Jul 3rd, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Palin Resigning
Apparently wants explicit permission to neglect the people of Alaska in order to seek the presidency.
My friend Emily Thorson has done research indicating that the Palin pick as VP was a political disaster without precedent in the history of politics. Conventional wisdom is that VP picks don’t matter, since there’s never been evidence that they matter, but it seems that Palin did matter and in a bad way.
Update Nope, now she's saying she's out of politics for good.
187 Responses to “Palin Resigning”
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July 3rd, 2009 at 4:20 pm
anyone have a count on how many complete sentences she used in her resignation speech?
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:22 pm
“since there’s never been evidence that they matter”
Umm, Johnson? He won Texas for Kennedy. Since then, it hasn’t mattered. But it mattered then.
As for Palin, this is a really smart move. It is better to have people question your competence than prove your incompetence beyond all doubt. This would be a bad move for a competent leader. But she isn’t such a leader.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:24 pm
I’m not buying the line that this was done to free up time for a 2012 Presidential run. This is political suicide. Romney/Pawlenty/Jindal/et al can now credibly claim that she is a quitter who abandoned her state. She is completely unqualified for any higher office as of this moment. If she did this on her own, she just scored the world’s biggest own-goal. If she was pressured to do this for other, unknown reasons, they must be pretty juicy.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:25 pm
I think she found out that someone was going to go public with information that Palin was one of the women who Mark Sanford “crossed a line” with (but not “crossed the ultimate line”).
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Regarding that “disaster”, it might be intellectually honest of MattY if he noted that the MSM – and hacks at CAP – constantly smeared Palin with a series of lies and misleading statements.
Of course, we’ll have to leave that to MattY’, the intellectually honest but non-existent version of MattY.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Palin has decided that three years worth of a record in office would be more harmful to her efforts to seek the presidential nomination than having 1/2 of a gubernatorial term in office as her resume.
She’s probably right.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:30 pm
The amusing thing is this: Democrats in general, and liberals in particular, went after Palin in ways that can only be described as disgusting. It wasn’t enough to take issue with her politics – she had to be personally attacked.
While I found plenty to disagree with her on, I thought she was a better candidate than Obama, Biden, or McCain – she was the only one that I thought might possibly ask for advice. The other three are convinced that they are the smartest person ever, and don’t ever need advice from anyone.
Which is not to say that Palin is my ideal candidate; she’s not. She was just the least bad of the 4 on offer. I still haven’t made up my mind as to who we elected in 2008: Dumb, or Dumber. It’s a close call either way.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:31 pm
This is a bizarre decision. Within 1 day of her nomination, I predicted that McCain was doomed because she was one of the worst VP picks ever. It was a nice thing to get right.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:32 pm
The Center for American Progress picks the Pope, too. That’s why he’s always a furrner.
Hacks.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Apparently “executive experience” wasn’t that important after all.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:33 pm
I still haven’t seen her birth certificate, and her REAL father was Paul Bunyon.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:34 pm
The existence of voters like James Robertson are the reason today is such a happy day.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Guess she couldn’t stand the heat brought on by the Vanity Fair article. LOL!
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:41 pm
James Robertson – do we live on the same planet?
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:42 pm
“It wasn’t enough to take issue with her politics – she had to be personally attacked.”
No, it wasn’t. And for good reason. She was attacked personally for one simple reason: she’s dumb as a rock and totally unqualified to be on the Wasilla school board. It takes competence to be a politician on the national stage. She didn’t have it. She wasn’t qualified to mop the national stage.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Hey, now.
Sarah Palin is perfectly qualified to Chair the Board of Selectmen in all but the largest New England towns.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Anywho, back to something approaching a grown-up discussion. What does the honest liberal think of the Beltway elites basically uniting to smear someone? I.e., repeatedly tell lies such as the partial list at this page? That might be good for the Dem Party, but is that good for the U.S.? Obviously, hacks like MattY don’t care, but what about the rest of you? Why are some of you supporting the media constantly lying about someone and in such a vicious way? If you support that, aren’t there more totalitarian countries that might be more to your liking?
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Shorter James Robinson: I want my President to be a stupid person.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Priceless. She can now camp in FOX News studios (or perhaps get her own show) and cash in on her celebrity without any ethics lawsuit. It’s going to be all Palin, all the time. SNL better hire Tina Fey on a permanent basis.
And yeah she’s probably deluded enough to think she still has a chance in 2012; living in a buble will do that to someone so ambitious.
Thank God for Sarah Palin. Also.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Birfer-Boy is upset about somebody being smeared.
I think he’s trying to stimulate the teeny, tiny violin manufacturing industry.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:47 pm
I didn’t read the linked article but can buy that the Palin decision may have hurt McCain’s chances. However, I’m pretty sure that he would’ve lost last year no matter who he picked.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Are you kidding? Have you read the Vanity Fair article? She’s W with boobies.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Do you live in a gated-community where time stopped somewhere around 1979?
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Fostert, questioning someone’s competence to hold the job they’re applying for is not a “personal” attack. Nor is questioning their intellect a “personal” attack, when intellect is part of the job description.
Undoubtedly many people did attack her personally, and those attacks did often have a sexist tone to them. (I might have chosen a less gendered insult than your “she wasn’t qualified to mop the national stage.”) But everyone gets personally attacked on the internet at some point. I’d like James Robertson to show some examples of major Democratic Party figures attacking her personally.
Oh, and the fact that James Robertson finds these supposedly off-limits Democratic attacks “amusing” rather than infuriating shows that, like many trolls, he’s looking for something to bitch about rather than talking about real issues that affect people.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:52 pm
James Robertson Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:30 pm
she was the only one that I thought might possibly ask for advice.
Except, of course, that pretty much everything that has come out about her paints the picture that she refuses any advice whatsoever and has no interest in listening to anyone besides sycophantic yes men and her husband.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Her speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f9YQMbQMn0
So funny; she repeats all her campaign slogans then gets lost in sports metaphors. Ha!
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:53 pm
> Shorter James Robinson: I want my President to be
> a stupid person.
It worked quite well for Cheney and the peers of his class. Why not try it again?
Cranky
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I’m not persuaded by the evidence on the Monkey Cage. Voter attitudes towards the economy match up well with McCain’s poll standings also. The counterclaim is that the first big drop in how well people viewed the economy came a few days after the first big McCain drop. OK. The second part of the counterclaim, that the second big drop in voter attitudes towards the economy came eight days before the second big McCain drop. It seems perfectly natural to be a lag between the voters digesting information on the economy and then matching it with their attitude during the election.
The economy would have sunk McCain’s chances without Palin. Though I agree that the Palin pick was horrible and led people toward taking McCain less seriously. But getting 46% running as the candidate of the incumbent party with the economy imploding during the election campaign is not bad.
The VP pick that really made a big difference was the Eagleton pick in 1972. The election was not shaping up to be the blowout it became before that happened.
VP picks don’t seem to have had a big positive effects. The picks of Johnson, Muskie, and Mondale seem to have helped in small ways. Arguably Lieberman helped Gore carry Florida but may have hurt in other ways. The pick of the first Bush helped unite the Republican party behind Reagan in 1980.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:54 pm
“What does the honest liberal think of the Beltway elites basically uniting to smear someone?”
