*
(h/t Joe)
Update – “Biegun, who spent dozens and dozens of hours briefing Palin on these issues, is happy to defend her, on the record, under his own name.”
And ” [Newsweek] might want to check out Wikipedia before publishing the next batch of Palin smears.”.
Beware of the woman scorned. She will bide her time and come back as the spokesperson for the white trash label that was placed on her. She will surprise
The two Liberal candidates that ran for President
gave no home for the right wing voter.
McCains camp can now go back to their ‘bipartisan’
(see Liberal) agenda.
McCain was simply the lesser of two evils.
That wasn’t enough this time.
The smears on Palin simply shows that she is dangerous to the “Red Tory” brand of Republican
Time for right wing Republicans to take back the party from the Democrat friendly bunch currently screwing it up.
History has shown over and over that when the Republicans run on a conservative platform, they crush. When they try to take votes from the mushy Liberals, they lose.
Bush was another fiscal Liberal. This was the actual the beginning of the end for the Republicans.
If all the ‘smart’ politicos would just get back to basics, the electorate would respond.
Palin wasn’t the right person for the time.
I have no idea how intelligent she may be, but because of her environment she hasn’t been exposed to a typical liberal arts education, therefore she can’t Latinize and talk much (I would guess) about past civilizations, and European history, cold war politics, etc etc.
That doesn’t mean that she isn’t a good decision maker, or doesn’t have brains, or would be a bad leader.
It just means that in general Western societal leadership terms, she doesn’t have the typical “tool bag” that other typical political leaders have, because they’ve grown up in a stereotypical educational trajectory.
My favorite unorthodox politician is Harry Truman, again who didn’t fit the mold. But he was extremely inquisitive and well read, mostly self-educated.
I wonder if Palin will be able to run on a campaign of “Hope and CHange”?
Via David Thompson:
davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2008/11/fairness.html
As a business owner who employs 30 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barack Obama will probably be our next President, and that my taxes and carbon fees… will go up in a big way. To compensate for these increases, I figure that the customer will have to see an increase in my costs to them of about 20%. So connect economic ankle to shin, shin to knee, knee to thigh, and I will have to lay off roughly 8 of my employees in my forced tithe to “The One.” This really, really bothers me. I believe we are family here and I wasn’t sure how to choose who will get to stay and who will have to go.
So, I strolled through the parking lot this morning and found 8 Obama bumper stickers on my employees’ cars. These folks will be the first to be laid off.
Fair?
Has anyone else noticed all these stories over the last few days about Palin regarding geography? Re; Africa, North America.
They are obviously bald face lies but the media is regurgitating them over and over.
It speaks to the RNC machine that they have not stopped these lies dead in their tracks.
Palin was the only reason they got as much of the conservative base as they got. With three liberals running on the two tickets, they needed someone they could relate to.
Doug…did anyone notice how little air time Obama got when he mentioned that he had visited all 57 states!?? Now that was just a slip of the tongue.
Guess that’s what happens when you learn geography in Indonesia.
“They are obviously bald face lies but the media is regurgitating them over and over.”-Doug
So where is your proof that they are obvious “bald face lies” Doug?
When there is that much smoke there is probably fire.
Perhaps the RNC is not trying to stop the rumours cause they also want her out of the picture for good. I think she is too polarizing to be a successful candidate. She is a love her or hate her politician. If her approval rating is a 50% plus sure but I dont see it happening, IMHO.
Erik, I would change it to ‘Palin wasn’t the right person for ‘this political’ time.
But at the rate the world economy is going, Palin sure would be the right survivalist person to have as a leader in the future.
Either her or Kate.
Ok, Kate it is.
I voted for McCain, not because of him, because of Palin. I knew McCain had crossed the rep’s many times and I never really wanted him, but as we all saw. The MSN gave us him.
Now that it’s over look what we see. McCain’s people and I bet him too are trashing her instead of themselfs looking in the mirror.
