Hurricanes are not the only forces of nature causing damage these days. Gustav and Ike may have ripped the roofs off many buildings, but hurricane Sarah has devastated what was left of the mainstream media’s pretensions toward even-handedness. The curious thing about the Palin Payload is that (so far) the most conspicuous damage has been inflicted not directly by Governor Palin but, jujitsu-like, by the media’s efforts to destroy her. It’s been a spectacle of auto-immolation precipitated by the media’s confrontation with a phenomenon whose nature they misunderstood and whose power they gravely underestimated. That phenomenon may be personified by Sarah Palin. But really it is only incidentally related to the Governor of Alaska. At bottom, the phenomenon is synonymous with traditional middle American values. What we have witnessed is the not-so-silent majority recoiling in disdain and loathing from the media’s transparently partisan efforts to discredit someone about whom they knew exactly nothing except 1) she was John McCain’s pick for VP (why had’t they been informed?) and 2) she seemed unaccountably popular (they would fix that).
It is breathtaking to inspect the wreckage strewn about the landscape as the intended character assassination rebounded in a tsunami (if I may alter meteorological metaphors) of distrust, revulsion, and repudiation. But time waits for no one, and yesterday’s implosion yields to today’s mopping up operation. There will be plenty of time for finger pointing and recrimination–especially if (as I suspect) the wreckage upsets the coronation of St. Obama in November.
But today the media is confronted with a massive operation in damage control. Naturally, an operation so large and multifarious will proceed on many levels and is the work of many hands. Perhaps the most amusing effort I have seen so far–though I hasten to note that the humor is entirely unintended–has been perpetrated by Clark Hoyt, the “public editor” or “ombudsman” at The New York Times. Mr. Hoyt’s thankless task is to ride majestically into certain “controversies” wearing the Mantle of Journalistic Integrity and Impartiality. Which “controversies”? Why, the ones precipitated by the Times’s left-wing, politically correct bias, or–more precisely–those that attract too much public notice.
Really, Mr. Hoyt’s job is simply an extension, a forward bulwark, of the pseudo “objectivity” that (among other failings) has made the Times such an object of derision for the last decade or more. How does it work? Something like this:
On the one hand, Ladies and Gentlemen, there have been accusations against The New York Times, and, looking into the accusations, I judge that there has been some small error on the part of our reporters. The dress was blue, not green, and we should have checked. But, on the other hand, in the larger sense, seen from the perspective of our high journalistic calling, our duty to inform and enlighten the public on issues of great national moment, our dedication to a free press for a free people, etc., etc.,–seen, I say, from that mountain redoubt, I, Clark Hoyt, Public Editor of The New York Times, do hereby absolve my employers of all but three venial sins. Say two Hail Marys and all will be forgiven.
That is a paraphrase. Is it an exaggeration? You judge. Here’s Mr. Hoyt’s piece apologizing–no, explaining and attempting to justify–the Times’s extraordinary outpouring of venom on Sarah Palin in the days following the announcement that she was to be John McCain’s running mate. Some correspondents, Mr. Hoyt reported sadly, said the Times appeared to be on a “witch hunt.” But no, no:
In our instant-news and celebrity-obsessed culture, Palin went from Sarah Who to conservative rock star in less than a week. In less than two months, she could be elected vice president to serve under the oldest president, at 72, ever elected to a first term, and one with a history of recurring melanoma. Intense, independent scrutiny by The Times and the rest of the news media of Palin’s background, character and record was inevitable and right.
And, yes, it was inevitable, and right to a more limited degree, that her family would come under the spotlight, too. As Bill Keller, The Times’s executive editor, said, “Senator McCain presented Mrs. Palin’s experience as a mother as one of her qualifications for the job.”
It was also predictable that party professionals would object vigorously to stories that might undermine the image they were trying to project of Palin as an accomplished governor successfully juggling her “hockey mom” family duties while fighting corruption in Alaska.
A lot could be said about these three paragraphs. One might begin with “Sarah Who,” pause at “intense, independent scrutiny” (i.e., “intense” in the sense of prying and scurrilous, “independent” in the sense Harold Rosenberg intended with his phrase “the herd of independent minds”), and make pit stops to consider the proferred justification of involving Palin’s family. One could then conclude with the truly risible suggestion that it is predominantly “party professionals” who would object to the Times Treatment. Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger & Co. don’t care two hoots about the opinion of “party professionals,” at least not if they’re from the Republican Party. What they care about is public outrage and damage to the brand, of which there was plenty.
What makes Mr. Hoyt’s performance amusing, when regarded as a specimen of rhetorical self-exculpation, is the same thing that makes it appear as a piece of “disingenuous hypocrisy” (as the friend who alerted me to its presence described it) when regarded as a piece of journalism: its deployment of irrelevant details, pseudo-qualifications, and nitpicking side issues to obfuscate the truth. The emotional weather of the piece is one of slightly snooty, adamantly self-righteous concern:
So was The Times story wrong, as the McCain camp said? It did contain one error. It said that one potentially embarrassing revelation about Palin was her membership for two years in the Alaskan Independence Party, which favors a vote on whether the state should secede. The assertion was based on an announcement by the party’s chairwoman, Lynette Clark, which The Times failed to tell readers. That was a mistake. “We should have attributed it,” Bumiller said. The next day, Clark said she had been wrong. It turns out that Palin’s husband, Todd, had belonged to the party for a time, and she had addressed its annual convention. The Times corrected the error in two follow-up stories.
But the main thrust of its reporting on the vetting process appears to be holding up. The Post said the next day that a lengthy in-person background interview of Palin by the head of McCain’s vetting team did not happen until the day before she was chosen. It also acknowledged that it had been incorrect when it reported that the F.B.I. had checked out Palin. In her home state, the Anchorage Daily News reported that it had found only one person who was asked anything about the governor before McCain selected her. That was the attorney representing her in an investigation of whether she had abused her power in office.
“We stand by our reporting,” said Richard Stevenson, the editor in charge of Times election coverage.
Well, then, if an editor of the Times stands by the story, ’nuff said, right?
Mr. Hoyt ends his piece with this emetic masterpiece:
The drip-drip-drip of these stories seems like partisanship to Palin’s partisans. But they fill out the picture of who she is, and they represent a free press doing its job, investigating a candidate who might one day be the leader of the Free World.
How many buttons can you push in two sentences? Mr. Hoyt did well: 1) the patient-investigator-slow-but-dogged-like-the-tortoise trope–as if, you know, the Times’s coverage had been not the “drip-drip-drip” of sedulous reporting but a prime example example of shoot-from-the-hip hysterical journalist overreach; 2) the flag of partisanship, which it’s our job to expose; 3) the free press; 4) simple diligence; 4) the aura of the Presidency; 5) leader Oh my God of the Free World!
Mr. Hoyt certainly earned his weekly pay packet with this story. Then why did my friend describe it (rightly, in my view) as an example of “disingenuous hypocrisy”? Two points:
First, the elephant in the room is Obama. Mr. Hoyt is going to need a longish ladder to get off the high horse he mounted in “The Scrutiny of Sarah Palin.” But where were the four front page stories, where was Maureen Dowd with her repellent references to breast pumps and go-go boots, where was the smarmy Frank Rich, when it came to “scrutinizing” Barack Hussein Obama? (Or John Edwards for that matter? Mr. Hoyt sniffs that “I took the Times to task for not trying to report the Edwards story until he acknowledged his affair, but once Edwards came forward, the Times put it on the front page and continued digging.” So what? Every other newspaper in the country did, too. And trust the Times to “continue digging” after the mine is exhausted and the story has become politically irrelevant.)
One lesson–hardly a new lesson, but still worth mentioning–is that Democratic candidates get one sort of treatment from the Times, Republicans get quite another sort of treatment. Sarah Palin supposedly lacks the experience to be Vice-President; but what experience does Obama have to be President? What has he done? What legislation has he sponsored? What executive experience has he had? What does he stand for–beyond, I mean, the calculated political expediency that will advance his career? Where, for example, does he stand on the war in Iraq and the Surge: adamantly opposed–until it became too expensive politically, at which point he declared that the Surge succeeded beyond his “wildest dreams.” Where does he stand on offshore drilling? On taxes? On Russia’s invasion of Georgia? On an nuclear Iran? On Israel? A foolish consistency, said Emerson, is the hobgoblin of little minds. But what about the sober consistency of principled statesmanship?
A few days ago, I posted some reflections on Bill Buckley’s famous declaration that he would rather be governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston phone book than the two thousand members of the Harvard faculty. The second, and perhaps deeper, point to be made about Mr. Hoyt’s piece is that it perfectly epitomizes the “Harvard” Bill Buckley wittily disparaged in that mot. From that perspective, it certainly is not a good thing that Sarah Palin is a conservative Republican. But her real offense–the thing that has precipitated such visceral hatred of her among the Left–lies not in her party affiliation or even her particular policy prescriptions. No, the Left hates her for what she is, and I do not mean only things like the fact that she is pro-life, pro-hunting, and in favor of off-shore drilling. Those are merely the external coefficients of a view of life and the world that the Times, that “Harvard,” can barely understand, but that to the extent that they do understand they regard with a mixture of contempt and loathing. “Harvard,” I noted in the post mentioned above, and the “progressive” consensus it represents
is sophisticated about everything except its own naïveté. It champions cultural relativism–absolutely. It is suspicious when someone shows up peddling “the truth,” especially about moral matters; but it embraces its perspective on the world as inarguable. According to the gospel of “Harvard,” all right-thinking (i.e., left-leaning) people agree with the various positions set forth in the catechism of liberalism. To champion the various dogmas set forth in that catechism, says “Harvard,” is simply to exhibit one’s contact with reality. To dissent from them is to exhibit one’s ignorance, bad faith, or malevolence.
And that, as we’ve seen this last week or so, is how “Harvard,” a.k.a., liberal elite opinion, regards Sarah Palin: partly parochial, partly malevolent. She is not part of the enlightened confraternity from which we draw our leaders: our political leaders, our newspapers editors, our college professors and presidents, our socialites and news readers.
But here’s a question: why is someone like Joe Biden better equipped to be Vice President than Sarah Palin? Because he is a lawyer? (On the whole lawyer issue, see Victor Davis Hanson’s thoughtful reflections on why we should quit nominating lawyers.) Because he went to elite schools? Because he has spent his entire adult life in Washington, lips sewn fast to the public teat? Because he, like Barack Obama, represent more faithfully the politically correct, multicultural orthodoxy that defines established opinion today? Do we really believe the country is better served by people who embody the values of “Harvard,” i.e., the values of the liberal consensus, than by people who represent an older, harder, less metrosexual view of the world–the values, e.g., of a Teddy Roosevelt as opposed to those of a Woodrow Wilson? Maureen Dowd thought she was being hilarious when, in a piece called “Vice in Go-Go Boots,” she imagined Sarah Palin confronting Vladimir Putin:
the former beauty queen shaking out her pinned-up hair, taking off her glasses, slipping on ruby red peep-toe platform heels that reveal a pink French-style pedicure, and facing down Vladimir Putin in an island in the Bering Strait. Putting away her breast pump, she points her rifle and informs him frostily that she has some expertise in Russia because it’s close to Alaska. “Back off, Commie dude,” she says. “I’m a much better shot than Cheney.”
Is that funny? I think it is disgusting, snobbish, and sexist to boot. In 1996, the political philosopher Samuel Huntington wrote a prescient book called The Clash of Civilizations, which foretold (among other things) the coming struggle between Western civilization and the Muslim world. The reaction to the nomination of Sarah Palin shows that the sort of clash Huntington described can take place within a civilization as well as between civilizations. “The clash between the multiculturalists and the defenders of Western civilization and the American Creed,” Huntington wrote, is the “real clash within the American segment of Western civilization.”
My friend Mark Steyn is fond of quoting the historian Arnold Toynbee’s observation that civilizations die from suicide, not murder. Civilizational suicide is rarely a dramatic, one-act performance; generally, it proceeds by a protracted enervation and enfeeblement. I believe that a lot of people in America have an inkling that such enervation and enfeeblement is well advanced in American society and, indeed, that is a major reason they are so enthusiastic about Sarah Palin. She represents the promise of civilizational renewal, not by the extension of socialism and the embrace of the effete values of multiculturalism–what we might call the Europeanization of America–but by fostering more robust, more elemental values. Of course, the same things about Sarah Palin that have sparked admiration and enthusiasm in one part of the American public have sparked contempt, dread, and outrage in the segment epitomized by The New York Times and what Bill Buckley summed up in the name “Harvard.” They want America to become more like Europe, they endorse the values of multiculturalism and political correctness.
There is, said Adam Smith, a “deal of ruin in a nation.” Many people, I suspect, believe that the legacy of multiculturalism and political correctness–the legacy, in a word, of 1960s radicalism–has inflicted grievous ruin upon this country. One party embraces that ruin as our destiny. John McCain and Sarah Palin reject it as tantamount to moral betrayal. This election really is shaping up as a clash of civilizations. No wonder its skirmishes have been so bitter. They are likely to become even more heated as more and more people awaken to the nature of the choice that confronts us.
