To begin, I don't hate Sarah Palin. How could I? She's done nothing to me to cause me to hate her. I do have an opinion about her though-- one which has been only enhanced by her recent media appearances. Most people appear to have made up their minds about her-- either pro or con. So why take the heat for writing about her? I read a couple of different takes on that question (both from liberal writers) .
Which didn't help at all as they had differing views. Of course, Andrew Sullivan had his opinion on her book: Deconstructing Sarah. Because he is fascinated by her complex personality and has pointed out her lies, he's listed by her under those haters. Then there was Frank Rich -- The Pit Bull in the China Shop with his take on what she means for 2012.
I also read opinions which added up to hoping she runs for president. They want to see the right wing totally destroy the Republican party, and think Palin is the
Personally, I don't like that idea because I have the opinion that we gain as a nation when we have two highly qualified candidates running for our highest office with different political viewpoints. That way no matter who wins, we are going to be okay even if the political direction in which they take us may be very different. (It would have appeared we would have that in 2008 until McCain chose Palin instead of Lieberman.)
But my reasoning in her case also has a practical level: we don't know she can't win if she gets the nomination-- [Nate Silver-- 10 Reasons that Sarah Palin could win]. And we don't know that she's dumb as some lefties hope. When you set a bar really low, it doesn't take much to top it. She could be dumb; but then again she might be intelligent but have been intellectually lazy because she has been taught that it's not Christian to be an intellectual and not necessary anyway when she is so gorgeous (which she is).
Her answers in any interview make her sound like someone who has very little interest in the details of policies. Cut taxes, you betcha. Do whatever the generals order, yep. Exactly how her lack of interest in details or consequences (she's had plenty of time to bone up if she had wanted to do so) will help her make policy decisions pretty well comes back to how well you felt G.W. Bush did in that office.
Palin's simplistic answers don't tell us if she knows much but do appeal to the right wing of her party-- especially the Christian right. They don't like lengthy answers, love pithy comments they can repeat, and they most definitely resent anybody who would talk like an intellectual which she most definitely does not. *big wink*
Here's the thing. If we, on the left, don't address why we don't see her as fit for the highest office, we are treating it a lot like John Kerry did when he couldn't believe anybody would think he was a coward since he had been to war, when he could have dodged it, and had been shot at. His logic went how could they think Bush was the brave one when he evaded going and didn't even fulfill his full service. Until Kerry was swift-boated, by men who weren't anywhere near him when he was in combat, he assumed people would know without him making his case. They didn't.
My reasons for not wanting to see Palin as anything more than a Fox TV show host like Glenn Beck (who she has said wouldn't be a bad running mate if she did run) are more about her character than her possible policy positions. It's interesting that the right wing talks about how important character is but often they seem to equate it only with sexual behavior rather than things like lying.
From looking at her untruths, Sarah Palin doesn't seem to be the kind who lies to protect herself (not honorable but understandable) but basically what appears to be of the pathological sort: [How to recognize a pathological liar]
Have you ever known anyone like that? They lie when it doesn't matter. They lie to enhance their ego. They don't bother to keep track of their lies. In her case it's even more bizarre than the usual pathological liar because what she says can easily be checked through transcripts and video tape. Does she not worry about keeping her stories straight because she knows her fans won't bother to check or is there a more disturbing reason?
Does having someone with that character flaw in our highest office worry you? There is yet another character quality that should be of equal concern. She gets back at people who have wronged her-- even if they didn't but she thinks they did. She basically is a grudge holder and it's easy to see it through her record (for those who care to look), her book (no, I won't be buying it, just going by the excerpts online), her interviews, and her speeches.
We have had a few grudge holders as president (some say it's what Obama does but that has yet to be proven) and it's never good-- in either party. That kind of person will take personal umbrage and damage others to get their revenge. Politicians should rise above that kind of thing for the good of the country. They don't all manage it.
Why do you suppose liberals didn't like her when she ran for Vice-president? Because she has great cheekbones and liked to hunt in full make-up? That's funny but only an extreme rightie would believe it was the reason. She was running in a party that has positions we naturally would not like, but it was something more.
Not only did she (and does she) lie about the position of liberals on pretty much any issue you can name (death panels for a starter), but she ridicules and puts us down in the nastiest way from which she takes clear delight and gains power in doing.
Palin's rhetoric feeds the far right who think all taxes are bad, don't like any government, but have no clue what government does. She says what they want to hear which is that it's all (whatever it is) somebody else's fault, and they shouldn't have to pay anything for it. They were and are drawn to her like moths to a flame, loved it that the left didn't like her, and will avidly vote for her in 2012. The only question about whether she could win an election will be how the moderates see her by then.
Whether she could get educated into policy positions, that I don't know. Whether she's intelligent, that I don't know; but I do know she has some character qualities that could make her a scary president-- maybe the scariest ever. G.W. Bush didn't appear to do the grudge thing, and I don't know if he lied as much as was intellectually lazy and misinformed. I have a feeling when he lied though, if he felt he had to, he knew it. I am not convinced Palin does. If that doesn't worry you, it should!
