he’s black. Well, I’m going to turn the tables, are we voting for Palin because she’s a woman? Notice whenever Palin meets on of our higher ranking officials the same reaction ocurs, “I’m not impressed.” Why is Dr. Rice not receiving these same reviews? Why is Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison not receiving these sorts of reviews? Could we as women just refuse to believe that this woman really is grossly unrefined? I don’t hold experience against her because none of the men have experience to be commander in chief. What I hold again Gov Palin is just an inability to articulate in an intelligent fashion. Sorry.

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:23 pm 114. Fred:

Peggy Noonan is nothing more than a wordsmith. She is not a thinker and certainly not a leader. I never found her to be original or bold. She is typical for the journalist profession. That’s why she is what she is. Sarah Palin is head and shoulders above someone like Noonan, and Noonan and Parker know this. Yet it offends them that greatness can be found outside the New York – Washington Corridor.

When I was in college we all knew that the next rung above education majors was journalism major – as in from the bottom of the ranking of intellectual rigor. Many of us could write almost as well as the journalism majors, and could out think them and out debate them. Very, very few of them are Renaissance men and women, who have breadth and depth of knowledge.

Noonan is simply being an opportunist and I, for one, am not at all surprised to hear this. I first thought of it being the motivation, and Rush Limbaugh’s summation is the correct one.

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:24 pm 115. Ratatosk:

Well, I never thought I’d see a party fall apart in my lifetime. But it sure appears to be what’s happening.

So in 2012, do you think we’ll see the Dems, a ‘Rockefeller Republican/Libertarian’ party and the GOP covering social conservatives?

If so, who do you think will kick off the new party, someone like Frum or Buckley, or someone like Ron Paul? IE will it be the economy or personal liberties that would push the new party?

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:28 pm 116. TDaye:

I have read and read the article and the comments…. you conservatives need to stop!I mean S.T.O.P. Because we all know that McCain choose Sarah Palin for one reason, because she was a woman! You need to stop pointinf the finger and take a strong look at self. The way you are acting is really catish and unattractive.

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:32 pm 117. Mac:

I am surprised in disappointed at some of the nasty comments from all sides on this article. Freedom of speech is a beautiful thing, but my mother always taught me to respect all people and I try to do that in all formats. Politics doesn’t have to be so personal, or nasty. I believe you can express your opionions and thoughts in an adult manner without using snarky, or offensive language. I have a large, diverse group of friends with varying political views. I always strive to express my views in a polite and respectful way and I would hope that you all could the same. Good day and God Bless
Mac (16) Missouri

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:38 pm 118. Donna V.:

Ratatosk:
Oh, I wouldn’t write us off just yet. After ‘02 and ‘04, people were saying the Dems were toast and yet they regrouped. So will we. Sans the Buckleys and the Noonans.

Keep an eye on Jindal. And it would be very unwise to write off Palin. She’s just made her national debut and she and Jindal will be seasoned governors in 4 years time. I expect the Obama adminstration to be worse than Carter years, and we all know what happened in 1980.

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:38 pm 119. Dave Bollinger:

Obviously someone didn’t get the GOP memmo…. Never say anything negative about a fellow GOP’er!…..I guess when the ship is sinking, it’s every Repug-licant for them selves! Personally , I wish the Democrats would get away from TAX AND SPEND, and adopt the GOP strategy of SPEND AND SPEND (sooner or later the dems will have control and we can blame tax increases on them)(as in the CONGRESSIONAL race)!

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:42 pm 120. Christopher:

Hi. I am a Democrat. I was just passing by when I landed on this site. It seems as if you guys (Republicans, Conservatives, and variations) are “eating your own” on this page. Ease up. There is an ebb and flow to all politics. Things will get better.

(How’s that Bush v. Gore thing working for you?)

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:45 pm 121. Kevin:

In response to david campell. I tend to believe that all tax-paying, law-abiding citizens are true americans. The power of America does not lie in inclusitivity, or alienation of people groups simply for having different beliefs, or feelings. I am truly an independent politically, but your comment saddens me. It is OK for people to disagree and that is what this country was built on. Our forefathers came here to establish a place for all people to be free…please remember that.

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:46 pm 122. Tim B.:

I would like to suggest something novel. Perhaps the reason that Noonan and Parker really dislike Palin as a vice presidential pick is that they believe she is not qualified. One could reasonably make the argument that all three of these women are intelligent and well accomplished in their respective fields. The thing that I believe bothers Parker and Noonan is that by picking an obviously unqualified woman to be a vice presidential choice McCain will leave the impression in people’s minds that women in general are not qualified, as opposed to Sarah Palin not being qualified. I am a registered Republican who believes in a small government whose chief role is to protect out country, its people and most importantly our constitutional principles. I am not surprised that we now have divisions in our ranks, the Republican leadership has failed us miserably. They are reaping what they sowed, and I for one am glad.

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:05 pm 123. Donna V.:

The world really is upside down. While Parker and Noonan look down their noses at Palin, the former editor of Ms. Magazine, a Democrat, writes this about her:

Now by “smart,” I don’t refer to a person who is wily or calculating or nimble in the way of certain talented athletes who we admire but suspect don’t really have serious brains in their skulls. I mean, instead, a mind that is thoughtful, curious, with a discernable pattern of associative thinking and insight. Palin asks questions, and probes linkages and logic that bring to mind a quirky law professor I once had. Palin is more than a “quick study”; I’d heard rumors around the campaign of her photographic memory and, frankly, I watched it in action. She sees. She processes. She questions, and only then, she acts. What is often called her “confidence” is actually a rarity in national politics: I saw a woman who knows exactly who she is.

For the sin of being a Christian personally opposed to abortion, Palin is being pilloried by the inside-the-Beltway Democrat feminist establishment. (Yes, she is anti-abortion. And yes, instead of buying organic New Zealand lamb at Whole Foods, she joins other Alaskans in hunting for food. That’s it. She is not a right-wing nut, and all the rest of the Internet drivel—the book banning at the Library, the rape kits decision—is nonsense.)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-27/sarah-palins-a-brainiac/1/

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:09 pm 124. calif mom:

First impressions are very important and Palin’s first impression left me speechless. I was laughing so hard I could not speak. The Couric and Gibson interviews were were my eye openers as they were for most. How embarassing to see Palin stumble and mumble. She could not even answer a simple question like what she reads, Katie had to ask this twice. I have seen an improvment though after her stint at GOP boot camp. But she is not qualified or intelligent enough to ride shotgun for McCain or anyone. Well she could ride shotgun with the hubby on the dog sled.

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:10 pm 125. katiejane:

Zion – IMO part of the reason neither Dr.Rice nor Senator Hutchison receive the same level of attack is that neither woman is perceived of as that feminine. Both of them are rather asexual. Let’s be honest – many women resent other women who they see as prettier or more attractive. Unfortunatley some women retain the junior high mentality about people who think threaten their own appeal. Yes it is ugly to say that about women but IMO it is still true.

And lest you forget I believe the left has been more than happy to disparage Dr.Rice based on racial smears something they couldn’t do with Gov Palin.

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:10 pm 126. jerryofva:

Reading through the thread confirms my observation about Palin haters. They never give a concrete reason why Obama and Biden are more qualified. It is irrational hatred based on fear of a strong woman and inability to arrive at a positive attribute about Obama. I guess you guys missed Sarkozey’s opinion on the Messiah…empty suit. Angela Merkel wasn’t impressed either.

Heah Hurley, have you figured out who the US and France kicked out of Lebanon yet?

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:15 pm 127. edit5410:

Palin is “Hot”. Noonan, Parker, Dowd, et. al.[unattractive ex-journalists, now jealous bitches] just emotionally or psychologically can’t handle how normal and mainstream the lady is. Albeit, on the abortion issue, she seems content with “live and let live” [pun intended for the moron Pricilla C., if you even know what a pun is]. Actually, the “live…..” quote is for her detractors. She says that its o.k. to be pro abortion, she’s just not. Of course, that’s hard to handle for the young recently pregnant [aborted] woman who is already having second thoughts and guilt, about destroying the only legacy she might have. Seen that one happen and it is a miserable life after that fecundity ablating abortion. When McCain announced Palin, I felt he had made a horrible choice. I watched, listened to make sense out of his choice. But, I was also watching listening, researching Obama and his qualifications. She has more administrative experience. He has more experience in hiring or associating with a political machine which steals elections from the actual winner. But that is politics and elections in the U.S. Hilary was blind-sided by the illegal voters [bussed in] in the caucuses. Obama’s orating skills are better than any politician in at least 48 years, including Ronald Reagan, except Reagan had substance and clearly wins the character issue. It is absolutely amazing that Obama is leading in the polls. From Alice Palmer, to Bobby Rush, to his U.S. Senate race, he has won or tried to win by bringing up old but sensationalist ic late campaign issues [didn't work with Rush]. He will likely do that tomorrow night, but if he pushes back the World Series and shows elitish or arrogance, he’ll lose votes. What is absolutely amazing also is this country is acting like it is going to vote to put Obama, Reid, and Pelosi in charge of all legislation and executive control for at least 2 years. And the least partisan will be Obama. The one who has hired a machine to steal each election he could. I just figured where James Carville landed. Even Carville is too principled to be associated with Obama.

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:17 pm 128. Samantha:

Again to all of the people saying Palin is dumb… Get the board out of your own eye. Obama doesn’t know how many states there are!!!! He graduated from Harvard. He doesn’t know Kentucky is a neighbor to his own state. He calls Europe a country. Now, where’s the media calling him dumb and saying all the cruel things????

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:19 pm 129. lollypop:

how can Palin be pro-birth…and not think twice about blowing a helpless animal away with her gun–like its fun to kill stupid animals, and then hide behind a “let’s save the helpless babies” facade.

…there’s a let’s kill mentality coursing thru her veins, so i don’t buy none of that save the babies crap.

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:21 pm 130. Bill:

I think the trouble with Parker and Noonan is sheer snobbish refusal to be identified with Sarah Palin. She’s not in their club and they obsessively, tongue in the cavity compulsively, don’t want to let her in.

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:23 pm 131. Samantha:

And to you Peggy here’s a little article for you… Noonans a Ruining.
Your just jealous and those who think they are so smart and know everything just show everyone how much they don’t know. You shouldn’t treat people with such disrespect. You slung mud and now your getting it back in your eye.

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:24 pm 132. Voice of Reason:

Folks, has anyone considered that MAYBE THEY HAVE REASONS? That just because they disagree with your opinion on Palin, that doesn’t make them “bad” Republicans or traitors to the cause? These writers are not idiots, they are intelligent people and they may well be following what they feel is a path of integrity. After all, an awful lot of people feel, and NOT merely Democrats, that McCain and Palin have been running a campaign that severely lacks integrity. You don’t have to agree with these people, but that doesn’t make them fools or rebels. It just makes them thinking human beings -= and imagine what courage it has taken for them to buck the party expectations and speak what they see as the truth! That takes WAY more courage that remeining “faithful” to a party line when you honestly believe that the party, for once, is in the wrong.

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:36 pm 133. live from 214:

Sarah, you’re an idiot.
no further text required.

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:40 pm 134. Linda:

I love hearing from all of the “self proclaimed Republicans” yammering on about how Palin is a disappointment and a terrible VP pick.

Palin is the ONLY reason McCain is within striking distance of Obama. She energized a rather dull McCain campaign. If you wish to ignore the obvious, suit yourselves.

This race is closer than most realize, and all the while McCain/Palin are being outspent 2-1. There is a strong possibility the billion dollar candidate could go down in flames on the 4th.

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:44 pm 135. Donna V.:

Let’s be honest – many women resent other women who they see as prettier or more attractive. Unfortunatley some women retain the junior high mentality about people who think threaten their own appeal. Yes it is ugly to say that about women but IMO it is still true.

Katiejane: Exactly right. I was thrilled by Palin, but I knew immediately that she would be more popular with men than women. A beautiful woman who went up against the establishment in her own party, was not born into wealth or privilege, has a successful career, a handsome husband, can hunt and fish with the boys, and 5 beautiful kids was bound to bring the claws out. Heck, even those of us who like her can’t help feeling like we’re lazy in comparision because we’re not up at 3 a.m. to go moose-hunting before we go run a state. I can imagine how inadequate she must make liberals feel.

Above all, her choice to have a Downs Syndrome baby can’t help but make women who have or are sure they would abort a Downs baby feel guilty about their choice. That doesn’t describe Parker or Noonan (who feel a snobbish scorn, not hatred), but it does explain the demented venom directed at her by those who feel the mere existence of Trig Palin is a rebuke and an insult.

I’m a city dweller. I don’t hunt or fish or ride “snow machines.” But I admire Palin’s frontier virtues. And I think an America who thinks those virtues are laughable is a country on the way down.

I’ll bet califmom has no resentment against Hillary – after all, Hillary rose to power the acceptable way, by marrying a powerful man and turning a blind eye to his philandering. There’s a real feminist for you! Stand by your man, ladies!

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:50 pm 136. Donnie Mac Leod:

It seems that Palin is a threat to the Center of American politics because she embraces her fellow Americans without looking at herself as anything but a fellow American trying to clean up the bad things in Politics. Despite all the claims by the Washington Democrats about change and joining folks together under Obama ,he is actually a class divider. He is dividing the electorate as the ones who have that should have their wealth taken from them so that Obama the elitist can decide who is worthy of getting confiscated funds, strong armed away from the folks that earned that money. Such elitists are supported by other elitists are very condescending of the lower class for being in a position where they need that confiscation in order to survive . Palin is one who strongly believes that wealth of a nation depends on individuals who earn their own way with strong work ethics and ingenuity. The fact that she and her husband aren’t afraid of getting their hands calloused by hard work or having fish scales upon their work clothes is another point the Noonans & Parkers would like to diminish with their poisoned pens. Shame on them.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:13 pm 137. Tim B.:

I’m not going to attack Palin to make my point. I will instead point out how stupid her supporters look and act. You people are idiots or fooling yourselves, which is an idiotic behavior. The game is over, your team is going to lose. McCain made a foolish choice and the governor reached a little too high. If you think that acountry that will elect Obama and Biden is such a horrible thing then I invite you to leave, find another country to pollute with your lies and unreasoned hatred, the rest of us won’t miss you. Here in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA we make decisions in a ballot box, that is how a DEMOCRACY works. You can all talk the patriotism talk but you can’t walk the patriotism walk. The nation is facing difficult times that will require hard work and intelligent thinking to resolve. The majority of the posters I’ve read here are either not interested in working with anyone they did not pick and not intelligent enough to provide meaningful help anyway. So, take your bitter pill, go back to whatever is was you did before caring about elections, and suck it up losers!

