In what may be the oddest, most disjointed speech in political history, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced today that she would resign from the governorship of Alaska after only 2 1/2 years into her term. Her reason? She doesn't want to be a lame duck governor.
What?
This doesn't make sense. Lots of politicians--governors AND presidents--become lame ducks, but they don't voluntarily resign. What's the real story behind this bizarre performance?
Is she leaving office to pursue more lucrative venues as a speaker? To give her story to a writer for a book deal? To host a teevee or radio show? No one knows for sure.
The only thing we do know is that she's a quitter. I thought she was known for her tenacity, her courage, her ability to stick it out. She was known as Sarah Barracuda! And she herself proclaimed that the only difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull was lipstick!
And now she's running away?
I've got a bit of advice for the soon-to-be ex-Governor Sarah Palin: Look to Hillary Rodham Clinton if you need a role model for courage and tenacity.
Secretary Clinton was subjected to the worst possible personal attacks when she was FLOTUS. She was accused of murder, dealing drugs, marital infidelity, tax cheating, and every other sort of pernicious slander one can imagine. And on top of all that, she had to suffer public humiliation by her husband's deceit, and listen to John McCain and Rush Limbaugh insult and demean her 12-year old daughter's parentage and looks.
Mrs. Clinton didn't quit. She kept her dignity through it all and triumphed over all the cheap, crass, destructive lies and libels thrown at her and went on to become a respected Senator. She then ran for president in what was a very close race, and is now our Secretary of State.
This is how you come out on top. This is how you triumph over those who seek to destroy you and your reputation.
You don't quit. You fight the good fight, and you win.
Palin obviously doesn't have the fortitude to face down her critics nor does she have the guts to fight it out to the end and win, as did Hillary Clinton.
It's best we find this out now before Palin went any further in the political process.
That said, I believe she will run for the Republican nomination for president in the 2012, and she's looking for an easy way to do it without doing the hard work.
Criticism is part of being a politician--ask Hillary. Palin doesn't have what it takes to face it down and rise above it--she just announced this to the country.
We need courageous, tough winners for politician, not quitters.
As Vince Lombardi once said:
"Winners never quit, and quitters never win."
85 comments:
Shudder. Imagine her a heartbeat away from the Presidency. There is no there, there.
Who knows? Maybe Fox News offered her a mega-contract and a cushier job.
For what its worth, I left this comment earlier under Captain Fogg's post:
I listened to her speech earlier today. It was meandering and shrill … having the same impact on me as chalk screeching on blackboard. But there is one quote that stood out:
"I polled the most important people in my life, my kids, where the count was unanimous," she said.
A conjecture: "Beaucoup” family problems. Her youngest child is handicapped. Her older children have been under a media microscope … subject to gossip, jokes, and ridicule.
There is also this question: Why do teenage girls have early pregnancies, end up in early marriages, or become runaways? Answer: Parental negligence, parents too preoccupied with themselves and/or their careers; not spending enough time with their families. Teenage pregnancy is the price a parent pays for not paying attention to signs and symptoms ... and living up to one’s responsibilities at home.
Palin has never been presidential material nor will she ever be; she has become a media product … nothing more. Perhaps she knows this … in a combative, begrudging, and resentful sort of way.
I'm waiting for her to announce that she is having an affair.
She has proven that she is nothing more than a BIMBO.
I watched the speech and I came away with the feeling that she had basically had enough....
Oh, she is not going to let the book deal or the PAC sit idly by but she really isn't ready for primetime and she knows it...
A half a stint as governor is not going to get you in the White House.
2012: That fits. She is often bashed on this blog for her clothing and how she looks. Sexist statements have been "fair game" when it comes to Sarah Palin.
Tao: Maybe she can become a United States Senator now that she has met a new sort of minimum qualification: making people laugh on SNL.
She is Dan Quayle with breasts. Everyone knows that. She would have gotten a few votes in Iowa like Dan did. But her ego would have been stroked and that's what she has grown to love.
I wonder when her husband is going to finally tell Sarah she isn't presidential material. I guess he's waiting for Simon Cowell to tell her the truth and let him off the hook.
Good to have you back Shaw.
Her looks, which she herself Plays upon over and again (wink, wink) are the very least of her problem. I have been a registered voter since 1970 and she is by a large margin the least qualified candidate for VP I've ever seen. Even the Green Party & The Socialist Labor Party put up far more qualified candidates than the poorly informed and remarkably uncurious (her most Bushian characteristic) Palin. Of course if self-regard were the only qualification she'd win in a landslide. As with so many supremely confident people her actual gifts are quite modest.
I don't think Palin is going to fade back into her well earned anonymity. Sadly she hears her 'calling' all too clearly and she realizes being Governor of Alaska hasn't the cachet or visibility require to step her career up to the next level, that of 'saving' America. Regretably I imagine she will 'work' for GOP candidates and become a fixture on the lecture circuit and talkshow land. We aren't rid of her yet.
The one thing she does well is understand a very simple belief of roughly half the US population. They don't like their leaders too smart. Scares 'em when those Ivy League elitists run for office.
The republicans are dropping like flies, good.