If the person in question deserves to be smeared, then the Beltway elites are doing their job. But it’s not a smear if it’s true, so I don’t think you could say it was smearing. She deserved a lot worse than she got. I know that being stupid is highly prized in Republican circles, but she took it to a whole new level. She made Joe the Plumber look smart.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:56 pm
I guess she’s opting for white Oprah. Good call.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Sarah untethered. It make my heart sing.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Also ramblings about her baby with Down syndrome, and the media elite, and troops in Kosovo, and passing the ball. WTF.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 pm
“Fostert, questioning someone’s competence to hold the job they’re applying for is not a “personal” attack. Nor is questioning their intellect a “personal” attack, when intellect is part of the job description.”
I’d agree, but the current situation in reporting is that we aren’t supposed to question somebody’s ability to hold an office. That’s just too personal.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Republican Vice-Presidential candidates:
1952: Richard Nixon
1956: Richard Nixon
1960: Henry Cabot Lodge
1964: William E. Miller
1968: Spiro Agnew
1972: Spiro Agnew
1976: Nelson Rockefeller
1980: George H.W. Bush
1984: George H.W. Bush
1988: Dan Quayle
1992: Dan Quayle
1996: Jack Kemp
2000: Dick Cheney
2004: Dick Cheney
2008: Sarah Palin
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:02 pm
The fact of the matter is that the beltway media spent weeks kissing Sarah Palin’s butt, until she opened her mouth in that Katie Couric interview.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Scott P: that’s the scariest list I’ve seen in a while. But Rockefeller was somewhat reasonable. That’s why they ran him out of the party.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:06 pm
I am laughing and laughing at James Robertson and 24anasswhatever. Everything these clowns hope for turns to shit. And they can’t do anything except burble words like “elite” and “totalitarianism” while having no fucking clue what they’re talking about. It’s a great day.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Sigh. I said Palin was not the sort of candidate I wanted – she was just less bad than the the other three. The only upside to Biden is that the late night comics would have no end of material.
it’s not at all clear to me whether Obama or McCain was the worse choice – both were fairly pathetic. I merely found Palin to be less bad (which is not to say she’s good) of the 4 people we had on offer.
Heck, I would rather have Hillary in that Obama or McCain – she seems to have clearer worldview than either one. If I had my pick of the entire primary field, I’d have rather seen a Hillary vs. Thompson race. At least we would have had two people with actual ideas, and either one would have had the sense not to subcontract all the bill prep work to Pelosi.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:08 pm
fostert: obviously, you have no idea what “smear” means. It means lying and misleading about them, and no one thinks anyone deserves that, aside, of course, from the Democratic Party and their helpers.
If anyone hasn’t seen the list yet, here are some smears against Sarah Palin.
For an example, here’s Alternet, Charlie Gibson, and others intentionally misquoting her. And, that’s what fostert and many others support.
Too bad East Germany isn’t around anymore, some of you would have fit right in.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I’ll add that the best Nixon picture I’ve ever seen is him visiting the troops in Laos in 1953. But we weren’t fighting a war there. Not a chance. Didn’t happen. Interestingly, Nixon had a soft spot in what little heart he had for Laos. That’s why the National Museum in Luang Phrabong has moon rocks from the Apollo 17 mission. That’s the one thing that allows me to think that Nixon might actually have been human.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:11 pm
fishermen know: only dead fish go with the flow. brilliant.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:11 pm
“fostert: obviously, you have no idea what “smear” means.”
Oh yes I do, and you know what the biggest lie ever told about Palin was? It was that she was qualified to be Vice President.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:16 pm
“…and, also, the great Ronald Reagan…”
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:17 pm
fostert: obviously, you have no idea what “smear” means. It means lying and misleading
Then Palin is responsible for most of the smears about herself.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:21 pm
The reason she was a poor pick for VP was that she wasn’t ready for national politics. Without knowing her a whit, James Fallows said so immediately, and, according to the Vanity Fair piece, Obama said the same thing. It takes the best of people 4 to 6 months of study on national and international issues, to get ready. And she wasn’t studying in Alaska (even when reading ALL of the papers).
What we learned slowly was that, not only was she not-ready for national office, she appears to be impossible. She doesn’t know what she doesn’t know. The media gave her a pass until the Couric interview. Personally, I thought she seemed more out-to-lunch in interviews by Greta Van Sunderstan (spelling).
Now she’s winging it and hoping that wingnuts will keep her aloft.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Damm. Rommey is knocking off his competitors faster than Swine Flu.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Jimmy Bobberson et ilk: if you’re too stupid to tell how stupid a person like Palin is, especially in seeking an office with the massive impact and responsibility of President or VP of the US, then you are amaaazingly stupid.
There is just nothing more to it. The left has criticized her for myopic, dangerous stupidity. Period. If you think it’s because she’s a woman then you are, well, even stupider than I thought.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:25 pm
24AheadDotCom,
Uh…I didn’t go through all of them, but many of the things that appear on your list are incomplete or wrong. I’m prepared to accept that the corporate-to-Alaskan Citizen handout that she did not fight against in Alaska is:
1. Evidence of socialist tendencies,
2. A good thing…not a smear.
Furthermore, your “Africa” smear contention never actually demonstrates her proving that she does know anything about the continent. And that’s just the first two links I clicked.
Seriously? I mean, say what you want, but because you deluded yourself doesn’t mean we should drink the Kool-Aid too.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Are you kidding me? Have you heard half the things she’s said about other people? She is the queen of personal attacks. If she can dish it, she ought to be able to take it. In any case, Obama and Biden were the ones who ran on the issues in the last election. It was McCain and Palin who resorted to personal attacks when talking about the issues wasn’t getting them anywhere.
As for liberals in general, yes, some of them attacked Palin personally. But plenty of conservatives also made personal attacks on Obama. Are you equally outraged at them?
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Re 24AheadDotCom at 39: “fostert: obviously, you have no idea what “smear” means. It means lying and misleading about them, and no one thinks anyone deserves that, aside, of course, from the Democratic Party and their helpers. ”
————–
1) I seem to recall Sarah Palin throwing out a lot of deceitful smears during the campaign. How did Sarah justify that?
Ah, yes — Now I remember:
“There does come a time when you have to take the gloves off and that time is right now.”
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Obviously, “fostert” doesn’t care if the MSM conducts a massive smear campaign and constantly lies about someone, just as long as it’s someone he doesn’t like.
As for “-g”, Olbermann lied about what she said. As for Africa, that smear turned out to be from a prankster; I guess I need to update that post.
To make this just as easy as possible for “liberal” brains to understand, were Alternet, Charlie Gibson, and others accurately quoting her or not?
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:32 pm
maybe she’s been spending time has a secret lover in russia?
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Nothing Palin ever said or did matched in any way what was thrown at her by establishment hacks. One will also note that in late October I alluded to some of the mistakes that she and others made. (Note to “liberals”: simply switch everything around to understand my point; those are things I didn’t want people to do.)
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Another little Sarah Palin quote for 24Ahead:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=aJ7Yeq09eR4Q
[At a fundraiser in Englewood, Colorado, Palin called Ayers ``one of Barack's earliest supporters,'' and said Obama ``sees America as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.'' ]
I would have handed that dumb bitch her head a long time ago.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I’d rather have someone like Palin than the other three who were on offer, because all three of them are even more sure of themselves than Bush ever dreamed of being. It took a lot to convince Bush that he needed to change strategies in Iraq, but it happened. I doubt Obama will change economic strategies even if unemployment hits 20% – because he’s absolutely sure that he’s right. As Biden or McCain would be in the same place.