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:16 pm 138. James Dragon:

So I gather Pam is supportive of ignorant, lying, pork-sucking fundamentalists.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:17 pm 139. motherhood:

If Sarah Palin is so pro-life, why isn’t she home mothering her newborn Down’s child?

I don’t think that woman brings much to politics OR good parenting, judging by the legal troubles of one son, the unmarried pregnancy of her daughter and her failure to bother to even start attempting to parent her newborn.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:18 pm 140. Samantha:

To you lolly pop and voice of reason.
1. Animal killing and baby killing or two different things. Yes, it is wrong to kill an animal merely for sport but if you are going to feed your family, it is a different story. I am assuming that you are vegetarian Lollypop.
To you Voice of Reason we have listened to all of the opinions degrading Palin over and over. Why don’t you listen for a change. Read Obama’s book and see what he is about. That is the only way you will know because no one is speaking of his obscurities. Everyone thinks he is perfect and that is an obomination to the Lord.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:19 pm 141. James Dragon:

“Obama doesn’t know how many states there are”

You see a lot of stupid trash claiming that. Of course, what Obama referred to was campaigning in all 57 states and territories that vot in primaries. I seriously doubt the poster of this insipid smear could name the 50 states given a solid hour to do so. Kind of like all the Christian fundies who can’t name the 10 commandments, even though they are sure they should be posted in public buildings.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:20 pm 142. Greg H.:

The female sex knows how to fight to crush the daylights out of each other naturally from when they were little girls forming cliques to exclude more often than be welcoming and include.

Welcoming if they are just like them and it sure helps to know how to courtsey.

Amazing to see that these accomplished women (? on both words) are still pulling the same routine as they did at 12 and 13.

They fight for attention, will pack up against competitors regardless of the position sought, and work it for candy in the future.

I’ll take Palin with one hand tied behind her back. These women actually fear her. They will say they don’t but come on! A guy would just leave another alone into obscurity.

Don’t you love it when they say “who me?!?”

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:20 pm 143. Jim Baker:

Steven,

Sorry to take so long to get back to you. I didn’t see your discussion of Sarah Palin’s lack EXECUTIVE experience, and how you compare your supervision of a sales staff to Sarah’s experience as the Governor of Alaska and the Mayor of the town of Wasilla. By most definitions I have read, both of her jobs would be classified as being the top job in the EXECUTIVE branch of those governments, while your job may not fit that description. What EXECUTIVE experience do McCain, Obama, and Biden have? My assertion was that they collectively have never held the top job of any EXECUTIVE branch of any government. ( Although, I am still unsure about the EXECUTIVE experience of Obama at ACORN ) See, Sarah is the chief EXECUTIVE in an organization of over 29,000 employees who get their marching orders from her office. Sort of like President, but on a smaller scale. So please correct my assertion after looking up the definition of EXECUTIVE if you know more than I do in this area. Until then, I will remain deluded by my idea that Sarah Palin has the most EXECUTIVE experience to boast of.
I know that I am an idiot because you tell me so, but I think you confused me with someone else in your final diatribe. But I would be willing to venture that Sarah Palin does know more than you about foreign affairs. Maybe not as much as McCain, but surely more than you, me, and possibly the freshman Senator from Illinois.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:23 pm 144. Samantha:

Tim B you are atrocious! Aren’t you the pot calling the kettle black. Obama wants to “spread the wealth.” He doesn’t know how many states there are. Who knows, he may “spread the wealth” to the extra states he dreamed up in his head. So if Obama wins, we are all losers. And I am sure that if you left no one would miss your arrogant, bitter, self absorbed presence either.
Those that think they know if all show how little they do know!

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:25 pm 145. Huancavilca:

The reason for the 700 Billion bailout as per Gov. Sara Palin:

“That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it’s got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.”

If the above statement is not reason enough to say She is not qualified to be vice president, then I don’t know what could possible be. Or it could be that the standards to run for high office in this Country are not high anymore.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:25 pm 146. Donnie Mac Leod:

Linda & Donna have shown more common sense and concise insights then Noonan & Parker. They both understand that the treat to the Elites of the woman’s movement ,is a STRONG woman that retained her feminine charms while establishing a family life complete with a moral code that will not allow her take the easy way out. Woman that have supported the easy way out in career choices, feel shamed to see how Palin has taken the so called hard road and thrived. She did so in a place where lesser woman felt they couldn’t do what she has, while birthing 5 children and helping her husband in his work in the great open spaces of the last frontier. ALASKA. Meanwhile the man’s man Mr. “Macho” Palin, has also offered to do woman’s work “so to speak” in support of his wife. What a team.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:26 pm 147. another calif.mom:

You are so right,Kathleen Farker,and Piggy Noonan,were most likely the same way in high school,you know the ones im talking about,the little stuck up,snots who would stand in the halls,with nothing better to do than talk shit about anyone passing by.GROW UP! And yes PIggy,and FARker, should feel theatened by Gov Palin this lady is way prettier and much more attractive,and obliviously smarter just look where she is compared to these to little ladies!

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:29 pm 148. edit5410:

For Donna V.
On Hillary, right on. She rose as high as she could via the good old fashion way, but she was no Bill. At least we knew or found out who Bill was hosing, with Obama, we know up front he will redistribute wealth to his, Reid, and Pelosi’s interests and it would be appropriate to say, those who pay more taxes will be the hosee’s. If 95% will pay less taxes, that leaves 5% shouldering more of the tax burden. The math doesn’t work unless you accept that those 5% will soon be very unhappy. I guess the real amusing issue is whether Obama will be on drugs, cocaine, when a nuclear crisis or whatever the crisis Joe Biden was alluding to, occurs. Amusing, because in a euphoric state of mind, he would likely be the only person in the world who would be euphoric at the sight of armageddon. Apparently he confessed he “experimented” with recreational drugs, but investigative reporting died before finding out whether he dealt drugs or just used. And cocaine and other drug use is a felony whereas marijuana use is a misdameanor. I used to rely on MSM to check these things out. But with this election and the MSM bias, the integrity of the MSM died and in my opinion, will never recover. There will be a lag in investigative journalism, but hopefully a few blogging sites will develope enough resources to be able to find out if Obama was truly born in Hawaii, i.e. natural citizen, or in Kenya. He could have settled this issue with his birth cert. and authorizing the Hawaii hospital to release the certificate. He has chosen not to do this. Which begs the question, why? Its easy and a comfort to know he’s legitimate. So there must be something to hide or he is too damn arrogant and feels he will win the election without reassuring this nation of his legitimacy. Believe me, if he is elected, Joe Biden will be leading the charge to question his legitimacy.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:30 pm 149. Len Robertson:

Maybe, the real question should be: if McCain needed a woman for V.P., why didn’t he choose a woman with a legitimate track record like Carly Fiorino or Elizabeth Dole? That’s what my wife, a successful professional woman, would like to know.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:30 pm 150. bonnie:

Why is it that people are always complaining about the Washington Insiders, but now we have a VP Candidate who is NOT an insider, and she gets slammed. Maybe she hasn’t been in politics for 30 years, but look at her record for the time that she has been in politics. Why are people so afraid of someone who is pretty down to earth and who makes a lot of sense for our nation right now? GO McCain-Palin!

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:32 pm 151. ardy:

I imagine that if Parker is asked to dine with the new elites she will be asked to bring her letters from some of her offended readers along to read aloud and entertain the sophisticates. And let me warn the other party that Peggy Noonan’s mannerisms are so off putting that in our household at least the TV goes off when she goes on. Put her in front of the cameras? Not, if you’re smart you won’t.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:34 pm 152. katiejane:

lollypop – Of course someone can be anti-abortion while having no problem with hunting. Babies are people – animals are not. We eat animals – we don’t eat babies.

Voice of reason – One might be inclined to give Noonan/Parker, etc more of a break and not dismiss them as petty shrews IF they didn’t post such sexist sdrivel about a candidate they have never met. Their bashes about Gov Palin have been snide & venemous.

Exactly how much credit should be given to a writer who implies that Palin was chosen “because McCain had the hots for her?” Is that the sort of reason that is likely to cause the reader to consider her POV? As for the ticket running a campaign without integrity – that is your opinion. My opinion is that Obama has run a teo note campaign of “If you don’t vote for me you are a racist” and “I’m going to give you a free ride on that RICH guys money.” Not exactly the high road.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:35 pm 153. Paul in Maryland:

Okay…just forget the fact that Noonan and others might just be right about Palin; that she’s the Dan Quayle of the 21st Century. Quite clearly McCain chose her for one reason: she’s the anti-Cheney. Given the current Veep’s unusually significance in the current White House, McCain chose the perfect person to put the Veep back in the “bucket” as the warm spit John Nance Garner once referred the office as being similar to. Should McCain win, (and this whole discussion is seeming more and more like a academic exercise anyway), not one McCain staffer will give her two seconds of their time. Calling Palin a light weight doesn’t do justice to the term. But it doesn’t matter, the GOP is going to get it’s increasing vacuous skull crushed in this year. And frankly, it earned that right the old fashioned way, it earned it.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:36 pm 154. katiejane:

motherhood: Interesting that the Left accuses conservatives of wanting to keep women “in their place.”

In one fell swoop you imply Gov Palin is a bad mother to her children – for not sitting at home bemoaning the issues of her new baby, responsible for legal troubles of one son – undocumented, and somehow responsible for her teenaged daughter being pregnant?

Couldn’t you find anything to complain about how she’s raising the other two children? Or perhaps in your own life you can’t imagine having a spouse/partner who contributes to raising the children?

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:43 pm 155. Beth:

I can understand the perspective you are coming from on this, and I’m not actually going to take issue with what you say about Palin. What I am going to take issue with is your comment on young people when you mentioned the Colbert report. In that part you sounded nearly as condescending as those you were lambasting for speaking out against Palin. I’m sorry that we have had the horrible sin of being young and therefor not having you great ages of fine wisdom to pull from, but we are the future. And the Republican party in a many ways is ignoring us, and this election I hope they will realize how much ignoring the youth and young people of America costs them.

I’m tired of being criticized and ignored as a young American by everyone, and the Democrats are guilty of it too, though to less of an extent than the Republicans. We are the future, and we are the people who are going to be supporting you, middle age and getting older columnist, with out wages to pay for your Social Security. It’s past time some attention was paid to the issues that matter to us.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:49 pm 156. HonestAbe:

Bonnie, no one is afraid of a down-to-earth person. I would say all four candidates are pretty grounded. Obama came from the most humble of beginnings himself. The big concern is that Palin is really really dumb. You can be plain spoken and convey a common-sense approach to problems and still be an intellectual. I think Michael Bloomberg, Hagel, Gingrich and Clinton pull that off pretty well.

The problem is not her simple beliefs but her simple mind. She’s uncreative, a creationist and cannot think beyond the talking points handed to her. Her scholastic career and public interviews only add credence to that claim. It’s sad to see this forum attack thoughtful conservatives and McCain and hold up Palin as the savior.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:49 pm 157. Kris Lennon:

I am a concerned citizen of animal rights and long before McCain chose Palin for his VP, many animal rights groups (no I am not talking extremist groups here, either) were at odds with Palin for the downright savage killings she not only allowed but condoned in Alaska, many against the will of her own fellow Alaskans. If Sarah Palin is so pro life, then I guess she must not extend her love of life to all of God’s creatures. Just ask the wolves who are brutally gunned down with aerial gunning and then have ppl visit the dens of their pups so they can blow their brains out. Now there is a true love of God and creature!
As James Herriot wrote, “The Lord God Made Them All.” Apparently, Palin thinks they are only meant for her brutal amusement. Hockey Mom my butt.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:53 pm 158. chuck,:

I found her latest book in the library–sorry Sister, no royalties from me.

Anyway, I think we’re misjudging our Peggy a little. She feels that the country is about to face a terrible crisis, probably terrorism related. I think so too. An attack on the electric grid, a smallpox epidemic, something on that order. She finds both parties to be filled with bickering bratty teenagers. Where are the adults to pull us through? From this point of view, her problem with Palin isn’t that she’s stupid or even unqualified. It’s that her talents represent a dangerous escalation of the national meanness when the country needs to get beyond that, and fast. Noonan is begging all of us to put aside our rancours and think of the good of the country, and to remember that right, left, we’re all Americans who sometime soon will be relying on one another like never before. From this it’s only a small step to wishing for a conciliator, somebody of a finer weave to reconcile us. No, she doesn’t come out and endorse The One, but she could honorably, at least by her lights. And what an eloquent symbol of our national coming together if she, Reagan’s speechwriter, were to be Obama’s press secretary!

Such, I think, is what Peggy thinks she’s doing. We have a cocktail of good intentions, careerist vanity and the plainest idiocy. In short, a dangerous fool. Give me our two-fisted commonsensical, old fashioned American Sarah before the night falls.

Oct 28, 2008 - 3:57 pm 159. another calif.mom:

If obama were to win, WE ALL LOSE!!!!
Remember the mafia?
Oh and by the way Gov Arnold S. should have been able to run for president,seeing that he is from another country also. Obama was shiped to Hawaii after (AFTER)he was born.This is a law suite that was over looked by one judge,whom should get disbarred.Not to worry because this case is heading to a higher court. CHEW ON THAT!

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:00 pm 160. Jim Baker:

Paul in Maryland,

It is also possible that, given the snippets of information you and I possess, Sarah Palin is smarter than we think. What I don’t get is exactly how a vacuous Republican such as myself, have earned the right to get my skull crushed because I have earned it? Sheesh.

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:01 pm 161. edit5410:

For Tim B.
At the”ballot box”. How many times did the Afro-Amer. in the news register. 74? Is that your America? I just read an article by Hillary supporters how Obama stole the caucuses even after the popular votes in key states “elected” her. You must love Acorn and the ballot box fraud already identified. An analogy is an old stock broker recently said, “I’m not sure Wall Street greed hasn’t broken the system this time”. By the blatant voter registration, caucus voting fraud, the system may never be fixed or work again. Pelosi, Reid, Obama, soon the Supreme Court, and voter fraud at each election, the U.S.A. will be a one party system with no checks and balances. Now let me tell you how a DEMOCRACY works. One person. One vote. Anyone, i.e. ANYONE, who tampers with the fundamental tenet of DEMOCRACY, i.e. one person, one vote, should be tried for treason against our DEMOCRACY, and imprisoned for life, if found guilty. Anyone supporting or assisting voter fraud should be tried for treason and given a 10 year sentence if convicted. So, in summary, we have a country which will have a different form of government within 20 years, because there is a pervasive ethic and morality of expedience which precludes this country from implementing and applying the laws to preserve OUR DEMOCRACY. But this country had a pretty good 200 year run from a historical perspective. Our children’s children will only be able to listen to the old folks reminiscing, and reading about the old DEMOCRACY. For me, McCain is not qualified to be President. Obama is not qualified. Joe Biden isn’t qualified. Palin isn’t qualified. No. Of the choices, Romney was the administrator. I laughed aloud when some announcer was telling, during a Biden speech, how Biden was thinking how he could best serve Obama’s candidacy. I am absolutely certain Biden wasn’t thinking about that. That’s how opportunistic and cynical politicians have become. If your ballot box still allows one person, one vote, we have a chance to survive. Short of supporting that tenet, our DEMOCRACY is over.

