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September 21st, 2008 8:26 am

Brit to Palin: Drop Dead: or, By George, I Think She’s Got It!

I arrived in London early this morning for a conference about libel tourism and other efforts to suppress criticism of radical Islam. Because of the success of those efforts, publicity for the event–which is taking place in a semi-secure, undisclosed location–has been circumscribed. I expect it to be at least as informative and enlightening as the conference on Free Speech in a Age of Jihad that Andrew McCarthy and I organized last spring. The New Criterion published edited versions of the presentations and a selection of responses from the conference in a special pamphlet this summer, and it can be yours (while supplies last) for a modest sum by clicking here and following the directives. Tune in a day or two for a report on the proceedings of the new conference.

Meanwhile, I am happy to see that Sarah Palin has lost none of her fizz in crossing the Atlantic. Gordon Brown has said he wishes his government to maintain a dignified neutrality with respect to the American Presidential election(never mind that he endorsed Obama himself), but it turns out that no one is paying any more attention to him about than than about anything else.

Hazel Blears is not, I’d wager, a name known to many of my readers, but she has the distinction of being the Communities Secretary for Mr. Brown’s government. Speaking at a fringe meeting of the centre-left party at Labour’s annual party conference in Manchester, Ms. Blears described Palin as “horrendous.” And why is that, Hazel?

“I just think there is so much anti-politics — not just in this country but around the world.”

“One of the reasons why Sarah Palin has been such a phenomenon is because she’s anti-politics, anti-Washington.”

Hazel Blears may be wrong when she describes Sarah Palin as “horrendous”–maybe she meant to say, “Dangerous to the prospects of socialistically inclined politicians like me.” But I when it comes to explaining the PP–the Palin Phenomenon–I feel a bit like Henry Higgens listening to Eliza Dootlittle discourse about the rain in Spain. “She’s anti-politics”–more precisely, she’s “anti-politics as usual.” Right you are, Hazel! She’s “anti-Washington.” Right again, Minister! That’s one of the reasons citizens across the country are clustering around the McCain-Palin team. People don’t like politics as usual. They don’t like the big-government Washington establishment. I am gald to see that bureaucrats like Hazel Blears are beginning, however obscurely, to cotton on to this enormous fact.

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31 Comments

1. Brian Stewart:

Mr. Kimball,
Is it possible that you were in the bottle while furnishing your latest post? Perhaps it was just jet lag. Either way, in case it hasn’t been pointed out to you, I’d suggest rectifying the numerous omissions that make the piece all but incomprehensible.

Sep 21, 2008 - 10:11 am 2. KD:

Bravo, Roger, on your Support of Sarah Palin, but I beg to differ in one respect.

Sarah Palin is much like George W. Bush, and it seems clear that she and John McCain will continue the Great Man’s legacy. It is important we continue the political course established during the past eight years, otherwise all the lives lost, all the money spent will be for nothing.

What this country — and the world — needs most is to Stay the Course! Thank God there is every indication we will.

Sarah Palin and John McCain have certainly got it, though. You’re right about that!

A treacherous false Conservative like Daniel Larison doesn’t realize that his so-called criticism of McCain is actually praise:

“Because McCain’s views are visceral, not intellectual, and he is not interested in policy detail, everything is a morality play, and it goes without saying that he thinks he is the hero.”

The same could be said of our Beloved President, and of Sarah Palin as well. Well, I’ve got news for you Mr. Larison, they ARE the heroes!

We ARE in the midst of a great Moral Battle, one that God’s Own Party — the G.O.P. — must and will win!

Sep 21, 2008 - 10:46 am 3. Pat:

Speaking as an American voter, I cannot imagine any set of circumstances in which I would care what an obscure British bureaucrat thinks of our candidates.

