What a Hoot: Daily Show on...Palin!

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VF and beyond on Palin

Courtesy of AP photo / J. Scott Applewhite

I am late to the party with my words below, because since 1 July when I started to think and write about the Governor from Alaska, her latest news conference--I am quitting--hit the airwaves.

It isn't news in Germany or the Netherlands and doesn't appear to be among the top stories in Britain (although another Governor seems to be getting press).

And I have been following it with great interest. Why? Why? Why?

And while I have not found an answer that satisfies my curiosity, I did find Ruth Marcus' remarks here at TruthDig worth thinking about in light of my own disdain for the almost former official. As a woman I'd like to see more women reach the top of their fields, any field. Something irks me about the Governor's role in how women are viewed in her shadowy rambling perspectives.

And this new piece at Huffington Post on narcissism, and the Governor is quite telling and cautionary.

Written on 1 July: Vanity Fair, once a magazine to miss, now provides some excellent reading material and has offered some of the best journalism articles in print.

Its story on Governor Sarah Palin here covers some of the high and low points of the nearly one year the Palin name appeared on the Republican ticket.

I not only dislike the Governor's stands on most issues, I detest almost everything she stands for: the dumbing down of America, conservative hypocrisy, religiosity at its extreme, using a pretty (or beautiful) face to sneer at foes, wink at debating partners and whine when she is criticized. She is now threatened to sue, yes sue, several news reporters and blogger for suggesting that rumours are floating around about her sudden resignation.

What is even more troubling is all the press she gets, some good, some bad, some nasty, but continuous, unrelenting looks into her twittering babbles.

The coverage gives her credence.

But it seems that sensational or tawdry sells. If we take a quick peek at what stories are read most at Yahoo, Huffington et al., they invariably are articles like the Governor of South Carolina's dalliances.

In fact, Motown, salacious emails, celebrity deaths and the like pushed the Iran election controversy off the front page(s), and buried troubles in North Korea, a coup in Honduras, the economic crisis and the importance of health care reform in the United States.

The article seemed somewhat measured. While it did attempt balance, it did not include a personal interview with the Governor (she declined), but did address her political past, both in Alaska and on the national stage.

Yet it seems that I may have a lowered reading level than some as this Yahoo piece implies prejudice on the part of the writer.

But whether my reading level has decreased or not, it is my contention that the Governor does not deserve the air time she receives, that Senator McCain made a huge professional and personal mistake in bringing her onto the world stage and elevating another narcissist to contend with on the political right of center.

Perhaps what irks me the most is the Governor's disparagement of the mind. If she had one perhaps she'd embrace it rather than reduce her sound bits to gushy platitudes and meaningless populism.

But who am I to condemn either the right or the Governor, after all more Americans watch FOX news than any other channel, and lap it up as if it were the newest ice cream flavour.

Liz Trotta on FOX....seems to agree with me:



And the Governor of Pennsylvania, speaks out here.

Palin not at her best

Yes, I admit it, I have no love for Governor Sarah Palin, and wish she'd leave the national stage--silently, and forever.

And here is another instance of Palin gone wrong, pulling stuff out of a Gingrich piece, no attribution and possibly not an original thought in her head.


It dawned on me that she reminds me of Serena Joy in the Handmaiden's Tale, Margaret Atwood's brilliant dystopian novel. Or perhaps she reminds me of all those women I don't understand who seem to take stands in society that are against their best interests.

I could name a few, but looking at the lovely Palin is enough for one day.

NB: Governor Palin and her attorney deny charges of plagarism.

After the fact: Sarah Palin

In summing up its 2008 best, this article by Noam Scheiber in The New Republic on Sarah Palin is as revealing as the review by Rollyson on Deborah Martinson's Hellman biography, but for different reasons.

And as much as I admired Lillian Hellman, liar or truthsayer, and prevaricator, I loathe Sarah Palin for the very reasons touched on in Scheiber's article. In my elitist East Coast mind, she represents the other, as in hers I represented the enemy.

But whatever my personal sentiments, these insights into the Governor's personal life, earlier than she was introduced on the national stage, are remarkable in their capacity to shine a light on how our behavior is so ingrained that even reason can and is often cast aside.

Perhaps if we had fewer Joe the Plumber stories, and less vitriol on Palin's part about regional differences (read bias) and fewer assaults on her opponent as a terrorist, she might have become the 1st female Vice President.

However, it was and remains difficult for me to take someone seriously, and as a serious candidate for public office, who can not answer a simple question.