Shaw, with all due respect, you wrote: "Mrs. Clinton didn't quit. She kept her dignity through it all and triumphed over all the cheap, crass, destructive lies and libels thrown at her and went on to become a respected Senator. She then ran for president in what was a very close race, and is now our Secretary of State.
This is how you come out on top. This is how you triumph over those who seek to destroy you and your reputation.
You don't quit. You fight the good fight, and you win"
I beg to differ,
What Hillary Clinton did was to take money from the public while holding office as NY's senator and not do anything for the people while campaigning for president. You think that she was so noble for doing that? I think it was awful. The noble thing would have left her position and let the people of NY be represented by someone working for them...Not running all over the country campaigning for herself.
Btw, welcome back.
Sarah Palin said: "Life is too short to compromise time and resources... it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: "Sit down and shut up", but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out. And a problem in our country today is apathy. It would be apathetic to just hunker down and 'go with the flow'."
And then she quit!
I don't get her. Her speech was one rambling, confused and amateurish babble--mostly about how wonderful she is.
It made no sense, and her quitting makes even less sense.
Imagine if she was president and couldn't take the pressures and constant criticisms from the opposition day in and day out. Would she quit too?
Look at her actions as governor and think about her lack of true grit.
TRUTH 101 said...
“She is Dan Quayle with breasts.”
So she makes one speech and already here comes the hypocrisy and the Liberal Chauvinist Pigs.
Is that the best thing you can say, or did you think that you were so funny with that stupid crack!
I support Sarah Palin because she is a principled conservative politician. So if her name had been Sam, I'd still be supporting HIM, but I am very proud and very enthusiastic that SHE is a principled, conservative WOMAN.
But, Why are liberals so afraid of Sarah Palin? What did Gov. Palin and her daughter do to deserve the ridicule and crude sexual references from David Letterman and the rest of the Liberal talk Jocks?
You folks always put down people like Rush Limbaugh, and here you are making silly cracks like “She is Dan Quayle with breasts.” Ugggg. You said "Everyone knows that." NO, I don't know that!!!!!
Thank you Shaw for allowing me to make my point and as the others have said... welcome back.
Anonymous said..."Look at her actions as governor and think about her lack of true grit."
WHAT? Her lack of True Grit? My God, if anyone has "True Grit" She has! Mr. Anonymous
I don't doubt Governor Palin's grit MT. It's her judgement. Her total lack of understanding of what consevatism really means. She is a walking, simple talking point.
TRUTH 101 said...
"I don't doubt Governor Palin's grit MT. It's her judgement. Her total lack of understanding of what consevatism really means. She is a walking, simple talking point."
Oh please, you have her mixed up with Barack Obama.
In all seriousness, maybe she's had enough of the personal attacks by the media and Left wing bigots on her and her family and just wants out of the political picture. I doubt she would make a bid at POTUS, she has to know she'll lose, in fact I doubt she would get the nominee. It's far more logical that she is going to challenge for a Senate seat next year, hence the resignation of the governorship. Just my 2 cents.
I assumed McCandy is leaving to have the time to prepare for the 2012 presidential race.
But, sources in Anchorage report she and Todd (the husband with no apparent job or source of income) may be facing a Federal corruption investigation.
Either way, this Wasilla Hillbilly is a clown and is clearly not ready for the national stage.
Italiano's Thoughts,
It is troubling to have our politicians run for office and accept public salary while they run for higher office. Some politicians do quit to allow themselves the freedom to pursue their political goals, some stay in office to hedge their bets.
In the last few elections we saw Senator John McCain maintain his senatorial seat while running for president, and Governor Palin remained in office as she ran for vice president.
Barack Obama stayed in the senate while he campaigned for president, as did Hillary Clinton.
Previous to that, George W. Bush was governor of Texas while he made his run for, and eventually won, the White House.
It is problematic for politicians to continue to accept public payment for their services as senators and governors while at the same time they obviously are campaigning to leave their offices.
I don't know if this will ever change or if the public will decide that this arrangement is not good for their individual states.
It definitely is a problem. But how to solve it? I don't know.
My Thoughts,
There is no doubt that Gov. Palin is admired by the Republican base.
My confusion over her announcement stems from the fact that she wasn't clear about the reasons for her leaving the governorship.
If there is an underlying health or personal family reason, no one would criticize her for her choice. But IMHO, I thought there were conflicting messages. Especially where she said--I don't remember her exact words--she isn't a quitter, then she said she would resign her office.
If she contemplates a run for the presidency, resigning from the governorship will be a double-edged sword: she will have more time and freedom to raise money and campaign in the Lower 48, but some will see her as a quitter who couldn't stand the heat in the political kitchen.
Christopher said...
"I assumed McCandy is leaving to have the time to prepare for the 2012 presidential race.
Either way, this Wasilla Hillbilly is a clown and is clearly not ready for the national stage."
If McO'Bambo made it and he's the Prince Clown of Nyanza Province, Kenya Hillbilly. Then anybody can
Julie opines:
"If McO'Bambo made it and he's the Prince Clown of Nyanza Province, Kenya Hillbilly. Then anybody can."
What do you do for a living Julie?
Are you a Klan seamstress?
In any event, the Kenyan diss is an attack on President Obama's father's heritage, I assume?