Sep 21, 2008 - 11:55 am 4. katzenjammer:

Roger, “Free Speech in the Age of Jihad” was a delightfully refreshing publication. Everyone in America should read it. Your writing is a bit of a lifeline for me and many friends of mine here in Boston. Thank you for that. Be safe & cheers, ~katz

Sep 21, 2008 - 12:48 pm 5. Cato:

Sarcasm — it’s what the left mistakes for argument.

Sep 21, 2008 - 1:21 pm 6. Cato:

(I was referring to KD’s comment above.)

Sep 21, 2008 - 1:22 pm 7. John N. Frary:

Yes, Minister.

Sep 21, 2008 - 2:06 pm 8. Ross:

Hazel Blears is a woman so painfully thick, that she protests against her own decisions:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6213445.stm

Sep 21, 2008 - 2:27 pm 9. Steynian 252 « Free Mark Steyn!:

[...] BRIT TO PALIN: Drop Dead: or, By George, I Think She’s Got It!; Libel Tourism, coming soon to a town near you [...]

Sep 21, 2008 - 3:44 pm 10. Jack Klompus:

KD has nothing else – that’s its M.O. coupled with the false belief that it’s humorous and witty. You see it in every one of its pointless posts, the same one-trick pony, juvenile, faux-wit. Complete lack of any substance yet no doubt a belief that it’s on the cutting edge of satire. I’m guessing college sophomore at most and if any older, then even sadder than originally thought.

Sep 21, 2008 - 3:46 pm 11. Nine-of-Diamonds:

@Jack Klompus – Love her or hate her, you gotta admit that the Barracuda sure does mess with the Left’s heads! Whether it’s in the newsrooms of America or on the comments sections of blogs, Sarah always leaves one epic Lefty meltdown after another in her wake.

Anyway, Hazel Blears strikes me as one of those transnational progressives who sees Europe’s main goal as reining in an “out-of-control” America. I’d bet good money that she thinks “Christian extremism”, and not Islamic fundamentalism, is responsible for most terror attacks, that there really is a scientific concensus in favor of manmade Global Warming, and that Israel is the main obstacle to mideast peace. It’s only natural that she and her ideological brethren are more comfortable with a presidential candidate who does not put the United States’ interest first. This dynamic has always amused me to no end whenever I discuss politics with European Leftists: “We hate you! Now follow our advice on who to elect!” Um – yeah, sure…

Sep 21, 2008 - 4:13 pm 12. KD:

Well said, Nine-of-Diamonds.

Sarah Palin has joyously messed with the Left’s heads (as though they had any!) — and the heads of turn-coat conservatives like Andrew Sullivan.

As for Hazel Blears, you’re right again. She probably thinks Christians and Jews amass weapons of mass destruction, that Global Warming is manmade (I bet she’s all too ready to start regulating, even nationalizing, our industries for the “good” of the Earth), and, yes, her liberal heart probably bleeds for the “poor” Palestinians instead of for Israel, whose people have suffered immeasurably more.

About the Palestinians, Winston Churchill got it right back in 1937:

“I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger, even though he may have lain there a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit, for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race, a more worldly-wise race, to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.”

Now that’s a Brit you can believe in!

Sep 21, 2008 - 8:46 pm 13. srlucado:

I’m reminded of an Alistair Cooke Letter From America in which he quotes former PM Harold Macmillan, speaking of Dwight Eisenhower: “He has great warmth and candour and is, I’m afraid, woefully uneducated.”

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/letter_from_america/1466605.stm)

To put it succinctly, what the Brits don’t know about Americans is a lot.

Scott

Sep 21, 2008 - 8:57 pm 14. Wadsy:

The left are fearful of Sarah for one reason:

She connects!! That is why they react to her so!! She is a real communicator.

Sep 21, 2008 - 10:37 pm 15. ic:

Hey, Palin made fun of the most important job of Community Organizing, as a Communities Secretary, Hazel has to stand up for her colleague, the CommunityOrganizer-In-Chief.