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:07 pm 162. Tom Burns:

Remember Gov.Mrs Sarah Palin is a LADY!

These so-called ’scribblers’ are classed as ’she-persons’ in my world.They have failed the test!

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:08 pm 163. dick bohanon:

as some of the posts indicate,
the intellectuals in the republican party
are not welcome by the base anymore.
after using each other for years the family
feud is out in the open.
keep up the hate and vitrolic comments.
independents like me can sit back and watch all of you destroy each other(and probably any hopes of unity in this country)
thanks

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:08 pm 164. Donna V.:

If Sarah Palin is so pro-life, why isn’t she home mothering her newborn Down’s child?

Yeah, she should have just killed him if she wanted a career in politics, right?

Gee, “motherhood” (yeah, sure), some women have husbands and sometimes husbands help out with the kids. (Another reason to hate Palin – Todd’s not only handsome, he watches the kids too! Grrrrr!)

And I guess your own family must be squeaky clean, just like the Cleavers – no disagreements, no crises, no fights, no heartbreaks. The parents always know exactly what their teenage daughters are up to. How nice. That must explain why you sound just like my great-aunt Mabel.

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:12 pm 165. Truth Be Told:

Honest Abe… Funny how you just described Obama to the T.

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:12 pm 166. Fred:

I think Noonan should take a good hard look at this FACT about Barack Obama, soon to be President Obama: two important associates of his were Islamic terrorism supporters. I’m talking about Edward Said, whom Obama took courses from, and Dr. Rashid Khalidi, whom Obama sought for advice and connections. Both men were unapologetic in their support of Palestinian Islamic terrorism.

If we are talking about threats to the nation coming from the warrens of Islamic jihad, be they from terrorist groups or states that support them, can Peggy Noonan be serious that a President Obama would get tough on that kind of enemy? Has she lost her mind?

Sarah Palin, I think, would never accommodate our enemies and would be brutal towards them. You don’t solve a crisis caused by a WMD attack by inviting everyone together to sing Kumbaya.

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:20 pm 167. Truth Be Told:

James Dragon,
I don’t get it, you are saying that Obama said there are 57 states and territories? And then you say there are 50. What is your point? It is a fact any way you put it that Obama doesn’t know how many states there are. He is running for president and he should no how many states there are. Most grade school kids know this and are tested over it. Why should we expect any less of our president? He graduated from Harvard. If Sarah Palin said this it would be all over the news. Obama is shielded from the media.

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:21 pm 168. Tim B.:

Samantha,
I took the time to look up this 57 nonsense since you obviously did not. 57 refers to the number of locales that vote in primaries and includes places on maps that are outside of the 50 states. Maps are things that indicate the locations of other places on the planet. You are a moron. You are EXACTLY the type of person I was thinking about when I wrote that post, so I am glad I reached you. I’ll bet a hundred dollars that you don’t make over 250,000 dollars a year. I make that assumption based on your poor grammer, flimsy arguments, and overall impression of stupidity. Despite your own best efforts to hurt yourself, inexplicably, this election will be a good thing for you. I am an American patriot, a veteran, and unashamed to use my brain to reason out my own arguments. If that makes “atrocious” in your eyes, then I can live with that. Times are too bad to allow dummies to run the show, that was called the Bush administration and thankfully it is almost over. suck it up Sammy, McCain is a lost cause, ironically so, because he sold his soul to appeal to idiots like you.

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:21 pm 169. Bobbie:

Hooray for 93-95-106-124
I am 80 caucasian female and believe in voting with your mind not who dresses the best . With an enormous amount of hindsight both good and bad but a trepidation about the future that frightens me I remember both the good and bad and how we have remained the great country we are. I am very afraid we are missing the boat this time.
1 Does it not scare you that there is a strong possibility Palin could become President? I am a college educated female, mother of four and with a better than normal I.Q. (Yep I had it tested recently to be sure I was not hallucinating) Most of all I still have some common sense inherited from my fellow Americans both living and long gone( male and female, black and white)..What is this election a comic book story ?
I am proud to be a female and a smart Mother and believe that is what God needs more of. Smart ones that is and not pseudo world shakers(literally). Is’nt it enough to be proud of bringing into and nourishing the future leaders of the world? We know females are the smartest of the genders. Why can we not be satisfied to rear males to act like men and not hide behind a woman’s petticoat? And if we do please lets pick someone whose main claim to fame is being the best hockey Mom. After all not all countries or even states know that hockey is a strong point for a president..
My first time to vote Democrat and proud of it
P.S I am from Mississippi and proud of it too/////

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:23 pm 170. Donna V.:

Kris Lennon: So you would rather wolves starve to death or shot? Wildlife in Alaska is very carefully managed to prevent both overpopulation and to protect species from being overhunted.

Sorry to rain on your misty-eyed parade, but here’s some news for you. All farmers, even the organic ones who sell their produce at Whole Foods, kill animals. Not just bugs, but foxes, deer, rodents of all kinds. They must – they would have no crops to speak of if they didn’t. Do you think those soybean farmers who make your tofu don’t kill animals? Everyone either kills for food or depends on someone else to do their killing for them. No exceptions for vegetarians. I don’t care what anybody else eats or doesn’t eat and I don’t hunt, but I certainly don’t look down on those who do, unless they’re poaching or killing endangered species.

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:37 pm 171. Paul Moderate:

Sara Palin is to be commended and praised because she not informed about crucial national and international issues.Our standards in this country have sunk so low that we excuse lack of knowledge because it makes us feel good.I am simply amazed.She is a person so unqualified that her own campaign staff would not allow her to hold a press conference or be put in a position that she would have to show real knowledge of the issues that would face her if she became President.She is not running for city council.I believe that the press should have demanded more time with her burt were reluctant because she is a woman.A man would have never been able to hide.Sara was not picked on.She was given too much of a free pass.

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:41 pm 172. KS:

The men who leave comments about how their wives are more qualified that Governor Palin absolutely crack me up. As a woman, an attorney, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, I think that Governor Palin is smart and capable.

I’ve followed Peggy Noonan for a long time because my sister was her colleague years ago, and Noonan is coming off like the bitter divorcee that she is. Kathleen Parker was Kathleen Who? before she started bashing Governor Palin, and now she can’t seem to stop. It’s sad.

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:45 pm 173. LaToya:

Tim B Wow! You are harsh. Obama didn’t say there were 57 locales. He said there were 57 states. I have a P.H.D. and I don’t make over 250,000. My dad served our country too, and he struggled to get me through college. I don’t think I am better or smarter than anyone else. We all need to give others a break. I think the point Samantha was trying to make was that Obama makes mistakes too.

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:48 pm 174. Tim B.:

Edit54,
I am white, college educated, and I vote. I had never even heard of ACORN prior to a week ago when it made the news. I am highly suspicious of people who pull facts out of the air to support their arguments without serious references. Is there voter fraud in the United States, and in fact, in almost every voting nation on the face of the planet? Almost certainly, yes is the answer. That is one of the few arguments for an electoral college, an instituion you did not mention. So, even if all of “crooked” people in CA rig the election, CA still only counts as much as the electoral votes they have, the same applies to Mississippi and Alabama. My point is that the fraud will be most prevalent were the supporters of particular parties are and I do not believe the system is so corrupt that we are unable to have a valid election nationwide. Just look at our recent history. People said the system was broken when our current president was elected the first time. Now, maybe I am a cynic, but I doubt you were railing against the ACORN folks back when Bush barely got by in FL. Critics said the Florida vote was a sham, but it was certified and stood up in a court of law. In the end, we are a nation of laws, this is what sets us apart. We do agree on the tenet of enforcing the law and Democracy, and I suspect, little else:)

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:51 pm 175. Sue in WI:

Just one of my problems with Sarah Palin is her “put on” act of talking down to the “common people”. Seeing her attempt that hokey personality while showing that she has the worst case of ambition above her head is bizarre. She puts her ambitions ahead of her family. You don’t see her holding that Down’s Syndrome Baby in her arms very often. She’s got her hands full without trying to solve the nation’s troubles too. I’d respect her and her family values more if she would raise her kids first, then take on the government. Perhaps she wouldn’t have a pregnant teenager at home if she paid more attention to what was going on at home.

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:56 pm 176. Rick:

Tim-
I too looked it up. Obama said there were 57 states. Yes, there are other people who vote in territories but they aren’t states. It doesn’t matter what your salary is, when Obama spreads the wealth; It will hurt everyone because those people that do make the bucks will have to let people go and raise prices. Thank you Tim B for serving our country. We wouldn’t be here, if it weren’t for people like you. Samantha owes you an apology. We all get to vote and that is what is important.

Oct 28, 2008 - 5:15 pm 177. SukieTawdry:

James Dragon: There aren’t seven US territories (there’s either fewer or more depending on whether you count the outlying areas and sovereign nations in free association) and of those only American Samoa, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico held presidential primaries.

I wouldn’t throw epithets like “moron” around so freely, Tim B. As I said above, there were only four territories that held primaries electing delegates to the Democratic convention. You can throw in the District of Columbia, but that still won’t get you to 57. There is, of course, Democrats Abroad, but that’s the organization that provided primary voting venues for Democrats living around the world, not a locale as I’m sure a bright fellow like yourself already knows. In any event, I’m sure Barack Obama knows how many states are in the Republic.

Oct 28, 2008 - 5:26 pm 178. g miller:

I didn’t realize that Parker was even still alive, but read the Noonan article in question. For a long time, I respected Noonan’s writing, but noticed that she increasingly gets cranky and weird. And, of course we all know that she is stuffy and pretentious, but she couldn’t even shine Sarah’s shoes. Pam’s article and the mostly fantastic reader comments above provided me with some good perspective.

As far as Sarah– I think that she’s the best whiff of fresh air that national politics has seen since the Gipper, although she’s a little green yet for prime time. But then again, Obama has even less experience and basically zero meaningful accomplishments– and he’s on the top of the ticket. Of course, he’s also a far left Marxist and has sleaziest associates of any national politician. Biden is, simply, an empty suit. It doesn’t say much for politics that he could hover in Senatorial territory for so long. McCain is a mediocrity, but towers over his opponents. That doesn’t say much for them. Sarah is the best one left standing. She is smart, energetic, responsible and real. She actually gets things DONE, unlike the chattering classes. I hopethat she has a chance to grow into the job. It would be a good investment for the country.

I’m sure that there are better people than any of the four candisates we have right now, but as Rumsfeld famously quipped, “you go to war with the army you have.”

Oct 28, 2008 - 5:31 pm 179. SukieTawdry:

And, Tim? If you didn’t hear of ACORN until just a week ago, you are not very well informed because ACORN has been making news for a good many years now. This is hardly the first election in which their “methods” have been questioned. Nor is this the first time ACORN has run afoul of voter registration fraud laws. As far as I know, however, ACORN had nothing to do with Florida 2000 which was a combination of voter incompetence and an activist judiciary.

Oct 28, 2008 - 5:46 pm 180. MethodtoMadness:

Sukie, Rick, LaToya — It’s all a silly argument anyway, isn’t it? There’s only one person on the planet who actually believes that Obama doesn’t know how many states there are. (Congrats, Samantha! You’re 1 in 6 Billion! You must be proud!!)

Oct 28, 2008 - 5:49 pm 181. knutsdatter:

Please excuse me if I have missed it, but I have been wondering where the bloggers are. I mean those bloggers who, together with the Swift Boat Veterans, saved us from Kerry. Why are they not prominent in dissecting Obama’s many disqualifications, including the sine qua non of all, his birthplace and citizenship.

This piece is very welcome, but have the pajamas media been asleep in their little beds?

Oct 28, 2008 - 6:03 pm 182. kabud:

In support of Sarah Palin!

Oct 28, 2008 - 6:05 pm 183. Fred:

Reading this thread has left me with one abiding impression: that the demographics of support for Barack Obama are correct. He has very wide and deep support among women, especially white women. I think men seem to be more impressed with Sarah Palin (most guys I know, like me, are)than women are. The viciousness, the cattiness, the denigration, and the contempt that women in this country – certainly in evidence on this thread – show towards Sarah Palin is shocking. While bitter, vicious narcissists like Noonan get a lot of support on this thread.

And the feminists in the Western, non-Muslim world are linked with the Muslims in their hatred of our civilization. They really do not care about liberating women so much as they are interested in advancing their hatred and sating their bitterness. But those things are in-satiable. That’s why I so much admire women like Melanie Phillips in the U.K. and a new American in Brigitte Gabriel, refugee from Muslim violence in Lebanon. They speak the truth about the awesome threat to our way of life that dar al Islam is.

The elites of our country wittingly or unwittingly give aid and comfort to the people who want to kill us or convert us to the worship of Muhammad’s sock puppet deity.

Oct 28, 2008 - 6:14 pm 184. Donna V.:

Tim B wrote: I do not believe the system is so corrupt that we are unable to have a valid election nationwide

They don’t have to cheat nationwide. Just throwing a few swing states Obama’s way will do it.

Now, maybe I am a cynic, but I doubt you were railing against the ACORN folks back when Bush barely got by in FL

No, you’re not a cynic – just naive and woefully uninformed. ACORN is a leftist outfit, one Obama worked for when he was a community organizer. (And if any city in America knows about fixed elections, it’s Chicago.) The chances that Bush would have gotten help from ACORN are about as slim as my chances of becoming a Navy SEAL.

Oct 28, 2008 - 6:14 pm 185. BNiles57:

The question of experience seems to be more a matter of perception than substance. The fact is that Obama, Biden, and McCain all SEEM more experienced. This is due to Mrs. (Do we have to call her Governor? She called Biden “Joe” in the debates) Palin’s seeming lack of faculty with the norms of standard English, her inability to deal coherently with some fairly easy questions in national interviews, and her incessant oversimplification of the complex issues facing our nation. She just doesn’t seem experienced, or at least to have gained anything from that experience. Hopefully Mrs. Palin represents the tail end of the misbegotten Republican tactic of putting up incompetent, divisive candidates in the hope of distracting and scaring the American people into voting for them. At least George Bush Sr. could explain his flawed policies. This lot doesn’t seem to be able to explain anything in terms other than anti/pro American and good vs. evil. Sorry folks, but the world out there (get a passport) is a lot more complex than that.