14 comments:
Palin will never be President, but she has great bone structure and gams...:-) Rain why don't you run for office ?
I have to admit I am ignoring Palin. I don't watch news and am reading very little online about current events. From what I have seen, because things do always manage to filter through, she seems intellectually challenged and pathetically ill-informed. I can't make a difference though, in whether she gets the republican nomination or not, so I just shrug and wish she'd go away.
My thinking on Ms Palin is that she projects ignorance - and pride in her ignorance. One can be cured. The other seems to indicate that no cure is desired. So far, I write her off as a fly-weight.
Cop Car
P.S. "Gee!", some may think, "She is like me. I could do that...if I wanted to do it." Personally, I want someone who will be a better - much better - President than I would make.
Rain . . . I understand your negative view of Palin. That's your priveledge. About 50% of me either agrees or the jury is still out. So-be-it.
In your comments about her, and in other of your posts, you tend to equate the right wing (righties) Pinnochio. A wood block whose nose gets longer every day.
Sorry, but that just isn't true. There is a very reasoned foundation for conservatism in government. The 'righties' position has substantial merit and deserves to be considered carefully - as do the liberal convictions.
Sarah Palin may or may not become increasingly influential in politics. Right now she's a rock star. Most rock stars burn out quickly. She is trying to sell the idea that she is an average American woman with an extra measure of horse sense and a feel for conservative politics. A lot of folks, understandibly, just don't buy it.
But neither she nor the conservative point of view should be ignored.
Dixon
I don't even know whether to equate her with conservatives. I certainly don't believe all conservatives are pathological liars. She is what you said-- a rock star, a celebrity, but she is being taken very seriously as a possible Republican candidate for 2012. What does that mean about the Republican party today?
I see a lot of validity in a conservative viewpoint to political problems, to life actually, but who would you say represents it in today's Republican party? When I look there, I see religionists where I would put Palin and Huckabee, but true conservatives, who would they be? Are they represented by the birthers and teabaggers? by Rush Limbaugh? Who are conservatives as you see it who could run?
What I see from most Republican politicians right now is no consistent viewpoint unless it would be no taxes,concern over other people's moral choices while ignoring their own, using religion as a ball bat, and more wars which to me aren't really conservative viewpoints.
I would think the real conservatives, the responsible ones, need to be thinking long and hard about who they can support who has an actual conservative perspective. After what happened with G.W. Bush, I don't even know if the word has meaning anymore but maybe it could again if somebody get it together in that party.
Maybe conservatives need to start by stating what it means to be a conservative. A lot of what is espoused doesn't seem conservative or responsible.
Actually, I live a pretty conservative lifestyle as do my kids and yet we call ourselves liberals but because of our stand that it's not our business to interfere with other people's moral decisions unless they hurt someone else, and our belief that government should help those who need help but more of a hand up than a hand out. That's what I would have thought conservatives would support but it's not what I hear from the ones loudest in the republican party.
The problem I think the Republican party has today is they look like they support the birther and teabagger movements and when you hear someone like Representative Foxx, who claimed Republicans were the ones to bring about civil rights for blacks Foxx on Civil Rights and against Oregon's scenic river protection for the Molalla, you do think that lying runs in the system or else a total ignorance of history. All she had to do was look at the record to see who voted most to change Civil Rights in this country for blacks. She didn't bother and figured those who listened to her wouldn't either.
I think you have her dead to rights. Brilliant piece!!!!
I think that some of the criticism of Palin is valid and some of it is vicious-there seems to be no in between. She isn't brilliant , but she isn't stupid eother. She has charisma whether we like it or not. I doubt that she shall ever be President, but she will be on the polirical scene for awhile. And I think a small percentage of women don't like her because Sarah is hot. Just my opinion you understand. :-)
To assume women would vote on that would be to have to assume men would vote for her just because she is hot. But I think you are wrong. Women admire attractive women just like men do. Now she could not be overtly sexy without turning off some women but she doesn't do that. Everything with her appearance is carefully calculated for its appeal including those new waders when she was supposedly helping with the fish. Ever been around that kind of operation, the waders are stained. Hers were brand new. She knows her brand and carries it out-- so in that she's got wisdom. Beauty often buys attention from both sexes in grocery stores or in a candidate.
I read something the other day from Maureen Dowd saying Palin also has vitality. Something that likewise pulls people to someone. She felt that Obama had lost that and needed more of it to get his own people's interest back. Could be the job of president sucks it out of them.
Palin could be elected president. I think anybody who assumes otherwise is kidding themselves. She almost was Vice President with no abilities at all to make it seem she could run the country but a heartbeat away from doing it. This country is a reality based tv show nation with an attitude that could easily lead it to vote for the showiest candidate and if she runs in '12, she would be the showiest in the Republican slate and could even be in the election. Don't remotely count us out as a people who can vote for all the wrong reasons.