Sep 22, 2008 - 1:19 am 16. mml:

Sarah Palin: a woman who thinks everyone should own a gun but no one can be trusted with a book, and women cannot be trusted with their own reproductive rights.

Sep 22, 2008 - 5:25 am 17. KD:

The Left are fearful of Sarah Palin because she could become President of the United States. The last thing they want to see is someone recently characterized as “Bush in Drag” become President.

Sep 22, 2008 - 6:57 am 18. Pat:

KD certainly has a low opinion of the Left’s intelligence.

Sep 22, 2008 - 11:40 am 19. srlucado:

KD’s not alone, Pat.

Scott

Sep 22, 2008 - 12:22 pm 20. Dave:

Does the culture shape politics or do politics shape the culture?

The former is demonstrably true. The latter was recently described as part of the Peligian Heresy.

Sarah represents culture over politics. That is why my people love her. That is why others hate her.

Sep 22, 2008 - 8:31 pm 21. KD:

Beautifully put, Dave.

Sarah represents everything that is Good and True in our culture. Even though she has probably never heard of the Peligan Heresy, she is demonstrably one of us, the readers of The New Criterion.

Almost viseraly, she embodies the Best Values of the Western Tradition. Though she may not be able to define them — except perhaps in her own simple, enthusiastic, home-bred way (God bless her!) — she is like an Avatar of the Western Tradition.

The Left, sullied and confused by modernism, multiculturalism, and secular humanism, cannot see her for what she really is: the Pure Product of Tradition, our Best and Brightest. No wonder they hate and fear her.

Sep 22, 2008 - 9:01 pm 22. Polemicscat:

Blears and company have given the UK Sharia law. What a legacy all that sophistication has left posterity!

Sep 22, 2008 - 10:09 pm 23. Nine-of-Diamonds:

@Polemicscat – I agree. This idiocy does not make the British Left look “tolerant”. It does not make them “superior” to the “ignorant Americans” they love to bash. Tolerating intolerance is just plain dumb. A society has no obligation to honor the customs of religious believers who want to deny others fundamental rights. The more radical sects of Islam in Britain seem to have no interest in being left alone – instead they are obsesed with advancing their cause through the worst sort of strongarm tactics.

Sep 23, 2008 - 6:24 am 24. KD:

“God’s going to tell you what is going on, and what is going to go on, and you guys are going to have that within you.”

-Governor Sarah Palin

By George W. Bush, I think she’s got it!

Sep 23, 2008 - 10:15 am 25. Pesky Pundit:

Sarah Palin reminds me very much of my wife of 30 years. Born in Yukon Territory, Canada, my wife downed her first grizzly at the age of 10, graduated highschool at 14, attended university (on scholarship) from age 15-23, and graduated magna cum laude while pregnant with our second child.

My wife can out-earn, out-shoot, and out-birth virtually every woman I’ve ever met in my lifetime. She’s a miracle of brainpower, fotrtitude and just plain “guts” and I love the hell outta her.

Sarah Palin is the closest equivalent I’ve ever seen of my beloved Marge. Marge’s take on Palin’s acceptance speech was this: “Hmm… Honey, does this woman remind you of me at her age, or is it just me!”

OMG! How I love Marge and how I understand how Sarah’s husband feels about Sarah!

Sep 23, 2008 - 1:37 pm 26. KD:

Someone I spoke to this morning may have gotten it right.

He said that no “human agency” can change or “fix” things in this world. Let’s not forget human nature — or Biblical prophesy!

Obama and Biden, if elected, won’t be able to change a thing. Palin and McCain, if elected, will at least have the wisdom not to try.

Only God and the Market can set our course. In fact, the course is already set.

All a good President can do is to step aside, as it were, and let God and the Market take over. A good President will let the chips fall as they may.

The task of government is simply to clear the way for God and the Market. War can and will be necessary.

The Lord knows His own. There is nothing to fear as long as we are a nation of Believers. The Rapture is coming — may the Wars of tomorrow pave the way!