Oct 28, 2008 - 6:33 pm 186. momof3:

lollypop, you’re a f-ing idiot. There is no difference in someone killing a moose and eating it, and going to McDonalds. Except at McDonalds you’re spared the unpleasantness of the death. And to compare a human child to an animal to be eaten is just absurd. I am prolife, and I eat meat. Wait, that must mean I am murderous….

Oct 28, 2008 - 6:33 pm 187. Donna V.:

Why is it that people are always complaining about the Washington Insiders, but now we have a VP Candidate who is NOT an insider, and she gets slammed.

Bonnie, that’s an excellent point. People bitch about Washington, eColi is more popular than Congress and yet the only person in the race who is not a Senator gets slammed for her lack of foreign policy experience. I’m wondering what foreign policy directives Clinton and Carter developed when they ran Arkansas and Georgia. I don’t recall ever hearing about them at the time – and they were running at the top of the ticket.

And the whole “stupid” business – right, she ran successfully against an entrenched imcumbent of her own party, was elected governor, and has maintained an 80% approval rating just because she’s cute.

Palin has proved she can run a state. Obama’s only executive experience has been on the board of the Annenburg Challenge, and all he did was succeed in wasting money. He couldn’t handle $100 million – great, let’s give him trillions to play with!

Many intellectuals are pleasant, charming people. They have an tendency to mistake verbal glibness for wisdom. I doubt most of them could run a car wash without making a complete hash of it.

Oct 28, 2008 - 6:41 pm 188. jerryofva:

Would those of you who disparage Governor Palin please instead tell us the positive things about Senators Obama and Bidenthat make you think he is qualified for President. Please refrain from using the words hope and change in your answers.

Ok, I don’t really expect anybody to try to do that at this late date.

Oct 28, 2008 - 6:46 pm 189. Tversky:

I find the certainty with which all these lefties and commentators criticize Palin’s intellect pretty hilarious. It’s hilarious because only someone highly illogical, deeply deluded or intellectually dishonest could come to such a conclusion on the basis of such weak evidence and in the face of plenty of counter-vailing evidence:
Firstly, the “Palin is an idiot evidence” appears to be a very limited number of very noisy datapoints (a couple of edited interviews, the fact that she drops her ‘g’s, the fact that she went to a state school). When I say those datapoints are noisy I mean that they aren’t particularly diagnostic re: Palin’s general ability to reason, analyze, intuit, etc.; whether she has innate curiousity and most importantly whether she’d be an effective Vice President. Second, the Palin critics have completely disregarded/overlooked *other* information indicating Palin is at the minimum, a very capable politician and a very effective executive (e.g., she’s a popular sitting Governor – can Noonan, Parker or the KosKiddies say the same?; with no connections or money she managed to beat the sitting Governor of her own party in the Republcian primary; she successfully negotiated a gas pipeline when no one else had been able to for over 20 years; she was a successful businesswoman prior to running for office; she’s accomplished all these things while maintaining a marriage to her highschool sweetheart and raising 5 kids – definitely a sign that she can at least multi-task, etc.) Only a reasonably intelligent person could accomplish all those things.
It’s debatable whether she’s qualified to be president if McCain died in office, but only someone with extremely poor analytical skills, that’s deeply deluded or that’s intellectually dishonest could concluded with absolute certainty (as Noonan, Parker and many of the commentators here have) that Palin is in any way intellectually deficient.

Lastly, many of these same individuals praise Obama’s intellect and suggest that intellect is diagnostic of his abilty to be a good President. Once again, that’s faulty reasoning. Obama is clearly academically gifted. But there is literally no evidence that those academic gifts extend toward creative policy, legislative achievement, or executive ability and decision-making. Moreover, there is no correlation between an Ivy League degree and quality of public service performance. JFK’s Harvard educated best and the brightest, Dean Rusk and Robert McNamara got us into Viet Nam. Bill Clinton, a man that is at least if not more intellectually gifted than Obama and with much more executive experience, struggled desperately his first few years in the White House. Barney Frank, a Harvard educated attorney, completely missed the problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Another Harvard educated attorney, Frankline Raines, ran it into the run. I would go even further and say: Not only is an Ivy League education not diagnositic of high quality public service performance, but when that Ivy League education leads to ARROGANCE, such an education leads to POOR quality public service performance. Barney Frank’s oversight failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac illustrates such an effect. The same is true of the failures of Dean Rusk and Robert McNamara to foresee the potential problems in Viet Nam. In addition, arrogance was rampant in the Bush White House among the individuals that perpetrated the greatest mistakes: David Addington, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, John Yoo, etc. Barack Obama has revealed this same type of arrogance when he said he was “confident I know more about foreign affairs than either Hillary Clinton or John McCain”.

Bottom line:
There’s no quality evidence to indicate Palin is an idiot and plenty of evidence to indicate she’s not.
The fact that Obama went to an Ivy League school might be more of a hindrance than a help as President of the United States.

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:13 pm 190. BNiles57:

To Jerryofva (188)

Well, Biden and McCain are easy answers – both have a long government record. Just as clearly, Obama doesn’t have the same track record, a fact that I think the Obama campaign might even acknowledge as his weakest point as a candidate. But certainly Columbia Grad, Harvard Law Grad, Harvard Law Review President, Civil Rights Attorney, Community Organizer, Professor of Constitutional Law, Illinois Senator, and U.S. Congressman is not a resume to be sneezed at? Especially compared to Palin’s 4 Different Colleges, Ms. Wassilla Award, News Anchor, Wassilla City Council/Mayor, Governor of Alaska route (nothing, by the way, to sneeze at either. She is a very accomplished person). As I said before, however, the important point is that Mr. Obama (and Mr. Biden) appear to be rational, well thought out people who respond relatively directly and coherently to questions, and who appear to have a detailed plan of action for the United States that doesn’t rely on repeating failed policies from the past. In these meager political times, those seem to be the best qualifications we can hope for! I wish the Republicans could put candidates in place who can meet these simple standards, but it simply seems they have not.

Oct 28, 2008 - 7:57 pm 191. Donna V.:

The viciousness, the cattiness, the denigration, and the contempt that women in this country – certainly in evidence on this thread – show towards Sarah Palin is shocking.

I went to an all-girls high school and it isn’t one bit shocking to me. I listen to women ragging on Palin for trivial reasons, or for things they would never hold a man accountable for, and I can guess exactly what they were like in the school lunch line.

Oct 28, 2008 - 8:48 pm 192. Bob:

Message 190

I’m not sure which Joe Biden you have been listening to, but answering ‘directly and coherently’ -even ‘relatively’ – isn’t the same Joe Biden I have heard speak in the Senate or on the stump for so many years.

If all I knew was, ‘three Senators and a Governor walk into a bar. Which one would you pick for President?’ I would take the Governor every time. Senators by nature are just not executive material. Change the above to Mayor and I would probably go with Mayor as well!

Oct 28, 2008 - 8:52 pm 193. HonestAbe:

1. maverick and beating an incumbent…Are you really this stupid? Murkowski, the former governor was extremely corrupt, purchased a $2.7 million jet with state money and appointed his daughter in his vacated senate seat. You would have to be an idiot NOT to run as a reformer against that track record. He came in third in his own party’s primary.
2. Palin governs a socialist state where everyone gets money back from the oil companies. Even crook Stevens was still a viable candidate even though it’s become quite apparent that he’s also a crook.

In short, the evidence of popularity and anti-establishment leanings as evidence of competence is a joke. By the way Obama’s arguments are similarly weak. Who wouldn’t run on an anti-Bush platform. After 8 years of corruption, nepotism, incompetenance and religous pandering, you are basically handed a script for the 2008 election. Unless of course, you are John McCain’s advisors – morons.

I hope you keep propping up Palin instead of Romney, Jindal, Hagel, or Coburn or any of the many serious, intellectuals on the right. Keep it real…real stupid.

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:03 pm 194. HonestAbe:

She’s a creationist and believes that a 1% increase in oil supply will curb us of our middle-east oil dependency, which is itself incorrect. Petroleum also comprises 40% of our energy sources. She may not be Miss South Carolina stupid, but she’s not a credible VP candidate:

http://scottnolansmith.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/usa-not-dependent-on-middle-east-oil/

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pdf/pages/sec1_3.pdf

I know noone will believe me, because it’s much easier to put people in boxes, but I would have voted for a 2000 McCain with a sensible VP candidate. The Palin pick shows that McCain is not in charge of his campaign and made a cynical political; it was poor judgment.

The interviews were just icing.

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:19 pm 195. BNiles57:

Bob- Surely you aren’t lumping our current ex-governor/president George Bush into that statement? Interestingly, Bush also serves to back up Tversky’s (post #189) insightful and thoughtful observation that ivy league education does not equate intelligence. As for Biden, I confess to a certain amount of nervousness about him, but I don’t think any rational and unbiased observer of the VP debate would think those two candidates are in the same ballpark of directness and coherency. Biden answered the questions in a relatively direct and coherent manner. Palin did not, even when she chose to actually answer the questions at all. Read the transcript if you doubt. It’s scary. She is politically savvy for sure, but in terms of a sophisticated, nuanced, nimble mind? I don’t see any evidence of it. I would like to hear more about your governor vs. senator theory however. What are you basing it on?

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:25 pm 196. Tversky:

“doesn’t rely on repeating failed policies from the past.”

I’m sorry to be rude, but do you know anything about 20th century American history?

Obama and Biden are offering nothing more than warmed over boiler plate liberalism – both fiscal and social. Granted, McCain’s small gov/lower tax fiscal conservative policies aren’t new either.
However, at least fiscal conservatism when actually IMPLEMENTED (e.g., George W. Bush’s exploding government spending is the antithesis of fiscal conservatism) has some record of success (e.g., under John F. Kennedy, Reagan, George H.W.Bush and Clinton. Yep. KENNEDY AND CLINTON! Both were fiscal conservatives)
Obama and Biden are laboring under the delusion that they can recreate LBJ’s Great Society and somehow get a better result. Fiscal and social liberalism though has a record of complete and utter failure with FDR, LBJ, Nixon, Ford and Carter. For example, historians have concluded that FDR’s New Deal policies actually prolonged the Depression. To FDR’s credit, he was simply experimenting as fast as he could to manage a real crisis. But John Kerry, Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, and Barack Obama’s can’t blame ignorance for their support for such terrible policies. They SHOULD know better than to try to recreate policies that failed the first time. I mean, that’s the very definition of insanity! I shouldn’t be shocked though, they’re all a bunch of career lawyers and politicians. They’re CLUELESS about economics and none have ever run a business. God help us with those bozos in charge. Ugh.

Oct 28, 2008 - 10:16 pm 197. Aleena:

Honestabe,
You are a liar! You make all kinds of sweeping assumptions which are only based on your point of view.
You say that “Who wouldn’t run on an anti-Bush platform. After 8 years of corruption, nepotism, incompetenance and religous pandering, you are basically handed a script for the 2008 election. Unless of course, you are John McCain’s advisors – morons.”

This is the full-blown Bush Derrangement Syndrome. The press has trashed him so much that any attempt to say anything positive about him is cause for instant derision. He is neither corrupt nor incompetent. What nepotism and what religious pandering? All I see is your hatred of George Bush. I am sick of it!

And you can make any snotty, snide reply you want. Your ilk used to annoy me; now you simply bore me. And if you want to see a moron, look in the mirror.

And of course, anyone who doesn’t agree with you is stupid. How modest!!!

As for Peggy, I have long felt that she is out-out-touch and out-of-time. An aging gal wishing she were still living in Reagan years.

And Ms. Parker is so full-of-herself that she is impossible to read. I can not get beyond a few sentences.

Oct 28, 2008 - 11:35 pm 198. cedarford:

Colorado:
The great Ronald Reagan would not recognize ol Peg if he could come back and visit us for a day. Peg is the perfect defination of a RINO (Republican in Name only). But would she really stoop so low and accept a position in The Messiah’s administration? What am I saying? McCain/Palin will win!!

Hang in there fellow conservatives!!

The Great Ronald Reagan, if he could timewarp into 2008 with his brains intact, would puke.

First at realizing that the theories “conservative movement economists” paid by the wealthy had – supply side, dereg of industries with the power to harm most Americans greatly, tax cuts not balanced by spending cuts and disproportionately going to the wealthy (and forcing Reagan Democrats back into Dem hands), trickledown, unrestricted free trade – all failed. And the last President doubled the national deficit to 10 trillion and helped destroy the Republican Party.

Leading to Reagan’s 2nd shock that the idiot was the son of the idiot Reagan really didn’t want as VP. Then finding out the idiot put us into a war that has cost us 1 trillion, 33,000 casualties and 4300 dead…”I refused to listen to Baker and Schultz and let the Jews suck us and France into Lebanon. We were lucky to pull out of there with under 300 dead Marines and French Paratroopers”.

Then his 3rd shock at finding out Republicans had won the Reagan Revolution, then promptly turned into whores of the K Street lobbyists and Corporatists. And that if he had run in 2008, the Religious Right would have run him out of the Primaries for signing the most liberal abortion law pre-Roe, only being a nominal, Sundays only Christian, and for having gay friends. And surprise to learn he was Deified. And that a Cult exists to him that want their thought processes frozen in an era long gone – and misread him – and don’t get that he had moved to revamp the Republicans completely after Goldwater, building on what Nixon did….not try to be Goldwater.

“Sounds like the present Republicans well deserve the candidates they chose and the slaughter they will get,” Reagan said amiably. “Nice to hear Gerge Schultz and Ollie and Peggy Noonan and Pat are still around keeping the flame alive….And sorry about the Reagonomics thing – it worked almost 30 years ago when the other Party was watching the bigshots..it sounding like a good idea so I bought off on it…but I did pledge to the People that we would keep a very close eye on things and never screw the Reagan Democrats to favor only the rich. Guess that didn’t go right.”

As for Noonan, she won’t be needed in an Obama Administration because he already has highly talented managers and speechwriters toiling for him. John McCain desperately could have used a Noonan, and someone like a Schultz or a Baker to bring some coherence to his vision for America.

His failure to do so, and run on character and cliches, and to have Palin spout 25-year old Right Wing slogans and talking points endlessly
is another thing to reflect on as Republicans head out into the Wilderness….
***********************
Fred – Peggy Noonan is nothing more than a wordsmith. She is not a thinker and certainly not a leader. I never found her to be original or bold. She is typical for the journalist profession. That’s why she is what she is. Sarah Palin is head and shoulders above someone like Noonan, and Noonan and Parker know this. Yet it offends them that greatness can be found outside the New York – Washington Corridor.

When I was in college we all knew that the next rung above education majors was journalism major – as in from the bottom of the ranking of intellectual rigor.

Sorry Fred, you are just too dumb to understand the rare talent for information gathering, synthesizing the thoughts of others, and then writing the elegant phrases that you think Reagan or some other vessel came up with are their own words.