What you’re missing is that I don’t favor Palin; I merely call her the lesser of the 4 evils we had. And that’s pretty faint praise.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I remember that Matt was one of the people saying at the time that Palin didn’t hurt the McCain candidacy, due to the convention wisdom about VP picks.
I thought she was a total disaster, and I was surprised McCain did as well as he did with her on the ticket.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Please- she announces this on Friday, JULY THIRD, at 4 PM. Something else is coming.
PS Sarah, you’re not supposed to drink a coffee/Red Bull cocktail before giving a speech.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:37 pm
“Obviously, “fostert” doesn’t care if the MSM conducts a massive smear campaign and constantly lies about someone, just as long as it’s someone he doesn’t like.”
No, I do care. But nobody was lying about Palin. They didn’t have to. The truth was already as bad as it gets. She was completely incompetent, and she still is. And she just admitted it by resigning. If she were competent, she’d continue to hold her office and perform well in it. But she can’t do that because she’s a dumbass. Her continued performance would only make her look worse, so she’s cutting her losses. She knows she’s incompetent, why can’t you figure that out?
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:38 pm
oh man, best schadenfreude ever
it’s fun watching the heads explode at redstate and FR right now
only downside i can see is that jonah is a little bit vindicated, but that is a small price to pay
24ahead is an irrelevant moron
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:38 pm
@Scott P., #34:
One correction to your list: though Rockefeller was, indeed, the incumbent VP in ‘76, Ford chose Bob Dole as his running mate in the general election.
(As a trivia point, the Republican ticket in every presidential election but one- 1964- from 1952-2004 included either Richard Nixon, Bob Dole, or, allowing for father and son, George Bush. Scary…)
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:41 pm
“maybe she’s been spending time has a secret lover in russia?”
Yeah, those Vladivostok guys are pretty hunky, aren’t they? And I bet they know how to ride a snowmobile and kill a seal. What more could you ask for?
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:41 pm
IN fairness to Palin, McCain had to go with her because she was fairly clean for a politican. Every other fucking Republican leader from Maine to Oregon was dirty as hell.
An important consideration when you are trying to live down a Bush Administration and 14 years of prolonged Republican whoring for Wall Street that was bringing on an economic collapse and massive unemployment. Especially when you are one of the “Keating 5″
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:43 pm
“IN fairness to Palin, McCain had to go with her because she was fairly clean for a politican. Every other fucking Republican leader from Maine to Oregon was dirty as hell.”
You have a point there. Better to scrape from the underside of the barrel than the bottom.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:46 pm
I never asked myself the question, but had I done so, I think I might have been able to guess that AssForAHeadDotConned would be all starbursty over Sarah Palin. Gross.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:47 pm
55’s right. No way she’s doing a presser that is supposed to promote her 2012 bid at 4 PM on the Friday of a long weekend when most people are out grilling and getting hammered.
There’s got to be some mighty manure that someone dug up…
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:47 pm
On dirt – remind me again how many vacation homes Dodd and Rangel have? The corruption is completely bipartisan, and only the most ridiculous partisans labor under the misconception that “their” side is cleaner. I’d love to see someone explain how Rangel got rich on his govt salary, for instance. There is no “clean” in DC. There’s only relative levels of dirt, which are mostly impacted by who runs the committees. i.e., the party in power has more options for thievery.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:49 pm
I think it’s time for Sanford to give another interview with even more details.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:54 pm
“I think it’s time for Sanford to give another interview with even more details.”
Absolutely. My cheeks will hurt in the morning, but I’m willing to laugh that hard. I’ll take one for the team.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Bye bye Sarah Palin. We hardly knew ye.
Sanford hasn’t had to resign, but Palin’s flying out the door. It must be a pretty good scandal. James Robertson, any ideas? A vacation home maybe?
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Politics by tantrum would have a high probability of a random exit like this, I guess.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Here’s the word from William Kristol at 5:05pm:
[ http://www.weeklystandard.com/Weblogs/TWSFP/TWSFPView.asp#12268 ]
I wonder where William gets his drugs? I would like to have some.
If I bet on a horse in the Kentucky Derby and it breaks a leg midway in the race, I don’t tell people nearby that the horse will shortly break away from the pack and finish first.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:07 pm
First part of her speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqC1afO3Uo4
Watch it. Comedy gold!
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I never asked myself the question, but had I done so, I think I might have been able to guess that AssForAHeadDotConned would be all starbursty over Sarah Palin.
I, for one, am shocked that Lonewacko would two-time Dave Weigel like this.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Out of politics for good? Please. I heard that “You won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore” speech. He became president after that speech. We will have Sarah Palin to kick around again. The Press will insist upon it. It’s just too good a story. The media will create a fund to finance any candidacy she wants. They’ll make it back on the stories. It’ll be like The Who’s last five “last tours.”
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:30 pm
James Robertson, you’ve said three times that Sarah “You Can’t Blink” Palin was the humblest, most open-minded candidate out there. Could you please provide some evidence of what you’re talking about, so the rest of us won’t think you’re completely insane?
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:32 pm
“Out of politics for good? Please. I heard that “You won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore” speech. He became president after that speech.”
Fostert, you’re a good guy, but you have a tendency to think that your knowledge of 60’s politics and southeast Asia are more relevant than they are. Can you think of any differences between Nixon and Palin that might make it harder for her to become President than it was for Nixon?
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:33 pm
In the Bill Kristol piece Don Williams linked to, Bill says:
“The odds are against her pulling it [the presidency] off. But I wouldn’t bet against it.”
Then, Bill, you are a bad gambler. Which your record so far bears out.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Natalie Merchant must be pleased that Lonefappo the Birfer is no longer profaning her photographs. What’s his deal with Palin, though? She’d shoot any Mexicans threatening to pollute the Alaskan soil?
The timing really does suggest a size 23 boot is about to drop, and it couldn’t happen to a better chiselling incompetent fruitloop.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:35 pm
You know, the one good thing about getting old is that you really have seen it all before. Nixon had more comebacks than John Elway. Everytime you thought he was doomed forever, he came back from the dead and won. I’ve stood over his grave, and I still don’t think he’s done yet. Sarah Palin will come back, and comedy will be the better for it. Art Buchwald was asked whether he hated Nixon, and he came back with: “Hate Nixon? No, I loved Nixon. His “I’m not not a crook” comment put my daughters through college.”
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Nixon was actually a clever bastard. Palin’s just a dumb nut.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:43 pm
“Can you think of any differences between Nixon and Palin that might make it harder for her to become President than it was for Nixon?”
Yes I can. Nixon was smart and Palin is dumb as a rock. But Palin is pretty and Nixon was, well we don’t talk about that. Palin’s the much better media figure, and given that intelligence is no longer a desirable trait, Palin will do fine. With enough media blitz, anyone can win. As Neil Young said: “Even Richard Nixon has soul.” Sock it to me me, baby!
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Never mind what she says the reason is.
I wouldn’t believe her if she said the moon was made of cheese.
Wink on, baby.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Just watched the Palin news conference and was once again filled me with awe at the perfection of Tina Fey’s comedy routine. Without making any sense whatsoever Palin touched all the far-right’s emotional buttons – the liberal media, the troops, her son Trig – all performed with that sportscaster pose of complete conviction she learned from her pageant days. For some reason she continues to feel that this is somehow sufficient. She’s a complete narcissist who would rather max out her face time on TV then build a political record. That’s why she’s resigning – so she can seek more media attention with none of the attendant responsibility that comes with elected office. Or she’s just concerned about this latest round of ethics complaints. Anyone in this space supporting Palin is just a troll. The far right – so in love with their position of perpetual victim – seems to think that any criticism of Palin is an attack, when in reality she was given what amounted to a pass. If not for their standard timidity the MSM could have been and certainly could be a lot harder on her and that would only take a legitimate review her record or by just letting her speak. By all means the Republicans should run her in 2012. What a great idea. Go for it.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:50 pm
“Sock it to me me, baby!”