PJM Home
The New Criterion
The Rape of the Masters: How Political Correctness Sabotages Art
Lives of the Mind: The Use and Abuse of Intelligence from Hegel to Wodehouse
Art’s Prospect: The Challenge of Tradition in an Age of Celebrity
Experiments Against Reality: The Fate of Culture in the Postmodern Age
Tenured Radicals, NEW, EXPANDED EDITION FALL 2008! How Politics has Corrupted our Higher Education
Counterpoints: 25 Years of The New Criterion on Culture and the Arts
The Long March: How the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s Changed America
Against the Idols of the Age
Lengthened Shadows: America and Its Institutions in the Twenty-First Century
The Survival of Culture: Permanent Values in a Virtual Age
Physics and Politics, by Walter Bagehot, edited with an
Introduction by Roger Kimball
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
170 Comments
1. J.J. Sefton:Once again, Roger, you have hit the nail on the head. This election is a referendum on what is at the heart of this country and what it stands for. Years ago, I used to laugh when people who I thought were rubes (most likely Hollywood portrayals of the unwashed masses) would constantly harp about “communist plots.” Well, suffice it to say that I ain’t laughing anymore. The infection that runs rampant in academia, the media and now the Democrat party was a distillation of homegrown nut-job radical thought helped along by (gasp!) communist agents eager to foment civil unrest and chaos within our free society. The mass of hippies and college professors became their “useful idiots” and now look what has been wrought.
Someone pointed out that most of this will end when most college professors retire, but they are poisoning the next generation of academics. Look what happened to Larry Summers – he caved. And when the brown-shirted goons stormed the stage and attacked the Minutemen at Columbia last year. Slap on the wrist.
We cannot allow Obama to win. I hope (no change) and pray that Americans have awakened to see the sham that he is and the sham that the MSM is. The backlash of what happened at the MTV music awards is a hopeful sign for the youth of America (see Michelle Malkin’s site).
McCain + Palin VICTORY ‘08
Sep 8, 2008 - 7:14 am 2. brobin:Note this incredibly revealing sentence in an article (”analysis”?) by David Carr in today’s NYT:
“In the press galleries at the convention, journalists wrinkled their noses in disgust when Piper, Ms. Palin’s youngest daughter, was filmed kitty-licking her baby brother’s hair into place. But to many Americans — including some I talked to in the convention hall — that looked like family church on Sunday, evidence of good breeding and sibling regard.”
“Wrinkled their noses in disgust”!
Sep 8, 2008 - 7:28 am 3. william:Lots of substance here Roger!!!
Sep 8, 2008 - 8:59 am 4. Tina Trent:I will be sending it to as many people as I can.
The toxin in the teacup is political correctness — multiculturalism — because there was a time not long ago when my avowedly liberal college professors taught me how to think critically and read critically. I don’t see that now, and it is not something that begins in 13th grade. By the time young people become college freshmen, they’ve been indoctrinated so severely that they either submit or check out (or, given any opportunity to define themselves as ethnically, religiously or sexually “other,” turn into professional bullies or whiners). I’ve had far too many students thank me for the simple act of not being ideological in the classroom — I do not think you can underestimate the psychological and social pressures visited upon young people in these situations. These self-inflicted wounds delivered to humanities will be their downfall. Students come into our classes expecting another round of recrimination-go-round; little wonder they do not wish to show up in the first place or linger. We’ve lost a generation, but I wonder how many of them will surprise us when they’re in the safety of the voting booth, away from the shrill accusations of the crowd.
Sep 8, 2008 - 9:14 am 5. Edgar:Maureen Dowd is an illiterate bag who has to pin her jowls to her thinning hair with pitons.
Sep 8, 2008 - 10:38 am 6. PHasan:Yes, they wrinkled “their noses in disgust” also perhaps for observing a child’s version of self reliance in correcting the problem at hand. Oh, horrors, no government program needed here?!
Sep 8, 2008 - 12:00 pm 7. Pops in Vienna:If the North Vietnamese couldn’t kill John McCaine I doubt Washington will be able to. His mother is in her 90’s and I think the old fighter pilot is just too crotchety to die anyway.
I don’t have any problems with Palin taking over if the worst happened. I think most people wish she was at the top of this ticket to begin with.
I pity the Iranians if Sarah answers the phone at 3 AM.
Sep 8, 2008 - 12:57 pm 8. dragonfly:Any”vetting”of Obama, at 25% of the intensity applied by the Yellow Hooker’s running dogs, back in 2007 would have revealed that he was a mediocre socialist bullshit artist, whose entire career has been funded by the sleazy Chicago Democrat machine, and that he was a self-obsessed egomaniac. With honest reporting, he wouldn’t even have made it to the primaries and Hillary would be the nominee, with a hell of a lot better odds for the Presidency than the Great Leader.
History, even short-term, will record THE AAUDACITY OF HYPE, as an almost incredible example of an attempt to foist a fraud on the American people. It will also afford the greatest example in our time of a once-great newspaper destroying itself by abndoning the principles of honest journalism and selling its soul to a corrupt cause.
Sep 8, 2008 - 1:31 pm 9. LSD:Listening to C-span’s washington journal today, I heard several callers express frustration with ‘white women’ voters switching from Clinton to Palin -going so far as to suggest racist sentiments (within the party!)
Conservatives will vote for a minority candidate who represents the idea of a limited government which defends liberty, rather than one who frames their candidacy as the first step in righting a civil rights wrong. Predictably, Obama’s message might just be drowned in static.
Is the Harvard mind-set of the opinion that the people in the fly-over states don’t vote? -Maybe they are invisible from the lofty vista?
Sep 8, 2008 - 2:27 pm 10. J.J. Sefton:First, they will tell you what’s in your best interest. Then they will take away your vote so you don’t harm yourself by voting against your best interest.
Sep 8, 2008 - 2:51 pm 11. Ross:The promise of civilizational renewal?
Come now, Mr. Kimball.
I like her too, but do keep your lid on.
Sep 8, 2008 - 2:55 pm 12. Lefroy:Plus ca change:
“Their scepticism about values is on the surface: it is for use on other people’s values; about the values current in their own set they are not nearly sceptical enough. And this phenomenon is very usual. A great many of those who ‘debunk’ traditional or (as they would say) ’sentimental’ values have in the background values of their own which they believe to be immune from the debunking process. They claim to be cutting away the parasitic growth of emotion, religious sanction, and inherited taboos, in order that ‘real’ or ‘basic’ values may emerge. I will now try to find out what happens if this is seriously attempted”. (CS Lewis, “The Abolition of Man”, c. 1943)
Look around you, if you want to find out what happens when this is seriously attempted, as it has been for 40 years.
Sep 8, 2008 - 5:06 pm 13. Roy Lofquist:The collectivists have been demonizing religion for centuries. Then, in front of 40 million people, the Ogre stepped to the dais. Methinks God has a bit of a Satanic sense of humor.
Sep 8, 2008 - 5:34 pm 14. Dee Neyce:The point(s) of contention listed here are for the most part moot; not based on substance, very much like Palin’s paltry pretentious punditry.
Arizona Desert G
Sep 8, 2008 - 9:26 pm 15. JMH:It’s a clash of religions, really. The post-modern elites have cobbled together a new religion of their own, celebrating victimhood, multiculteralism, groupism, and faux environmentalism. Like any made-up religion, it’s real purpose is to empower the leaders. Palin’s life is pretty much a repudiation of most of their core beliefs, and it’s driving them batty. She might bring their cult crashing down, and then were would they be? Really, what could Clark Hoyt do if he had to earn a real living?
Sep 8, 2008 - 11:44 pm 16. Pajamas Media » Hurricane Sarah Strikes the Press:[...] the entire piece here [...]
Sep 9, 2008 - 8:15 am 17. narciso:The “Okhonitsa” or the the Huntress, as some Russians have already tagged, doesn’t need stiletto heels to confront this 3rd tier KGB
Sep 9, 2008 - 8:49 am 18. David W. Lincoln:apparatchik. As the oil expert, she could give oil monopolist Medvedyev a run for their money. Remember it was her state NG unit that was in Iraq; they are also at the forefront of the BMD program. Putin, were prefer the community organizer, and Sen. Malaprop to the Old Fighter and the Huntress.
I did recall, that chapter in Huntingdon, where he outlined that conflict of Eastern Orthodox nationalism with Western European interests.
Those who said, “Don’t trust anyone over 30″
roughly 40 years ago are cheating themselves.
How? By simply regarding as verboten what is
real but undeniably beyond description.
As long as the usual suspects think that sprinkling socially conservative friendly phrases in speeches, or scrums, they can only
Sep 9, 2008 - 8:52 am 19. T. O'Connor:blame themselves for being envious of those
who take more into consideration. After all, take a look at “Jews, God and History” by Max
Dimont, and what he had to say about Martin Buber, Jacques Maritain, Paul Tillich and Nikolai Berdyaev.
Where else today can one find a cultural-political analysis that makes a Harold Rosenberg reference?! Throw in the deliciously strenuous point of view and this is why I enjoy Mr. Kimball’s writing so much. Please, keep it up.
Sep 9, 2008 - 8:58 am 20. trangbang68:Ross, Civilizational Renewal is not due to the super personhood of Mrs. Palin, but due to a clear delineation of the old truths and cultural
Sep 9, 2008 - 9:15 am 21. cfbleachers:icons that defined our society; things like faith, family, industry, love of country.
These things have been battered by the elite quislings on the left for 40 years. Their resurrection as campaign issues is very heartening.
I hesitate to “borrow” from my own post, but I replied in similar thought processing to Bernie Chapin’s piece. Roger you hit the nail squarely here, but I think it’s high time that someone…anyone…truly puts some issues in the crosshairs…and I believe that the Palin Pronking effect, which has the polls jumping like a Springbok in heat…is the perfect opportunity.
As a final piece of preamble, please forgive me a bit of personal “rules making” here. I will NOT call the alphabet networks, the national dailies, the wire services, the national weekly magazines, Hollywood, or CNN….EVER….by the names that they truly enjoy as their “labels”.
To my ear, “Mainstream Media” or “Elite Media”…are compliments quite undeserved…and absolutely inappropriate. These partisan hacks do NOT represent the mainstream in any way shape or form. They oppose the mainstream.
And, despite their haughty, arrogant, pedantic and smarmy self-aggrandizements…there is nothing particularly elite about the fraud they perpetrate, and their one note echo chamber style of distorting the facts. These morally wayward hijackers of our information stream are on a path to extinction…and should be. They are the DEADWOOD MEDIA.
Our information stream must be trusted to give us facts upon which to make critical decisions as a national, self-governing collective. When opinion is secreted, shrouded and selectively sorted and then served as fact, it’s a fraud in the inducement to act upon an issue of national importance.
Worse, when facts are intentionally distorted, and an agenda is undertaken by the “umpires and refs”…the supposed OBJECTIVE ARBITERS …then the game is clearly rigged and our most important FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS…must be to “unfix the fix”. The integrity of our information stream is not to be trifled with because no reasonable, rational decision could be made based upon crooked refs.
Clark Hoyt is the poster child for all that is wrong in the Deadwood Media. Smug and smarmy, he is incapable of identifying the creeping necrosis metastastizing in the body of his failing institution. It takes a particularly noxious blend of cowardice and narcissism to wag your finger and schoolmarm the backlash against your “rigging and fixing” the game.
Leftists are so arrogant as to believe their own propaganda, that everyone who doesn’t agree with them…is too stupid to see their open and obvious deceit.
They have dominated the information stream for so long, they have controlled the “message” for so many decades…that they have fallen victim to their own fraud. It’s been too easy. It enrages them when they get called on it. And they have two responses…denial and retribution.
That “message” is the Leftist Credo. Look for America’s flaws, look to Euro-Socialism as an answer, look to enemies for reasons why we are to blame for their misfortions, look to corporate America for greed, look to Middle America for ignorance and wrong thinking, look to academia and Hollywood for moral guidance.
I say…shine a light on them now. NBC (the National Barack Channel), CBS, ABC, NYTimes, Newsweek, CNN…it’s time to bring the issue into the sunshine…COLLECTIVELY…and in a HUGE way.
Sep 9, 2008 - 9:22 am 22. cfbleachers:Misfortunes, of course.
Sep 9, 2008 - 9:24 am 23. William of Orange:Edgar writes:
Maureen Dowd is an illiterate bag who has to pin her jowls to her thinning hair with pitons.
Edgar, I seem to remember Ms Dowd most nearly always poses for publicity shots wearing slinky, tight dresses and towering high heels of some iridescent color. Perhaps it is projection (or envy) on her part.
But I do agree, that ho is sure trying to hang onto her long-ago “runnoft” pulchritude.
Sep 9, 2008 - 9:26 am 24. Robert Hurley:And now we find out she was charging the state per diem while she was staying in home. Just the sterling character we need as Vice President. And she was actually for the “Brridge to Nowhere,” until it was clear it would not be fully funded. Just the sterling character we need.
Sep 9, 2008 - 9:29 am 25. Dave II:Just one more example was last night’s CNN “story” (re: hit piece) on the church Sarah USED to attend and the one she attends now.
All the “reporter” (and I cringe to use that term here) could say was that Sarah Palin was in attendance when a GUEST speaker at her church made some controversial remarks about Israel. Huh???? Oh, and she spoke out on behalf of the benefits of a gas pipeline in church.
Let’s see here:
ONE TIME guest speaker.
VS.
20 YEARS under a racist, hatefilled spiritual mentor and pastor.
This is what qualifies as “balance” in today’s media????
But…I digress. They all took that trip up to Alaska, company paid travel, hotel rooms, per deim, etc….
I suppose they had to report SOMETHING or lose their jobs…
Sep 9, 2008 - 9:33 am 26. RE:I’m happy to see Oprah reveal her racism and the journalism profession its socialist advocacy streak for all to see. The fallout from these revelations will be interesting.
Sep 9, 2008 - 9:35 am 27. ronnor:Very nice analysis, I think you are right on, this is a well thought out piece and I will be sending it to friends.