Well I can say one thing for McCain, next time to cross over to join with the dem’s on a bill. Just stay there!
And how about Biden saying FDR went on tv.
The msm ignored lots of serious gaffes, and now are slowly starting to ask questions. As Rush says, they have to try and CYA when the truth finally ges out to the public. Love the guy that will fire O supporters first. Most of his voters never thought his great ideas would affect them first. They are not big oil so had nothing to fear.
Good observation doowleb.
Two points which helped Obama that I haven’t seen mentioned post mortem:
1) Obama appearing on O’Reilley factor and Bill stating afterwards that he was impressed by Obama’s fight, determination and conviction. I had Fox on sat radio during the whole week of convention and Bill’s interview with Obama was interesting to hear, remember no TV visual aid. Obama never backed down from Bill unlike the Barney Frank interview where Bill smited Barney over the Freddie Mac Fanny Mae debacle. Bill, the “long island Liberal” or more closely a JS Mills classical liberal in the sense, who speaks on behalf of the right in America gave Obama credibility to many of the undecideds who watch the Factor.
2) Colin Powell’s announcement was the final nail for the undecideds. When a guy who was the salesman for the Iraq war on behalf of the Bush admin. comes out and backs an individual who opposed that same war originally, those centrist Americans, those undecideds, who also backed Bush than but eventually resented how the war turned out, finally had their redemption.
Game, set, match with a little help from 2 so called conservatives.
As others have mentioned America isn’t any less conservative today than it was last week. Even California and 6 other states rejected gay marriage on Tuesday and anyone can see the spending of the Bush years as anything but conservative. Just as doowleb states, the so called politicos and punditocracy who claim to speak and act on behalf of Conservatives in America led to the election of Obama.
If only Governor Palin had been a victim of something, anything. But no. She just HAD to be college graduate and independent women and a success. She foolishly encourages her kids in good times and sticks up for her kids in rough times. Perhaps if she bad been ugly, or fat or that “thing” we can’t even mention anymore. What self-loathing feminist could accept such a person?
What PC liberal man (?) could even consider looking at the legitimate resume of such a candidate? Imagine for one second if the press had crucified a person of colour on the same twisted and misinformation based jihad that the MSM went on to ensure that no woman who achieved success on the basis of merit got a fair viewing by the American electorate. I’d feel sorry for Governor Palin except she would slap my face for feeling sorry for her and she would be right to do so. So how about this; “I have a daughter, Governor Palin, and I sincerely hope she sees you as a role model, I certainly do.
“The smears on Palin simply shows that she is dangerous to the “Red Tory” brand of Republican”
BINGO
Sometimes you must be careful what you wish for. S.Palin is exactly who we thought she was! She’s a reformer, and the old’boys might soon find out they are next in the scope. That is why they attack Palin at this time, out of fear.
Conservatives MUST stop letting the other side define who we are. As long as S.Palin is a factor in national politics, the left and the media are not going to relent on the attacks. No one can truthfully believe that S.Palin hurt the McCain ticket, the people who suggest it are either partisan Democrats, or Republicans who fear for themselves under S.Palin’s leadership.
One should ask themselves what kind of person would choose to live for the next 4 years under this scrutiny? I for one would not blame her if she said f’it.
Until people start attatching names them I wouldnt pay too much attention to this.
Proof, there is no proof either way, but this is the same as the “she wasnt pregnant rumour”…the outlandish accusation gets made then people cluck when you dont stoop to prove it was untrue.
Provide some credible proof that the accutsation is true then it is worthy of denial. But “Mean Girl” like gossip using Newsweek as the “burn book” just isnt worth the time.
Palin may not be qualified, the bigger question is why are staffers so interested in hauling her down. I understand why the media is interested in fuelling it. MCCain ran an average to below average campaign, this was the prediction when he clinched the nomination because his team, like Dion’s, was staffed with lots of rookies and neophytes.