"What newspapers do you read"; wasn't that difficult was it, Governor?

My Sentiments

Cesca talks Palin, the Republican Party and the hilarity of the Governor as the party's leader.

Just seeing her speak makes me gag, and I am sure it does nothing for Kathleen Parker's appetite, either.


Photo: Kathleen Parker

Turning a Pea into a Pumpkin, Doesn't Make it So

While I didn't agree with Weatherman tactics in the 60s, and in fact, was a staunch supporter of the war until 1968, this notion that having a cup of coffee with someone makes them allies rankles me no end.

I've had coffee with the likes of which we won't mention, but I didn't sleep with them, share their politics, values or their beliefs.

I am pleased to see Bill Ayers taking the issue on aggressively and taking time for interviews on Democracy Now but disturbed that Governor Palin seems to think this is an issue to beat to death.

Interactive--Palin

So one of my community members found this...somewhere.

Fiddle with the screen and perhaps have a few laughs (that is if you find Sarah Palin funny).

Palin for 2012

Yes, it appears that with seven days until the Election, and no sure victory either way, the talk in the media is that Governor Sarah Palin may be preparing to run for office, that office in the White House, in 2012.

And just as naturally I have an opinion.

I stay out of the chatter on FPn because I got hot just reading some of it, and gave up my moderatorship on another forum because I could hardly contain myself when I read not right versus left arguments, but statements that don't, didn't and can't make sense.

What scarces folks about other folks being smart?

I've never figured it out, not really figured it out, and now that we have a woman running for Vice President who can't name one single newspaper she reads, doesn't understand the role of the Vice President, doesn't appreciate the US Constitution, has no sense of the social democratic process, can't add or subtract the impact of shopping at Neiman Marcus and race baits openly, I understand less.


Am I an elitist? Am I left of center? Am I educated? Do I live on the East Coast of the US? Have I travelled and lived abroad?

Yes to all those questions.

And the fact that we find the Joe the Plumber story compelling enough to suggest that the snow-mobile Queen of Alaska has the credentials to be president just makes me want to gag (and I haven't eaten yet).

Why do we pride ourselves on mediocrity? What is it about the everyman that makes every man think it is all right to be uneducated but make a million, or that going to Yale or Columbia on a scholarship makes one an elitist?

Are you a parent? More politics

Do parents want their children to leave school, go into the fields and marry young? Is this the Middle American dream?

If the answer is yes, I am off the mark, and out of step.

Palin in the Voice

One of the ten things I miss most about not living in New York City is the availability of all those kiosks full of free Village Voices.

Did Sarah Slip into Mud

Well, it appears that not only are the leftie journalists after The Governor, but the likes of Dowd are taking umbrage at her joe-in-the-six-pack-beer notions.

Can't beat a little elitism in journalism, I reckon.

I suppose that means I am in good company!

More than Pens

While some may find it funny, others strange, still others electrifying, and a few ridiculous, I am finding it dangerous.

Dangerous and frightening, reminiscent of the 1960s, strangely like a Rod Sterling short in black and white, and it makes my blood boil, my heart pound and my eyebrows wrinkle up in my forehead.

What is the McCain-Palin ticket thinking of when they ramble rouse and incite a crowd?

And what is McCain up to with his preposterous invented slogans about finance, health care, the environment and the Iraqi War?

One week before Bobby Kennedy was killed at the Ambassador Hotel, I was in that dining room enjoying the company of a couple of dozen physicians who had come together, under my direction, to discuss diabetes. We all came away sated and pleased with the outcome of the symposium. Then we choked on our prime rib when we realized seven days later that there by the grace of!

I remember November 1963 and hearing the blaring radio on 43rd Street announcing, "The President was shot. The President was shot."

I can feel the pain in my chest when I remember the day Martin Luther King was assassinated and how I ran from the Academy of Medicine on 103rd Street through the Park to escape the pain of another public death.

Is Sarah Palin, consciously, attempting to set the world stage for another assassination? Is she that stupid, corrupt, miserable, uninformed, unintelligent, petty, vengeful, that she can't see that inciting is tantamount to calling for murder? Doesn't she watch Law & Order? Does she realize that instigating is as good as pulling the trigger?

I fear for us! I fear for us! I fear for Senator Barack Obama!


And after I wrote this, I read a short piece in which Senator Biden suggests that Palin-talk is mildly dangerous.

Newsweek Talks Palin

Is this the woman you want to run the United States?