Sep 9, 2008 - 9:36 am 28. Peterike:And now we find out she was charging the state per diem while she was staying in home. Just the sterling character we need as Vice President.
A desperate dog will chew the dirtiest of bones.
How sad it’s all become, this frenzy to derail Ms. Palin. Now the latest non-scandal, where even the attempted slam article has to admit she did nothing to violate any rules.
And buried 23 — yes, 23 — paragraphs into the attempted smear job, we get this.
Gov. Palin has spent far less on her personal travel than her predecessor: $93,000 on airfare in 2007, compared with $463,000 spent the year before by her predecessor, Frank Murkowski.
If we could replicate such “scandals” for every governor, Senator and Representative across the land, we would be awash in surpluses. Meanwhile, Mr. Hurley, back to your dirty bone.
Sep 9, 2008 - 9:47 am 29. Self-hating boomer:Roger, nail right on the head. This elections has shades of 1980. Carter told us our best days were behind us, and we should get used to expecting less. Reagan came along and had the audacity to say that the best days were ahead. Guess which message won?
And to this day, Carter is still bitter about the public rejecting his sour defeatism.
Sep 9, 2008 - 9:48 am 30. Boris:“But what about the sober consistency of principled statesmanship?”
Long dead. All the candidates are flipping like crazy–more than Kerry ever did. Palinw as for earmarks and bridges before she was against them. McCain is now against the immigration legislation he helped draft. Obama has shifted on telecom immunity and drilling.
Oh, but the press should ignore Palin because her change in position doesn’t matter? Please.
Sep 9, 2008 - 10:08 am 31. KD:A commenter at Eunomia gives an original, insightful assessment of Mrs. Palin:
She tried to ban books. She was governor of a truly socialist state — where natural resources are collectivley owned, with development rights contracted out to private companies, at the cost of ever increasing rents paid to the government, which are distributed to the people like welfare.
That’s why she’s the most popular governor in the country. She’s a Sugar Mommy who showered Alaska with a resource royalty windfall (thanks to energy prices). Also, she’s demonstrated ineptitude in managing projects and reluctance in taking responsibility for failures.
Hostile to free speech, abuser of power, overseer of a socialist economy which she uses to buy the approval of the citizenry?
She’s America’s own Hugo Chavez. And this is the GOP’s new standard bearer of limited government conservatism?
Is this an episode of South Park?
Sep 9, 2008 - 10:39 am 32. penny:Sadly, J.J. Sefton, with each election cycle thanks to the usual suspects you mentioned, our college campuses, our public schools, and the media, we have a more dumbed down electorate. Not good for a viable and vibrant democracy. We also have too many parents that aren’t aware or discriminating in what their kids are really being exposed to. I think after the Duke Lacrosse and the Group of 88 case, Ward Churchill and other flagrant campus scandals that is changing. With the tenured Marxist freaks and victim pimps on our campuses, besides filing complaints with FIRE and a barrage of emails, we’ll have to wait for them to die off unfortunately.
Correcting, mocking, and boycotting the MSM is now a citizen’s responsibilty as I see it. Let’s hope that the internet increases as an offset to their wall of agenda driven garbage. The MSM can’t die fast enough.
Sep 9, 2008 - 10:39 am 33. RE:No, KD.
It’s liberal desperation running amok. I do hope they continue with this hysterical character assassination effort. It’s benefiting McCain/Palin tremendously.
Sep 9, 2008 - 10:43 am 34. Amphipolis:My favorite stories are the ones that mention controversies but fail to give any details – the questions have been raised stories. They give just enough information to raise questions while withholding the information that would easily answer them.
Sep 9, 2008 - 10:49 am 35. Sandra M:Terrific article, Roger.
Reagan played a high stakes game of poker which forced the Soviet Union to fold. But he was succeeded by GHWB who was rhetorically incompetent as is his son. Now, Sarah has a battallion of brilliant writers debating all kinds of issues — and the world is watching.
Sarah does much for women, less commented on is that she may shatter another glass ceiling: Britain’s class system, as well as our own. Graduating from the Ivy League, Cambridge or Oxford is no longer a requirement for political leadership. I wonder how many people impressed that neither a wealthy, connected father (Pelosi) nor husband (Hillary, Sally Quinn) is responsible for Sarah’s success and are thinking” If she can do it so can I.”
Press reputations are being shredded and created. The award to most imitated (Chuck Heston parting the Red Sea) , downloaded,and emailed oped probably should go to Gerard Baker’s hilariously funny satire and parody of the Obamessiah, to which Hannity’s producers added video. See it on Youtube and enjoy or in the timesonline.
“Spengler,” writing for the Asia Times has provided the most incisive psychological, sociological and anthropological dissection of Obama, his women, and how he’s losing the election.
HUMAN EVENTS has revealed the Oprah/Obama cult connection. It was Oprah who first said “He is THE ONE.” a reference to her guru’s Eckhart Tolle’s prophecies.
And Fred Thompson has demonstrated that he is 2nd only to Sarah in pithily, wittily and memorably addressing TAXES (they’re only going to tax “business” and unless you buy groceries, clothes or gasoline or work for a small or large business, it won’t affect you) IMMIGRATION (”it’s our house and we should be able to decide who enters it”) Obama’s inexperience (handing keys to the car to an inexperienced driver in heavy traffic).
Sep 9, 2008 - 10:52 am 36. KD:No, RE.
Eunomia is not a liberal blog.
Sep 9, 2008 - 11:00 am 37. RE:It is at The American Conservative website.
Well KD,
That sound so far right it’s left. It sounds more like the paranoid, hyperbolic, and hysterical intersection of right and left – somewhere in that nutty libertarian anarchist zone.
It’s already been debunked.
Sep 9, 2008 - 11:14 am 38. Hurley is churlish:Oh, Robert. Yawn. Is that the best you have?
Both of these have been answered ad nauseam already, in many different forums.
Why don’t your candidates for both President and VP explain their lack of character on many issues?
When will Obama tell us about the deal with Rezko he made for his expensive home? When will he release his grades? When will we get the details on his association with terrorists Ayers and Dohrn and the Annenberg Challenge? (I don’t expect an answer on that last one. He’s is likely never to tell us, and is using the DoJ as the stick to keep investigators away.)
When will Biden own up to his deals with the credit card companies? How about his plagiarism? Best yet, how about when Joe insisted that Obama didn’t have enough experience to be President?
I could keep going.
Character indeed.
Sep 9, 2008 - 11:21 am 39. Snoop Diggity-DANG-Dawg:Sarah Palin: Men love her, and women want to be her.
Ha!
Sep 9, 2008 - 11:21 am 40. Ex-fetus:The best part about the MSM’s frontal assault is that it dulls the senses of the none political. Eventually, something will get dug up on Saracuda. After all, a big part of her appeal is that she is a Woman, NOT an Angle, not the ‘chosen one’ in Heels.
So when some dirt is dug out, it will get lost in all the bogus attacks KD is pointing at. That is a weapon in and of itself.
Right now, with 8 weeks to go and trailing in the polls, the left is out of arguments on the issues. Obama has been flip-floppin like mad because he was on the wrong side of all the issues. So there isn’t much left to flip-flop on. Obama bin Biden is now reduced to personal attacks, which do them more harm then good,
Desperately clutching at straws, they think that finding some dirt on Saracuda will save the day.
What will happen to their morale when they find the dirt and it makes no difference?
So keep pumping it out KD. Or as Brer Wabbit tol’ br`e Fox, “Please don’ t`woe me inna dat briar patch”
“People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.”
Sep 9, 2008 - 11:26 am 41. Hurley is churlish:-Otto Von Bismarck
Couple more “character issues” for you to explain Robert…I said I could keep going and then decided to.
Obama’s promise not to accept private financing, and subsequent abrogation of said promise.
Earmarks. Both Democrats. Please explain.
Voting “present” instead of taking a stand on something.
Obama’s camp getting 527s to go after the GOP candidates, after preaching to not use those types of fundraising.
OK, that’s really it for now. It should keep you busy. I need to work.
Sep 9, 2008 - 11:33 am 42. Senav:Otto was pretty farsighted, wasn’t he?
Sep 9, 2008 - 12:00 pm 43. Pops in Vienna:The per diem allegation caught my attention because it was reported by the Washington Post. Unfortunately for the Post, it turned out to lack any substance. The Post certainly has the right to take sides in a political contest. It is their newspaper after all. But, it does not become them to attack her without validating the information. We expect these kind of antics from folks on the internet.
If CNN is bashing the Pentacostals perhaps they ought to bash the Jews for practicing a bronze age ritual of circumcision. It’s ok to cut off foreskins to show love for God but it’s not OK to speak in tongues?
And, while they are at it, CNN should bash the catholics for lighting candles and repetitiously repeating prayers, by rote, using a rosary. That must seem as mumbo-jumbo to sophisticated secular elites as Pentacostals jumping up and down during a worship service.
And CNN better include a good bashing of the Protestants just to be fair. An infallible book?
Funny, how the secularists love to ridicule the faithful. Secularlism has given us the likes of Hitler, Stalin and Mao. Their “religion” shouldn’t be poking fun at others’.
Sep 9, 2008 - 12:10 pm 44. KD:RE: No, it has no been “debunked”.
As for “nuttiness” — I know many conservatives, liberals, and moderates alike who regard the choice of Mrs. Palin as “nuts”. Do you really want to see her a “heartbeat away” from an elder statesman with a record of health problems?
PS: Pops, perhaps you should read up a little on Hitler’s religiosity.
Sep 9, 2008 - 1:20 pm 45. Lynn:Just one comment on being an ex-Democrat;
Sep 9, 2008 - 1:27 pm 46. Jay:http://www.wewillnotbesilenced2008.com, voter fraud, voter intimidation, tampering with registrations, I could go on and on. You really have to watch for yourself. The whole democratic process was rigged in Obama’s favor. This is not why I joined the Dem Party, but it is why I am leaving it.
The Libertarian Party “elites” are in it for the money they get from foundations such as the Liberty Fund. They do not win elections, they win research grants and plush conferences where they tell each other illogical theories.
Sep 9, 2008 - 1:29 pm 47. Ex-fetus:Otto was pretty farsighted, wasn’t he?
Yes he was. You don’t build a modern state without knowing your sh1t. Did you know Otto created the first government Social programs? While the other European leaders were fighting Socialism, Otto was co-opting it. Smart fella.
I’ll bet he would vote McCain/Palin if he were alive today. But he is dead, so he’ll vote Democratic, like the rest of he dead.
“Party of the Dead”?
Pops Hitler was a Catholic. Stalin and MAo worshipped Socialism, whih after a certain point become a religion.
Sep 9, 2008 - 1:31 pm 48. KD:I’m defining religion as ‘a belief or faith unsupported by evidence’. Rather broad I know, but it was good enough to get Scientology accepted as a religion. Socialism as a form of government requires faith or belief. Looking at just the facts, Socialism doesn’t work. Never has, never will.
Re: It is somewhat ironic that you speak of the “character assassination” of Mrs. Palin.
Have you not noticed what the right has been saying about Mr. Obama?
Unpleasant as it is, the politics of character assassination has been part and parcel of American presidential campaigns — on BOTH sides of the political isle — for quite some time.
Sep 9, 2008 - 1:33 pm 49. BMoon:(with a wink to Tolkein.)
….and then from the High Towers of Smugly, the One sent out his most faithful legion, his never-failing, never-questioning legions of servile warriors, the famed army of half-orcs called The Mainstream Medianites, with their terrifyingly horrid and viciously trained surrogates, the Poo-Flinging Flying Monkey Army, to deal with this pathetic, bespeckled, diminuitive, cheerful Mother from the Mooseland Mountains of the North. Wave after wave of them came at her gnashing and wailing with their fearful and unintelligible growls, grunts and howls. Bucket after bucket of slime, rock, filth, were catapulted at her little frame from their many, many outlets scattered about the Shadowlands. After a week though, as the dust settled, somehow the little Mother had not only been unfazed and untouched, but she had grown in stature and strength, while the Army of the Medianites retreated in shame and confusion, desperately trying to readjust and fix their mangled, hole-filled armor they call Objectivity, and their golden masks they called Honesty.
Sep 9, 2008 - 1:34 pm 50. jensad:I am amazed by the anger and stupdity of the liberal press and their munchkins.
Palin is for real, and I believe her popularity ratings as AK governor is around 83 %. Sounds like they like her, and I think that voters like myself, will honor her and her less popular Pres candidate, McCain.
I just hope the “far right” stays out of the conflict, other than to get off their collective backsides as other citizens will, and vote in Nov.
Good luck to all and please VOTE for your choices in Nov. And no I am not part of any [political mouthpiece, just a Demo in Calif. er, Disneyland.
jensad
Sep 9, 2008 - 1:48 pm 51. Heather:Have you not noticed what the right has been saying about Mr. Obama?
Yeah, they’ve been repeating his own words and the words of his friends and political allies.
Shameful.
Sep 9, 2008 - 1:51 pm 52. Larry J:Robert Hurley:
And now we find out she was charging the state per diem while she was staying in home. Just the sterling character we need as Vice President. And she was actually for the “Brridge to Nowhere,” until it was clear it would not be fully funded. Just the sterling character we need.
KD:
RE: No, it has no been “debunked”.
As for “nuttiness” — I know many conservatives, liberals, and moderates alike who regard the choice of Mrs. Palin as “nuts”. Do you really want to see her a “heartbeat away” from an elder statesman with a record of health problems?