You can’t break away from your stupidity enough to realize an essayist is not a newsreader…and the very best are near the pinnacle of intellect on the verbal skills side. As a speechwriter to Presidents and as a successful essay writer at the WSJ, Noonan is considered one of the best. Sorry for your Right Wing Cult Goddess, but she is nowhere near the thinker and opinion-shaper that a Noonan, a Krauthammer, even a Dowd is..

Oct 29, 2008 - 12:53 am 199. Mark Gonzales:

Sure, Obama knows how many states there are now. But, he did make a few little insignificant gaffs. He is such an fantastic speaker everyone gives him a break. Sarah, on the other hand, gets degraded. I notice people like Tom B to pick on people for grammer, spelling, etc. It is the oldest trick in the book to discredit someone. That one guy Tom B. A.K.A Keith Obermann, left a mean- sprited message for all Palin supporters calling them idiots. He actully said they can leave the country Check it out #137! Can’t we all have opinions and differences without being hurtful to one another? Isn’t it time for a change?

Oct 29, 2008 - 1:54 am 200. chicagomom:

Method to madness,
It’s okay to assume Obama must know there are 50 states when he said 57 but it’s not okay for anyone to assume that Palin knows a name of a magazine? It’s the same old double- standard. When men make insignificant mistakes it is nothing but if a woman does, she must be dumb. No one is perfect. Give both of them a break. I can only imagine how hard it is running for office.

Oct 29, 2008 - 2:06 am 201. A great answer:

Thanks Teversky for your thoughts.

Oct 29, 2008 - 2:21 am 202. Marc Malone:

175. Sue in WI – OMG! Do you hear yourself? When Palin is done raising her kids, then she should seek office? So… she should start campaigning at 62? Would you demand that of a man? Have you lost your mind? Has your unreasoning hate for her put you ’round the bend? Women should just stay home and raise their kids? Get some help. Ask some ladyfriends for an intervention. Something.

Oct 29, 2008 - 2:24 am 203. Adam:

I like both Sarah Palin and Obama. Isn’t this election fun minus the nasty comments about one or the other?

Oct 29, 2008 - 2:37 am 204. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Pam Meister, et al.
RE: Sounds Like….

Beltway insiders Peggy Noonan and Kathleen Parker are placing self-interest over principle. — Pam Meister

…jealousy to me. Women can be that way. And when they get as catty as THIS, that’s a strong indicator.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[The point is that as soon as fear, hatred, jealousy and power worship are involved, the sense of reality becomes unhinged. And, as I have pointed out already, the sense of right and wrong becomes unhinged also. -- George Orwell]

Oct 29, 2008 - 5:40 am 205. Will Sharpe:

Good lord, let’s just get this election over with; I cannot stand anymore of these unsubstantial stories.

Oct 29, 2008 - 7:20 am 206. RA:

Both of these harpies have relegated themselves into the same “person non grata” pit that Linda ” Let all my Mexican friends vote in America” Chavez is in.

A pox on all three of them forever.

Oct 29, 2008 - 8:31 am 207. fred:

c-fudd, are you stalking me across weblogs? I guess I should be flattered that the ugly Jew-hater leads with his knuckles dragging behind him.

If you are an example of an erudite synthesizer of information while I’m a dumbass, then I’ll be more than happy to remain the dumbass, thank you.

I’ve never seen a bolder liar and a more hateful person in the blog world. So, if I’m a rustic primitive, what does that make you?

Oct 29, 2008 - 8:35 am 208. nlcatter:

those women realized

1 Americans dont like lying – bridge
2 Americans dont like corrupt – wasting $ on own family
3 Americans dont like unethical – troopergate
4 Americans dont like bookburners

now they might like creationists (50%) but wise people know they are not to govern.

Oct 29, 2008 - 9:07 am 209. David W. Lincoln:

Danielle Crittenden has gotten into the act, and the latest example is today in the National Post.

My thinking is, the people who are most sour on Palin are the people who are most influenced by sound bites. Regardless if the sound bites come from the talking heads of the entertainment media
who show up on television or the internet (hello there Mary Hart and Brian Williams), or the writers who take a snapshot and spend the entire
article or column pontificating about that one thread.

So, I ask again, why are they regarded as leaders?

Oct 29, 2008 - 9:26 am 210. cedarford:

fred – I’ve never seen a bolder liar and a more hateful person in the blog world. So, if I’m a rustic primitive, what does that make you?

For starters, Fred, it makes me much smarter and better-read than you.

There really isn’t much point in arguing with a guy who is so stupid he cannot distinguish between lies and truth, not between “hate” and a reality you are too dim to see.

Consider it my amusement to chide you…maybe even embarass you enough ..so you actually check info out before you say dumbass “Fred things”.

****************

Oct 29, 2008 - 9:29 am 211. David W. Lincoln:

One other thing that I forgot to add: wasn’t Honest Abe pilloried time and again during his administration?

Oct 29, 2008 - 9:38 am 212. BNiles57:

Tversky – You were a bit rude, but given the tone of this post, understandably so. I myself fell into that trap on an earlier posting. Here’s the un-rude stuff: Thanks for making me go back and brush up on economic policies. It’s always good to learn more. Here’s what it seems like to me though: Fiscal Conservatism and supply-side/deregulatory policies are not the same thing. It seems that most reasonable people would agree that controlling government spending is a good thing. Promoting a tax policy that gives cuts to the very rich, while cutting controls over how they go about gaining that money, all in hopes that somehow it will reach the lower/middle class seems to me to be an iffy proposition. The statistical trend since Reagan has been a STRONG consolidation of wealth amongst the very wealthy. Also the policies of both Reagan and Bush ran up the national debt, a luxury our next president will not have. The supply-side/deregulatory idea makes little logical sense (think about it. I mean REALLY think about it), and has proven to be a disaster. Fiscal Conservatism with a fair, sensible tax plan and strong regulations makes sense. This free-for-all supply-side/dergulation combination does not.

Oct 29, 2008 - 9:54 am 213. jerryofva:

BNiles:

I apprciate your response to my challenge on being the only Obama supporter who took the time to put a positive case forward for the Obama-ticket. It is the exception that proves my point. I am sure there are many voters who will choose Obama over McCain who bear no ill will torward Sarah Palin and recognize her accomplishments. They just don’t rant on blogs. I think that is the essence of Pam Meister’s article. The Palin haters are pathological because they cannot articulate a positive reason for their choice and therefore irrationally lash out at Palin.

I do have a couple of nits to pick. First, Obama was never a Congressment. He challenged Bobby Rush who crushed him a primary. Crediting Ivy League institutions as a positive credential is silly. The hated Bush 43 is a graduate of both Yale and Harvard. There is nothing qualifying about that. I can say with almost absolute certainty that Bush, Gore and Kerry, who are my contemporaries, would never have been admitted to The University of Illinois and if they managed to somehow get in they wouldn’t have lasted out the year. The top 20 State institutions produce superior graduates to the average Ivy leaguer. Remember when you are just a number only performance counts. Nobody cuts you break for being a Senator’s kid.

Oct 29, 2008 - 10:05 am 214. Bilwick1:

For some of these people, the motive may not be naked self-interest as much as what Ayn Rand called “social metaphysics.” (Yeah, I know generally only Randroids use the term but I find the term useful. If you want a fictional example of a social metaphysician, see the character of Peter Keating in THE FOUNTAINHEAD.) They may feel a need to be respected by their “liberal” colleagues. They remind me of what in the Fifties and early Sixties used to be called “responsible conservatives.” These were the “house” conservatives who would never be uppity to Massa Lib’ral and never, ever threaten the Plantation. I used to call them “Uncle Clints” after the preeminent “responsible” conservative of his era, but that term needs updating. How about “Uncle Dave,” after David Brooks?

Oct 29, 2008 - 10:09 am 215. Jim Baker:

cedarford,
What does Obama pay the Obamobots these days to clog the blogs like you do? I only ask because I know you are closer to the campaign than I am and I am guessing you might know. He should be paying you a lot because your drivel is highly creative.

Oct 29, 2008 - 10:10 am 216. bear:

I don’t have anything against Palin, and I do think she’s taken shots that at the least are ‘unfair’, but you can’t convince me that she is all that smart or would be a very good executive without a little more back-up for the claim. Same said for Obama. My liberal and independent friends believe we need an intelligent president and are in the tank for Obama. I don’t get it. He’s a good salesman, but that doesn’t say anything about his decision making ability.

And what’s up with all the Reagon nostalgia anyway? As I recall people didn’t think he was all that smart either…is that the connection?

Oct 29, 2008 - 10:25 am 217. bear:

jerryofva: define superior. in what context? average ivy leaguer vs. top 1%? That’s a stupid statement, I think you will find an equal ratio of buffoons in both.

Although I could be wrong and then would have to bow to your omniscience

Oct 29, 2008 - 10:44 am 218. DICK BOHANON:

there are three stages of truth
1. it is ridiculed
2. it is violently opposed
3. it is said to have been self-evident all along

at what stage are you at?

Oct 29, 2008 - 10:48 am 219. Tim B.:

So, yesterday I maybe had a bit too much caffeine and came off a little angrier than I intended. I’m not angry, just pragmatic. To answer some specific criticisms, I never actually said what Obama said, I just debunked the myth that the number 57 somehow indicated the candidate thought there were 57 states, as opposed to states, territories, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, etc… If during one of his thousands of stump speeches he mispoke and said 57 states, well so be it, he is human. How any Bush supporter can critisize another candidates elocution or articulation is beyond me, but I’m no longer surprised by anything. As for my assertion that Samantha is a moron, well, I’m sticking with that conclusion.

Oct 29, 2008 - 11:03 am 220. jerryofva:

Bear,

You obviously haven’t really looked at the student profiles of the top State Schools. Excluding Berkley, which would unfairly skew the date in favor of the State Schools, the medium SAT scores at these institutions are well within the range of admission scores and grade point avereges of Ivy Leagues schools. Quantity has a quality all its own. The number of highly qualified students at our top state instutitions exceeds the number of places at Ivy Leaque schools by many times.

Other then the old boy network, Ivy League schools are sort of joke for a large number of students (Just think of the Bush, Gore and Kerry). The hard part is getting in, once you are there it is really tough to flunk out. It might be easier to get into a top state school but flunking out is easy to do. The average Ivy League student is never really challenged because a minimum amount of work usually gets you a C.

You probably don’t know that the IT revolution didn’t originate at Harvard, Yale or Princeton. It came out of the University of Illinois.

– High speed computing (the Illiac series financed by NSA)

– Solid state devices (John Bardeen, UofI Department of Physics, double Nobel Laureate)

– Modern WWW interface (Mosaic browser is the basis for Netscape and IE…check the about on these programs)

Oct 29, 2008 - 11:12 am 221. Jillian:

Noonan becoming a NYT columnist would be a perfect example of a rat hopping onto a sinking ship

Oct 29, 2008 - 11:18 am 222. bear:

Jerryofva…I know all about Illinois having been in the HPC business for part of 30 years in Technology. Only point I was making is that you really can’t make that kind of generalization. State schools tend to have a much larger population (student body). I have a nephew that went to Berkeley on scholarship and a son that went to a local state school. If I were to measure who’s more successful, and savvy I’d say my son.

Based on IQ, my nephew has the edge.

Oct 29, 2008 - 12:04 pm 223. J Scott:

For years I have admired Ms. Noonan; bought and read her books, read her column religiously in the WSJ, and even passed along those columns with gusto to family and friends. This has been a real lesson in how selfish even those on the right can be when they feel threaten (as I’m sure they do) by someone authentic and decidedly not part of their common experience/background.
Palin was the best choice McCain has made and she will be a fine VP.

PS, I hope Ms. Noonan does go to the NYT in time to get her pink slip with the “grey lady” either slips beneath the waves, or gets bought by the hated Murdoch.

Oct 29, 2008 - 12:25 pm 224. Adam:

Tim B Do you still want everyone else that doesn’t hate Palin to leave the country? Do you think they are still stupid? In your own words from #137…
“I’m not going to attack Palin to make my point. I will instead point out how stupid her supporters look and act. You people are idiots or fooling yourselves, which is an idiotic behavior. The game is over, your team is going to lose. McCain made a foolish choice and the governor reached a little too high. If you think that acountry that will elect Obama and Biden is such a horrible thing then I invite you to leave, find another country to pollute with your lies and unreasoned hatred, the rest of us won’t miss you. Here in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA we make decisions in a ballot box, that is how a DEMOCRACY works. You can all talk the patriotism talk but you can’t walk the patriotism walk. The nation is facing difficult times that will require hard work and intelligent thinking to resolve. The majority of the posters I’ve read here are either not interested in working with anyone they did not pick and not intelligent enough to provide meaningful help anyway. So, take your bitter pill, go back to whatever is was you did before caring about elections, and suck it up losers!”

Oct 29, 2008 - 1:34 pm 225. Rosemary:

OK, so for Peggy it’s all about writing the beautiful words and nothing about believing in the words she’s written?

That must be the case if she is so eagerly ready to switch sides and go with Obama – which is counter to everything Ronald Reagan stood for.

In her explanation of saying “it’s over” through an open mic at the Republican National Convention she threw out the implausible explanation that she was referring to the “Reagan revolution” and not to John McCain’s run for the presidency.

I didn’t believe her then, and this revelation of her possible new employer further solidifies my feelings on the matter.

I’m sure she’ll have a marvelous time crafting speeches in lyrical tones that calls out the benefits of socialism to the innocent and unknowing.

Oct 29, 2008 - 1:42 pm 226. DeAnn Caylor:

Kathleen Parker inappropriately elevates herself when calling upon the name of Jane Goodall. Whereas Goodall devoted herself to the care and conservation of our closest primate cousins, Ms. Parker’s primary focus appears to be self-aggrandizing. No one outside The Beltway needs any assistance understanding the behavior of Washington insiders. We get it.

Oct 29, 2008 - 1:43 pm 227. voter:

Ladies, all you can do is boycott the ones you don’t like and support the ones you do. Little do these women pundits realize how they damage their own place in society when they attack their own. I’m appalled that a mannequin dressed up like Palin has been hanging by a noose on a house in CA for over 2 weeks. Can you imagine if it was dressed like Obama hanging by a noose the outrage? Kind of puts things into perspective about the misogyny in this country and actually all over the world.

Oct 29, 2008 - 2:04 pm 228. laurie lewis:

SMART conservative women talk about Palin in honest ways. They are 150% correct in their viewpoints and thank God there are still enough Republicans left that aren’t afraid to speak the truth about Palin.

Those of you who are blinded by Palin and think she is wonderful are a sorry bunch. You really should do more research on her and base your opinions on FACT, on whether she is a woman or has kids like you, or understands you. She is NOT the most popular Gov in the US anymore. Many in Alaska are furious with her. She has a habit of stepping on , chewing and spitting people out after she has used them for political gain. Do some real reading for God sake ad stop giving these women a hard time. They have a right to their opinion as well.