Man, I can’t nail the punchline can I?
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Scott, Robert Dole was the Repub VP candidate in 1976. IIRC polls showed that Mondale was an asset for Carter and Dole was a liability for Ford.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Must disagree with the Palin is dumb meme. During that presidential campaign, she seemed much the smarter of the McCain/Palin pair. I don’t believe it was Palin “dropping” her campaign to rush to washington and sit like a post doing nothing as the financial sector crashed. It wasn’t Palin who looked like a Grandfather Simpson in the debates – she did quite well with Biden. Granted, I think she is a liar – she lied about her record compulsively throughout the campaign, as in her comical contention that she opposed the bridge to nowhere – but such is par for the course. She seems to have been an altogether wiser and more competent governor than the horrendous Sanford. Until she became VP, she had no record of being an aggressive jackass in foreign policy matters, like McCain.
She is another conservative politician – and I have no use for rightwing politics. But she was, in my opinion, a much more honorable and mentally prepared person than McCain for high office.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Time to mention how you can negate trolls.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Sarah will not be going away. She will pretend she has her eye on the 2012 election of that politics is her interest but she will end up on TV. She wants money, attention, and to get out of Alaska. Expect to see her at Fox studios in the future.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:08 pm
“but you have a tendency to think that your knowledge of 60’s politics and southeast Asia are more relevant than they are”
Maybe so, but consider the most important political statement I have ever heard. I was in Thailand and talking with this woman. I asked her about the local history, and she comes back with: “Why you worry about history? Same thing happen every time.” I didn’t have a comeback then, and I still don’t. Those of us who do know history are condemned to watch in horror as our leaders make the same mistakes again. Live long enough, and you’ll be as jaded as I am.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:15 pm
“a much more honorable and mentally prepared person than McCain for high office”
Not a high standard, is it? I’ve met McCain, so I know. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer. And he doesn’t even get put in the drawer. He’s out in the garage.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:17 pm
My theories,
a) Caught Todd hiking on the Appalachian Trail
b) Willow got knocked up
c) Track came out of the closet
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:18 pm
At a fundraiser in Englewood, Colorado, Palin called Ayers “one of Barack’s earliest supporters,” and said Obama “sees America as being so imperfect that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.” ]
Um, That’s true.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:24 pm
It’s true in that she said that. judd, truly you are priceless, I knew there was a reason I don’t killfile you.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Nixon had white resentment on his side after the turbulent 60’s. The Democrats’ probable best candidate was killed before the primary ended. Palin will hopefully have neither of these events at her back. Palin’s appeal is primarily to a demographic that is falling in importance.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Lee,
What part of that statement isn’t true. Ayers wasn’t one of his earliest supporters? Ayers didn’t target the US? Or, they didn’t pal around? “Just a guy in my neighberhood.”
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Gee, just look at all the commentary about someone the left dismisses as insignificant. Heh.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Look, clearly Ms. Palin was unqualified for the office of Vice President, and even more unqualified for the Presidency. (Although I’m not sure she was any less qualified than the late and unlamented Warren G. Harding or James Buchanan). And clearly I disagree with much of her politics, especially her anti-environmental rhetoric and penchant for burbling on about how Obama is a socialist. That said, Sarah Palin was an attractive candidate for at least three reasons:
1) She kept her Downs’ Syndrome baby instead of killing him in the womb as 90% of our chattering classes do
2) She encouraged her daughter to keep her own baby, again not what the chattering classes would do
3) She had more children than is currently fashionable among the chattering classes (five)
4) She has a deep personal faith
In other words she didn’t just talk the culture-of-life talk, she walked the walk. None of those things make Sarah Palin a good presidential candidate, but they did make me like her as a person. I’m sure she would be a lovely person to know in real life, and Todd Palin is a very lucky man. While I didn’t vote for her and I dislike most of her politics, I don’t think that she was treated with the deference and politeness that men owe to women, and that bothered me.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Oh, choad and pooter, keep doing what you’re doing. The future of the GOP is in your capable hands.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:06 pm
In other words: in too many of the attacks on Palin I saw attacks on fertility, faith, family, the culture of life, and the working class. And I dislike that very much.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:12 pm
It’s too bad, really. Sarah Palin is no dumber or less articulate than George W. Bush. Her opinions are entirely representative of mainstream Republicans everywhere and she recited the Republican talking points as well as the next person. Her biggest failing was bursting on the scene after Bush instead of before. With the magnitude of Dubya’s failure fresh in mind, even a lot of conservatives said, “jeez. Not again.”
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Okay, Judd, I’ll take this one: it’s extremely arguable that Obama “palled around” with Ayers; it’s simply not true that Ayers was “a terrorist who would target [his] own country” when Obama met with him; and it’s absolutely ludicrous to say that Obama met with Ayers because he “[saw] America as so imperfect.”
The plain implication of Palin’s statement is that Obama worked with Ayers to satisfy his dislike of America, which no serious person believes.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Shorter Sarah Palin speech — Staying would be quitting, so I’m quitting.
Some shee-ite is about to hit some fan. Maybe the ethics investigations in Alaska, maybe more emails released from the campaign trail, maybe some family scandal. Either way, she’s toast for any national political office. I could totally see her on “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” next season, though.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:22 pm
“in too many of the attacks on Palin I saw attacks on fertility, faith, family, the culture of life, and the working class”
Fair enough, Hector, she’s just a Christianist trailer park loser who thinks life ends at birth. Oops, did I say something bad?
But really, Hector, defending Palin? You’re a very smart person, and Palin is, well, somewhere else on the spectrum. Intelligence should be a consideration when you elect a leader. And Palin doesn’t do well on that scale. But she is the funniest Palin, and John Cleese said that. And he would know.
May Sarah Palin rise again! I can lambaste other people if I have to, but she’s the best. Don’t take her away!
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Sarah Palin was an attractive candidate for at least three reasons:
1) She kept her Downs’ Syndrome baby instead of killing him in the womb as 90% of our chattering classes do
2) She encouraged her daughter to keep her own baby, again not what the chattering classes would do
3) She had more children than is currently fashionable among the chattering classes (five)
4) She has a deep personal faith
Those are obviously the most important qualities for a politician… And don’t smear the working class by tying it to this lunatic diva soon to be multi-millionaire.
Gee, just look at all the commentary about someone the left dismisses as insignificant. Heh.
She’s not insignificant, she’s comedy gold. Watch her speech.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:35 pm
What part of that statement isn’t true. Ayers wasn’t one of his earliest supporters?
This is a stretch. The “support” of Obama’s political career consists entirely of allowing a small coffee meet-and-greet fundraiser to be held in his house early in Obama’s state Senate race, one of many Obama held. Your statement implies he built his political career in part on Ayers’ back, which is absurd.
Ayers didn’t target the US?
He targeted specific unoccupied structures for the purpose of ending a highly unpopular war. While his methods were improper and he should have used nonviolent means, to imply that he somehow hated America is highly disingenuous.