Ignoring Godwin’s Law for the moment, McCain’s mother is 96 and appears to be still doing well.
Yes, it has been debunked. Here are just a couple examples of the debunking.
Citing Alaskan law and opinion by a law professor.
To those members of the Press and left wing nut roots (but I repeat myself) seem to think that refuted attacks on Palin must be answered by more attacks, I offer this: “They say that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while somehow hoping for a different outcome.”
Sep 9, 2008 - 1:55 pm 53. vickie:I can’t believe that the Republican party has sunk so low as to nominate a candidate who is a gun totin, red-neck, pro-lifer….how hard up can they get? Is this supposed to be a clever act? God Help us if she ever becomes our President…Vickie
Sep 9, 2008 - 1:57 pm 54. KD:I also read this today:
To an outsider, it would seem hard to do, but an oil-rich town with zero debt on the day she was inauguated mayor was left saddled with $22 million of debt by the time she moved away to become governor — especially since nothing was spent on things such as improving the city’s infrastructure.
Sarah doled out more that $15 million of taxpayer money for a sports complex that she shoved through even though the city did not own clear title to the land; now, seven years later, the matter is still in litigation and lawyer fees are said to be at least half of the original estimated price of the facility.
For good measure, she turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big-box stores and disconnected parking lots.
In fact, Juneau observers note that Palin kept her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork ladled out by indicted Senator Ted Stevens. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be politically unwise to keep supporting it…
*
Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, Christian or atheist: I am opposed to Mrs. Palin becoming Vice President of the United States.
Sep 9, 2008 - 1:58 pm 55. Chuck Pelto:TO: All
RE: Roger’s Grasp….
…of this situation is very accurate.
And, looking at it in an historical perpective, i.e., what happened to the famous Roman Republic, as it turned into the Roman Empire….
….he’s pretty much on the nose.
As I’ve seen it, in my readings of such histories, the Republic collapsed and the Empire came into being because the general population were overwhelmed by propaganda. And, not having the education in ‘logic’ necessary, could not out-think the propaganda to see it’s lies presented as truths.
Such is the nature of ‘man’…..
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 9, 2008 - 2:06 pm 56. Diane:[Enjoy the ride.....]
>> … civilizations die from suicide, not murder. Civilizational suicide is rarely a dramatic, one-act performance; generally, it proceeds by a protracted enervation and enfeeblement. I believe that a lot of people in America have an inkling that such enervation and enfeeblement is well advanced in American society …
Be careful, Roger. You’re sounding a bit like Mussolini here.
Sep 9, 2008 - 2:11 pm 57. KD:Of course Roger’s right.
But the dishonesty of the mainstream media’s pretentions to even-handedness is alos nothing new. It has been clear for a long time.
From the fawning over President Clinton, to the cowering before the George W. Bush administration, to the free ride given to Mr. McCain and the the fawning over Mr. Obama — & now, to the swooping attack on Mrs. Palin.
Examination and criticism of our national leaders and of those who seek leadership status is both our right and obligation if we want democracy to flourish. This includes freedom of the press.
Propaganda from both sides of the political isle naturally infects the mainstream media, no matter how “fair and balanced” any of the networks, newspapers, or radio stations claim to be. One must do the research and then decide for him or herself.
Of course, the search for truth can be disheartening.
Esepcially when the general population is all too often overwhelmed by propaganda from both the left and the right.
“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd.”
-Flannery O’Connor
Sep 9, 2008 - 2:25 pm 58. Chuck Pelto:TO: Diane, et al.
RE: Projection? Anyone?
I suspect you sound more like a fascist than Roger does, dearie.
History and historians are full of accounts how ‘democracies’ commit ’suicide’ from propaganda.
If you don’t care for reality…..
….what should we think of ‘you’ and your ‘opinions’?
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 9, 2008 - 2:31 pm 59. KD:Heather: Do you believe all the voices on the right to be innocent of any charges of character assassination when it comes to Mr. Obama?
Sep 9, 2008 - 2:32 pm 60. Chuck Pelto:TO: All
RE: Indeed
Can I quote you on that truism?
It seems to me to be VERY apropos……
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 9, 2008 - 2:36 pm 61. schnargley:What a load of sh#t! The Media is no more biased than I am.
The next thing you are going to tell us is that Americans are not stupid and racist, and that OJ was guilty and got off because of black resentment and white guilt.
Sep 9, 2008 - 2:42 pm 62. KD:Chuck: Absolutely. I think it’s a great quote from a great writer.
Sep 9, 2008 - 2:44 pm 63. Teri Pittman:Could someone please check on one thing? I’m just curious as to exactly which of the candidates sent their children to public schools. Somehow, I think it will factor into this election and I haven’t seen the information anywhere.
The flap over Palin is all about class, no question. It’s why the media loves Obama and despises the rest of America. As long as they keep this up, salt will continue to be rubbed into the Hillary supporters’ wounds. We could have had a woman president this time. It would have given us two qualified candidates and Obama would have plenty of time later on to run (and a few more years of voting “present” on his record.) Look at how this has played out with Us magazine, losing 5-8,000 subscribers over their Palin issue.
Sep 9, 2008 - 2:52 pm 64. Dave:Much to my chagrin, I was not taught to think critically either in school or at home. My father is a very practical man, enormously capable in problem-solving or working with his hands, a technical natural. He is NOT philosophical. My mother is, but her intellectual attentions were denied me by divorce until very recently.
I am 48 years old, and only in the past five years have I become fully aware of this clash of civilizations within the United States. I lived in Europe recently, four years in Brussels, and learned quite a bit about the European outlook and the stark differences between theirs and ours.
And I must say this is bloody frightening. I believe it is the strong, individualistic, free American who, together with his fellow citizens, has prevented the kind of catastrophic allegiance to any damaging ideology for which Europe is legendary.
That American is truly hated, as you say, by the Left. He stands in the way of the accomplishment of their dreams.
And today the ‘he’ is a she.
She is a symbol of all they have tried to exterminate, metaphorically, through their control of the press, education and of ‘public image’ in terms of movies and music and so forth.
But that which she symbolizes is nothing less than the fruit of human freedom. What they want ALWAYS leads to a dreadful loss of that freedom.
Andrew Breitbart was interviewed recently about Hollywood, trying to explain how it is they are so monolithically leftist in their outlook, how it happened, what it means. His interview is great reading but sobering. It seems there is no plan, that this is a metamorphosis like an ant colony beginning and growing. Nobody takes orders or gives them, it just HAPPENS.
I’m reminded that mankind is suffused with evil, a ’sinful nature’ as the bible calls it. Perhaps this is all a predictable consequence of a determined effort to abandon and discard God… who knows… but one thing’s for sure, the Sarah Palins of this country are now the true victims of the glass ceiling, and not just the women.
Sep 9, 2008 - 3:03 pm 65. Sean Leslie:The fact remains that Obama has never ever proved himself worthy of our support by saying no to someone or something. He always parses his answers. “Above my pay grade.” and then “Probably.” In other words he wants the credit without the responsibility – the credit to win those who might have liked him to have given a better answer, but denying the approbium of having made a poorer remark. He can’t cut it both ways, but in every thing he has ever uttered he is constantly caring more about how people react to what he says, than to what he actually says or, God forbid, actually believes. THis is the ultimate in salesmanship so that the unsuspecting voter doesn’t even know or realise that there is no deep backing over what he is being sold or told – hence the name, Fast Barry…
Sep 9, 2008 - 3:14 pm 66. gg:Suggestion: that Obama have a couple of terms service in the Senate (like Joe Kennedy recommended to Jack) first, Prove he can say “no!” or have a bottom line for something first, and only THEN run for the highest office of RESPONSIBILITY in the world!
I do hope that Sara’s speech writers/advisors write a new speech. I am afraid that people are loosing patience to listen to the same speech over an dover again. It’s about time she starts addressing the real issues and get more reassurance from her supports.
Sep 9, 2008 - 3:23 pm 67. only mccain:Voices on the right?? It’s about they spoke up!! The media supported Barack Hussein Obama while the Republicans were ing to have a say.
Sep 9, 2008 - 3:27 pm 68. Bob:We should stop being so politically correct – and yes, speak our mind.
To KD:
You asked: ” Do you really want to see her a “heartbeat away” from an elder statesman with a record of health problems?”
In short: Yes. That is why I am willing to roll the dice and vote for McCain.
Sep 9, 2008 - 3:53 pm 69. Roderick Reilly:“”"”"brobin:
Note this incredibly revealing sentence in an article (”analysis”?) by David Carr in today’s NYT:
“In the press galleries at the convention, journalists wrinkled their noses in disgust when Piper, Ms. Palin’s youngest daughter, was filmed kitty-licking her baby brother’s hair into place. But to many Americans — including some I talked to in the convention hall — that looked like family church on Sunday, evidence of good breeding and sibling regard.”
“Wrinkled their noses in disgust”!”"”"”"”
What Piper Palin did, was our “moment.”
Obama loves to pepper his faux-eloquent speeches with the pompous phrase “this is the moment.” He must have used it dozens of times in his “world citizen” speech alone before 75,000 (the actual number, rather than the much-cited 200,000)in Berlin. I mean, for the love of Pete, “this is the MOMENT when the oceans began to recede, this is the MOMENT when the Earth stood still, this is the MOMENT when hope arrived again, this is the MOMENT when Transgendered Manatees finally can have their own solar-powered community group, etc., ad nauseam.”
Piper and her gesture was the only moment we needed to fall in love with the Palins, and may turn out be the moment that will push McCain/Palin over the top in November.
David slew Goliath with a pebble. Little Piper Palin is our pebble.
Sep 9, 2008 - 4:34 pm 70. KD:Mr. Kimball says it’s shaping up to be a clash of civilizations. Looks like he’s right. The GOP has engineered this clash very well.
Daniel Larison gets it right, too:
What I find troubling is the ease with which these personifications of the Eastern urban elites (e.g. Romney, Giulliani, Thompson) play into the crowd’s dislike of coastal and urban elites.
The shamelessness of the utterly phony populism of Romney and Giulliani is what is most galling about Republican theatrics, since the same people who will pander to the small-town and suburban voter as the embodiment of the American character are busily at work promoting the policies that seek to uproot and transform their towns beyond all recognition. Phony populism of this sort is another form of condescention, the patronizing sort that treats Middle Americans as pets to be trained and conditioned to respond to the right signals, and what it will never do is allow anything even remotely resembling a populist agenda (i.e. an agenda that actually serves the interest of the majority of the people) to gain purchase.
What is discouraging about the promotion of Sarah Palin is that it appears to be an effort to use a small small-town American to blind a majority of Republicans to the policies promoted by the GOP that are antithetical to their own interests and it is working.
Sep 9, 2008 - 4:49 pm 71. KD:Thanks, Bob, for your direct answer.
Sep 9, 2008 - 4:53 pm 72. RE:KD,
Did you just finish reading ‘What’s the Matter With Kansas?’ or something ?
Those small town Americans are a lot more intelligent and more in touch with reality than you give them credit for. It sounds you have a problem with self determination. It’s precisely your attitude that’s behind the groundswell of support for Sarah Palin. Many other pundits are correct in their observations – you just don’t get it. You do not know what is better for them. There is no way you possibly can.
And yes, I too am completely comfortable with Gov. Palin assuming the vice presidency.
Sep 9, 2008 - 5:29 pm 73. Aureliano:Mr. Kimball says it’s shaping up to be a clash of civilizations. Looks like he’s right. The GOP has engineered this clash very well.
Indeed. Those dastardly mustachio-twirling robber barons, sipping their ghoulish brandy distilled from the blood of infants, polishing their manacles manufactured in labyrinthine non-union sweat-shops full of homosexual slaves sequestered in the deepest bowels of the earth under any of Dick Cheney’s thousands of secret pleasure palaces, these are the Machiavellian idiot-savants who lounge about safely and smartly in their top hats made from the skins of cute little innocent endangered critters, spinning hyper-vast conspiracies that steadily and menacingly strip our very souls from our bodies to feed to the greedy, gaping dollar-Gods of The Corporation and the Texas Oil Cowboy Lobby, which in their devilish capitalist machinations stripped real men of their metrosexual bona fides, real women of their ignescent whine, and the transgendered of their pre-pubescent auto-catalytic victim-reparations uber-groveling –- yeah, KD, be ye brother or sister or sexually mollycoddled, verily the best laid plans of this evil coterie will wither and wilt under your rhetorical and intellectual parasitosis ….
Yes indeedy.
Geez, did some ditzy Leftist English professor unleash minions from her Freshman Creative Writing class to descend on Pajamas Media?
Try not to be so breathless, KD, your silly little narrative will come across as somewhat more believable (and therefore more effective) if you tone it down a bit. Try to remember that a lot of the people here have real-world experience that goes way beyond just university classwork.
Sep 9, 2008 - 6:13 pm 74. john from cinncinati:yes everyone wants to believe that Americans are soft. what is not understood is the martial attitudes that we have. do you think those crazy parents at a youth sports game, came out of nowhere? the jihadist learned the hard way that the soft fat guys are over 50, and some of those are harder than you want to find out. we wax nostalgically over the good ole days, and the standards we once had. so we try to give our kids the things that made us great, that ain’t so bad. lets leave it better than when we found it.
Sep 9, 2008 - 6:52 pm 75. Peter Laverick:This constant need for the media to deliver the knockout blow against a candidate is very amusing, especially when their sniping has only succeeded in wounding their own man.