So, in your world, who is safe?
Would you attack me because my grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from the northern Italian province of Asti?
By extension, since Mussolini was Italian and a brownshirt fascist, naturally, so am I.
You really are an idiot. Just because you pound away on a keyboard attached to a computer doesn't mean you say anything remotely informed or intelligent.
Did you really think that YOUR comment was remotely informed or intelligent? I didn't nor would anyone with a 1/2 of a brain.
Why call Sarah Palin the names you did and get so uptight when I did the same to your guy?
So I’m a idiot. So I’m unformed and unintelligent, brainless, deficient, dense, dumb, empty-headed, foolish, half-witted. Just because I didn’t like the stupid, inane, meaningless, mindless, moronic, pointless, senseless, simple, simpleminded, slow, unthinking, witless, doltish, imbecilic, mentally deficient, mentally handicapped, not intelligent, thick-headed comment that YOU made about Sarah Palin and her Husband! You're Damn Right I'm Angry. Indeed I am.... None of this is in my nature. I don't start fights and I don't go looking for them. I'm not an angry, bitter or mean-spirited person, but I won’t just read a asinine name callin comment from a foolish, dim-witted, dumb, half-witted, moronic, retarded, simple, slow, stupid, unintelligent, weak-minded, dull-witted, imbecilic, soft in the head poster and just st back and not respond.
Have a pleasant day.
And God Bless America and even the nitwits and ravings imbeciles and somewhat unintelligent people that comment on blog.
Obama is disenfranchising the proletariat class by the millions. and bringing the country down. I suggest you wake up and educate yourself instead of calling others "Clowns"
Have fun with your High and Mighty "CLOWN" in the White House. And the Socialistic agenda that we have been adopting. NONE of these would have come to pass without Democratic help.
Julie asks, "So I’m a idiot."
Yep.
The race for 2012 has commenced and the pacer has taken the lead. The winner? Who knows! Obama will have to face criticism from individuals, not faceless groups. The Obama game is gonna hafta change.
Boy Christopher, that was a clever come back...not!
And pray tell why was it OK for you to call Sarah Palin a Wasilla Hillbilly clown. But when Julie called Obama the "Prince Clown of Nyanza Province, Kenya Hillbilly"
You blew a gasket?
Arthur: You are given to favoring less-qualified candidates if they are in your preferred party. So it is party that matters most.
And I see you left even further sexist comments about Palin. The "plays up" one. There is a significant "because she's a woman" element to Palin-bashing.
And to whomever mentioned "Dan Quayle with breasts". I guess breasts are what matter the most, right?
Christopher: Actually, the Bambo thing is about as silly as the McCandy thing (which looks like you are referring to McCain??)
Wordsmith,
Are you naturally obtuse or do you have to work at it?
Now, listen up Bensen.
FACT: President Obama isn't a Hillbilly. He's a Harvard educated, constitutional law professor, and a former United States Senator.
FACT: There are 1.4 million adults in Kenya are living with the HIV/AIDS virus, with Nyanza province contributing the highest percentage.
Funny? Giggle-Ha-Ha? Yeah, HIV/AIDS is a riot, especially when you try to tie it around the neck of the president as vehicle to attack his heritage.
dmarks-
Read what I wrote. I have never observed a less-qualified candidate than Pallin. Never. Likewise I have never voted for unqualified candidate. Of course the party is important. Just for starters a platform supporting The Defense of Marriage Act & overturning Roe v. Wade preclude me from voting Republican.
http://www.runnersworld.com/photo/sarahpalin/slide5.html
Arthur: I guess "is a Democrat" is the qualification you look for. Otherwise, it's pretty hard to say that Obama's thin resume was any better than Palin's. Wasilla, Alaska is small, but its population is 5,470 people larger than any political district candidate Barack Obama ran.
I also can't recall the last time that any party ran a ticket where the VP had much much more experience and qualifications compared to the top of the ticket as the Obama-Biden ticket.
As for the DOMA, your choice for President campaigned on opposing gay marriage.
Christopher: Pretty good comeback. I see some of the worst crap, often racist, from those who bash Obama for his Kenyan heritage.
Dmarks: I would have said "Dan Quayle with a vagina" but I thought that might be offensive to those that are offended by the word "vagina." I would appreciate if you'd be careful in the future so I don't have to risk offending anyone that's offended by "vagina." I heard Sarah palin had books banned because they had the word "vagina" in them. She tried to ban the play "The Vagina Monologues" I also heard. I'm just trying to be sensitive Brother.
But if you believe that Sarah Palin is indeed of high intellect and ready to be president, please share your reasons so that we may be enlightened.
Hey guys, just popping in here on my way to a cookout, then watching the fireworks on the Charles [or as we locals refer to it "The Chuck"] from the rooftop here in Boston's North End.
I don't mind the push and pull of a hard dicey political discussion, but I don't want anyone getting hurt. I've pledged myself to no nasty vitriol and caustic name-calling.
I really can't deal with it now--and I hope never. Losing a loved one puts many things in perspective.
Please.
Be excellent with each other.
In respect to Shaw's wish.
I will not get into any political fights.
But let me say this.
Christopher should do the same, instead of calling Julie the things he did.