Oct 29, 2008 - 2:21 pm 229. Mandy:

“Confusing”? Not at all. Saah Palin is an ignorant, mean-spitied, self-serving bigot. Even a conservative can have sufficient principles not to want her as a leader.

Oct 29, 2008 - 2:35 pm 230. katiejane:

laurie lewis: I would also assume that SMART conservative women don’t support candidates who abort their own young.

People like you who apparently have such a weak grasp on politics are not SMART or you’d realize that most politicians have “a habit of stepping on , chewing and spitting people out after she has used them for political gain.” Sort of like the habit Obama has of brushing off any negative association as a distraction. Are you honestly so naive that you think otherwise?

Oct 29, 2008 - 3:05 pm 231. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Mandy
RE: Uuuuuhhhhh….

Saah Palin is an ignorant, mean-spitied, self-serving bigot. Even a conservative can have sufficient principles not to want her as a leader. — Mandy

Show me your supporting evidence, please.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[A lack of evidence is evidence of lying.]

Oct 29, 2008 - 3:18 pm 232. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: laurie lewis

I wonder how she’s registered to vote. What party affiliation does she claim? And what proof is she willing to offer of that?

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[The Truth will out....]

Oct 29, 2008 - 3:20 pm 233. Dave Sun:

Is it really that difficult to see why so many people are against Palin as VP, including a large number of very well-respected conservatives? C’mon, really?

So, now, suddenly, both Parker and Noonan have lost stature???

Palin is not qualified to be VP, not even close. She has an extremely low intellect, which she has demonstrated time after time. She has made it quite clear that she doesn’t even know what the duties of a VP are, on several occasions.

This isn’t the city council.

Let’s get real here. What else would it take???

Noonan and Parker are willing to call it like it is, point blank. It’s about being credible.

Does the term Maverick mean anything???

Oct 29, 2008 - 4:45 pm 234. Adam:

What is mean-spitied? That is a new one for me. I guess I am a stupid idiot because I think Sarah Palin is kind- hearted, intelligent, and a woman of character. You get to vote Mandy! Go out and do so and give us a break from your hate.

Oct 29, 2008 - 4:52 pm 235. Peter:

This is a letter that I have written just a few days ago to Parker:

To Parker, on her article , Something about Sarah,
Dear Kathleen,

No doubt you will receive tons of mail , pro and contra on the subject. So, my opinion, if you ever read it at all, will not matter one bit.
Instead, I would love you to consider writing an equally fascinating “study”, you know, citing various psychological studies , your husband’s insightful remarks, etc. as you have done on Sarah, on Barack Obama, the ” political force” as you described him.

Tell us your husband’s musings on the subject, your own conclusions, how and why you and many others in your blog, PostPartisan, are fascinated by this attractive, well-spoken, clean-cut African-American. Just how and why did he captivate you and millions with the thinnest of resumes, with troublesome associations with less than admirable charatcters, with visions of utopia in his promises, with an angry and venomous African-American wife with a demonstrated racist past?

As you have said, men are “smitten by the presence of an attractive woman”, just as liberal journalists are smitten by the emergence of an articulate and liberal African-American. I am certain, that deep inside you, you would not deny that an equally young and liberal ( and rather unaccomplished) white man would have never come that far in a presidential campaign, never would have beaten Hillary.

We are looking forward to your article on “Something about Barack”, along the same vein as “Something about Sarah” to help us understand the meteoric rise of the “One”.

Oct 29, 2008 - 5:01 pm 236. Tim:

NCatter
So are you wise NCatter? Please get all the facts on these things before you come here with your anger. Do you actually know the facts about all of these things you mentioned? It would do you some good to look them up.
NCatter wrote:
“those women realized
1 Americans dont like lying – bridge
2 Americans dont like corrupt – wasting $ on own family
3 Americans dont like unethical – troopergate
4 Americans dont like bookburners
now they might like creationists (50%) but wise people know they are not to govern.”

Oct 29, 2008 - 5:05 pm 237. Chip:

“These two women have given me a better appreciation of how the ancients could believe in demon possession and the need for exorcism.

Their behavior towards Gov. Palin is completely irrational – and very ugly. Parker’s vendetta especially so.”

It may amount to their attempt to help Palin get elected…

Women psychologically do not typically pull for other women in competitive situations. That is why women’s sports teams and players have trouble getting serious advertisers to sponsor women’s sporting events and TV broadcasts.

However, when women perceive that another woman is being picked on or bullied, they tend to immediately come to their defense.

Call it human-female instinct, or whatever, but it is a very real phenomenon.

Oct 29, 2008 - 5:07 pm 238. Chad:

Cedarford Write your stuff somewhere else please! We don’t want to hear it. Why are you so hate filled? Please Apologize to Fred. You are not better than anyone else here. There is no need to be so cruel. Why can’t you express your opinions without belittling others and lashing out? People are hurting because of all of this hatred of others and that is what this story is about. Quit hating please and go out and let everyone vote for who they want. God Bless America!!

Oct 29, 2008 - 5:20 pm 239. Joseph Marshall:

Hey, this thread is more fun than a barrel of monkeys! You better pay some mind to Ceaderford up in #11 and Phil in #93. As a Democrat, I can tell you two things. They’re exactly the type of voter that is going to cost the Republican Party this election and maybe even give Democrats a Congressional “supermajority”. And you are driving them away from your Party in droves. You keep doing that and you’ll never win an election again.

There is nothing sweeter for us to see than Palin at the top of a ticket in 2012. Because if she starts talking to everybody in this country the way she has been to you in all those pep rallies, she will lose, and lose even bigger than John McCain.

Why? Because a majority of voters in this country are not so-called “real Americans” and do not share the Social Conservative agenda, any more than they share the agenda of a Liberal Democrat such as myself.

We and you have to sell our point of view to voters such as Ceaderford and Phil. And that means that we will not be telling them that they don’t belong or that their views don’t matter.

We are willing to compromise and accomodate what they want from government, even if it isn’t quite what we want from it. After all, there are members of my Party whose views are much closer to theirs than to mine.

For all the people that still are moonstruck by the Reagan Revolution nobody seems to understand how he pulled it off. He did it by persuasion and compromise rather than inflammatory preaching-to-the-choir. And he did things that worked rather than things that didn’t.

I’m pretty sure that voters like Ceaderford and Phil would agree with us that wars not won after six years of fighting have not worked. I’m pretty sure that they would say that doubling the size of the national debt to pay for them hasn’t worked either. And I’m pretty sure we would agree that the way we have allowed our equity markets to run in the interval has not been working also.

We may not agree about the solutions, but we are on the same page about the problems. Most of you, and Sarah Palin, are in a totally different library.

Why is this a problem? Because you need their votes just as much as we do. And if we manage to solve a problem or two in the next four years, you will need them a whole lot more. Sarah Palin isn’t going to get them for you without a Class A political makeover.

Finally, I am quite sure that we and they are in agreement that this stuff is far more important than anything Sarah Palin has so far had to say, or than the preaching-to-the-choir agendas that most of you are always trying to use as litmus tests for “real Americans”, “real Republicans”, or “real Conservatives”.

They are real voters. And we don’t forget that fact.

You can drive them away. But we won’t. And even if they don’t agree with us most of the time, we will be paying attention to them, because we know that they are some of the most important customers we are going to have to sell to in 2012.

Oct 29, 2008 - 5:29 pm 240. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: Interesting Indicators

I find it ‘interesting’ that Mandy and her ilk can’t seem to substantiate anything they say.

Regards,

Chuck(le)

Oct 29, 2008 - 6:09 pm 241. nlcatter:

i can substantiate 2 mandy points

that Palin self served – use TAX $ to fly her kids around

ignorant – thought alaska provided 20% energy

etc

Oct 29, 2008 - 7:13 pm 242. nlcatter:

here is one proof of the liar Palin

1 Americans dont like lying – bridge

Congress’ requirement that funds be spent on that bridge (aka the ‘earmark’) were removed before Sarah Palin became governor. She was therefore in no position to tell Congress anything about the bridge, one way or the other.

Brad Plumer, citing the Anchorage Dialy News via Nexis:

there is evidence on EVERY charge I made

Oct 29, 2008 - 7:15 pm 243. jerryofva:

Joseph:

Cedarford is not a Republican. I first encountered him on Ann Althouse’s blog defending clear anti-Semitic statements by James Webb in his book “Born Fighting.” We don’t know what political affiliation he claims but he is most likely some kind of neo-Nazi. I will give you the personal benefit of the doubt and say this is your first ecounter with him. Unfortunately anti-Semitism has found a home within the Democratic Party but historically that has always been the case.

Oh, In case you missed it the US has won the war in Iraq and handed AQ their Vietnam (their words not mine)

Oct 29, 2008 - 7:25 pm 244. Jim Baker:

Hey Joseph,

I suspect cedarford was never a potential Republican vote, just as you aren’t.

Oct 29, 2008 - 7:27 pm 245. Someone75:

Am I the only one with my head on straight? How does someone “not supporting” a candidate make them a “basher”? I can express perfectly rational arguments against something without “bashing” it.

That’s the problem with so many of these PJMedia pieces – their fundamental premises are sorely lacking in the area of logic and reason.

Oct 29, 2008 - 7:39 pm 246. stilletto:

So many words,so little content. It is painfully obvious to every one with a functioning mind, that ms. Palin is too ignorant, unschooled,and incurious to be entrusted with executive office.That senator McCain thought so little of the office that he would put her in that position should disqualify him from consideration as President.

Oct 29, 2008 - 8:24 pm 247. Angie:

Parker and Noonan are jealous. Palin has a journalism degree too and she’s a successful politician. Women, unfortunately can be their own worst enemies.

Oct 29, 2008 - 9:40 pm 248. Diane Davis:

NOT SO FAST!!

Traditionally, Vice Presidential appointments have been considered inconsequential. Since when have voters voted for a Presidential candidate based on who his running mate is?

Oct 30, 2008 - 2:31 am 249. RE:

Palin bashers like Noonan and Parker (and males like Brooks and Will), have exposed themselves as wannabe aristocrats – separate, distinct, and above the unwashed masses. The problem is that this is still America. Well, for a little while longer, anyway.

Pride is the worst of human sins.

Oct 30, 2008 - 6:24 am 250. Chuck Pelto:

TO: nlcatter:
RE: The Bridge

here is one proof of the liar Palin — nlcatter

That canard has been so shot full of holes that won’t even make a good soup anymore and only a true believer would continue to believe it.

RE: Brad Plumer? Who’s He?

Brad Plumer, citing the Anchorage Dialy News via Nexis:

there is evidence on EVERY charge I made — nlcatter

Got a URL you could share?

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Figures don't lie, but liars figure we won't ask them for evidence.]

Oct 30, 2008 - 7:12 am 251. jane:

I could accpet someone not supporting Gov Palin based on their opinion that her qualifications were weak. It is true that her foreign policy experience is minimal. However those same people seem to have no issue with thinking Obama walks on water in spite of his own lack of qualifications. They deny that he has done little other than “run for President.” Why do they seem to think a candidate with equal shortcomings is qualified to immediately step in as President but forsee disaster in a VP in the same situation?

Liberals have no issue with Obama picking a VP to make up for his own shortfall – lack of foreign policy knowledge but fault McCain for picking a conservative to short up his own shortfall – lack of support by the conservative base. That is what Pres candidates do. But if the Democrats thought Biden was so great wouldn’t you think he would have done better when he was running for President?

The Obama people fawn and swoon over how inspiration he is. IMO his supporters display a cultist attachment to him that IMO has a creepy vibe. Ever consider that those who support Palin see the exact same quality in her? Her ability to energize supporters ranks pretty high. But the Palin supporter is dissed as dumb and stupid. Which is worse – slavish cultist or dumb? Liberals think crowd enthusiasm is a plus when Obama gets it but when Palin does the same thing it is inciting the rabble?

Since her noimination the attacks have been viseral and personal. Her education has been mocked as if somehow an Ivy League education is a requirenment for office. Since we know so little about Obama’s college/post graduate experience one might be justified in wondering how deep it was versus how much it was based on affirmative action policies. I look at the current Congress which is filled with lawyers and degrees from top schools and consider the FACT that those are the people who have been in charge and have led us to the cliff. All that education certainly didn’t prevent the credit collapse, the housing disaster, the failure to do get the job done.

The MSM has relentlessly pitched negative sound bites that the Obama people spew out long after they have been discounted. There are liberals who STILL rant about “she banned books, she would eliminate BC, she believes dinosaurs and man existed at the same time.” That stuff just makes liberals sound stupid.

So as long as Parker and Noonan pitch the personal snarks they deserve to be dismissed as petty junior high mean girls whose non-support is probably based on jealousy and bitterness.

Oct 30, 2008 - 7:48 am 252. Jim Baker:

Stilletto(or whatever)

If, as you say, only someone without a functioning mind can favor Sarah Palin, can you please tell me what insights are required to achieve the obviously preferred functioning mind? And once I get my mind functioning, with your help of course, how exactly will my newly functioning mind be changed about Sarah Palin? And one more moronic question if you will stoop to indulgence here, how does your functioning mind determine that Palin is ignorant, unschooled, and incurious? Do you know her? How do you know her opponents are virtuous by way of enlightenment, schooling, and curiosity?
I am really sick to of reading this kind of college campus drivel. I say increase the voting age to 25 and limit the vote to people who actually pay income taxes!

Oct 30, 2008 - 8:01 am 253. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Jane, et al.
RE: Palin’s Foreign Policy Experience

It is true that her foreign policy experience is minimal. — Jane

It’s greater than Ronald Reagan’s when he was governor of California.

It’s greater than Bill Clinton’s when he was governor of Arkansas.

It’s greater than Barack Obama’s as he’s only a Senator.

Hope that helps….

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Clinton's idea of 'foreign relations' is nailing some pretty member of a foreign trade delegation.]

Oct 30, 2008 - 8:07 am 254. jane:

That may be true Chuck, but someone could also make the argument that times are different. But remember Clinton had that “I stayed at a Holiday Inn” type of foreign policy experience because he went to school o/s. j/k

I honestly don’t have a problem with her foreign policy experience because I expect the President to be making policy decisions – not the VP.

Oct 30, 2008 - 8:22 am 255. tanstaafl:

Bloggers persist no matter their contributions or quality…

Columnists and commentators persist no matter what their powers of insight and analysis or level of intellectual acumen.

Some of them are tedious to a fault, for example, one female columnist who was caught inadvertently “on mike” telling her real truths. Then there are those columnists and commentators who are simply unable to “get” Sarah Palin or those who don’t want to be left out of the DC social circuit in the event The One is elected.