You just walk away and call it a learning experience.
A select few are dumping on Palin, but she is a smart capable gal.
The proposition that Sarah Palin cost John McCain votes is nonsense. Those on the extreme left wouldn’t have voted Republican in any case. Sarah charged up the core voters and John appealed to the middle road. In the end the combined ticket still pulled up 55.6 million votes. Nowhere near a complete blowout.
Notably the Same Sex Marriage ban ballots were won in California (no less), Arizona and Florida. The proposition that social conservatism, even in normally libertine California, was a tipping point on the ticket is not born out by these referendums.
As Mark Twain would have it, vis a vis social and fiscal conservatism is hardly dead:
“The news of my demise is greatly exaggerated.”
In my view, the worst financial crisis in some 80 odd years, would be a better bet. The hurricane just happened to land in the middle of the election.
Considering the McCain/Palin ticket was outspent by 5 to 1, and some discontent with now 8 years of a Bush presidency, the Republican ticket was getting ‘long in the tooth’ in ‘guilt by association’ rightly or wrongly. In the longer run, history may in fact be kinder to Bush than the MSM cheer leading squad.
The McCain/Palin ticket probably did as well as one could reasonably expect given the headwinds they were fighting.
Take the loss graciously, retool, regroup, refocus and be ready for 2010.
The blame game is for poor sports.
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
Frankenstein Battalion
2nd Squadron: Ulanen-(Lancers) Regiment Großherzog Friedrich von Baden(Rheinisches) Nr.7(Saarbrucken)
Knecht Rupprecht Division
Hans Corps
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North
Watch for Palin to run for senator in the next
senatorial elections. Give her some time to get her feet wet in Washington first and then- Watch out!
I hear many times that America is a “center right” country.
But perhaps a better term would be the people who vote are center right. This time was different the left and youth showed up.
I dont think that the Calif prop 8 is a good example as Glenn stated. It was a narrow victory with a very confusing question (vote no if you want it-vote yes if you dont) there is bound to be a few voting errors on that one.
Palin’s biggest flaw was she was inexperienced and unprepared for what awaited her …
In the past I have walked into a job interview where the people in charge obviously did not want to hire me. They had someone else in mind and the interview was (more or less) a formality that was forced upon them. Questions appeared out of both left and right field which are designed to be either so specific or so abstract that they’re difficult to handle well.
This is what Sarah Palin walked into being that the news media really did not want McCain (and McCain-Palin in particular) to win the election. At times she froze up which is understandable … an example of this was when she was asked which newspapers/magazines she read; personally I would have answered that “I don’t read any newspapers or magazines, they’re a dead format. I get most of my news from Google-News which is an aggregation of all news sources so I get a far less biased view of the world”
By the time we’re heading into the 2016 election, Sarah Palin will have been around for long enough (and will have dealt with the media for long enough) that she will be able to have a very strong run for the presidency
Is “self made” a bad thing now? B.O. never ran anything profitably and despite all the puffery I have not heard he has used a shovel or hammer in his life. I think the Palin bashing is self flagellation for having too easy a life and feeling threatened.
In any major election campaign, particularly the U.S. Pres., there are winning sides and losing sides. The wining campaign workers get to write (at big fees) the “how to books”, and get on T.V. and mag covers,the losing workers try to cover their butts with “its not my fault” I had a stupid candidate who did not follow my winnig ideas. I note in passing Carl Rove is about to write his on the Bush wins.
Stephen
There is a considerable difference in info source when ALL of the media outlets report the latest stories compared to the pregnancy example that was on crap blog pages that you are using as a defence, as they all must be false then.
it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck….