Sorry dmarks she's all yours. I'll take Harvard Law & the US Senate over Mayor of Wasilla and a selection of junior and middling state colleges. Enjoy your Fourth.
Arthur: You left out the highest office she was elected to. So it is only fair that we knock the highest office that Candidate Obama had been elected to, looking back to a year ago. That leaves just "Harvard Law".
My observation on this Palin resignation matter is that the wrong governor resigned. If the governor of SC gets caught up in a scandal, he should resign. Not the gov. of Alaska :).
But at least the cable news cycle has finally ditched Pale One for Palin.
And Arthur? Remember when we argued a little over your saying it was stupid to watch cable news? Or something like that? I'm coming around to your way of thinking, especially as the Michael Jackson news has wiped out coverage of Afghanistan.
Happy Fourth. Here's to fireworks in the sky, and not in these blog comments.
dmarks- For what it's worth I'd vote for you before I'd vote for the former governor of Alaska.
For what it's worth, I actually find Dmarks to be intelligent, intuitive and receptive. It better be a damn good Democrat running against him or I would also vote for Dmarks.
That's the best this old Dem can do. Unless you embrace single payer heath insurance. Then I'll send you a donation and possibly make phone calls for you Dmarks.
Dowd gets it right on Palin:
"Sarah wanted everyone to know that she’s not having fun and people are being mean to her and she doesn’t feel like finishing her first term as governor.
She can hunt wolves from the air and field-dress a moose, but she fears being a lame duck? Some brickbats over her ethics and diva turns as John McCain’s running mate, and that dewy skin turns awfully thin.
Maybe there’s another red Naughty Monkey high heel to drop — there’s often a hidden twist in Sarah’s country-music melodramas. Or is this a reckless high-speed escape from small-pond Alaska, where her popularity is dropping, to the big time Below?
Even some conservative analysts admitted that the governor’s move seemed ga-ga before venturing the spin that Palin might be “crazy like a fox,” as Sarah’s original cheerleader, Bill Kristol, put it.
Maybe, Kristol mused, she could use the 18 months she would have spent finishing her term to write her book and study up on the issues for 2012.
Why not? Palin/Sanford in 2012, with the slogan: “Save time — we’re already in Crazy Town.”
Palin’s speech is classic casuistry.
After girlish burbling about how “progressing our state” and serving Alaska “is the greatest honor that I could imagine,” and raving about how much she loves her job, she abruptly announced that she was making the ultimate sacrifice: dumping the state on her lieutenant.
Why “milk it,” as she put it, when you can quit it? “Only dead fish go with the flow,” she said, while cold fish can blow out of town. Leaving Alaska in the lurch is best for Alaska. She can better “effect change” in government from outside government. She can fulfill her promise of “efficiencies and effectiveness” by deserting Juneau midway through her term — and taking her tanning bed with her.
“We need those who will respect our Constitution,” said Palin, who swore on the Bible to uphold the Constitution. She said she can’t fulfill that silly old oath of office in the usual way because she’s not “wired to operate under the same old politics as usual.”
Naturally, she dragged the troops in, saying that her trip to see wounded soldiers overseas “fortified” her decision to give up because “they don’t give up.”
She refuses to succumb to the “politics of personal destruction.” It’s no fun unless she’s the one aiming those poison darts, as she did when she accused Barack Obama of associating “with terrorists who targeted their own country.”
Sometimes, she explained, if you’re the star, you have to “call an audible and pass the ball” and leave at halftime, “so the team can win” somehow without you.
The maverick must run free when greener pastures beckon. The musher must jump out of the dogsled when warmer climes call. As Palin’s spokeswoman, Meg Stapleton, says, “The world is literally her oyster.”
But just remember, beloved Alaska, it’s all about you."
Excellent post Seward. It goes without saying 'Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel...'
I for one hope Pallin embraces the larger political sphere. We in the lower 48 deserve and indeed have earned a larger share of Pallins hallucinatory rhetoric. She pulls disembodied platitudes out of the closet as Imelda Marcos did shoes.
I understand. I really do. 'Washington and the media will never understand: it's about country'. Substituting 'me' for 'country' is a little more accurate but why quibble?
She has so much to give.
If Palin's speech was half as bad as Dowd's wildly speculative mangled-metaphor ridden column, she'd be awful indeed.
And as for "she accused Barack Obama of associating “with terrorists who targeted their own country.”, Palin was only being very accurate, due to the facts about Ayers.
Even though there are good points to be made, as were made here, about people such as Hannity associating with terrorists. It just doesn't undo the Obama-Ayers connection.
To the person who said Liberals are afraid of Palin. No, not in the least that is why myself and many, many more Liberals want to see her run in 2012 against Obama. Hell, I might even donate to her campaign to help her get the GOP nomination if she runs.
My life is too short to waste any time on Maureen Dowd. Ugh. To her credit though she's an equal opportunity shrew. Her columns on Bill and Hilary and Sarah & McCain reveal a completely non-partisan misanthropy. She hates everyone and is by any measure the snarkiest 'journalist' at work today.
She is finding out that what goes around comes around. No sympathy here. I hate her but am in no way, shape or form afraid of her. What is there to be afraid of? I don't get why they keep saying we're afraid of her, where do they get that and why would we be afraid? She's nothing but a ridiculous character.