Sep 23, 2008 - 1:45 pm 27. Nine-of-Diamonds:

Regardless of whether or not we agree with Hazel she is right about one thing – Individualism and the transnational progressive bureaucracy cannot coexist. I am sure that many readers are aware of how Britain, Europe, and their former colonies are steadily encroaching on citizens’ rights. “Human Rights” commissions in Canada to prosecute “Anti-Islamic” writers. Children detained in the UK for complaining about Muslim students’ behavior. Pastors locked up for criticizing homosexuality. The guiding principles behind many modern European states are

1) promotion of separatist ideologies amongst favored victim groups,

and

2) compulsive regulation to keep the population docile and litigators/gov’t functionaries wealthy.

No wonder the Obamessiah fawns over Europe. The Continent has already implemented much of the social engineering that he thinks the US needs.

Sep 23, 2008 - 6:19 pm 28. Polemicscat:

I think Margaret Thatcher said, “The facts are conservative.” On the other hand, the left imagines a world that is logically impossible and then acts as though that world really exists.
The left has much to answer for. The first fruits of the leftist folly in England ripened this past week. God help us all if the American left gives us Obama.

Sep 23, 2008 - 8:11 pm 29. Polemicscat:

Roger,
Remember your Obama’s Quote of the Day: “We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”

Here’s another piece of the puzzle: In one speech during the summer Obama vowed to campaign in all 57 states.

A couple of days ago I came upon this tidbit: “In 1990 The Organization of the Islamic Conference (which has now 57 members including Turkey which calls itself a “secular” state) ratified “Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Islam.”

Sep 23, 2008 - 8:31 pm 30. KD:

You’re right, Nine-of-Diamonds. There’s very little Freedom and Individuality left in Europe. The feeling of oppression there is almost palpable.

I, too, have noticed that Barack Obama and his mindless followers all look to Europe for inspiration — unlike the red-blooded Americans who read The New Criterion!

I’ve even heard of Leftists who want to make racism a criminal offense. Imagine how that would empower Muslims!

Leftist folly is afoot in America! If elected, Obama would push for social engineering that will wipe out every trace of Individuality and Initiative just as it is being wiped out in England and France!

It’s hard to imagine children in the UK being detained for complaining about the suspicious behavior of Muslim students. They should be decorated!

We all, even our children, must be vigilant.

Certain leftists even want to restore voting rights to ex-felons (who are mostly minorities) in the hopes they will blindly vote liberal. Nothing could be more criminal.

They want to investgate and review the criminal justice system. They want to reaffirm support for public education. They want to create a national healthcare system. They want to bring back an expansive public works program. Take note of how often they use the word “public”!

Communists and terrorist enablers all.

Sep 23, 2008 - 9:43 pm 31. Nine-of-Diamonds:

“The first fruits of the leftist folly in England ripened this past week.”

If you want some good examples of the problem you should take a look at proteinwisdom.com’s recent posts on Britain. The British Sociological Association recently banned words & phrases like “Old Masters”, “Immigration”, and “man on the street” as “racist” and “heterosexist”:

http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=13311

http://groups.google.co.kr/group/alt.usage.english/browse_thread/thread/7af7f21fc17d6a96

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/debates/2988760/The-phrase-Old-Masters-is-sexist-authors-and-students-are-told.html

It’s not so much that the Left’s world is “logically impossible”. Rather, the Left is trying to reshape public perceptions of the world by restricting public discourse, one step at a time. This abuse of language is all the more sickening because it’s supposedly being done in the name of “tolerance” and “promoting freedom”. Obama has admitted that he will nominate Supreme Court justices who “know what it feels like” to be one of the Left’s beloved victim groups. It would not surprise me if before long an activist court created the right for these protected groups to be shielded from offensive speech. That’s one of the benefits of believing in a “living constitution”.

Sep 25, 2008 - 4:45 am