Have to agree with a lot of you about SP. The R’s had to pick a VP that wouldn’t outshine the Joh Mc. Unfortunately they picked Palin while she was a rosebud and to their discomfort she blossomed during the campaign. Now the problem for the Republicans is that she has been exposed to the American public and has been resoundingly accepted by them. The Republicans now have to discredit her and remove her as a threat for the next election, problem is she resonates with the people and if she plays her cards right there is a great possibility that with four years to groom herself she could be elected as the first woman independant president in America. This would greatly overshadow Obama’s distinction as the first “black” president. Both the Dem’s and the R’s know that SP could be a force to be reckoned with in 2012. Look for the Dem’s to try and curtail the power of the internet during the next four years since they know that the MSM will be of little value to them if the real truth gets out there through sites like this and others.
You should check out what Bob Parks aka Black & Right has to say about this!
The so-called “women’s groups” certainly showed their true colours during the campaign. Sarah Palin is the governor of a state for God’s sake … granted, not a large state, but a state nonetheless. This position is not simply handed out. She has shown herself to be independent, hard-working and able to get things done.
Yet the feminists took great pains to savage her at every opportunity when, in fact, they should have been heralding her accomplishments.
I wonder if Palin would have received more support from these groups if she had achieved her successes via some whiny,grievance-driven route or been rewarded through some gender-based affirmative action program.
The feminist rejection of Palin was based on fear, loathing and envy … plain and simple.
she hasn’t been exposed to a typical liberal arts education, therefore she can’t Latinize and talk much (I would guess) about past civilizations, and European history, cold war politics, etc etc
palin thought africa was a country. since when is world geopraphy a liberal art?
I think if Palin was running for anything other than a lackey job (Vice Prez) she’d get demolished. However, in 4 years a person can learn alot. She just needs some serious education about the world outside of Alaska…thinking that South Africa is just a region of the country Africa, etc. isn’t just a gaffe like saying there’s 57 states, its a fundamental ignorance of the rest of the world.
Once she brushes up on stuff like that, figures out what her policy and beliefs are (i.e. campaign platform) she might have a shot.
RofC,
“There is a considerable difference in info source when ALL of the media outlets report the latest stories compared” in what way? Media outlets are just regurgitating the original story. If the original story is false, it being repeated over and over doesn’t make the story true.
I guess, if you tell a lie over and over people will believe it.
Do you actually believe it when an ‘anonymous source’ says that a person with a communications-journalism degree, doesn’t know that Africa is a continent or is your first thought that the source may be less than credible?
Glenn and others
for the last time O’REILLY IS NOT A CONSERVATIVE!
My friend R. the Pennsylvanian was a card-carrying Republican until 1999. Since then he has drifted farther and farther to the left and is now a certifiable moonbat; but I believe him when he says that the Republican party backroom boys are complete scumbags. The treatment of Sarah Palin tends to confirm his view.
jeff davidson
“We” (whomever that includes) live in a rarified atmosphere.
I’ve watched segments of “Jay Walking” a few times on YouTube, and have been totally astonished
“Jaywalking: A pre-taped segment where Leno asks people questions about current news and other topics in public areas around Los Angeles (usually Hollywood Boulevard, Melrose Avenue or Universal Studios). Most responses are outrageously incorrect (one person believed that Abraham Lincoln was the first president, another could not identify a picture of Hillary Clinton. etc).” (from wikipedia)
I don’t know who is behind this assasination of Palin, but I agree that the backroom Republican leaders are scum. I don’t see how Palin can come back from this. It’s a given that nobody really knows whether it is true or not, and there are people named Romney who want Palin gone. Now! Trouble is that the press hates Palin. When she was presented unfiltered by the press, she was very effective, but that doesn’t matter, does it? This stuff will get repeated endlessly, like the meme that Bush lied about Iraq. To this day I have never got a lefty to give an example of an actual Bush lie, BTW. It will be the same with Palin.
If the Republicans think that trashing Palin is going to get anybody to like them, they are beyond stupid.
erik,
it is unreasonable to expect a candidate for vice-president to have a grade 6 education?