Surely, any idiot can see that the best way to have dealt with Gov. Palin, if you were a lefty newspaper or TV channel, was to ignore her as much as possible. But like lefties everywhere in the world, the denizens of US media cannot resist the sound their own voice.
Evelyn Waugh once referrred to noise emanating from an Oxbridge party as the sound of the English upper classes baying for broken glass. The rubbish coming from the liberal media (both in the US and elswhere) since the nomination of Mrs Palin is the sound of the media classes baying for their broken dreams.
Sep 9, 2008 - 6:58 pm 76. Nine-of-Diamonds:“The shamelessness of the utterly phony populism of Romney and Giulliani is what is most galling about Republican theatrics…”
When KD is finished unmasking these sinister “theatrics”, perhaps it can explain to us just what makes the Chicago Machine’s Magic Negro so uniquely able to empathize with the unwashed masses of Middle America.
Obama is the most politically radical candidate nominated by a major party in the past 20 years. Whether it’s Reverend Goddam America or Bill Ayers, virtually all the mentors who shaped his formative years espoused the same fringe beliefs.
CIA plots against minorites (the AIDS virus was a government creation.)
Leftist rantings about the “crimes” America committed during WWII (recall Rev. Goddam America’s comments about Hiroshima.)
Utopian schemes for social engineering that left millions dead from Kiev to Cambodia (but hey, don’t worry – they’ll get it right THIS time.)
O never seems to have had little interest in learning about the US beyond the gates of Harvard Law School or Trinity, despite having had opportunities others could only dream of. Instead, O is quite content to immerse himself in the quasi-Marxist fever swamp that he knows best. His contempt for those who have NOT had their worldviews warped by the likes of Wright and Ayers is already documented. God Damn America, and all those bitter clingers with their guns and religion.
With so many leftist commentators appealing to his education as proof that he’s a well-informed moderate, it is important to remember that going to Columbia and Harvard has done little to alleviate his culturally tone-deaf attitude. Rather than using his time as a student and a lecturer to broaden his horizons, Obama instead gravitated towards the racially-fixated outlook cherished by so many blacks in academia.
This goes a long way towards explaining why O can rarely make detailed extemporaneous comments on non-race/class-related issues. When you’re a Magic Negro golden boy jaunting from one elite institution and uncontested election to another, there is a whole lot that just isn’t part of your skill set. O tacitly admits this himself – remember how he ducks difficult or awkward questions as “above his pay grade.” He has learned everything he needs to know – now it’s time for the “bitter clingers” in Middle America to shut up and let him take the steering wheel. And while they’re at it, they better not let themselves get seduced by the dreaded GOP “PHONY POPULISM”.
Obamessiah knows best.
Sep 9, 2008 - 7:33 pm 77. Nine-of-Diamonds:Correction:
“O seems to have had little interest in learning about the US beyond the gates of Harvard Law School or Trinity”…
Sep 9, 2008 - 7:35 pm 78. KD:Aureliano: My “silly little narrative” came from a conservative website.
What “real-world experience” do you imagine you have over myself or the persons I’ve quoted?
The snide tone of many of the comments here — perhaps it is apropo the fawning approval of Mrs. Palin, who has been described by some of her fellow Alaskans as racist, vindictive, and mean.
At any rate, Mr. Kimball and the majority of his readers are perfectly compfortable with Mrs. Palin as the Vice President and posssible President of the United States.
And polls are showing a big shift to McCain among white women.
I look forward to the debates.
Sep 9, 2008 - 7:40 pm 79. Andrew Hamilton:“Do we really believe the country is better served by people who embody the values of “Harvard,” i.e., the values of the liberal consensus, than by people who represent an older, harder, less metrosexual view of the world–the values, e.g., of a Teddy Roosevelt as opposed to those of a Woodrow Wilson?”
Aha, Harvard gets vindication against, of all places, Princeton.
Sep 9, 2008 - 7:42 pm 80. Tim Seibel:Interesting note about Maureen Dowd. Didn’t she write a book excoriating men for being averse to “powerful” women — like Maureen Dowd herself? Her critics rejoined that men are not averse to “powerful” women per se, just averse to self-involved prima donnas (that as nice a way to say it as I know) like Maureen Dowd.
Sep 9, 2008 - 7:43 pm 81. Cutting the deadwood | Think Forward:Now polls say that men are well taken to Sarah Palin. Guess that means your critics were right all along Maureen — HA HA HA!!
[...] UPDATE: Consider this… [...]
Sep 9, 2008 - 7:57 pm 82. Bobdog:… you do mean Sam Huntington from HARVARD, right? Also, he is a political scientist, not a “political philosopher.”
BTW Huntington did his best work in the 1960s, not the 1990s; The Clash can not be used to predict intra-American conflict, or the split between “old” Europe and the US for that matter, any better than it can explain why the most populous Muslim country in the world, Indonesia, is a (nominal) US friend. This book, and the FA article which preceded, it are rightly ridiculed by academics of ALL political strips. Only pop-politcos, who know no better, sink to citing it… perhaps Mr. Kimball might do well to re-think this particular font of knowledge.
Sep 9, 2008 - 8:03 pm 83. Jeff:My biggest concern with McCain’s pick of Palin is that, with her tough no holds bar conservative stance, it will be very difficult to reform this hyperpartisanship that we are facing in Washington, as McCain claims that he wants to do. They will face many an opposition from the Left in Washington from the start on many an issues facing our country.
The other main fact is that Palin has never tackled on any problems inside of Washington so will be viewed by our Democratic controlled Congress with little experience, as McCain has always viewed with Obama. They will always have a mental note of the short time that she’ll be in Washington.
With Palin’s pick, we could be facing a more uphill battle in Washington than Obama’s pick of Biden. We don’t need internal battles in Washington, we need results!
Sep 9, 2008 - 9:28 pm 84. toadski:An underrated aspect of this is disgust many of us feel for our “news” media. Before Palin ever came along, the “news” media taught us the attitudes leading to the backlashes we are seeing.
A liar prostitutes his own mind, and tries to prostitute my mind. For someone I trust to lie to me might possibly be forgivable. To lie to me not only for money, but also for the sake of their own political self-interest and morally bankrupt ideology, smugly assuming I will stupidly continue to believe, over the life and death of America’s sons and daughters, in war time, is absolutely unforgivable, to me. They lied to me repeatedly, about something so important that I will never trust them again.
Many of us knew they were liars before I did. I was rather naive, slow to realize it. I can’t say how others feel about it. But I DESPISE the “news” media, I can’t find words to express the lack of respect I have for them. The only reason I don’t call it hate is that anyone who approaches the “truth” with such dishonor is really too sick to hate. “Journalism”, indeed. They have betrayed much more than the truth.
I am probably not unique in hoping for more confrontations with the media. One of the most dangerous problems in our country today is the miserable collection of pompous liars comprising too much of our constitutionally protected “news” media. The survival of our country depends on knowledgeable voters.
Sep 9, 2008 - 9:53 pm 85. Random Numbers:“We don’t need internal battles in Washington, we need results!”
So much for change.
Sep 9, 2008 - 10:20 pm 86. ProgMeister:All the “reporter” (and I cringe to use that term here) could say was that Sarah Palin was in attendance when a GUEST speaker at her church made some controversial remarks about Israel. Huh???? Oh, and she spoke out on behalf of the benefits of a gas pipeline in church
yeah …. GOD’s pipeline … sorry, you folks are just WAY out there; we need to start dealing here, so how about we start with a headcount of Palin supporters …. maybe you can also indicate which states you might like to live in; then we can start handing them out, swapping houses and mortgages in an orderly fashion, etc.
then you can pass all the laws you want against abortions, homosexuals, speech you don’t like … and arm yourself to the teeth with the weaponry of your choosing … you can home school your kids, teach creationism, ban the teaching of evolution … whatever the hell floats your boat
whaddya say, kids? I mean, frankly, I could do without your ass anywhere mine just as much you can do without my ass anywhere near yours … so let’s get over this bullshit argument and get on with the great national divorce …
Sep 10, 2008 - 12:13 am 87. Ed Wallis:Jeff-O’bot-not-independent 9:28 – “With Palin’s pick, we could be facing a more uphill battle in Washington than Obama’s pick of Biden. We don’t need internal battles in Washington, we need results!”
* HEY JEFFIE, if you don’t want “internal battles” in politics, YOU NEED TO MOVE to RUSSIA or CHINA!!! We Americans name that so-called “internal battle” the LIFEBLOOD OF OUR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC.
* RESULTS per se are NOT what Americans need.
* Americans need CORRECT and BETTER RESULTS.
* Obama/Biden(LOL! Liberal Rubberstamper and Washington Insider Supreme to bring “change”?!…ha!) would only enact more Socialist policies (among others, massive wealth distribution within the U.S. and – oh yes – $845 billion going to the poorer countries of the world via the United Nations…ha ha ha!!!)
* If Democrats control both houses of Congress, the damage to America’s future could well be irreparable under Obama.
THAT IS WAY it is imperative to ELECT McCAIN/PALIN this November.
Sep 10, 2008 - 12:53 am 88. DeWayne:“KD:
Heather: Do you believe all the voices on the right to be innocent of any charges of character assassination when it comes to Mr. Obama?”
Please. How can the non existent be assassinated?
Obama has no character.
Sep 10, 2008 - 1:08 am 89. DeWayne:Ambition? Yes.
Guile? Yes.
Charater? No.
Progmeister said: “whaddya say, kids? I mean, frankly, I could do without your ass anywhere mine just as much you can do without my ass anywhere near yours … so let’s get over this bullshit argument and get on with the great national divorce …”
Ya know, Prog, that’s not a terrible idea, if it wasn’t for the whole secession thing had been settled a little while back.
As an alternative, let’s stick to settling things in the arena of ideas. We got Capitalism, the Constitution, self reliance and the ethics of that mean ol’ Bible.
Best I can tell, ya’ll got socialism, the victim society, and a cobbled together union of single-issue voting blocs.
Call me crazy, but I like our odds here.
If your still wanting an address change, I hear Canada or France is pretty close to what your looking for.
Sep 10, 2008 - 1:16 am 90. Nine-of-Diamonds:“The snide tone of many of the comments here — perhaps it is apropo the fawning approval of Mrs. Palin, who has been described by some of her fellow Alaskans as racist, vindictive, and mean.”
Perhaps KD’s racial fixation is natural given its fawning approval of Obama, who by his own admission failed to confront admitted black supremacists for decades on end. Fascinating that, even though an Anchorage newspaper debunked the “Sambo” story, it’s PALIN’s racism that is the problem here. Maybe I’ve been hearing things wrong, and it is she who for 20 years was too complacent to stand up to the racism inherent in Black liberation theology.
We were supposed to be witnessing a post-racial political campaign. Instead, the first impulse of many Obama supporters is to accuse his critics and the opposing ticket of racism, instead of questioning whether his policies are really in the nation’s best interest.
Sep 10, 2008 - 3:11 am 91. Ed Wallis:“9-of-D”, It’s called PROJECTION. It seems to be the only thing Democrats have left to defend/justify their socialist policies. PATHETIC.
Sep 10, 2008 - 3:38 am 92. Believer:I hope no one missed Roderick Reilly’s post at 4:34PM on 9/9.
I loved every word of it.
I smile, and am completely charmed by that moment when I think of it. A reminder of the fresh, and utterly wholesome, scenes of America depicted by Norman Rockwell.
Sep 10, 2008 - 4:03 am 93. Johnnie:Just remember McCain supports the suicide of multiciti by his support for illegal immigration and amnesty
Sep 10, 2008 - 5:31 am 94. Aureliano:My “silly little narrative” came from a conservative website.
My, aren’t we a bit dim. You stated explicitly, “Daniel Larison gets it right, too”. That, dearie, is you taking ownership of the ‘narrative’. The politics of the individual who wrote the words is irrelevant; you agree with its ideas. His words are now your words. Also, you offered up more than just a single post, so your overarching theme of a sinister, dastardly GOP manipulating a brainless electorate and trying to pull a fast one encompasses all your posts.
Nice try, though.
What “real-world experience” do you imagine you have over myself or the persons I’ve quoted?
‘Real-world experience’ means simply that most of the ‘conservative’ posters here, as you would refer to them (although that is often not the case), have been around enough and are sharp enough observers of the political scene to know that your claim that you know “many conservatives, liberals, and moderates alike who regard the choice of Mrs. Palin as nuts” is utter and complete horses**t. There simply is not that kind of groundswell opposition from any quarter that is not primarily liberal. You’re simply not going to assemble a representative sampling of conservatives and moderates who would characterize the pick as ‘nuts’. It was a surprising pick to be sure, but Palin appeals to too many people on too many different levels and is too non-threatening personally to be able to make that kind of statement and expect people to believe it.
In other words, you’re a liar. Unless you’re from Alaska, and hang out with some of the political enemies whom she has left in her wake, you simply don’t have any evidence to back up the claims you’re making. (Remember, even in Alaska, where people know her VERY well, 83% approve of her job as governor.)
If you had any kind of experience with this board, you’d know that you just can’t get away with those sorts of nonsensical claims. You need to be rather insulated to believe otherwise (i.e., inexperienced).
Still, if you want to do a experiential compare and contrast with me or any of the other posters on this site who are game, you go right ahead. You start, sweetie. Tell us your background.
The snide tone of many of the comments here — perhaps it is apropo the fawning approval of Mrs. Palin …
The word is ‘apropos’, not ‘apropo’, and your sentence structure in the use of the word is wrong. You’re missing a preposition.