I tend to stay away from political discussions for the most part but the mention of the name Sarah Palin to me is the equivalent of running your fingernails across a blackboard. I consider myself an Independent Centrist, if you will, and have a fairly simple policy when it comes to folks opting to offer themselves up for public service. Show me what you’ve got and tell me what you think! I’ll take it from there.
Although Obama was pulling at my voting strings during the last campaign, I had long been a McCain admirer and supporter. McCain was who I wanted in lieu of Bush. I was struggling with a decision - my choices being McCain or Obama. When McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate I was a bit disappointed even though I was clueless about who Sarah Palin was or what she represented. I tried to analyze this in my own mind and thought it must have everything to do with the fact the Democratic Party had a woman front-runner running for President and the Republicans had no women in the mix.
But after hearing Sarah Palin discuss her politics and thoughts on policy, I went into a real state of shock because I was completely perplexed as to why McCain chose her as a running mate. What was this man thinking? Was he really too old for the job of President after all?
She was indeed elected Governor of Alaska and I wasn’t privy to all that, so I have to assume that she certainly must know something about the State, its politics and needs. Please tell me she wouldn’t have been elected otherwise.
I am totally convinced that somebody, from somewhere, at some point has apparently convinced Sarah Palin that she is probably the reincarnated female equivalent of Will Rogers. That is exactly how she tries to conduct herself if you haven’t noticed. She is just a little ole down home girl from little ole Alaska just like that little ole down-home fellow from Oklahoma. And unfortunately she seems to be wooing folks off their feet just like Will Rogers was able to do. But if you get past the “Oh golly’s” and the “you betcha’s” and the salmon fishing, you’re in for a rude awakening. There is a great chasm with regard to Sarah Palin’s informative intelligence and the informative intelligence that complimented such a down-home individual as Will Rogers. Will Rogers was dumb like a fox while Sarah Palin is…..well never mind. I’ll let you figure out that riddle on your own! Just make sure you use the word fox or foxy and dumb in the same sentence.
By golly that speakin' my piece may not change anybody's mind but I feel better....you betcha!
As has been said here, I also wanted McCain in 2000 rather than GW. And I also tend to be fiscally conservative for the most part. In years past I generally voted Republican although in my state we don't have to specifically register in either party. I have always considered myself to be one who will vote for whomever I feel will do the best job regardless of their political stripe.
But it seems to me that in recent years there is a group of people who have grabbed control of the Republican party who are more interested in making me (and everyone else) follow lockstep with their own religious and moral ideas and everything else is secondary to that. While I have my own ideas on religion and morals I recognize that others have their own ideas & morals which may well be different from mine but as long as they don't harm anyone else, they have a right to believe that way. But they don't have a right to expect (force?) me to believe their way and that seems to me what the Republican Party of today is trying to do.
I still get mailings from the national party with their surveys that they say will help guide the policies of the party but I just ignore them now. The only options allowed to answer their questions only allow you to express an idea that matches theirs. They really don't want to know what I think.
What I read about GWB long before he was ever a presidential candidate was that he was a grudge holder extraordinaire. Many examples were present including some graphic ones when he was aiding in his father's presidential campaign. I think one of the factors influencing his decision to attack Iraq was retaliation for Saddam H.'s instigating a foiled attempt on GWB Srs. life and the son was determined to get revenge. Never mind all those who died because of this vendetta. He certainly knowingly espoused more than his share of untruths from all accounts known to the present.
I don't "hate" any of these people or candidates. The degree to which I respect and trust them is quite a different matter.
I've long stated my rejection of labels is because they're so misused and abused. Just because a person takes a so-called "left" or "right" position on one issue does not necessarily mean they will on all other issues. Yet far too many people generalize condemning or praising them based on that false belief. Depends on any given issue what my position will be.
That's not to say there aren't individuals who fall lock step into all extremist positions of one type or another for whatever their personal reasons -- including genuine beliefs, politically expedient reasons. I must admit the primary public figures you name here seem to be in this group, and those are generally not the kind of people I would welcome governing a nation of people with diverse views. I certainly didn't want and wouldn't in the future want to have them making and strongly influencing policy governing me.
Like it or not looks do matter-in life and in politics Rain. Looks are so imbedded in our culture that it isn't even funny. Appearances to a fair share of people are everything. PALIN WILL NEVER BE PRESIDENT.
It's Sarah Palin's eyes that worry me, and her constant smile. There seems to be nothing behind her eyes. And her constant speaking in what I call "understoods", and rarely saying anything coherent. Well at least not to me.
I simply run the other way when it comes to Sarah...I'm burned out from her. I don't want to hear any more from her or about her. I think we all have had enough from our last dose from the campaign and election...but she refuses to go. Well, I refuse to listen....or, I'm trying.
Post a Comment