And note to dmarks; your love of her is duly noted but she bears responsibility for her actions during the campaign, feeding into the hatred, allowing her fans to yell death threats, etc. Obama's association with Ayers is flimsy at best and the way she used it to fire up the hatred was a disgrace. And now when the negative stories are about her, she runs away like a baby.
Arthur: I agree. Snarky and witless. Some, but not a lot of my dislike of her columns is ideological.
There are other liberal columnists such as E. J. Dionne and Ellen Goodman that I read and do enjoy.
Sarah Palin during the presidential campaign said this:
"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media." --Sarah Palin, radio interview with WMAL-AM, Oct. 31, 2008
The poor woman doesn't understand the First Amendment --one of this country's basic rights. It has absolutely nothing to do with people criticizing other people. How can she not know this?
And people actually believe she's qualified to be president?
Her inability to grasp that all politicians are criticized for what they say, not just her, shows that she is sorely unprepared to lead a state [which she has now abandoned] let alone a country.
I agree with Shaw. Hillary Clinton withstood worse political "blood sport" than Palin has in her self-absorbed career.
The difference is that Clinton showed guts and tenacity and is now Madam Secretary.
Palin indulges herself in pity parties.
Lynne: The Secret Service found no evidence of the death-threat thing. She did not feed into any "hatred", and the association between Obama and Ayers was substantial and did exist. To Obama's credit, he did distance himself from Ayers.
Thayer: "Don't understand the First Amendment" applies to any any of the Democrats who favors the Fairness Doctrine to censor the media. Do you want these Democrats voted out of office next time?
Lynne said: "I hate her"
The politics of hate is alive and well here.
Christopher said...
"Wordsmith,
Are you naturally obtuse or do you have to work at it?
Now, listen up Bensen."
LISTEN UP BENSEN? You listen Mr. Tuti Fruttie, You never seemed to have a problem insulting Pres. Bush did you?
But when someone answers your retarded insults you get your panties in a wad!
It doesn't matter to you that Obama has done more harm to the U.S. in six months than all of the other presidents and congresses before him.. as long as he is a liberal and he is black. Well I don't give a flying handbag what you think..
Your post makes no sense. The folks on the left who have been vicious in their opposition to Sarah Palin have been called out and discredited numerous times on this and other blogs. I don’t see how Sarah Palin is playing the victim card here. To me it looks like she has decided to play offense to false accusations and slander without the hindrance that comes with being a public office holder. And that's good enough for me.
Politics is ultimately about persuasion, and you seem entirely uninterested in that, preferring instead to play the typical Liberal name caller.
So listen up Girlie,I feel that Liberals must be terrified of Sarah Palin - fearing mostly that she connects with the under-represented majority of voters in this country. If she was truly the dunce the media presents, liberals like you should be overjoyed at the prospect of an easy “kill” on election day (just as the GOP would have liked nothing better than to have Biden as the nominee in ‘08).
So sweetie, buckeye, did Obama ever have the media snooping around in his private life? Did comics ever make jokes about his daughters? Why is it that folks like you just need to insult your ideological adversaries? Can’t you communicate without spewing venom?
If we’re so repugnant, why do you spend so much time on our blog. If I reach a similar judgment about a left-wing blog (i.e., determine it’s the equivalent of “repugnant” in my evaluation), I’ll just stop reading it, wondering why I should waste my time with such hatred. So, while you’re at it, addressing the questions I pose below (related to this post), address that one as well. Why are you so drawn to something you find so repugnant?
If the ever-so-thin-skinned Barack Obama got one-tenth the abuse that Sarah Palin has gotten, he’d cry like a little girl. And his defenders would scream raaaacciiiiism at the top of their lungs.
And what of the millions who have lost their jobs under your beloved idiot? It’ll take decades to pay off the massive debt he’s given us. Not to mention the rights and freedoms we’re handing over to him for control.
Now address that sweetie, and please don't call me Benson, alright Honey! Because Saw requested that we be nice, so using racial slag is inappropriate, and not nice...
It is often difficult to walk the line between principles and reality. You've done a good job of articulating the issues.
I'm against Sarah Palin, gay marriage, big government, and I'm pro-life. Is that wrong?
The Letterman jokes were appalling and just as bad was the excuse that "he wasn't talking about the 14 year old, he was talking about the 18 year old." Right, because the 18 year old has had sex before and so is now a whore and fair game. Thanks Letterman, you did a great job making the left and the anti Sarah Palin people look bad.
As for Lynne's post, the quality of her post was so juvenile and stupid, I won't even address it.
It was embarrassing enough for her to write it.
To say that it was inane and pathetic would be enough.
Calling President Obama a "beloved idiot" looks about as bad as the open "hatred" expressed here against Governor Palin.
dmarks: "Thayer: "Don't understand the First Amendment" applies to any any of the Democrats who favors the Fairness Doctrine to censor the media. Do you want these Democrats voted out of office next time?"
The subject of my comment is Sarah Palin and HER inability to understand what the First Amendment is about. It has nothing to do with "Democrats who favor the Fairness Doctrine" or voting them out of office.