Or, they didn’t pal around? “Just a guy in my neighberhood.”
Yes, they did not, in fact, “pal around” (one of the dumbest phrases from the campaign). Obama and Ayers served on a couple charity boards together, and had casual contact as Ayers was a respected intellectual with many ties to the Chicago academic community. This is again another disingenuous statement.
And of course, you conveniently didn’t quote one part of Palin’s statement: that his interactions with Ayers were because he sees America is so imperfect. That is the direct implication of her statement. And it’s laughable. That part is a complete lie, and you didn’t defend it for a reason. As for the rest of it, like much of Palin’s rhetoric, it’s intentional stretches of the truth, often to the point of incredulity.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:37 pm
At 345 feet above sea level, Britton Hill is the highest point in Florida.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:39 pm
liberals in particular, went after Palin in ways that can only be described as disgusting.
No – you’re disgusting and so is your party. Anybody who hoists up a mental midget as a national figure and then whines when their lack of mental acuity is pointed out should cease any public discourse. In a fair world Palin’s supporters would be imprisoned in a mental hospital for their own safety.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:40 pm
She’s had babies, so this means she’s qualified to lead Americans, ’cause, you know, it’s all about having babies.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:42 pm
In other words: in too many of the attacks on Palin I saw attacks on fertility, faith, family, the culture of life, and the working class. And I dislike that very much.
What about the attacks on Palin that perhaps it would be better for her infant special-needs child if she stayed at home taking care of it instead of jetting around the country campaigning? Or that it was incredibly insensitive to Bristol, going through an always-traumatic unplanned teenage pregnancy, to accept the VP slot when it would mean massive media attention on Bristol? Or just what the hell she was doing flying from Texas to Alaska after her water broke, then driving 45 minutes, to have her Down’s Syndrome child?
Do those count as attacks on behalf of or against traditional family values?
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Sarah Palin is no dumber or less articulate than George W. Bush.
She just didn’t have the support of the CIA and oil elites in Texas.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:45 pm
“He targeted specific unoccupied structures for the purpose of ending a highly unpopular war.”
Yeah, but the honorable thing to do was to naplam a village. The problem with Ayers is that he didn’t kill innocent people. If he had done that, he’d be a hero.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:47 pm
My 86 year-old mother had me in stitches one day when she went on a tirade after hearing some cable pundit say something about having five children as a qualification for office. I’m the youngest of five. My mother was livid that anyone would tout that as a qualification. Something along the lines of, “how f’in stupid do they think was are?” She was also appalled by the “pass the baby” game at the Republican National Convention. “That child should not be in that noisy environment being passed like a prop at that hour of the night.” Mom doesn’t suffer fools.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Politically insignificant, shooter. Most of us just like to laugh at the funny clown.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:00 pm
This is a defense or condemnation?
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:09 pm
OMG. I just watched her speech again. Its gold. She isn’t going around on a bunch lame duck trips at Alaskan’s expense and then she describes how she she recently went to Kosovo. The stupidity, it smarts.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Ever heard of Phyllis Schlafly? She was not politically insignificant.
Unless there is real scandal, Palin has the potential to actually be a force for social conservatives.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Palin as a major party candidate for POTUS or VPOTUS is like the torture regime in the following respect, albeit to a much lesser degree. For the health of our democracy, it’s not enough that we just move on. It’s vital that mainstream supporters actually admit they were wrong.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:13 pm
This has scandal written all over it – she resigns on a holiday Friday, this two weeks after Mark Sanford’s disgrace which meant that her prospects in the Republican party were looking up?
Someone has some serious dirt on her, and that’s why she resigned.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:53 pm
The back-and-forth here is pretty amusing, especially the large chunck involving J. Robertson. He is truly the Brother from Another Planet (where they have different laws of physics). The reality is pretty simple. This was the least qualified person for national office I’ve seen in my life–not so much by want of experience, but by what of any discernable knowledge of, or interest in, the important issues of the day. (She conveys what I can only call disdain for actually knowing anything about anything.) She’s a ninny with charisma–a complete, utter joke. It’s a waste of time to say this here, where almost all others will agree. But it’s scary that 20% or 30% of the people in this country see her as a plausible leader, and that she was a national nominee for a once vernerable party. Let’s see if Josh Marshall was right: either there’s a major shit about to hit the fan, or she has an even more meager attachment to the empirical world than I had assumed.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Judd, don’t you know we’re all hipsters here? And there you are like it’s still 2008.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:18 pm
As to seeing America as imperfect. I will just quote the lovely First Lady. “This is the first time I’ve really been proud of my country.”
As to being dumb. I believe the bar has been set pretty high by our current VP. I think Joe Biden is the only one who takes Joe Biden seriously anymore. And don’t make me start pulling out quotes, because you know they are out there. “Stand up Joe!” They said if I voted for McCain/Palin we would get an idiot as VP and they were right.
And by the way, I don’t think Palin is ready to be POTUS, and may never be. But the attacks stink of sexism and if she had a D by her name, there would be outrage from you people.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:19 pm
El Cid,
I didn’t say Palin was qualified to lead Americans. I said that I liked her as a person and that I thought there was much that was appealing about the way she had lived her life. We would be a better country if more young Americans embraced the idea of having and bearing children (five of them! in her case) rather then having casual and meaningless hookups in nightclub restrooms, and if more Americans embraced the culture of life (as she did) instead of the culture of death.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:39 pm
> I didn’t say Palin was qualified to lead Americans.
> I said that I liked her as a person and that I thought
> there was much that was appealing about the way she had
> lived her life. We would be a better country if more young
> Americans embraced the idea of having and bearing children
> (five of them! in her case)
I am sure if more Americans lived in states with enormous oil and mineral extraction revenues, and a 1.4:1 return on federal taxes, they would be happy to have more children. In the other 49 states most of us don’t get huge State Oil Fund checks every year and have to work to support the number of children we can afford.
Cranky
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:40 pm
As to being dumb. I believe the bar has been set pretty high by our current VP
Oh, choad, you really could outdumb a bulk supply of dumb from the Dumb Store.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:43 pm
> Sarah will not be going away.
I strongly suspect that ex-Governor Palin stands an excellent chance of going away – to spend some quality time in a minimum-security or medium-security federal institution. The kind with razor wire around it.
Cranky
July 4th, 2009 at 1:17 am
In other words: in too many of the attacks on Palin I saw attacks on fertility, faith, family, the culture of life, and the working class. And I dislike that very much.The attacks are on right-wing lip-service to caricatures of those values. Guess what? Democrats like all those things too.
July 4th, 2009 at 1:30 am
So I just skimmed memeorandum for a couple minutes, and, yeah, apparently lots of blogs have posted about the scandal that’s likely the reason she’s resigning. Just a little tip.
July 4th, 2009 at 1:30 am
Even assuming some scandal is about to break, I have faith in Palin: one way or another, she is going to find a way to continue to be the cement shoes of the GOP for a generation. And the behavior of our standard-issue Republican hacks in this thread only strengthens my faith.
Oh, and I agree with another poster above. Kristol saying . . .
. . . may well be my personal favorite demonstration (and it has a lot of competition) of why Kristol ends up being wrong about everything.
July 4th, 2009 at 1:37 am
Hector : “she kept her Down’s Syndrome baby instead of killing him in the womb as 90% of our chattering classes do.”