Nevertheless, it’s revealing that you don’t consider statements such as calling Sarah Palin Hugo Chavez, comparing her Christian beliefs to those of Hitler, and calling her racist while implying that those who support her are stupid and ignorant, you don’t think that these count as ‘snide’ commentary?
… who has been described by some of her fellow Alaskans as racist, vindictive, and mean.
Citations, please. Barring those, or alternatively revealing where you live in Alaska and what your true motives are, we simply must conclude that you are full of it.
Frankly, you’re rather embarrassing*.
* The language you use is quite effeminate/effete. You wouldn’t happen to be the girlfriend of that fired trooper, would you?
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:32 am 95. KD:Nine-of-Diamonds,
We were supposed to be witnessing a post-gender political campaign. Instead, the first impulse of many Palin supporters is to accuse her critics and the opposing ticket of sexism, instead of questioning whether McCain’s continuation of the Bush administration’s policies is really in the nation’s best interest.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:42 am 96. KD:Aureliano,
The tone of your post makes me think you haven’t been around that long at all.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:52 am 97. Michael:Yes, KD I would vastly prefer Pailin to Obama or Bidin.
Obama and Bidin want us to be like Europe. Pailin wants us to be like America. I think that is a very good thing.
Tell me why that is a bad thing.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:35 am 98. ProgMeister:* Obama/Biden(LOL! Liberal Rubberstamper and Washington Insider Supreme to bring “change”?!…ha!) would only enact more Socialist policies (among others, massive wealth distribution within the U.S. and – oh yes – $845 billion going to the poorer countries of the world via the United Nations…ha ha ha!!!)
hey … asshole … which party just nationalized two of the largest privately owned financial institutions in the world? it’s called wealth redistribution: money out of YOUR pocket and into the pockets of private investors who made bad investment decisions
since you’re incredibly stupid, here’s the answer: the institutions are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and a REPUBLICAN administration socialized their financial malfeasance
I won’t even bother to address foreign aid since I don’t think there’s even a vague chance that you’re capable of understanding who does it or why they do it … and you wouldn’t be happy with the WHO part of the question and would go on another uninformed puerile rant
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:09 am 99. KD:“Obama and Biden want us to be like Europe.” ?
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:10 am 100. ProgMeister:@Aureliano
Unless you’re from Alaska, and hang out with some of the political enemies whom she has left in her wake, you simply don’t have any evidence to back up the claims you’re making.
it’s not just Palin’s “enemies” (well earned, I might add) who don’t support her; listen to the Good Morning America interview with four of her very closest personal friends: only ONE of the four would say that she is voting for Palin/McCain (yes, that’s the correct order on this ticket) …. two are undecided and the other won’t reveal her preference
And her own mother-in-law isn’t sure what she brings to the ticket other than being a conservative and a woman .. and is also undecided
your ticket is going down in flames, as it should
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:20 am 101. ProgMeister:Ya know, Prog, that’s not a terrible idea, if it wasn’t for the whole secession thing had been settled a little while back.
As an alternative, let’s stick to settling things in the arena of ideas. We got Capitalism, the Constitution, self reliance and the ethics of that mean ol’ Bible.
no thanks, I’ve seen enough of your version of a marketplace of ideas; we can amend the Constitution (as you guys want to do every time there’s a court decision you don’t like)
it’s time to call this lunacy to a dead halt; no need for a civil war … let’s just negotiate a place where you folks can have whatever the hell you want; the rest of us would prefer not to spend the rest of our lives arguing over “social issues;” we don’t have a problem with your lifestyle, religion or values so long as you don’t try to impose it on us … it’s clear that such imposition is part of what you fervently desire; that’s not acceptable, so let’s get on with it and give you a proportional # of states to govern the way you see fit.
I suspect part of your problem with the plan is that deep in your blackened heart, you know very well that if you had your own “liberal-free” sovereignty Sarah Palin and John McCain would NOT be leading it. You’re just enjoying the game of pissing us off. Enough … as liberals, we want you to have what you want … in your own place.
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:36 am 102. jay:ProgMeister:
“hey … asshole”?
I don’t care if the poster called you a lyer. You just lost ALL your arguments.
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:42 am 103. ProgMeister:@jay
I don’t care if the poster called you a lyer. You just lost ALL your arguments.
I suppose in your next post you’re going to go ballistic about liberals being politically correct while in this one you whine about the use of “asshole” … you’re hopelessly vapid, dude
Sep 10, 2008 - 10:25 am 104. jay:ProgMeister, your right, my apologies. You are an asshole. Thank you, that felt better.
Sep 10, 2008 - 1:26 pm 105. ProgMeister:I guess you didn’t lose all your arguments.
@jay
ProgMeister, your right, my apologies. You are an asshole. Thank you, that felt better.
glad to oblige, asshole …
Sep 10, 2008 - 3:13 pm 106. Mike Boyce:Well thought out, well put together and accurate to a fault. This is a perfect synopsis of the current election, the leftward tilt of the mainstream media and the difference in charachter between the elite left and those of us who see true hope in what Gov. Palin has to offer.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:04 pm 107. Nine-of-Diamonds:Interesting that the usual suspects still haven’t posted an adequate defense of Obama’s “Black Liberation” theology. If McCain had gone to a Christian Identity church for 20 years or if he’d launched his political career in Eric Rudolph’s home, do you think the political Left would be so eager to obfuscate the issue?
And no – Palin has not been making grandiose claims about the end of gender discrimination while trying to divide the sexes. Obama and his followers, OTOH, preach “post racialism” out one side of their mouths and whine about racism out the other.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:28 pm 108. nlcatter:Palin is a lying, corrupt, book burning , creationist, profligate spender of our tax dollars.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:44 pm 109. ProgMeister:But here’s a question: why is someone like Joe Biden better equipped to be Vice President than Sarah Palin? Because he is a lawyer? (On the whole lawyer issue, see Victor Davis Hanson’s thoughtful reflections on why we should quit nominating lawyers.) Because he went to elite schools? Because he has spent his entire adult life in Washington, lips sewn fast to the public teat?
elite schools? Univ of Delaware and Syracuse?
now about this “public teat” business … you DO recall, Roger, that three generations (and now starting on four) of McCain men have been on the government payroll … from 1906 to present … that’s 102 consecutive years on the “public teat,” broken only by a very brief stint working for his new father-in-law selling beer while he ran for public office
do you ever do any homework before you write these articles? I fail to see why any of this crap matters in the first place; I’m looking for a good president and don’t think going to elite schools or working for the government is an ipso facto disqualifier; all the same, if you’re going to offer commentary it would help if your arguments were coherent and cogent
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:56 pm 110. Nine-of-Diamonds:McCain’s 5 1/2 years in the Hanoi Hilton count for something in my book. He and his family served this country well during WWII and Vietnam, so he has no need to be ashamed. Then again, I have encountered “progressives” who described the US’s actions in WWII as “aggression”, and openly praised the motives of Communist regimes. So I can understand why some loathe the McCain family – they represent the martial tradition standing in the way of wannabe revolutionaries’ dreams.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:37 pm 111. KD:An independent — though often conservative leaning — political observer writes:
Obama still has a healthy lead in the electoral college, which will only increase as Palin has to speak in public without a script. Nothing to worry about, the McCain campaign can’t keep her in seclusion forever.
She’s supposed to do an interview with Charlie Gibson tomorrow, but there are apparently all kinds of off-limit topics, like the pregnant daughter. There’s one interesting topic alongside Palin’s cutting back the funding for a teen mother’s center in Alaska, of course. And I take it there are similar issues around funding for special-needs babies as well. And I’d love to know why she left a church where people speak in tongues while trying to get elected governor, and why she lost her first attempt to win statewide office as Lt. Governor.
*
Tomorrow the nation will see how well Mrs. “What Exactly Does the VP Do Everyday?” Palin has been prepped by her handlers.
Who knows? She may be a natural. She certainly did well with the speech they prepared for her.
I would imagine her supporters are hoping she does a lot better than Mr. “Deliver Hot Water to Dehydrated Babies” McCain has in the past.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:45 pm 112. Nine-of-Diamonds:Gotta watch out for that speaking in tongues, people. If only those confounded Redstaters had stuck to howling “God Damn America” in a racially-radicalized madhouse. Maybe that would have been more to KD’s liking.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:59 pm 113. KD:I have no liking for any religious madhouse either racially-radicalized or Jesus Camp. Both are madhouses as far as I’m concerned and it is unfortunate that we have two candidates that were at one time connected with them.
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:07 pm 114. KD:Not to mention Mr. McCain’s unfortunate fawning over Pastor Hagee, which he wisely put a stop to.
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:11 pm 115. nick:nine of diamonds – you are a liar.
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:37 pm 116. Nine-of-Diamonds:Oh, and I must have missed the part where McCain sat in Hagee’s church for 20 years and then said he “couldn’t disown him” after being called on it.
Judgment we can believe in, people. This “post racial” candidacy trumpeted by the media is about as genuine as the infamous “Temple of Obama”, and maybe half as believable.
And that’s being generous.
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:46 pm 117. ProgMeister:McCain’s 5 1/2 years in the Hanoi Hilton count for something in my book. He and his family served this country well during WWII and Vietnam, so he has no need to be ashamed.
yes, they do count; we owe him our gratitude and excellent veteran’s benefits; but we don’t owe him the Presidency
Then again, I have encountered “progressives” who described the US’s actions in WWII as “aggression”, and openly praised the motives of Communist regimes.
well, I’m a liberal and a progressive and I think we were too slow to enter WW2; conservatives actually preferred isolationism and keeping the US OUT of WW2 entirely. It’s not a matter of war/no-war … it’s a matter of getting involved where it’s appropriate and, once you’re involved, of waging an intelligent battle. Doug MacArthur was a great maverick swashbuckling general who cost thousands of American lives needlessly in Korea when he went it alone; we are learning that George W. Bush has been another maverick who ignored and shut out the nation’s top military leaders in prosecuting the Iraq war.
We don’t need another military maverick; we probably cannot one.
Sep 11, 2008 - 7:59 am 118. KD:Did you miss the part where Mr. McCain praised and hugged Pastor Hagee after glowingly receiving his endorsement?
Judgement we can beleive in.
Pandering by a Presidential candidate to a bizarre religious “leader” is disturbing.
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:09 am 119. KD:The fact is, both Mrs. Palin and Mr. Obama were NOT candidates for the two highest offices in the land when they became members of politically bizarre churches.
Mr. McCain WAS a Presidential candidate when he pandered to Pastor Hagee.
Judgement we can believe in.
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:21 am 120. nick:KD – great line!
REPUBLICANS thwarted FDR attempts to fight Hitler and only when Britian gave land to us would they allow lend lease to fight Hitler
SO no GOP should even dare to say they were among first to oppose HITLER!!
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:38 am 121. ProgMeister:@Aureliano
Those dastardly mustachio-twirling robber barons, sipping their ghoulish brandy distilled from the blood of infants, polishing their manacles manufactured in labyrinthine non-union sweat-shops full of homosexual slaves sequestered in the deepest bowels of the earth under any of Dick Cheney’s thousands of secret pleasure palaces, these are the Machiavellian idiot-savants who lounge about safely and smartly in their top hats made from the skins of cute little innocent endangered critters, spinning hyper-vast conspiracies that steadily and menacingly strip our very souls from our bodies to feed to the greedy, gaping dollar-Gods of The Corporation and the Texas Oil Cowboy Lobby, which in their devilish capitalist machinations stripped real men of their metrosexual bona fides, real women of their ignescent whine, and the transgendered of their pre-pubescent auto-catalytic victim-reparations uber-groveling –- yeah, KD, be ye brother or sister or sexually mollycoddled, verily the best laid plans of this evil coterie will wither and wilt under your rhetorical and intellectual parasitosis
hey, dude, you wanna do psychobabble? your rant is the quintessence of homosexual panic … go read David Brock’s apologia and you can liberate yourself out of the closet
when you finish Brock’s book, pick up a couple of titles on style and usage and liberate yourself from run-on sentences
Sep 11, 2008 - 9:53 am 122. Nine-of-Diamonds:The fact is, both Mrs. Palin and Mr. Obama were NOT candidates for the two highest offices in the land when they became members of politically bizarre churches.
Which explains KD’s singleminded ranting about Palin, while ignoring the fact that the head of the Democratic ticket remained in a racist church and promptly tried to excuse it when some members of the media started to pay attention. KD seems to be trying to make moral equivalence, but it’s not doing a very good job IMO. Compare how much time it has spent screeching about Palin to the little it has said about the Obamessiah. I am sure that KD has evidence of McCain’s multi-decade relationship with Hagee, baptising his kids at Hagee’s church and writing an autobiography with glowing mentions of him, etc?
Evidently it is OK to pander to a bizzarre religious leader so long as he espouses Black Liberation Theology and/or is a racial minority.
Wright has ridiculed the United States repeatedly, cursing it for its sins while disregarding the worse alternatives of Soviet totalitarianism or Nazi fascism.
He has misrepresented facts about the AIDS virus, making it more difficult for members of a vulnerable community to take appropriate health precautions.
He has tried to establish relationships with Islamic extremists who to this day continue to threaten the very country he lives in.
He preaches a disdain for social mobility that is intended to keep Black citizens in the thrall of demagogues like him.
Nevertheless, despite O’s spending 20 years taking in this filth, we’ve got to watch out for a couple Alaskan Christians speaking in tongues.
Again: melanin uber alles.
Sep 11, 2008 - 10:01 am 123. KD:Mr. Kimball,
Many people, I suspect, believe the legacy of President George W. Bush has inflicted grievous ruin upon this country. One party embraces that ruin as our destiny.
Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden, as well as Mr. Paul, reject it as tantamount to moral betrayal.
I do not agree entirely with Mr. Obama, or even Mr. Paul, but in no way do I agree with the policies of President Bush, which Mr. McCain has supported almost entirely.
I do agree with you though on this point: The “skirmishes” are likely to become more heated as Americans confront the nature of the choice that is before them.
Sep 11, 2008 - 10:53 am 124. KD:Perhaps Nine-of-Diamonds has a reading disability.
I did not “ignore” Mr. Obama’s church, I called it a madhouse.
When did I say it was “OK” to pander to a bizarre Black Liberation Theology religious leader. Not once.
I was talking about Mr. McCain’s judgement.
In embracing Pastor Hagee, it was not only poor, but transparently insincere.
*
A friend who is somewhat lukewarm about Mr. McCain but very excited about Mrs. Palin, mentioned to me that not once did Mr. Obama use the word “victory” in his acceptance. I pointed out that not once did Mrs. Palin use the word “peace” in her acceptance speech.
To speak of peace is especially appropriate in a time of war. Leaders have done so in the past. If nothing else, it suggest conscience.
Palin had the opportunity to present a new world-view to a divided country, one that might lead us forward, in concert, to peace and prosperity. She chose instead to regurgitate the standard platitudes of her party. Perhaps she’s not entirely to blame. On the national stage she is a novice. Her speech was penned for her.
Then she chose to talk about war with no mention of peace. She said Mr. McCain would rather lose an election “than see his country lose a war.” She told us “Victory in Iraq is finally in sight.” Even General Petraeus, who probably knows more about the war than Mrs. Palin, says he will not declare victory in Iraq.
Sep 11, 2008 - 11:48 am 125. ProgMeister:Nevertheless, despite O’s spending 20 years taking in this filth, we’ve got to watch out for a couple Alaskan Christians speaking in tongues.
you bet we do; you may not like what Obama’s pastor (not Obama) said, but he wasn’t out of his mind; Palin’s congregation is psychotic … AND .. she didn’t just “take it in,” she spit it out ….
God’s pipeline? thanks but no thanks
Sep 11, 2008 - 1:04 pm 126. Palin: “They hate her because she is not a victim” | The Anchoress:[...] emergence is being careful about what you hear, and what they do not disclose. And they’re still superior in tone as they do [...]
Sep 11, 2008 - 1:30 pm 127. Nine-of-Diamonds:Perhaps KD failed to notice I never said it didn’t comment on Rev. Goddam America – just that its near-exclusive focus on Palin was telling.
“Poor judgment”. As opposed to the good judgment displayed by leaders who blow $50-100 million dollars on Marxist and Maoist radicals for no result.
“A new vision for the country”. Right. Millions for the same massive bureaucracies that have failed for decades and will continue to fail again. A “new postracial politics” led by a student of Black Liberation Theology.
So Palin’s congregation is “out of its mind” because ProgMeister says so. This from someone who loses it and starts swearing at his/her political opponents when they’re not deferential enough.
Outstanding.
The sad thing is that if only she supported the policies that ProgMeister agreed with he would not be so dismissive of her faith. No wonder the Magic Negro appeals to Liberals – O is incapable of separating individual beliefs from legislation. Palin has already avoided opportunities to legislate based on her personal POV – Obama, on the other hand has already stated that that is acceptable (recall the comments a while back about criteria for a good Supreme Court judge).
Although voting based on “your heart” may seem like a good idea when Liberal justices & officials do it, please keep in mind that it cuts both ways. After all, when the Supreme Court handed down Dredd Scott (sp) what was Justice Taney doing other than expressing his deeply-held personal beliefs that blacks were inferior and the rightful property of slaveowners?
Sep 11, 2008 - 4:48 pm 128. Nine-of-Diamonds:Correction – KD is right about one point – I shouldn’t have said Rev. Right was “ignored” in my earlier comment. KD has criticized him, which is more than some Obama supporters are willing to do. My apologies.
Sep 11, 2008 - 5:05 pm 129. theporch:I just love how the kos kids on here rant and rave without any facts. Wait– they know the facts but just distort them. Even on there web page the admit to “lets start a big lie about Gov Palin and with the help of our friends in the MSM it will be repeated over and over.
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:01 pm 130. theporch:Here is an interesting site.
http://explorations.chasrmartin.com/2008/09/06/palin-rumors/
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:06 pm 131. nick:Wright (not right) is a moron also.
we dont even read daliy kos. only morons do/
Obama is not A negro, you fucking morons!
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:34 pm 132. Nine-of-Diamonds:“I just love how the kos kids on here rant and rave without any facts. Wait– they know the facts but just distort them. Even on there web page the admit to “lets start a big lie about Gov Palin and with the help of our friends in the MSM it will be repeated over and over.”
On another blog a “lifelong libertarian” (translation – lying Democrat) repeated the slander about Palin banning books from the library 12 years ago. Fascinating, isn’t it, that the list of “banned literature” includes the Harry Potter series, which hadn’t even been completed in 1996. Pesky Republican book-burner. Bet she used some magic heirloom from Todd’s ancestors to travel through time.
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:38 pm 133. ProgMeister:The sad thing is that if only she supported the policies that ProgMeister agreed with he would not be so dismissive of her faith.
I’m not really aware of any significant Palin policy positions other than “drill, drill, drill” … I have no opposition to drilling; I make money from it … but “drill, drill, drill” is not a coherent policy for the future … that said, I think you drill to extract usable hydrocarbons out of the ground whereas Palin apparently thinks you drill because it’s God’s plan, and that’s a problem to me because I have no idea when, somehow, the plan just might change when one of these folks channeled into God receives the message from on high … you see the issue here?
“Reform,” by the way, is not a policy … it’s always a public servant’s obligation to act ethically. When it comes to her “standing up to big oil” you guys confuse the hell out of me; on the one hand you constantly harp about how wrong things like windfall profits taxation and “robin-hooding” are and on the other hand you applaud wildly when Palin takes money out of the oil companies’ coffers and redistributes it to “the people.” So is she a conservative laissez-faire capitalist or a liberal democratic socialist? You cannot have this issue any way you want it on a given day at noon.
When and if Palin learns to keep her faith out of governance I will have no problem with it; liberals are quite good about things like that.
No wonder the Magic Negro appeals to Liberals
that would be Dr. Magic Negro to you
Palin has already avoided opportunities to legislate based on her personal POV
Palin is not a legislator; but she is someone who believes the Alaska pipeline is God’s plan
Although voting based on “your heart” may seem like a good idea when Liberal justices & officials do it, please keep in mind that it cuts both ways. After all, when the Supreme Court handed down Dredd Scott (sp) what was Justice Taney doing other than expressing his deeply-held personal beliefs that blacks were inferior and the rightful property of slaveowners?
yes, it is a danger, isn’t it? rather amazing that the United States of America, given its founding documents, could have deemed an entire class of people to to be inherently inferior or defective … in about the same way that Governor Palin’s church currently views gay people
Sep 11, 2008 - 9:45 pm 134. Tout D. Suite:Since the 2000 election, angry Leftists like ProgMeister have been sliding into a state of mass insanity. It will be absolutely fascinating to see what happens to them if—more likely when—McCain and Palin defeat Obama and Biden in the upcoming election. Could there be another condition of madness beyond insane?
Sep 12, 2008 - 1:53 am 135. charlie:Sarah Palin is a good woman and that is why the radical liberal left hates her so much because her good values shows everything that is evil in them. She is pro life, pro family,pro marriage, pro freedom and pro God and this country need John McCain and her to lead us forward. John McCain will protect our country. obama will not, he is so weak and is naive about how to handle terrorist. Of course i wonder what really is his agenda? he has a islamic past which he is not being truthful about. i wonder what he ahs to hide? and its especially dis-comforting when you read that he wrote in his book that should the political winds shift in a an ugly direction he would stand with the muslims. Then of course we all know that he sat under the teaching of a man who has deep hatred. why would he have continued going there on less he ahs the feelings? obama also dodges questions and says different things depending on who he is talking to. One time he answered a question by saying that is above his pay grade. That is a very stupid answer to put it bluntly. Then not only is obama pro abortion which is very wrong in and of itself but to make it worse he voted once for killing a baby if it is born alive in an abortion attempt. That is just sick and i don’t know anyone can support that. He has no economic policy except the policy to raise taxes which would kill the american family whom many are already struggling. There is absolutly no good reason to vote for this man. what sane what a man like this as a leader of this nation. i know i sure don’t. i don’t want my child who is still growing in the womb to grow up under the domination of liberal’s who are anti-God and anti-freedom
Sep 12, 2008 - 3:05 am 136. michael:Joe Biden did not go to elite schools, neither undergraduate nor graduate. Though he claims at times to have been one of the best students in his class, he graduated in the bottom tier and was nearly expelled for plagiarism. But because he famously said he’s “smarter than you” there’s a myth that somehow he’s an expert or even smart.
Sep 12, 2008 - 3:33 am 137. More on the media’s treatment of Governor Palin « Prydain:[...] Roger Kimball on “The Palin Portfolio, Phase Two: Damage Control…” [...]
Sep 12, 2008 - 4:36 am 138. Nine-of-Diamonds:“in about the same way that Governor Palin’s church currently views gay people”
Is there even any evidence that the congregation views gays to be inferior? Most churches opposing homosexuality seem to hold that all sins are equal, regardless of their nature or the number of times a person practices them. God’s standard is perfection (according to them), and a single sin is enough to separate man from God. Hence, a promiscuous homosexual is the moral equal of a devout Christian who only sins once in his lifetime.
I seem to remember SP opposing laws that would have denied certain benefits to Alaskan homosexuals.
Magic Negro, OTOH, believes that the USSC must take into account empathy for the various identity politics movements whenever it makes its decisions. Coincidentally, said movements happen to be the ones that traditionally support Democrats – remember that he mentioned Gays and blacks in his comments about the Court.
Again – does Obama not realize that interpreting the law based on “empathy” will lead to inconsistent results? or is he OK with that so long as the results coincide with his political biases? If 20 years from now there is a resurgence in White nationalism and the justices appointed by President David Duke uphold a law reinstating “separate but equal” schools, will that be acceptable? Duke is simply showing “empathy” towards the radical white supremacists who make up HIS base.
I am only willing to vote for a politician who’s willing to stand up to his/her own party for the common good – even if it means that (s)he will not always like the judicial ruling or laws that result.
Sep 12, 2008 - 7:23 am 139. Joe:http://www.volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_09_07-2008_09_13.shtml#1221187681
Will Charlie Gibson correct himself on misquoting Sarah Palin?
Sep 12, 2008 - 7:34 am 140. Boris:Truly excellent. A couple of paras (the last two in my book) encapsulating with deadly accuracy the dilemma facing not only the US, but the whole of the civilised world. There is just one thing. Could the US ‘awakening’ reverse the cancerous growth of the multi-culti trash, the moral relativism and the rest of the pseudo-liberal pap, and could it last? Intuitively I think it may not. Nature, or if you prefer Him has endowed us with two essential abilities that make us human. We can think, and we can feel. Sagacity and emotion are the two decision making centres that determine our response to events, or initiate events. In times of hardship, it is the former that prevails. When out bellies are full it’s the heart that takes over. I’m afraid the Western world has reached the stage of plenty for enough of us, the stage where it’s the heart that rules, not the rational. The ‘if it feels good, man, do it’ brigade is winning, and unless the West gets hit by a truly massive disaster, we will continue sliding towards the Arnold Toynbee apocalypse.
Sep 12, 2008 - 7:39 am 141. Nine-of-Diamonds:More of Mr. Hoyt’s “intense, independent scrutiny”. From those oh-so-independent thinkers at Salon.com:
[the notion of Palin as vice president is] “akin to ideological brain rape … Sarah Palin and her virtual burqa have me and my friends retching into our handbags. She’s such a power-mad, backwater beauty-pageant casualty, it’s easy to write her off and make fun of her. But in reality I feel as horrified as a ghetto Jew watching the rise of National Socialism.”
Heh. Godwin, much?
Sep 12, 2008 - 7:53 am 142. Shrewsbury:Since when is John McCain in opposition to the multiculti cult? Everything he has said on the subject has been pure PC. He has lauded America as an idea, not a “mere” nation of blood and soil. He seems happier doing the Mexican hat dance with his muchachos at La Raza than anywhere else. And his catamite Lindsay Graham famously characterized all opponents of last year’s lunatic McCain-Kennedy Dissolution of America bill as “bigots” who “they” were going to tell to “shut up.” I don’t see so much as a chink of daylight between McCain and the Obamanation when it comes to preserving America for its historical population.
Sep 12, 2008 - 8:07 am 143. nick:Sarah Palin is a corrupt (TG) lying (BTN) bookburning , creationist (moron) politiican
every one of those words is opposite from GOOD.
Sep 12, 2008 - 9:03 am 144. nick:in SEVEN years Mccain and GOP did NOT keep going after Osama Bin Laden.
Sep 12, 2008 - 9:04 am 145. nick:Abe lincoln went to harvard did he?
FLGDG
Sep 12, 2008 - 9:05 am 146. nick:Palin knew she was being filmed and had to make sure she was PC, in front of friends she says it is a mission from god.
Sep 12, 2008 - 9:07 am 147. nick:with decreasing white births David Duke will not be president
and if you cant find the underlying message you too are a moron.