The Fairness Doctrine, btw, has nothing to do with shutting people up--it has to do with letting more people speak their minds.
The policy of the United States Federal Communications Commission that became known as the "Fairness Doctrine" was an attempt to ensure that all coverage of controversial issues by a broadcast station be balanced and fair. The FCC took the view, in 1949, that station licensees were "public trustees," and as such had an obligation to afford reasonable opportunity for discussion of contrasting points of view on controversial issues of public importance. The Commission later held that stations were also obligated to actively seek out issues of importance to their community and air programming that addressed those issues. With the deregulation sweep of the Reagan Administration during the 1980s, the Commission dissolved the fairness doctrine.
My question is how can any sane person believe Palin should be president if she doesn't understand the basic rights guaranteed in the US Constitution?
Only a person ignorant of the 1st Amendment would make such a statement as she did. And her statement exposes, again, her incredible lack of knowledge of even our most basic laws.
Who's 'Bensen'?
I'm stumped.
Thayer said: "The Fairness Doctrine, btw, has nothing to do with shutting people up--it has to do with letting more people speak their minds."
The doctrine is 100% about shutting people up. Under the doctrine, if people speak their own mind on a station, the station becomes subject to Federal micro-management of the political content. This just forces stations to air music instead, rather than deal with Federal control over which political views are allowed or not.
Without the doctrine, people are a lot more free to speak their minds. The First Amendment, after all, says nothing about only allowing speech if the government deems it is "Fair".
"The Commission later held that stations were also obligated to actively seek out issues of importance to their community and air programming that addressed those issues."
A perfect example of the federal government violating the idea of "freedom of the press" by micro-managing content. Under the First Amendment, there is no such "obligation".
"With the deregulation sweep of the Reagan Administration during the 1980s, the Commission dissolved the fairness doctrine."
Yes, and a very good thing. Since the doctrine negated the First Amendment when it came to expression over the airwaves. The doctrine was Federal censorship of political opinion.
We are much better off with the doctrine gone. Those who seek to bring it back are seeking to shut people up, and to bring more political expression under government control.
--------------
Arthur: I think the "Benson" thing was some sort of attempt to make a racist comment. I'm not sure. It was not clear. I know enough TV trivia to know that it refers to the Robert Guillaume African-American butler character from the "Benson" sitcom.
Here is a quote about the fairness doctrine:
"Precisely because radio and TV have become our principal sources of news and information, we should accord broadcasters the utmost freedom in order to insure a truly free press."
Who said this Constitutionally-informed statement as a part of an essay that opposed the Fairness Doctrine? Not Reagan, not Palin, not Limbaugh. It was Governor Mario Cuomo (D).".
He also says that those who want tools such as the Fairness Doctrine to censor conservatives should "resist the temptation to stifle distasteful views and concentrate on sharpening their own."
If Palin does not deserve office for her First Amendment views, then surely this applies to those in Congress who favor violating the First Amendment with this sort of censorship. In fact, the people in Congress are far more dangerous. Unlike Sarah Palin, they have pushed directly for censorship through specific legislative proposals.
Everyone. I ask you all to stick to the subject and present your opinions and counter-arguments.
None of us need to call people names when we express our opinions.
I have asked everyone to please be excellent to each other.
You can state your beliefs as strongly as you wish, be snarky, be silly, you can do angry, too, but please don't attack each other.
Napqueen you're welcome here. The Letterman jokes were awful--I don't know if this is his usual sop because I don't watch him. But as someone said--actually, I did in my post, Chelsea Clinton was the brunt of jokes--nasty ones--by John McCain and Rush Limbaugh, and I've read on right-leaning blogs derogatory remarks about Chelsea's looks. Both sides are guilty of going after the children of politicians. And that stinks.
I just found this on Google:
But other presidential offspring seem to have found the attention insufferable. Poor Amy Carter, Jimmy's daughter, who was hounded by the media, adamantly refuses interview requests to this day. Chelsea Clinton, the inspiration for the "Chasing Liberty" movie, was so pained when she was mocked on a "Wayne's World" skit on "Saturday Night Live" that Mike Myers sent an apology to the White House.
In the last election, David Schuster of MSNBC said a remark about the Clintons "pimping" Chelsea out!
dmarks,
I have dozens of comments on this blog calling Obama every name in the book. People get heated when they discuss politics. Neither Palin nor Obama, nor any other national politician reads my blog. But the people who come here to comment DO. And I ask that we stop calling each other names. [this is not directed at you.]
I have also read all over the internet during the last presidential campaign the "hate" directed at Hillary Clinton [remember "Hitlery?"]. So there's plenty of guilt for spreading "hate" on the Left and Right.
I run a Liberal blog. It is obvious that I will criticize and go after politicians I don't agree with.
I posted my opinion on Sarah Palin and her decision to quit the governorship of Alaska. The only name I called her in my post is "quitter." And that is exactly what she is.
Shaw: Based on the information we have, I don't see the "quitter" accusation as being out of line.
dmarks: you like her for whatever reason (I don't think you've ever said why) and I don't. You don't like the word hate but that is what I feel about her, it is just as much my right to feel as yours to adore her. I could sugar coat it and say something less offensive to you, but the truth is, I hate her for reasons too numerous to name.