Cut her some slack, Jeff. She started out as a journalist.
Palin was the only reason they got as much of the conservative base as they got. With three liberals running on the two tickets, they needed someone they could relate to.
In the past I have walked into a job interview where the people in charge obviously did not want to hire me. They had someone else in mind and the interview was (more or less) a formality that was forced upon them. Questions appeared out of both left and right field which are designed to be either so specific or so abstract that they’re difficult to handle well. This is what Sarah Palin walked into
she has been exposed to the American public and has been resoundingly accepted by them
When she was presented unfiltered by the press, she was very effective, but that doesn’t matter, does it?
Some people need to get out more. A LOT more.
Before Katie Couric’s interview with Palin, McCain-Palin were above Obama-Biden in the polls. AFTER the interview, immediately after, that flipped and never went back.
She looked like a complete fool in the Couric interview as acknowledged by many Republicans and conservatives. And the questions by Couric were completely fair and ordinary – no “gotchas” – and Couric gave her plenty of chances to give a full answer. Heck, she looked like a complete fool in Hannity’s interview and he gave her the answers when she stumbled. THAT was Palin unscripted and “American” did not and do not resoundingly accept her. Very much the opposite. Hardcore rightwing Americans do, no question, but since when is someone merely sharing the same beliefs as you the equivalent of competence?
Ted
I agree, sadly, Palin was overeager to attempt to prove herself when she was not yet “ready” and not versed in the art of obfuscation.
When asked which papers she read, (other have provided model answers), one ploy would be to say “well, I try not to name names, because that favours one brand over the other. i like to get my information from a broad range of sources, not only print, but also electronic media such as television or through different websites. Exposure to a wide variety of views helps me see the viewpoints of others”.
etc, etc, blah blah blah.
In my opinion, journalists have become extremely lazy over the past few years, letting their subjects get away with answers like that, unless they have personal antipathy towards the people.
Boilerplate non-answers seem to have gone over well with certain candidates, and certain areas seem to be “off-limits”.
I was hoping really hard that she would prevail but she did not. I think some of that was because of naivete, poor handling and being skewered by the very people who should have been helping her. She was not the typical “fem” politician. The press was absolutely brutal. She was pilloried for some of the things she said, while Obama and Biden said equally questionable things (and worse) but were never ridiculed over and over again for them. I consider it far more worrisome when the new President considers HIS country to consist of 57 States than for Palin to mistake Africa for a country–though they’re both rather surprising errors for persons who are aiming at leading the USA. And for some reason now, members of the Republican campaign machine are dumping on her (anonymously of course) trying to blame her for their loss. Why should she bear that responsibility? She was chosen because of qualities that they thought might appeal to a certain demographic and she more than delivered. If they read the voters wrong or if they retroactively wish Ms. Palin had been something other than what she was, it’s their own fault. If fault can be ascribed, it was mostly due to the financial meltdown that occurred right in the midst of the campaign. People were scared, betrayed and angry and they had no better way of expressing that than voting against the Republicans. Nobody is talking anymore about McCain’s unsuitability because of his age and health but if the Republicans want to savage themselves over this loss, they should spread the blame around a little more equitably than throwing all of it on Ms Palin.
It must be obvious, even to those that believe what they see and hear in the MSM, that Palin was set up by members of McCains loyal staff. This would include the fake phone call from the Quebecer posing as Nicolas Zarkozy. The staffer must have told her the French President was on the line for her to take the call.
McCain like Dole is an old man and women will not vote for an old man. The Republicans cannot seem to figure that out.
Indiana Homez,
that’s why I called him a Long Island Liberal.
Maybe you should let the rest of America know. We don’t get to vote.
palin added 20 million votes to the ticket.
“Hardcore rightwing Americans”
Like the ones in California who voted for Obama and for a ban on gay marriage? Those hardcore rightwing Americans? or some other hardcore rightwing Americans? Maybe the ones in Florida who did exactly the same thing? Those ones?