These (women) are sort of a kinder and gentler version of the vitriolic feminists who skewered Sarah Palin with a viciousness they usually reserve for men.

I hope this helps.

Oct 30, 2008 - 8:27 am 256. Joseph Marshall:

Well, perhaps he is not. And as to the Iraq War, I thought our Mission was Accomplished in 2003, right? No one with sense will say we’ve “won” it until we are no longer there and the Iraqi government has not collapsed because of that fact.

But my point remains the same. Sarah Palin and her acolytes are part of an ongoing class war between “real down to earth people” and intellectuals, any intellectuals, even Conservative ones. This has been deliberately fomented by Republican insiders as a political tactic all the way back to the 1970’s and Spiro Agnew.

At times it’s downright personally rude. Palin held a rally of hand picked, invitation only, supporters at Penn State yesterday. The university president, Graham B. Spanier, requested an invitation and a chance to meet and welcome Palin, as a courtesy to her. The campaign told him he wasn’t welcome because he is a “big Democrat”.

Now Palin paid $8000 for the use of the hall, [not a particularly large expense for the campaign, and, as we all know, they have bought far more expensive things] since Penn State’s policy is that free use of it’s facilities requires free access by all.

And I hardly think that a University President would come in wearing an Obama t-shirt or waving an Obama sign. This incident showed utter contempt for the hospitality of an institution and its head merely because it happened to be University.

It is not only rude, it is terminally bad politics. He is a well known and popular figure in the state, and among the students. He’s even down to earth enough to sometimes substitute for the Nittany Lion mascot or carry a drum in the band at football games. Snubbing him in this way did the McCain/Palin campaign no good and probably did them harm among the independent voters at State College, and anywhere else when it broke nationally.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=6142173&page=2

Of course when it broke in the media, it became a “miscommunication” in the eyes of the Palin campaign, Just as now Palin is telling people that she really isn’t attacking Obama’s patriotism or calling him un-American:

http://www.politicshome.com/usa/Landing.aspx?Blog=4192&perma=link#4192

Sigh.

This sort of populist contempt for learning and intellect is apparently well known to Peggy Noonan:

Was her choice a success or a disaster? And if one holds negative views, should one say so? For conservatives in general, but certainly for writers, the answer is a variation on Edmund Burke: You owe your readers not your industry only but your judgment, and you betray instead of serve them if you sacrifice it to what may or may not be their opinion….I gather this week from conservative publications that those whose thoughts lead them to criticism in this area are to be shunned, and accused of the lowest motives.

Does she have the lowest motives? Hard to say. Just because you read Edmund Burke doesn’t mean you have the integrity of Edmund Burke. But the accusation of the venality of one’s opponent has always seemed to me the first club chosen by the non-intellectual Right to cudgel anyone with if they disagree with you, as this post and thread suggest. So I’m inclined to think that if we want real venality we should look to Senator Ted Stevens or Charlie Rangell and measure the rest by them.

That is also bad politics. Why? I’ll step aside and let David Brooks tell you:

Lawyers now donate to the Democratic Party over the Republican Party at 4-to-1 rates. With doctors, it’s 2-to-1. With tech executives, it’s 5-to-1. With investment bankers, it’s 2-to-1. It took talent for Republicans to lose the banking community….And so, politically, the G.O.P. is squeezed at both ends. The party is losing the working class by sins of omission — because it has not developed policies to address economic anxiety. It has lost the educated class by sins of commission — by telling members of that class to go away.

But then he writes for the New York Times, right?

As to antisemitism or any other prejudice, I think both parties have a checkered history in that regard, as does this country as a whole. For example, I freely admit that Woodrow Wilson was one of the most prominent bigots in America. And I think history would hardly say less about many a Republican worthy.

I read history. But then, I’m an intellectual, and I can legitimately put three letters after my name, though I seldom do. In my area of study, it is bad form to overuse them. Worse, I’m a Liberal and Democrat intellectual.

The only strike I have going for me is that I happen to live in the Midwest, among “real Americans”. But surely my lifelong ambition is to get invited to the cocktail parties of the New York litterati, which is why I say the things I do.

Oct 30, 2008 - 8:42 am 257. tanstaafl:

Foreign Policy ?

The ex-spurt who has been in the Senate since Methuselah, one Mr. Joe Biden…his “big plan” for Iraq was to split it up into 3 separate countries, based on the major ethnic groups, Sunni, Shia and Kurd.

And what hat about Biden’s recent comment about how the new President will be “tested”? How completely irresponsible.

(September 2007, when Joe Biden was still running for the nomination himself, he declared that Barack Obama was not sufficiently experienced to be president of the United States.)

In his Veep debate with Ms. Palin, Biden mistakenly placed Hamas in the West Bank. He knows all about Afghanistan (sez he) and can effectively chase down bin laden because his ‘copter was “forced down” there (failing to mention that the helicopter landed because of a snowstorm and he and the other senators on board and a general were bussed back to the American base).

Barack Obama’s FP experience ? Zip, zilch, nada. I couldn’t imagine anything lamer than his “analysis” when the Russians went into Georgia. Or his idiotic “citizen of the world” crapola in Berlin. Or his endless flip flopping on everything middle eastern.

Yesterday (reportedly) France’s Sarkozy, who met Barack on his July tour in Paris, said that he took the measure of the man and would not be comfortable with such a naif guiding the foreign policy of the United States.

I hope this helps.

Oct 30, 2008 - 8:43 am 258. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Jane
RE: Stop Me….

That may be true Chuck, but someone could also make the argument that times are different. — Jane

….if you’ve heard this one before….

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Nothing is as constant as change.]

Oct 30, 2008 - 9:06 am 259. jane:

So somehow Palin shouldn’t be allowed to have a gathering of hand picked, invitation only, supporters in a venue the RNC paid for? Somehow she is obliged to include someone who doesn’t support her just because he is head of the University? Shame on Palin for not genuflecting to the University head as a good graduate of an unimpressive school should have done.

Actually if he was so interested in meeting her the logical way to do it would have been to invite her to his home – that’s what University heads normally do when they want to schmooze people.

Oct 30, 2008 - 9:17 am 260. tanstaafl:

But then, I’m an intellectual, and I can legitimately put three letters after my name, though I seldom do.

You know the definition of Ph.D ?

piled higher and deeper

Sarah Palin has more common sense in her little toe than all of our esteemed “intellecktewals” lumped together.

Oct 30, 2008 - 9:34 am 261. David W. Lincoln:

First Crittenden:

It ain’t elitist to be anti-Palin
Danielle Crittenden, National Post
Published: Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Carlos Barria/Reuters
I hate to pull rank here. But it seems I am the only Republican still standing who can criticize Sarah Palin without being accused by my fellow conservatives of suffering from an “elite education. ”

Peggy Noonan, David Brooks, Christopher Buckley, Kathleen Parker and (my husband) David Frum have all had their heads put on pikes by the self-appointed rulers of conservatism. As Rush Limbaugh said:

“These are the people who are embarrassed by Sarah Palin ’cause she’s not an intellectual and she didn’t go to Harvard or have a college degree from approved universities and she drops her g’s from words like morning and says mornin’. She’s embarrassing, and I think something else really bothering these people is that they believe that she may become one of the key leaders of the conservative movement beyond 2008 if she and McCain lose this.”

Those with degrees from approved universities are capable of mounting their own defence. But what about those of us who did not go to Harvard — and yet whose eyes still bug out at the prospect of a Palin vice-presidency, let alone the prospect of her as a “key leader” in the future?

In fact, not only did I not go to Harvard, I have no education to speak of. Not beyond high school anyway (and it was one of those large, urban high schools from which many of the most successful graduates went on to become garage mechanics). To paraphrase Melville, a tabloid newspaper was my Yale and my Harvard (and yes, it is possible to have read Melville without attending Yale and Harvard. It’s Sarah Palin’s kind of story, too: lots of huntin’ and guttin’).

My lack of post-secondary education isn’t something I’m proud of. Certainly I’ve never been moved to boast about it in public.

Honestly, if I’d had more sense at 18, I would have gone to college — preferably, an elite one. But I grew up in a newspaper family and was eager to join the business. So instead of spending my early twenties engaged in discussions of Keynes and

Friedman, I found myself knocking on the metal doors of public housing developments, asking residents for recent photos of their murdered children. I never said “Get me rewrite,” because, more often than not, I was rewrite.

And like Palin, I was raised to disdain anyone who thought himself too clever or above everyone else (usually a reporter from the competing broadsheet). In my world, an elite degree marked you as someone with permanently retarded judgment, a reader of The New Yorker, the sort of person of whom Orwell would write, “Only an intellectual could say something so stupid.”

Maybe it’s because of my background that I’ve been wary of Palin from the get-go — and more than taken aback by those who insist the only reason a conservative could oppose her would be because of intellectual snobbery.

Don’t get me wrong: I love the idea of Sarah Palin. She conforms to an early American (and pre-feminist) ideal of womanhood: rifle on one hip, baby on the other. I love her modern incarnation of this ideal, complete with Sex-in-the-Tundra wardrobe and kick-ass Jimmy Choos (even if they are paid for by the RNC). I love the idea she represents “common sense” over fancy-pants theorizing. I love — and certainly identify with — her real world, “out there” experience over her opponents’ closed-off years in Washington. Truly, there are few women I’d rather share a beer with.

The problem is that the reality of Sarah Palin does not match the idea of Sarah Palin. It’s as plain as day that she’s unfit for the job she’s running for. We wouldn’t expect the best darn regional car saleswoman to be appointed the next vice-president of General Motors. We wouldn’t fly in a commercial plane piloted by someone with a Cessna licence because we trusted her gut. We wouldn’t follow a woman into battle because she’s a crack shot at moose hunting. Why is it unreasonable to have expected a better choice from our party for the next potential leader of the free world?

And please don’t reply with, “The other side doesn’t have experience either!” That’s an argument you can make without having graduated from elementary school.

Those of us who came of age as Reagan Republicans expected more from ourselves. Leave the left to its demagoguery and name-calling. We’ll make the case using facts, reason– and yes, common sense.

Now it seems my side are the ones circling the wagons, shouting abuse at dissenters — determined to lose rather than ask ourselves why we aren’t winning.

As Orwell once might have said…

danielle@daniellecrittenden.com

Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

Now, deSouza:

Presented by
Routes to the ruling class
Father Raymond J.De Souza, National Post
Published: Thursday, October 30, 2008

History will be made. Barack Obama will be the first black president, the first senator elected president since JFK in 1960 and the first president to have Illinois as a political base since Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, the twin victors of the Civil War. But it will also be business as usual. He will succeed President George W. Bush, educated at Yale and Harvard. Senator Obama was educated at Columbia and Harvard. That’s change you can believe in.

Schoolchildren are taught that anyone can grow up to be president. Well, not quite everyone. America has a political ruling class, to which Senator Obama earned admission. That ruling class does admit newcomers, if they go to the right schools, come from the right family, inherit or marry money or last long enough in an old-boys political culture. All of which also sheds light on the other arresting personality in the current election, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.

John McCain is not from the Ivy League, but is a graduate of the elite U. S. Naval Academy. He comes from the naval aristocracy, his grandfather and father being admirals. In 2004, President Bush was challenged by John Kerry; both men were Yalies, members of the same fraternity. In 2000, it was Yale (Bush) vs. Harvard (Al Gore). In 1996, it was Yale (Bill Clinton) vs. Washburn (Bob Dole), and before that it was Yale (Clinton) vs. Yale (George Bush Sr.). Twenty years ago, it was Yale (Bush) vs. Harvard (Michael Dukakis). Having gone to both Yale and Harvard, President Bush is a transitional figure; after twenty solid years of Yale presidents, Senator Obama will usher in a Harvard era.

Bob Dole stands out on the list for his lack of elite education — Washburn. But Senator Dole took another route to the ruling class, which is to slip into Congress and marinate there long enough to be nominated for national office. His presidential nomination came 20 years after he was nominated for vice-president in 1976. Joe Biden took the same approach, entering the Senate at 30 and remaining there forevermore. His

vice-presidential nomination comes 20 years after he first ran for president in 1988. “Yes, we can!” –it’s the motto of almost every senator hoping to hang around long enough to land a national nomination.

Family offers another route to the ruling class. If Senator Biden is elected vice-president, it is widely expected that his son will be appointed to fill his Delaware Senate seat. A leading candidate to take Senator Obama’s Illinois seat is the son of Jesse Jackson. While the Bushes are America’s most successful dynasty, there are many others — the Tafts of Ohio, the Daleys of Chicago, the Sununus of New Hampshire and of course the Kennedys of Massachusetts (and now California, in the person of the Gubernator).

In 1996, the two “first lady” candidates were Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Dole. Four years later both were in the Senate, and both eventually had unsuccessful presidential candidacies. Al Gore’s father was a senator, Mitt Romney’s father was a governor and up in Alaska, the current senator, Lisa Murkowski, was appointed by her father, governor Frank Murkowski.

Which brings us to Sarah Palin. She took on her fellow Republican Frank Murkowski and defeated him on a throw-the-old-boys out campaign in 2006. Whether Governor Palin is ready for national office is an open question, but surely some of the hostility to her arises from her alien status among the ruling class. She did not go to an Ivy League school, has not spent decades in the Congress, didn’t inherit money and did not even have the good sense to marry it. (Taking a wealthy heiress for a second wife is most advantageous — ask Senators McCain or Kerry.)

The contrast with Nancy Pelosi, another mother of five, is instructive. The first woman Speaker of the House, she holds a position more powerful than the vice-presidency. By all accounts, she is no great thinker and a woman of modest accomplishment. Yet she comes from the ruling class –her father was a congressman, her brother a mayor and her husband fabulously wealthy. She belongs. Governor Palin — a newcomer to political office who married a blue collar man and went to university in Idaho — does not. The difference in how they have been treated is instructive.

Coming from the ruling class does not preclude great service–Franklin Delano Roosevelt married Theodore Roosevelt’s niece, of course. But it’s a good thing, as that is where most American presidents come from.

Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

Oct 30, 2008 - 10:15 am 262. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: What a Crock

Coming from the ruling class does not preclude great service–Franklin Delano Roosevelt married Theodore Roosevelt’s niece, of course. But it’s a good thing, as that is where most American presidents come from. — Routes to the ruling class

We already know that FDR’s policies extended the Great Depression by seven years.

Not to forget that his policies couldn’t see WWII coming at US until after it was already underway.

Then there’s the internment of the Japanese-Americans during WWII.

And ALL this is ‘good’? From the political ‘elite’?

I can’t WAIT to see what the neuvo elite pull off.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[If you think things are bad now....just wait until The One fixes them.]

Oct 30, 2008 - 10:50 am 263. tanstaafl:

The problem is that the reality of Sarah Palin does not match the idea of Sarah Palin. It’s as plain as day that she’s unfit for the job she’s running for.