We've had this argument before including your defense of what went on during her rallies. Fortunately most, if not all of it is recorded and can be proven so your defense doesn't hold water.
She's condescending, manipulative and narcissistic IMHO.
And when it comes to the politics of hate, that woman reaps what she sows.
I don't "love" Palin. It took me a while to find a politician I hated. David Duke's name finally came to mind. I just don't get into loving or hating oliticians. If you really hate a politician for many many reasons, perhaps you are taking things too seriously.
As for the "death threat" urban legend, the Secret Service found no evidence after analyzing what really happened. Your false claims are what does not hold water. I do defend what she said. Her pointing out the fact of Obama's association with a terrorist in no way leads to "kill him". She was just telling it like it is.
"And when it comes to the politics of hate, that woman reaps what she sows."
And we know she hasn't sown any at all. No evidence of it. If she had, you'd be consistent and make the just as ludicrous claim that Shaw's post about Hannity's terrorist friend is the same as asking for Hannity's death.
And as for the three descriptions? It's hard to find a politician in high office who is not nrcissistic, manipulative, and condescending.
----------------
Back to to the main subject, and away from refuting imaginary claims:
I can't see how Palin could seriously launch any sort of Presidential campaign now. Her resume was very thin (like Obama's) during the campaign last year. In 2012, Obama's resume won't be thin at all. He'll have a whole Presidential term on it. And Palin's? It will be even thinner than it was last year. Because she quit, and could not even serve out one term of the highest office she had been elected to.
I think it is unlikely that she will run in 2012. And if she does, she won't get far even in the early primaries.
I've worked many campaigns. Sarah Palin used the associated with terrorists thing because she had nothing else.
the debt was already unsustainably high so she and McCain could not in good conscience, or any other kind of conscience, claim the mantle of republican fiscal responsibility. Our Soldiers were still dying in Iraq. When the best news out of there was that only three roadside bombs exploded instead of six today, how could they claim staying the course was a good idea.
You gotta dance with whom you brung to the party.
And yeah. The "Benson" remark was out of line. I've had my problems with Wordsmith but I respect him for being one of the right leaners that actually posts a complete set of ideas and arguments as opposed to the clowns that call their antagonists a name and nothing of intellectual value.
Truth: "Sarah Palin used the associated with terrorists thing because she had nothing else."
I never said it was a great point. Especially considering that you can get photos of lots of politicians on both sides buddying up to terrorists (i.e. Arafat, the Saudi prince who has funded a lot of terrorism, and others). Just that her point was accurate.
Seems like only yesterday the GOP mantra went something like:
'America doesn't cut and run'.
Hmmm.
And this is interesting regarding media in the 21st century:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0407.turner.html
Not exactly a Marxist analysis.
Palin might have stepped down as governor, but it will probably take a year or two for her to be phased out of comedians' routines
Some one asked.."Who is Benson?"
Benson was a wise ass smart-mouthed BLACK Butler from a soap comedy show who worked for a White Governor and always has a way of being a smart assed wise guy.
So for Christopher to call me that name was not only a low thing to do but a RACIST thing to say.
I'm with Wordsmith on that..
Christopher should get 50 whacks for that one.
But then again he might enjoy it.
Actually, Benson was elected governor in the "Benson" sitcom.
dmarks said...
"Actually, Benson was elected governor in the "Benson" sitcom."
Don't try to butter it up, you know and I know exactly what was inferred when some one makes a remark like that!
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/10/06/in_fla_palin_goes_for_the_roug.html
Your defense of her behavior during the campaign is based on the fact that the secret service didn't hear anyone say "kill him" . It's like the tree falling in the woods I guess, nobody heard it so it didn't make a sound. If that works for you, great. I still maintain that she deserves all the negative attention she gets.
Frank: I'm not sure what you are talking about. I was just making a trivial point in that comment.
"you know and I know exactly what was inferred when some one makes a remark like that!"
Guessing games? How about just telling us exactly what you are saying.
-------------------
Lynne: "like the tree falling in the woods I guess, nobody heard it so it didn't make a sound"
To complete the analogy to the bogus "death threat" urban legend, it's like someone saying that a tree fell in the woods. But there's no sound. Not only that, but there are no fallen trees on the ground.
dmarks said...
Frank: I'm not sure what you are talking about. I was just making a trivial point in that comment.
"you know and I know exactly what was inferred when some one makes a remark like that!"
Sure, I'll be glad to.
When some one call a Black guy like "Wordsmith" "Benson" a Comedy character who is also a servant as he was in that show, it's no different than calling a black women a Aunt Jemimah. That's what I mean.
Why else would anyone call a black guy "BENSON"
I don't think that Wordsmith IS Butler... do you?
Frank: That was kind of what I thought, but was not sure.
I believe I was the first one to point out the racial connotations of "Benson" mentions in these comments.
I agree with Frank.
Spike Lee calls Robert Guillaume Benson because he sold out to Whitey.
And for anyone to make that remark, calling someone who is black "Benson" is purely racist!
People who live in glass whorehouses shouldn't throw stones,as the saying goes.
Looks like the Chickens coming home to roost. Ya gotta love hypocrites like Chrisse! Sanctity of marriage for Gays, my ass.