Stupid, meaningless terminology forms the basis for most political discussion. Which is stupid. It makes me want to stick pine cones up my nose and rabbit punch myself into a coma while jumping up and down on broken bottles of iodine. Really.
McCain like Dole is an old man and women will not vote for an old man. The Republicans cannot seem to figure that out.
Reagan’s youth was his winning strategy I guess.
Still won’t forget Reagan’s zinger with Mondale, which my son and I were looking at yesterday.
“I don’t want to make age an issue in this campaign. I will never hold my opponents youth and inexperience against him!”
One for the Gipper.
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
Frankenstein Battalion
2nd Squadron: Ulanen-(Lancers) Regiment Großherzog Friedrich von Baden(Rheinisches) Nr.7(Saarbrucken)
Knecht Rupprecht Division
Hans Corps
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North
“Like the ones in California who voted for Obama and for a ban on gay marriage? Those hardcore rightwing Americans? or some other hardcore rightwing Americans? Maybe the ones in Florida who did exactly the same thing? Those ones?
No like the ones who are dogmatic in their beliefs and support, the ones some like to call “the base”, the ones who would never consider voting for a Democrat, the ones Karl Rove identified as those who stayed at home rather than vote Bush Sr. or Dole. The ones who believe in, among other things, no abortion, no gun control, no equal marriage and would never vote for someone who believed otherwise on any of those issues.
The “20 million” old white guy thinks voted McCain-Palin only because of Palin. Like to know what evidence there is for that, actually, because I don’t buy it although I accept that it could be true.
One thing that was certainly documented as true – both in polling and in fundraising – is that Palin inspired at least as many voters to vote Obama as McCain. Couple that with the fact that the Republicans dropped as soon as she wasn’t reading from a teleprompter and you have to conclude that, even if she did “energize the base”, she was clearly a net negative for the Republicans.
Here’s what I said on August 29th, as her selection was announced:
__________________________ quotes self!
My first thought was that this seems initially like a clever pick.
But on second thought it becomes too obvious a ploy to pick up the “young” and “woman” vote, and smack of opportunism. More importantly, although she seems like a fine person, she is young and seemingly very inexperienced in US government, let alone on the world stage. It becomes very hard to criticize Obama on the very real issue of lack of experience (the most important one, in my mind) when you are picking a similar, or even weaker in that regard, person to be a heartbeat of a 70+ year old from the presidency.
Dunno how this will play out in the coming weeks, but I am concerned that this will not work out well.
____________________________end quote.
In hindsight, I think I was right. Painfully so.
She does seem like a good person. And it did seem like she was in totally over her head. After a good convention speech, it spiraled down into a disaster. The media destroyed her, and will do so again next time.
Personally, I don’t think she has a future in national politics. And if she is on the ticket in 2012, and if the next Republican ticket does not get itself into the 21st century, the US will remain an “obamanation” for longer than 4 years.
Well said eyeswideshut. Speaking of ignorance, Obamma claims his grandmother, born in 1923, lived through two World Wars and the Great Depression!
People need to quit slamming “the base”. These are the people who affect change from within. The “undecided” may be pandered to during the campaigns, but it is “the base” who steer the ship.JMO
Agree Lori – and I would guess that some of the dirt that is coming out now is a “shot across the bow” for Palin should she still harbour those ambitions.
Gawd, why do I keep on reading “seems initially like a clever *pick*” incorrectly?
It worries me to think that rather than going off behind the woodshed to repair itself, the Republican party is now going to engage in 2 years of civil war to decide which direction they are going in.
They had a pretty good run in the last 10 years, and tt may be that more than one election failure is needed to convince American conservatives that the Carl Rove approach is not the right one.
Sure seems like our Liberals need more than one election failure to “get it”, but for that I am grateful. I will not be pleased about 8 or more years of demoncat rule in the US.