That’s simply an opinion, as worthwhile and valid as the opinions of Peggy Noonan, Kathleen Parker or Christopher Buckley. (or Gloria Steinem, for that matter )

At the very least, facing down corruption within the oil companies in Alaska and within her own Republican party (and winning) should count for some kind of demonstration of intelligence and cojones.

It beats all to hell voting “present” in the Illinois Senate and/or hardly voting at all (being too busy running for President almost since taking office in 2005) in the US Senate. In the case of Barack Obama and any kind of demonstrated acumen or accomplishments (other than being the most consistently liberal Senator in the US Senate) we have next to nothing to go on.

Ruling class ? Who’s aristocracy and who attended élite schools et al. and etc. has nothing to do with getting things accomplished.

I gravitate to a candidate as a function of words matching up to deeds and demonstrated “character”, not rhetoric or what schools they attended.

I couldn’t imagine any greater disparity between the very dumb Queen Bee Nancy Pelosi and the candid and captivating Sarah Palin.

Nance is treated “well” ’cause all those wimpy Representatives know she’ll beat them over the head with a ruler if they don’t toe the School Marm’s line.

(I hope this helps)

Oct 30, 2008 - 11:05 am 264. tanstaafl:

[If you think things are bad now....just wait until The One fixes them.]

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.

~P.J. O’Rourke

Oct 30, 2008 - 11:31 am 265. Chuck Pelto:

TO: tanstaafl
RE: You’re….

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free. — tanstaafl, citing P.J. O’Rourke

….preaching to the choir, reverend.

I’m all to aware of the machinations of the medical industry.

E.G. The trillion dollar cancer treatment system that doesn’t work all that well and COULD WELL BE solved by a simple plant, graviola.

Imagine the consternation if every oncologist had to drop their lucrative practice to open a tea shop.

And when all the money for medicine comes through the government? Oh. BOY!

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, "We're from the government and we're here to help. -- President Ronald Reagan]

Oct 30, 2008 - 11:47 am 266. jerryofva:

I thought this thread was done but it is worth another post. Danielle Chrittenden is a Canadian and frankly I don’t care what she says. However, the disparity between her impressions of Sarah Palin and the real thing are pretty much on display. It is clear that she doesn’t know anything about Palin except what she has seen on TV or read in the New York Times and the Toronto Globe and Mail. That is a common thread that runs through the Palin is not qualified for President argument.

Through the course of the campaign Palin has moved down the learning curve at an accelerating rate to point where is she has become the most accessible and best interview among all the candidates. It seems as if the illuminati made a decision early in the campaign and have closed their minds. What is particularly insulting is that these illuminati continue to refer back to the Gibson and Couric interviews which were manipulated to make her look stupid and uninformed.

For trolls who will jump I remind you that the full transcript of the Gibson interview is still available for you to compare with the broadcast interview. CBS is the master of audio-visual manipulation having first employed it against Gen Westmorland in a 60 minutes interview. As with the General, CBS news mismatched Couric’s questions and Palin’s answers to make her look bad. Those two interviews were designed to reinforce the Democratic Party talking points about how unqualified Palin was. Again this was there defensive reaction to their inability to point to significant achievements that would qualify Obama for President. We all know how inept Biden is and if Palin is unqualified where does that leave Biden? (see this catalogue of comedy from Biden: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MmM0YzJjMGRkM2NlNDUxNjg2OWYyNjM5MWE0NzgzZjU=)

Oct 30, 2008 - 12:01 pm 267. motherhood:

Donna V: I bet your great aunt Mabel would be a better VP than Palin. At the least, hopefully your aunt isn’t corrupt or unethical and she might even know how to read.

Oct 30, 2008 - 1:02 pm 268. Joseph Marshall:

jane

Palin is perfectly well allowed to have her gathering and include whomever she pleases. Nobody is questioning the right of her campaign to exclude the President of Penn State. As I said above, his request was a courtesy offered to her that he would [and has] offered to others who have come. Nothing more.

It is simply inane politics. The point of running for office is to get people to vote for you. You can’t handpick the voters. If the only people who vote for Palin are the type of people she would prefer to invite to her rallies, Palin will simply never hold another public office. Period.

And the fact that this concept is so difficult to get across is the source of the problem. Inside the hall with everybody shouting and whooping you up, or here on the comment pages of Pajamas Media, it’s easy to persuade yourself that you and those who think like you are the United States of America.

You’re not. And if the demographic trends are any indication, your share of the voting pie is going to steadily diminish year by year. We are becoming slowly but steadily more Hispanic, more Asian, more African-American, and even [gasp!] more Muslim every month and that is not going to stop.

We are also, as a people, becoming slowly and steadily more urban/suburban/exurban. And this is the reason Obama is even competitive, let alone favored, in Virginia, even if the people who are voting for him aren’t the “real Virginians” among whom Sarah Palin is so comfortable.

We, finally, are becoming slowly but steadily more secular. Don’t be fooled by surveys that tell you that 90% [or whatever] Americans “believe in God”. So do the overwhelming majority of the people in Iraq. In matters of religion you are what you do, and Americans as a whole are doing less and less Christianity, without doing more of anything else.

The fastest growing religious demographic of the American population, particularly below the age of thirty, are those people who are simply not interested in religion one way or another–they are not atheist, they are not agnostic, they are simply indifferent.

You should wake up to these facts if you want a serious place at the table in the political life of this country. Collectively, the groups of people enumerated above are going to be the voting majority sometime within the next three decades. Probably sooner rather than later.

They will determine who gets elected, and if a politician doesn’t court them, he or she will probably rise no further than a State or local office, or, at the outside, a Senator or member of the House of Representatives in the minority party.

Democrats, frankly, are going to have no trouble adapting to all this. The choices you make in places like Pajamas Media to face political facts or not will determine whether or not Republicans do.

Oct 30, 2008 - 1:48 pm 269. Bride of Rove » Parker doesn’t like bloggers A LOT:

[...] From Beltway insiders Peggy Noonan and Kathleen Parker are placing self-interest over principle. by Pam Meister Bloggers persist no matter their contributions or quality, though most would have little to occupy their time were the mainstream media to disappear tomorrow. Some bloggers do their own reporting, but most rely on mainstream reporters to do the heavy lifting. Some bloggers also offer superb commentary, but most babble, buzz, and blurt like caffeinated adolescents competing for the Ritalin generation’s inevitable senior superlative: Most Obsessive-Compulsive. [...]

Oct 30, 2008 - 2:32 pm 270. Pop + Politics : Blog Archive : Right Wing Response: Define Socialism:

[...] aloud. She just . . . says things.” Pam Meister, editor of Family Security Matters expressed confusion over why “beautiful, accomplished women” like Noonan would want to attack another [...]

Oct 30, 2008 - 3:17 pm 271. tanstaafl:

Hank Williams will straighten y’all out.

Noonan, Parker, Chris Buckley & other assorted Inside the Beltway self-designated élitists won’t be getting it anytime soon.

Hank Williams sings McCain-Palin Tradition

Oct 30, 2008 - 6:58 pm 272. AlanNYC:

I hate Obama. He’s too educated. He’s too articulate. He seems to be very thoughtful and practical. I don’t want someone like that as POTUS. I want someone who I could drink a beer with as my president. You know, someone like me–someone totally incapable of running a country.

Oct 30, 2008 - 8:28 pm 273. Blatant Anti-Palin Bias in the Liberal Media: A Collection (126 Cases) « BUUUUURRRRNING HOT:

[...] Even Female Conservative Pundits Embrace Palin Bashing – For a number of weeks now, conservative Beltway insiders Kathleen Parker and Peggy Noonan, among [...]

Oct 30, 2008 - 11:56 pm 274. David W. Lincoln:

jerryofva, so it is okay for the United States to
exercise influence outside of its borders, but it
is beyond the pale for anyone outside the US to say something about the election.

Well, my passport is Canadian, my birth certificate shows that I was born in Canada.

Other than that, we are agreed that Nancy Pelosi
is a greater threat to the United States, because
she is in the number 3 slot when it comes to Executive Power.

Oct 31, 2008 - 8:50 am 275. deguello:

bB

Oct 31, 2008 - 10:43 am 276. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: Heh

I want someone who I could drink a beer with as my president. You know, someone like me–someone totally incapable of running a country. — AlanNYC

AlanNYC for President! — AlanNYC

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Reason and judgment are the qualities of leadership. -- Tacitus]

P.S. I’m certain that AlanNYC could drink a beer with himself. He seems the perfect narcissist. And he obviously has neither of the qualities Tacitus mentions. Therefore, he’d be his own perfect president.

Oct 31, 2008 - 10:43 am 277. tanstaafl:

Obama…He’s too educated. He’s too articulate. He seems to be very thoughtful and practical.

Actually, he won’t release his grades from Columbia and Harvard law, so we don’t know how “eddukated” he might be. He didn’t write much of anything for Harvard law review of much of anything when he was teaching in Chicago.

Thoughtful ? practical ? Geez, for the nearly 2 years he’s been actively running, he has been all over the map on everything. Most of his waffling view changes and attempts to rationalize (guns, abortion, Iraq, meeting with jackass foreign “leaders”, going into Pakistan w/o Pakistanis agreeing et al. and etc.) seem to have been for simple pragmatic purposes. He has taken different policy positions (see esp. NAFTA) before different audiences. I have no idea where Obama actually stands on any of this stuff.

He told rich San Franciscans in July that poor little pathetic you cling to guns and religion in your pathetic-ness.

I’m reasonably sure, however, that Barack Obama completely distorts and misconstrues the job of President of the US in his apparent desire to use the Bully Pulpit for redistribution of income, you know, in his own off guard words, “spread the wealth around.”

Uh, uh, uh uh…articulate ?

Oh wait, although Joe Biden said September 2007 that Barack Obama was too inexperienced to be leader of the free world, Biden also noted around that time that Obama was “clean and articulate.”

Maybe that’s what you mean.

Nov 1, 2008 - 5:58 am 278. Ditto:

# 62 David Ross

Gov. Palin said that discussion of alternative views should be allowed to arise in classrooms. The quote from Gov. Palin that I’m thinking of is…

“I don’t think there should be a prohibition against debate if it comes up in class. It doesn’t have to be part of the curriculum.”

She maintained that she would not push any school to add creationism into the curriculum. This was a widely covered interview, with some making it seem one way and others making it seem another. I filtered what I read from several sources and have decided that she’s sincere in not wanting to teach creationism, but allowing it to be debated as an alternative theory in class, just as she said.

As for telling me to shut the F up because I’m not helping, thanks but I stand by my freedom of speech. I don’t mind being told I’m wrong. I do mind being told I’m stupid. Point to where I can read and learn a new viewpoint instead of trying to create an illusion that you’re smarter because you can make others seem less intelligent.

In short, sir, why attack me when you could simply discuss and exchange ideas? Who is it, exactly, that you are helping in that way?

Nov 2, 2008 - 9:04 am 279. David W. Lincoln:

It seems to me that selective vision is a hallmark of Peggy Noonan and Kathleen Parker. Take a look at this post over at the corner by Mark Steyn in August:

The hostess with the moosest [Mark Steyn]

Over in the Frumistan province of the NR caliphate, our pal David is not happy about the Palin pick. I am – for several reasons.

First, Governor Palin is not merely, as Jay describes her, “all-American”, but hyper-American. What other country in the developed world produces beauty queens who hunt caribou and serve up a terrific moose stew? As an immigrant, I’m not saying I came to the United States purely to meet chicks like that, but it was certainly high on my list of priorities. And for the gun-totin’ Miss Wasilla then to go on to become Governor while having five kids makes it an even more uniquely American story. Next to her resume, a guy who’s done nothing but serve in the phony-baloney job of “community organizer” and write multiple autobiographies looks like just another creepily self-absorbed lifelong member of the full-time political class that infests every advanced democracy.

Second, it can’t be in Senator Obama’s interest for the punditocracy to spends its time arguing about whether the Republicans’ vice-presidential pick is “even more” inexperienced than the Democrats’ presidential one.

Third, real people don’t define “experience” as appearing on unwatched Sunday-morning talk shows every week for 35 years and having been around long enough to have got both the War on Terror and the Cold War wrong. (On the first point, at the Gun Owners of New Hampshire dinner in the 2000 campaign, I remember Orrin Hatch telling me sadly that he was stunned to discover how few Granite State voters knew who he was.) Sarah Palin and Barack Obama are more or less the same age, but Governor Palin has run a state and a town and a commercial fishing operation, whereas (to reprise a famous line on the Rev Jackson) Senator Obama ain’t run nothin’ but his mouth. She’s done the stuff he’s merely a poseur about. Post-partisan? She took on her own party’s corrupt political culture directly while Obama was sucking up to Wright and Ayers and being just another get-along Chicago machine pol (see his campaign’s thuggish attempt to throttle Stanley Kurtz and Milt Rosenberg on WGN the other night).

Fourth, Governor Palin has what the British Labour Party politician Denis Healy likes to call a “hinterland” – a life beyond politics. Whenever Senator Obama attempts anything non-political (such as bowling), he comes over like a visiting dignitary to a foreign country getting shanghaied into some impenetrable local folk ritual. Sarah Palin isn’t just on the right side of the issues intellectually. She won’t need the usual stage-managed “hunting” trip to reassure gun owners: she’s lived the Second Amendment all her life. Likewise, on abortion, we’re often told it’s easy to be against it in principle but what if you were a woman facing a difficult birth or a handicapped child? Been there, done that.

Fifth, she complicates all the laziest Democrat pieties. Energy? Unlike Biden and Obama, she’s been to ANWR and, like most Alaskans, supports drilling there.

Sixth (see Kathleen’s link to Craig Ferguson below), I kinda like the whole naughty librarian vibe.

Nov 3, 2008 - 10:47 am 280. Chad:

Jim Baker- you are brilliant. I say we go with your idea.
and tanstaafl- your statement amen brother “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free. — tanstaafl, citing P.J. O’Rourke”
Oh, funny they actually played old footage of Obama saying that there are 57 states, on MSNBC this weekend. It’s true, I saw it with my own eyes. He makes mistakes too. Can you believe it? I think if they can give him another chance then Palin should get one too. Let’s “spread kindness around to everyone and share it!”

Nov 3, 2008 - 11:17 am 281. Obama Election Termed "Landslide" by most pundits = Mandate or no? - Page 2 - Dark Cavern Forums:

[...] try to guarantee they can get jobs at some again. Conservative pundits against Palin: Start here: Pajamas Media » Even Female Conservative Pundits Embrace Palin Bashing Read more here: Winds of Change.NET: Conservative pundits on Sarah Palin This is a well thought [...]

Nov 12, 2008 - 3:44 pm

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