Hector, I know your description of women as the “chattering classes” reflects your deep-seated Christian belief as to their inferiority, but it’s really not acceptable to come right out and say it- you have to find some euphemism, like the man having “servant-leadership” of the family.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:13 am
Re: My friend Emily Thorson has done research indicating that the Palin pick as VP was a political disaster without precedent in the history of politics.
Maybe in the sense that she helped sink the McCain candidacy, but come on! there have been worse vice presidential picks. One of them (Andrew Johnson) even became President at what could not have have been a more crucial moment in our history for an incompetent to occupy the White House.
Re: Nixon had white resentment on his side after the turbulent 60’s.
Maybe in ‘72. But in ‘68 George Wallace was the candidate of white resentment.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:48 am
Nope, now she’s saying she’s out of politics for good.
Cite?
This is the only place I’ve seen this claim.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:51 am
1) She kept her Downs’ Syndrome baby instead of killing him in the womb as 90% of our chattering classes do
For the record, it’s not just the “chattering classes,” and it’s a damn shame. This is pretty much the only thing I admire Palin for, as she’s completely unqualified to hold office. But please, Hector, it’s a long way between admiring some of the personal decisions someone makes and declaring that you’d like them personally. John McCain did one honorable thing in his life, when he refused to be set free from Vietnamese torturers early, and I can admire him for that but still think that beyond that, everything points to McCain being a nasty, angry, dishonest, small-minded man who ditched his injured wife for a younger, richer woman, who sees war as the best solution to diplomatic problems, and who has a dangerously weak grasp of the issues facing the nation. See? It’s quite possible to separate actions from people.
July 4th, 2009 at 7:28 am
Wow. I just read her speech. It’s stunning. But not in a good way. It’s the kind of speech that makes you wonder why it wasn’t made from a padded room. I’m crazy, but I’m not that crazy.
July 4th, 2009 at 7:35 am
Re: The attacks are on right-wing lip-service to caricatures of those values. Guess what? Democrats like all those things too.
Lylebot,
Did I say ‘Democrats’? No, I didn’t. Most Democrats like those things too. Many of the chattering classes, however, do not.
MikeN,
Don’t be an idiot. I didn’t invent the phrase ‘chattering classes’, do you know what it means? Adam Villani does. Please see the definition from Wikipedia below.
“The chattering classes is a generally derogatory[1] term often used by pundits and political commentators to refer to a politically active, socially concerned and highly educated section of the “metropolitan middle class,”[1] especially those with political, media, and academic connections. It is sometimes used to refer to a liberal elite, but its first use by British right wing polemicist Frank Johnson in 1980 appeared to include a wider range of pundits.[1] Indeed, the term is used by people all across the political spectrum to refer to the journalists and political operatives who see themselves as the arbiters of conventional wisdom.[2] As such, the notion of ‘chattering classes’ can be seen as an antonym to the older idea of an unrepresented Silent Majority (made famous by the U.S Republican President Richard Nixon).
“In the United States, the term has come to be used by both the right and left-wings to describe political opponents, with Stephen Perrault of the Merriam-Webster dictionary suggesting that the term has “connotations of idleness, of useless talk, that the noun ‘chatter’ does. [...] These people don’t amount to much — they like to hear themselves talk.”[3]”
Precisely. I use the phrase synonymously with ‘hipster’.
July 4th, 2009 at 7:46 am
“I use the phrase synonymously with ‘hipster’.”
Which is kind of weird. You apply the term to so many people that I don’t know what it means. I’m guessing I’m some kind of hipster. But if I’m hip, that would be news to the high school kids that ride on my bus. I’m like totally lame to them. But now they don’t even whisper behind my back, they just tweet.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Kids these days. They are really impressive. I can always get one kid on the bus to stoop so low as to talk to me. And they are really cool kids. Granted, I live in an affluent neighborhood, but these kids are way smarter than the kids I grew up with.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Re: #7 and #25:
So yes, she does take advice. From her 5 children, which includes the 1.5 year old.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:30 am
She’s withdrawing now so that 1) she’ll be able to get coached on the issues by her handlers and 2) learn how to speak in short, pertinent answers and — most importantly — 3) have cosmetic surgery on her jaw line so that she’ll still look like the slutty librarian we’ve come to know and love.
Like the poor, Johnson grass, shingles, and Classic Rock she’ll always be with us.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Sarah Palin not butchering her retarded baby before letting it out of her womb is a strike against her. Life isn’t intrinsically good, and simply producing more of it doesn’t make the world a better place, especially when it’s a retarded life. I don’t see any reason to be politically correct about this. Who cares if she had a retarded baby? This is just further proof that she is so mind-blowingly unaccomplished and unprepared that successfully producing sub-normal offspring is considered one of her strong points.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:44 am
Re: Like the poor, Johnson grass, shingles and Classic Rock she’ll always be with us.
Jeffrey Davis,
You left out herpes from your list.
Actually I was on the phone with my brother last night, who works in DC, and he told me that Palin (unlike most politicians) doesn’t really have handlers or advisors, and that’s why she makes a fool of herself when talking about politics.
Adam Villani,
McCain is known for doing one honorable thing, yes. But it was a very big thing, much bigger than the challenges most of us face. As for his adultery, while I of course do not endorse that, it’s important to realise he was psychologically traumatized by the war, and his actions must be understood in that context.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Re: Mr. Hyperbole
Adam Villani,
Behold your allies in the cause of Obama. I hope you enjoy their company. Shades of the late and unlamented Himmler, who was also a fan of euthanizing disabled infants.
July 4th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Governing during a crisis is bad for her resume, and she knows it. During a bubble, it’s easy to make unreasonable promises sound reasonable. But making hard choices during a downturn inevitably upsets supporters.
It’s much easier to be unreasonable when you don’t have any responsibilities, so she chose between the two and gave up her responsibilities.
July 4th, 2009 at 9:04 am
“But it was a very big thing, much bigger than the challenges most of us face.”
He got shot down, big deal. I’ve been a lot closer to death than he ever has. And I know a lot of people who were better soldiers. Regardless of whose army they were fighting in. And when I met him, he was a dick. Worship him all you want, but there are many greater people.
July 4th, 2009 at 9:43 am
term often used by pundits and political commentators to refer to a politically active, socially concerned and highly educated section of the “metropolitan middle class,”
Precisely. I use the phrase synonymously with ‘hipster’.
No wonder you’re confusing everyone. The term “Hipster,” outside of apparently your social clique, went out of style decades ago. I had assumed you were using the standard conservative trope of blaming problems on the “hippies,” a movement that died out thirty years ago and only exists today as a right-wing straw man.
As for “chattering classes,” I find the Wikipedia entry a bit baffling, as the term is used in the liberal blogo-sphere almost exclusively to refer to the MSM punditry and their snotty little social cliques in New York and Washington. In other words, to a group of a few thousand people progressives across the country hold in contempt.
Tossing them into a discussion as a bad example isn’t all that useful, like noting that you are also including the natives of Pago Pago in your denunciations. Some small island cultures other than those of certain neighborhoods on the island of Manhattan tended to believe that deformed infants should be exposed at birth. What of it?
July 4th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Sarah Palin is no dumber or less articulate than George W. Bush.
Wrong. W. Bush is a lot smarter than Palin, and..er..less inarticulate. Certainly no fan of Bush here, but, come on.
July 4th, 2009 at 9:51 am
“But it was a very big thing, much bigger than the challenges most of us face.”