Sep 12, 2008 - 9:08 am 148. ProgMeister:Is there even any evidence that the congregation views gays to be inferior?
well, they apparently have a program to “cure” them; draw your own conclusions
Magic Negro, OTOH, believes that the USSC must take into account empathy for the various identity politics movements whenever it makes its decisions. Coincidentally, said movements happen to be the ones that traditionally support Democrats – remember that he mentioned Gays and blacks in his comments about the Court.
Barack supports the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, period.
Again – does Obama not realize that interpreting the law based on “empathy” will lead to inconsistent results? or is he OK with that so long as the results coincide with his political biases? If 20 years from now there is a resurgence in White nationalism and the justices appointed by President David Duke uphold a law reinstating “separate but equal” schools, will that be acceptable? Duke is simply showing “empathy” towards the radical white supremacists who make up HIS base.
as the saying goes in the law, you’re assuming facts not in evidence; as far as 20 years from now, David Duke and White Nationalism, I think you’re ignoring some pretty significant demographic trends … but let me be clear: if it should turn out that at some point in time white people (or any others) are in need of something like a revised Civil Rights Act, I’d be right behind it … it’s not a tough concept and it’s called equal rights under the law
I am only willing to vote for a politician who’s willing to stand up to his/her own party for the common good – even if it means that (s)he will not always like the judicial ruling or laws that result.
I haven’t seen one of those in a long, long time … you take the facts as you find them and move forward
Sep 12, 2008 - 9:37 am 149. ProgMeister:She is pro life, pro family, pro marriage, pro freedom and pro God and this country need John McCain and her to lead us forward.
everyone is in favor of those things; the sine qua non to each (except for God perhaps), however, is a viable economy for the middle class; with people like Phil Gramm and Carly Fiorina on board as advisers (just for starters) it’s clear to me that if we elect McCain the middle class doesn’t stand a chance; game over
All you have to do is read a newspaper to understand the condition of the US economy … hint: it’s not good at all
Sep 12, 2008 - 9:44 am 150. SukieTawdry:I have nothing much, really, to add, but I can’t let the rantings of “Nick” to be the last words in this most excellent thread.
I’m wracking my brain trying to remember if the “free press doing its job” vetted the dead-baby-channeling millionaire trial lawyer cum one-term non-distinguished show-pony Senator in the same spirit as they are now “vetting” the sitting governor of Alaska. Among vice presidential/presidential candidates taken seriously–championed even–by the media, John Edwards struck me as one of the most ridiculous to come along in my lifetime. Good grief, the man couldn’t even stand for re-election to the Senate such was his status among the Tarheel electorate (nor could he deliver his state to John Kerry). Yet, the media adored and protected him. Go figure.
Sep 12, 2008 - 10:12 am 151. Nine-of-Diamonds:Still no answer as to how SP banned books that had not yet been published. I strongly suggest that some posters here look into the Yupi’k Heirloom Time Travel Theory – it’s better than no evidence at all.
@Sukie – If I’m not mistaken there’s a video floating out on the interwebs of Gibson interviewing John Edwards in 2004. The contrast between that interview and Palin’s is said to be very illuminating.
And Sukie – I’m disappointed in you for what you said about nick. You ought to thank him for providing this evening’s entertainment. “Creationist moron politiican”, eh? Curse those creayshunists – I bet they can’t spell politiican kurectlee!
RE: David Duke – I myself don’t think he will ever be president. I am not concerned about the plausibility of white supremacists taking over. My point is that when you substitute personal feelings of empathy for judgment you can get some pretty outrageous results. What need is there for precedents when the law is whatever a politically strident judge says it is? Obama promises a judiciary grounded in identity politics gone wild and little else.
Sep 12, 2008 - 2:50 pm 152. Goodies2Choose » Blog Archive » Today’s Goodies:[...] Roger The clash of civilizations comes home [...]
Sep 12, 2008 - 3:03 pm 153. Not a Lib:Sarah will kick some a…
http://www.ucubd.com/Index.aspx?id=706&cid=3128
Sep 12, 2008 - 4:06 pm 154. nick:judges ! too bad we dont still have those judges from Plessy v ferguson, they didnt dare legislate from the Bench!
Sep 12, 2008 - 6:30 pm 155. nick:you’re too bloddy to know difference between and spelling errors
perhaps I also hurt my arms as POW!
you bloody Moron.
Sep 12, 2008 - 6:31 pm 156. nick:Palin asked on you behalf 3 times how to ban books rehtorically.
Did she fire the Librarian for being hard of hearing ? you pathetic book burners (Preacher, I am gay)
Sep 12, 2008 - 6:34 pm 157. ProgMeister:@all
Due to Hurricane Ike, further broadcasts of the truth from this node will likely be sharply limited. Your understanding and patience are appreciated.
Palin completely blew lunch with Charles Gibson. McCain completely blew lunch by selecting her.
Sep 12, 2008 - 8:27 pm 158. nlcatter:blew lunch? cant you be more dignified in your critique!
Sep 12, 2008 - 8:30 pm 159. nw:nwerle at yahoo has to go to Mccain blogs to talk about how Mccain has no morals.
Sep 12, 2008 - 9:19 pm 160. ProgMeister:@nlcatter
blew lunch? cant you be more dignified in your critique!
when liberals are “dignified” neocons call us “elitists” … they both blew lunch
Sep 12, 2008 - 9:21 pm 161. Carl:Roger,
Don’t know how you find time to read this (what a list of comments!) but your article here re the NY Times is just about the the wittest, incredibly clever piece of writing I have read in a long time, and I’m talking years. Judas priest’! Great work, man.
Sep 12, 2008 - 11:34 pm 162. BAMMER:DISNEY- “MAKING THE DREAMS OF FAMILIES AND CHILDREN A REALITY”
(A) ABC AND THE MAIN STREAM MEDIA WILL FIGHT TO THE DEATH TO DEFEND ABORTION, SAME SEX MARRIAGE, WELFARE, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, TRADE BARRIERS, HEAVY UNIONIZATION, SEXIST, AND HOMOSEXUAL RIGHTS.
(B) ABC AND THE MAIN STREAM MEDIA TEND TO BELITTLE CITIZENS WITH CHURCH GOING FAMILIES, THAT WORK VERY HARD TO KEEP WHAT THEY EARN, THAT INVEST IN GOOD PARENTING, THAT ARE PRO-LIFE, AND HAVE CONSERVATIVE VALUES, AND THAT HAVE DIFFICULTY RECONCILING ABORTION AND SAME SEX MARRIAGE WITH THEIR KIDS.
(C) WHY DOES DISNEY OWN ABC? WHICH SIDE DOES DISNEY TAKE? THE APPROACH DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH (A) OR THAT OF PARAGRAPH (B). BY HAVING OWNERSHIP AND OVERSIGHT OF ABCNEWS AS A LIBERAL ELITE MEDIA OPERATION, IT APPEARS DISNEY TAKES PARAGRAPH (A), EVEN THOUGH YOUR CORPORATE IMAGE WITH THEME PARKS, STUDIOS, AND OTHER OPERATIONS PLAY IN THE IMAGES OF PARAGRAPH (B).
(D) FOR DISNEY/ABC, THIS IS A CLOUDED, CONFUSED CORPORATE IMAGE AT BEST, AND HYPOCRISY AT WORST. AS A MAJOR MEDIA COMPANY, YOUR IMAGE AND YOUR ABILITY TO BE TRUSTED IS MAGICAL AND GOLDEN.
(E) WITH ANY MAJOR MEDIA COMPANY, YOU SHOULD BE JUDGED BY SOMETHING SIMILAR TO THE FOLLOWING:
“WHAT MAKES YOU WORTHY OF TELLING US WHAT YOU THINK?”
CHARLES GIBSON, ADVERTISES HIMSELF AS “YOUR TRUSTED SOURCE”.
(F) DISNEY, ABCNEWS, AND CHARLIE HAVE AN OBLIGATION IN SHOWING US WHAT MAKES YOU WORTHY OF TELLING US WHAT YOU THINK, IF YOU CHOOSE TO TELL US WHAT YOU THINK, INSTEAD OF JUST REPORTING THE STORY OBJECTIVELY.
Sep 13, 2008 - 6:14 am 163. Nine-of-Diamonds:Stay safe, ProgMeister.
“Palin asked on you behalf.” What is he rambling about?
Nobody did anything on my behalf. What I still want to know is, how can you ban a book two years before it’s published?
Sep 13, 2008 - 4:06 pm 164. Jack-of-Spades:@Nine-of-Diamonds
The Time story of the book-banning did not include the discredited book list. The bogus list conveniently appeared in a comment to a blog post about the book banning story here:
http://www.librarian.net/stax/2366/sarah-palin-vp-nominee/#comment-119807
And was almost immediately picked up by the conservative blogisphere as if it where integral to the story. Note that both the blog owner and other commenters expressed doubts about the veracity of the list.
I guess it was just our good luck that someone posted that list of books when they did. Otherwise there would be no convincing way to discredit the story.
Sep 13, 2008 - 5:25 pm 165. Nine-of-Diamonds:“And was almost immediately picked up by the conservative blogisphere [sic] as if it where [sic] integral to the story.”
If Jack-of-Spades wants the story to be true, why is he/she/it speaking of “our good luck”?
Anyway – it’s not conservatives’ fault if Leftist librarians are spreading disinformation. They should have reviewed the publication dates of the books to find out whether or not the story was plausible. It doesn’t do any good to breathlessly “run away” with false details and, when called on it, darkly hint that conservatives generated them to destroy the Left’s credibility.
I checked the original article in the Frontiersman from 12/18/96, and it is quite telling that in her response to Palin, Library Director Mary Ellen Emmons never mentions any banned books by name. Palin specifically denies wanting to ban particular titles, and Emmons does not contradict her in the story. Emmons herself states SP discussed a hypothetical scenario where irate citizens picketed the library to have a book removed. In other words, their discussion was about what should be done if such a controversy DID arise, and was not about SP going after a particular book she didn’t like. If SP had really asked her to ban or destroy books then why didn’t Emmons tell the Frontiersman which titles were to be removed?
It looks like the inquiry was never as specific as the Left wants it to be, although some Democrats are still hoping against hope that a “real” list of banned books will surface. Best of luck to them.
Furthermore, the Frontiersman article strongly indicates that there was a book challenge policy that predated Palin’s appointment AND applied to more than one district in Alaska. Claims that she introduced censorship to an idyllic, freethinking community are questionable at best.
Sep 14, 2008 - 3:17 am 166. Nine-of-Diamonds:For the facts about “book banning” in Wasilla, check Confederate Yankee’s 11:45 AM post:
http://confederateyankee.mu.nu/
He links to records indicating that only FIVE books were even reviewed between 1986 and 2007, and only one of them was reviewed during SP’s term. There is no evidence that she herself requested the review. Of the five books, four remained where they were in the library, and one was moved to the Young Adults’ section. In short, not one book was ever banned.
http://www.cityofwasilla.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=516
When people here start railing against book bonfires and fascism, I assume they have some sort of documentation to back up their claims – right?
Sep 14, 2008 - 12:11 pm 167. geokstr:What is even more revealing about how little the left is swayed by facts is that the librarian in question was not fired by Palin, but remained in her job for three more years until she retired. But the same story will no doubt be told around the liberal campfires decades from now.
And the garbage about her beliefs about creationism, picked up by both the partially Harvard educated Matt Damon, and the NYT’s Mo Dowd and broadcast as truth, were in fact totally made up as a hoax, and admitted to by the author as such:
http://unbearablebobness.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/governor-sarah-palin-quotes.html
I await the retractions and apologies by both.
Sep 14, 2008 - 3:44 pm 168. ProgMeister:@Nine-of-Diamonds
Stay safe, ProgMeister.
thanks, Nine … we’re broadcasting again, a little storm-weary but entirely safe
What I still want to know is, how can you ban a book two years before it’s published?
I don’t know how this got started re her actually banning books, though there’s evidence that she had it in mind; in any case, I think it’s past time to comment about Palin unless and until she engages substantive issues. Needless to say, I reserve the right to change my mind.
Time to start focusing in on the economy, folks … the banking system is in tatters; anything to do with taxes is not an answer to the systemic problems which got us to where we are
Sep 14, 2008 - 7:05 pm 169. geokstr:Progmeister:
Yes, the financial system is having major problems, but perhaps you lefties don’t want to really look at the systemic reasons it is, now do you?
- govermment demands that banks make mortgage loans to those whose credit histories would make them very risky borrowers, even to those like illegals who shouldn’t even be here, and in neighhorhoods where property values don’t necessarily go up
- government encouragement, or at best benign neglect, of illegal immigration, which lowered the cost of building houses (by displacing higher paid citizens), allowing home builders to construct more inventory than they could normally sell under the old lending rules
- allowing Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to become bloated, corrupted quasi-governmental organizations, whose officers (hack political appointees, mostly Clintonistas) cooked the books for years to quadruple their bonuses
All the above were exactly what the left wanted. Now they’ll blame McBusHitler, and propose disastrous “solutions” to the calamitous problems they caused in the first place.
Sep 15, 2008 - 6:31 am 170. ProgMeister:Yes, the financial system is having major problems, but perhaps you lefties don’t want to really look at the systemic reasons it is, now do you?
you bet I want to look at the systemic reasons; where the hell has the Republican administration been as this situation has evolved; you do know the Justice Department has an antitrust division, right? and you know who runs the Justice Department, right?
since when does “government demand that banks make mortgage loans to those with bad credit histories” ? and, assuming for the hell of it that you’re right (which you are not), whose government?
do you not read the persistent demands from neocons for “less government regulation” ? you got it; here we are.
Sep 15, 2008 - 11:01 am