You give people like Christopher enough rope and they hang themselves. May the waters of the Marrakesh back-up in your jockey shorts or panties.
dmarks said...
"Frank: That was kind of what I thought, but was not sure.
I believe I was the first one to point out the racial connotations of "Benson" mentions in these comments."
Yes you did..
For 20 - 30 years, Hillary Clinton put up with the most vicious and nasty criticism, from her days in Arkansas to the Clinton Presidency.
The nastiest, meanest, vilest stuff was said about her. Limbaugh and McCain made crude comments about little Chelsea Clinton at the time.
How did she handle it ?
Like a REAL WOMAN. With her head held high. Tough as nails. Keep plugging away and outlast your critics.
Sarah Palin came advertised as some tough-as-nails Frontierswoman carrying a shotgun and a Don't Mess With Me attitude. In a prior
YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA15XU23kEc she had the audacity to tell Hillary not to whine.
Her audience at the rallies were mainly Obama-hatefest. Full of mindless attacks.
Her Fox channel is almost 24/7 the same drivel. She ran her mouth all last fall slandering Obama as a terrorist-sympathizer plus telling Americans that her followers were the REAL AMERICANS, and she can't handle a little criticism?
Helen of Troy New York said...about Hillary Clinton!
How did she handle it ?
Like a REAL WOMAN. With her head held high. Tough as nails. Keep plugging away and outlast your critics.
Are you kidding me.
She lied, she Cried, and she did whatever she could to cheat her way through. and you call that holding her head held high. And being Tough as nails?
Man are you off base.
She was and is a congenital liar.
1. Remember the story she told about studying The Wall Street Journal to explain her 10,000 percent profit in 1979 commodity trading? We now know that was a lie told to turn aside accusations that as the Governor's wife she profited corruptly, her account being run by a lawyer for state poultry interests through a disreputable broker.
She lied for good reason: To admit otherwise would be to confess taking, and paying taxes on, what some think amounted to a $100,000 bribe.
2. The abuse of Presidential power known as Travelgate elicited another series of lies....
3. In the aftermath of the apparent suicide of her former partner and closest confidant, White House Deputy Counsel Vincent Foster... [h]er closest friends and aides, under oath, have been blatantly disremembering this likely obstruction of justice, and may have to pay for supporting Hillary's lie with jail terms.
Again, the lying was not irrational. Investigators believe that damning records from the Rose Law Firm, wrongfully kept in Vincent Foster's White House office, were spirited out in the dead of night and hidden from the law for two years -- in Hillary's closet...
The records show Hillary Clinton was lying when she denied actively representing a criminal enterprise known as the Madison S.& L., and indicate she may have conspired with Web Hubbell's father-in-law to make a sham land deal that cost taxpayers $3 million...
By concealing the Madison billing records two days beyond the statute of limitations, Hillary evaded a civil suit by bamboozled bank regulators....
"Why didn't she just come clean at the beginning?" She had good reasons to lie; she is in the longtime habit of lying; and she has never been called to account for lying herself or in suborning lying in her aides and friends....
And let us not forget her dodging bullets in Bosnia. Sorry,
Helen of Troy New York, but I'm Laughing my ass off.
Ditto on that stupid racist Benson remark.
It was really inappropriate
Wordsmith: You said Obama wouldn't be able to keep up if he got the same criticisms and threats that Palin did.
I read somewhere that he's had more death threats than the last two presidents COMBINED.
One of the things Sarah Palin mentioned in her reasons for quitting her duties as Gov. was that the media was focusing too much on her. Yet remember what she said about Hillary Clinton when she said the same things?
http://bit.ly/GJFNo
Here is the section I found most ironic:
"but when I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism or you know maybe a sharper microscope put on her, I think, 'man that doesn't do us any good' -- women in politics, women in general wanting to progress this country, I don't think it bodes well for her, a statement like that. Because, again, fair or unfair, it is there, I think that's reality, and I think it's a given. I think people can just accept that she is going to be under the sharper microscope. So be it. I mean, work harder, prove yourself to an even greater degree that you're capable, that you're going to be the best candidate, and that of course is what she wants us to believe at this point. So it bothers me a little bit hearing her bring that attention to herself on that level."
Chuck: That's just another example of Spike Lee's racism.
Helen said: "She ran her mouth all last fall slandering Obama as a terrorist-sympathizer"
If she did this all last fall, surely you can come up with a quote in which she called Obama a terrorist-sympathizer?
"Palling around with terrorists" while Bush was dancing, holding hands and kissing the leader of the country that produced 15 of the 19 911 terrorists. A country that brutalizes it's female citizens. I know this has now become a he did, she did it first thing. Fine. Their all guilty. Politics makes strange bedfellows. Think of something Palin has come up with that was original and or thoughtful.
Truth: As I said earlier, it wasn't a very good point (due to too many who pal around with terrorists, including those on her side)., even if it was accurate. In fact, I brought up Bush and the Saudi prince in these comments before you did.
Rep. Peter King also comes to mind, just because I read a new headline about him. He was been a passionate proponent of and apologist for the IRA during the years it operated. I'm having trouble thinking of a more pro-terrorist politician in Washington.
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