He got shot down, big deal. I’ve been a lot closer to death than he ever has. And I know a lot of people who were better soldiers. Regardless of whose army they were fighting in. And when I met him, he was a dick. Worship him all you want, but there are many greater people.
Fostert is blunter than I would be, but absolutely correct. McCain’s heroism thirty years ago does not excuse the sins he’s committed since then, nor his basic lack of cognitive skills and emotional discipline.
The same with Palin. I wouldn’t trust someone that intellectually incoherent to run a shift at my local Burger King, let alone an entire state. One thing we desperately need in this country is a renewed respect for honesty, rationality, competence, and manners. Palin has none of these, and without them I wouldn’t give a damn what her political beliefs were.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:17 am
I suspect that if Palin had grown up the daughter of George Herbert Walker Bush, with all that implies, she would have roughly matched Dubya in his ability to articulate policy.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:48 am
You left out herpes from your list.
And you, Petey, and Al as well. Brevity and all that.
(BTW, shingles is a herpes.)
July 4th, 2009 at 10:49 am
“In what way, Charlie?”
We all watched the VP debate, Oh Desperate One. We all saw or read the Katie Couric interview. Don’t try to tell me this is chicken salad.
Just.
Let.
It.
Go.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Yep, we all did see the debate.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/10/bidens_big_lies_all_14_of_them.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRV5Y1JCGRI
“Stand up, Chuck.”
Can you imagine if Palin would have done that.
“Let it go.”
Personally, I’m glad she’s off the national stage. (hopefully)
But if she’s dumb, Biden is dumber.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:11 am
That’s seriously weak there. He was imprisoned and tortured (a very bad thing), and somehow that made him ditch his crippled wife and marry a rich young blonde instead? It’s much more likely that given the choice between new hotness and old brokenness, he chose the new hotness. Or in other words, he’s a dick.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Oh, choad, you really could outdumb a bulk supply of dumb from the Dumb Store.
Happy 4th, pseudo!
July 4th, 2009 at 11:15 am
See, that’s where you desperation really shines through. You’re pretending that fumbling a line or making some kind of faux pas is equivalent to the utter vapidity, the complete lack of knowledge and understanding, on display in Sarah Palin’s debate performance, or in the Katie Couric interview.
Yup, Joe Biden told someone to stand up, not knowing he was in a wheel chair. That’s just like being completely unaware, in 2008, that George Bush had articulated and put into effect a novel doctrine of pre-emption.
Puh-lease. I must be very upsetting for a starburster like yourself to see people saying mean things about the woman whose poster hangs in your bedroom, but you really don’t have an argument here.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:19 am
This doesn’t have anything to do with the issue of intelligence at all. A conservative write takes exception to how a liberal politician characterizes things. “It wasn’t a windfall profits tax on oil companies, it was a different kind of tax on the profits of oil companies.” “Biden exaggerated McCain’s position.”
None of those things are even lies, and they certainly have nothing to do with Biden’t intelligence. You’re just flinging poo, because you feel bad. You’ve completely abandoned the topic, and are just pulling out whatever bad stuff you can find about Joe Biden as a deflection.
Sad. You Palin cultists are just sad.
This is going to ruin your Fourth, isn’t it?
July 4th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Accusing me of hero worship? Please, look in the mirror, Joe. And, read my comments, I don’t want her to run for anything. But the hatred you people have for her is very sad. If she is so stupid, why the 150+ comment thread? Why on earth does the left spend so much time talking about her? 9000 words in Vanity Fair? Listen, Joe Biden is dumb, you know it, I don’t hate Joe Biden, in fact I think he is kind of funny. If Biden got half the scrutiny of Palin, he would have been laughed off the stage years ago, but he has a D by his name, so all is forgiven.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:29 am
This is going to ruin your Fourth, isn’t it?
Nah, my inlaws are coming today. That’s going to ruin my 4th.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Obama wasn’t even my first choice in the primaries, Starburst Boy. And once again with the “No, YOU ARE!” when faced with facts that demolish your case.
Oh, look, you’re even repeating my characterization of you as “sad” back at me.
Because dancing on the grave of your political movement is fun. We’re allowed to have fun, right? She was the Republican Party’s nominee to be the Vice President of the United States – that doesn’t cease to be important because she’s slow-witted and ill-informed. In fact, it becomes even more important, because – Holy Crap! – one of the major parties nominated a slow-witted, ill-informed person to be a heartbeat away from the presidency! That makes the Palin Phenomenon even MORE worthy of notice and comment, not less.
You keep saying this, but unlike the similar criticism of Palin, you can’t back it up. Reality-based, judd: something doesn’t become true because you want it to be true.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Heh.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Look, here’s Joe Biden’s speech at NATO headquarters last winter.
Whether you agree or disagree with the man’s politics, this is obviously an intelligent and informed person.
Yes, he makes classic Washington gaffes. Somebody who talks as much as he does is bound to put his foot in his mouth.
That’s not remotely the same thing as not being able to name a political publication you read, or not knowing that George Bush adopted a new preemption doctrine in 2002, even when reminded.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:57 am
If she is so stupid, why the 150+ comment thread?
For the same reason you get stuck in traffic when there’s a grizzly car accident on the opposite side of the highway.
Seriously, judd, while you’re calling other people stupid, you end up asking an extraordinarily clueless question that could only come from someone if he were… stupid.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I, too am so hoping there’s something juicy coming up. The illicit Sanford-Palin romance sounds amusing enough…
July 4th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
I don’t see how you guys can honestly sustain an argument over wether all the “smears” about her were unfair…. She quit; that has the same effective outcome of all the smears being true. You can argue in circles for the rest of your life if you want, but nothing anybody has said about her has done as much damage as what she has done to herself, with a mere press conference.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
One point I don’t understand: What does being against Palin have to do with respect for the working class?
She is not and never has been a member of the working class. She grew up in a middle class family where here dad held a white collar job as a teacher. She went to college right after high school and graduated not that long afterwards and has held only white collar jobs ever since. She is now and always has been middle class. Lower middle, true. Without connections in powerful positions, true. But not working class.
The thing that is so fascinating about Palin is the way so many people have made her a exemplar of so many qualities she herself simply doesn’t have.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Re: She went to college right after high school and graduated not that long afterwards and has held only white collar jobs ever since.
Since when is working on her husband’s fishing boat a white collar job? The fishing industry counts as working class, last I checked.
July 4th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Since when is working on her husband’s fishing boat a white collar job?
When you own the boat.
July 4th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
James Robertson:
Newt Gingrich ran Jim Wright out of Congress over a $5000 book advance. And then lined up a $5,000,000 book advance from Murdoch who had pending business with Congress – and got what he wanted. The book advance was too embarrassing for even Gingrich …..
How many lobbyists were in DC before and after Delay started his K street project?
July 4th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Of course you’d prefer it to be the case that Sarah “Sallie” Palin is not about to be busted for something; you’ll almost feel sorry for her then. For the most part, the really bad stuff politicians do is perfectly legal and has nothing to do with salvaging construction materials.
July 4th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
(I believe you meant scavenging for construction materials Linus.)
Something like that.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Jeffrey Davis,
He owned _a boat_. Not a whole fleet of boats. That still counts as working class in my book. Perhaps a hardcore Marxist would disagree and call him a petit bourgeois, but I am not a hardcore Marxist.
July 4th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
I don’t know exactly what boat Todd owned (and on what terms), but a commercial fishing boat could potentially be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. And things like his commercial permit are probably worth a decent amount of money as well. So at a minimum I wouldn’t assume such a person is “working class”.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
“Palin links resignation to ‘higher calling’”
Nothing to do with two by fours I guess: just the gleeful promise of years more of the Sarah “Sallie” Palin show.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Re: So at a minimum I wouldn’t assume such a person is “working class”.
Well, they’re certainly not an oligarch capitalist either.
July 5th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Let’s put it this way, DTM. A quick google search shows that the Palins’ boat measures 32 feet long, that Todd Palin earned a combined $92,000 from fishing and working in the oil industry, and that there is no evidence anyone besides Todd, Sarah and Track work on the boat. I think that unless you’re a doctrinaire Marxist it would be fair to call such a person working class.
July 5th, 2009 at 1:05 am
Don’t you watch “Deadliest Catch?” Definately working class. And he belonged to a union. You guys should love him.
July 5th, 2009 at 2:35 am
I’m sorry, $92k is about twice the median household income (2007). Working class people don’t generally make that much money, by definition.
Weak sauce guys.
July 5th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Not as Stupid as James Robertson,
How do you know whether $92,000 was his net income or the gross (before accounting for cost of the boat maintenance)? If it was the gross income he may not have taken home a whole hell of a lot after repairs, equipment, etc.
That said, my broader point is that fishing is a hard and dangerous job, involving backbreaking physical labor and the danger of death. It’s not an easy job, and Todd Palin cannot be compared to some advertising copywriter or blogger who spends their days working behind a desk in an air conditioned office. As Democrats we are supposed to be all about the dignity of physical labor. Unfortunately too many of today’s Yglesian chattering classes seem to have forgotten this elementary principle.
July 5th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Hector’s confused understanding of what the working class is makes it clearer why he doesn’t understand socialism either, or why he thinks having 5 children including a “Down syndrome baby” is a superb and sufficient resume for a politician.
When you pal around for years with the Republican elites and you just signed a multi-million book deal, your connection to the working class is non-existent.
Don’t you watch “Deadliest Catch?” Definately working class. And he belonged to a union. You guys should love him.
You may have voted for Bush because you wanted to have a beer with him, judd, but on the left we take a closer look to the candidates’ programs. A lunatic pig repeating Club for Growth talking points with fake working class lipstick is still a pig.
Anyway, she’s done. But we will always have the Couric interview and Tina Fey skits.
July 5th, 2009 at 9:23 am
That said, my broader point is that fishing is a hard and dangerous job, involving backbreaking physical labor and the danger of death. It’s not an easy job, and Todd Palin cannot be compared to some advertising copywriter or blogger who spends their days working behind a desk in an air conditioned office. As Democrats we are supposed to be all about the dignity of physical labor. Unfortunately too many of today’s Yglesian chattering classes seem to have forgotten this elementary principle.
Heh, it’s not how much money you have, what matters is conforming to Hector’s peculiars theories on class struggle.
Socialism is all about devout mothers of five children and rich fishermen fighting against poor atheist hipsters who don’t even work on the fields.
July 5th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
When you pal around for years with the Republican elites and you just signed a multi-million book deal, your connection to the working class is non-existent.
Change republican to democrat and you just described Obama’s resume prior to his election. And, yes, I would agree, Obama’s connection to the working class is non-existent.
July 5th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Re: Heh, it’s not how much money you have, what matters is conforming to Hector’s peculiars theories on class struggle.
Socialism is all about devout mothers of five children and rich fishermen fighting against poor atheist hipsters who don’t even work on the fields.
This from the guy who implied that Tony Blair’s Labour Party had a better claim to define Socialism than the United Socialist Party of Venezuela?
July 5th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Judd,
I don’t think that’s a good example- Obama never claimed to be anything other than middle class.
July 5th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Anyway, she’s done.
I agree.
July 5th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
That said, my broader point is that fishing is a hard and dangerous job, involving backbreaking physical labor and the danger of death.
Off-topic, but I don’t think fisherman is a particularly dangerous job anymore. The most threatening things for a boat, storms, are now easily avoided thanks to progress in weather forecast. If I remember correctly, the most dangerous professions in the US are taxi driver and electrical worker.
This from the guy who implied that Tony Blair’s Labour Party had a better claim to define Socialism than the United Socialist Party of Venezuela?
I don’t know much about this second party, but socialists understand that some sectors of the economy are better left to the private sector, and that socialism must respect democracy and human rights. In fact, they understood that 100 years ago, and that’s why they were the strongest opponents to communism.
July 5th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Re: I don’t know much about this second party, but socialists understand that some sectors of the economy are better left to the private sector, and that socialism must respect democracy and human rights. In fact, they understood that 100 years ago, and that’s why they were the strongest opponents to communism.
The strongest opponents to communism were the Fascists. That is, unless you mean that your Labour Party buddies were in the habbit of feeding communists into boiler engines. The United Socialist Party of Venezuela is the party formed by Chavez. For better or worse, Chavez is extremely verbose about his ideas (to the extent of having his own nationally televised talk show every weekend) so it’s hardly difficult for you to find out what he (and by extension the PSUV) stands for. If you’re talking about the anti-Bolshevik resistance in Russia, you’re right in suggesting it was led largely by socialists (the SRs). However the SRs were themselves a deeply antiliberal, peasant-based, radical agrarian party who would abhor your soft social-democratic utopia as much as anyone.
Socialism covers a wide range of ideologies- militarist socialism, nationalist socialism, Islamic socialism, Christian socialism, Marxism- some of which are more democratic than others. That said, I don’t see how you can argue that _most_ of the economy should be in the private sector (as in Western Europe) without stripping the term ’socialism’ of all meaning. The Western European countries are simply not socialist in any meaningful sense. That term would be better reserved for countries like Venezuela and Bolivia.
I believe you’re wrong about the fishing industry. According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics the most dangerous occupations are (in that order) commercial fishing, logging, aircraft pilots and steelworkers.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cfoi.nr0.htm
July 5th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
They can be compared quite accurately along one axis – $$$. Actually, $92k per annum is quite a bit higher than the household incomes of most bloggers, I’d wager.
Screw that. It’s all about tha Benjamins.
Nutella asked, What does being against Palin have to do with respect for the working class?
Precisely this, Nutella: the right works very hard to muddy the waters when it comes to issues of economic class, by reframing them in terms of stereotypes about brawny red-state hard-workin’ folk vs. effete blue-state elitists. This has the added benefit of allowing you to cast uber-rich, Ivy League sons of Presidents on the side of the workin’ folk.
July 5th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
And the Palin freak show continues:
Sarah Palin, via Twitter: God told me to sue the internet
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/05/sarah-palin-god-told.html
July 7th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
OK Biden is “dumber” than Palin is false
FACTS
Biden graduated near bottom of class from U of Delaware
then got law degree from Syracuse
Palin attended 4 different colleges including 2 stints at University of Idaho.
So intellectually I think Joe has one degree more than Sara. And Joe did finish undergrad degree on time and at same institution. He also passed BAR exam.
Palin is a joke. She crows about family values, while her teenaged daughter gets pregnant. She was so absorbed in herself she couldn’t keep track of her own family. Her only redeeeming value is her MILF factor.
As one McCain strategist recently said “Watching Palin is Like watching a Moose on rollerskates….. Not pretty but very entertaining.”
We will be listening to and watching Palin crammed between Hannity and Beck. One more chatterbox that has absolutely no knowledge of what they talk about.
My real question is when did incompentance and intentional ignorance become the benchmark for political punditry?