October 20, 2008

"Politics in a democracy are always 'vulgar' — since democracy is rule by the 'vulgus,' the common people, the crowd."

Writes William Kristol, rankling at Peggy Noonan's "In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics."

I've read both columns, and it is Noonan's that moves me to quote more:
No news conferences? Interviews now only with friendly journalists? You can't be president or vice president and govern in that style, as a sequestered figure. This has been Mr. Bush's style the past few years, and see where it got us. You must address America in its entirety, not as a sliver or a series of slivers but as a full and whole entity, a great nation trying to hold together. When you don't, when you play only to your little piece, you contribute to its fracturing.
Noonan isn't looking for an eggheadedness, just coherence.
I gather this week from conservative publications that those whose thoughts lead them to criticism in this area are to be shunned, and accused of the lowest motives. In one now-famous case, Christopher Buckley was shooed from the great magazine his father invented. In all this, the conservative intelligentsia are doing what they have done for five years. They bitterly attacked those who came to stand against the Bush administration. This was destructive. If they had stood for conservative principle and the full expression of views, instead of attempting to silence those who opposed mere party, their movement, and the party, would be in a better, and healthier, position.
And now I'm moved to go back to Buckley's column, which I only skimmed last week:
This campaign has changed John McCain. It has made him inauthentic. A once-first class temperament has become irascible and snarly; his positions change, and lack coherence; he makes unrealistic promises, such as balancing the federal budget “by the end of my first term.” Who, really, believes that? Then there was the self-dramatizing and feckless suspension of his campaign over the financial crisis. His ninth-inning attack ads are mean-spirited and pointless. And finally, not to belabor it, there was the Palin nomination. What on earth can he have been thinking?

All this is genuinely saddening, and for the country is perhaps even tragic, for America ought, really, to be governed by men like John McCain—who have spent their entire lives in its service, even willing to give the last full measure of their devotion to it. If he goes out losing ugly, it will be beyond tragic....

As for Senator Obama: He has exhibited throughout a “first-class temperament,” pace Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s famous comment about FDR. As for his intellect, well, he’s a Harvard man, though that’s sure as heck no guarantee of anything, these days....

I’ve read Obama’s books, and they are first-rate. He is that rara avis, the politician who writes his own books. Imagine. He is also a lefty. I am not. I am a small-government conservative who clings tenaciously and old-fashionedly to the idea that one ought to have balanced budgets. On abortion, gay marriage, et al, I’m libertarian. I believe with my sage and epigrammatic friend P.J. O’Rourke that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take it all away.

But having a first-class temperament and a first-class intellect, President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren’t going to get us out of this pit we’ve dug for ourselves....
Buckley's explanation makes perfect sense to me.

122 comments:

Henry said...

Interviews now only with friendly journalists?

Isn't that the definition of the Obama campaign?

Anonymous said...

Noonan was so full of crap that Kristol can be forgiven his lapse into stupid pedantry about the meaning of "vulgar". (Bill, in this language we choose words based on their meaning in common usage, not on their etymology.)

Wince said...

Ed Morrisey begs to differ on the Palin meme, citing CBS:

Who lives in the Cone of Silence? Obama and Biden.

posted at 9:50 am on October 20, 2008 by Ed Morrissey

Cone of Silenece

It’s become common wisdom that Sarah Palin doesn’t make herself available to the national news media, while Barack Obama and Joe Biden have confidence in their experience and gravitas.

Unfortunately for those who buy into that meme, CBS News has discovered the opposite. Palin now meets with the press on a regular basis, while Obama continues to snub the press and Biden has fully retreated into his own Cone of Silence:

It was less than two weeks ago when Sarah Palin astonished her traveling press corps by lifting the curtain (literally) and journeying to the back of her campaign plane to answer reporters’ questions for the first time after 40 days on the campaign trail. But the candidate who has been criticized for having a bunker mentality when it came to the national media can now lay legitimate claim to being more accessible than either Joe Biden or Barack Obama.

In the past two days alone, Palin has answered questions from her national press corps on three separate occasions. On Saturday, she held another plane availability, and on Sunday, she offered an impromptu press conference on the tarmac upon landing in Colorado Springs. A few minutes later, she answered even more questions from reporters during an off-the-record stop at a local ice cream shop.

By contrast, Biden hasn’t held a press conference in more than a month, and Obama hasn’t taken questions from his full traveling press corps since the end of September.


Remember when press availability meant the measure of a candidate? That would have been in September, when Democrats jeered at Palin for living in a bubble. She can’t handle the press, they said — how can she handle the job of a VP, or President, if necessary?
That smirking was entirely hypocritical at the time, and is even more so now. Obama has been famously resistant to media scrutiny. In one Texas appearance, he proclaimed frustration over having to answer more than eight questions. Biden, meanwhile, has disappeared after a series of gaffes that make Dan Quayle look like William F. Buckley. Do you suppose he’s afraid to answer questions on math?

Palin, meanwhile, has begun to charm the media. Scott Conroy reports that Palin has improved substantially over her poor performance in the Katie Couric interview on his network, both in poise and detail. Palin has no hesitation in answering nuanced questions on policy, especially on economics. She’s enjoying it so much that Palin’s press secretary now has to intervene to pull the candidate away from the press, rather than the other way around.

So which ticket can handle media scrutiny — and which ticket runs from it? Conroy has the answer, but apparently the Tanning Bed Media doesn’t want to report it …

Anonymous said...

Can we please retire the lie that Christopher Buckley was fired from National Review, when in fact he was temporarily filling in for Mark Steyn; tendered his resignation, apparently not expecting to be taken up on it, but was taken up on it upon Mark Steyn's return; and only expressed his surprise and questioned National Review's motives ex post facto?

The most sickening aspect of this electoral season has been how everyone who aligns themselves with Obama is taken at face value, and everyone who opposes Obama is a dishonest hack. It's very nearly a perfect inversion of the truth.

Richard Fagin said...

"But having a first-class temperament and a first-class intellect, President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren’t going to get us out of this pit we’ve dug for ourselves...."

Even assuming Sen. Obama has the first class temmperament and intellect Mr. Buckley attributes to him, I do not hold out much hope to see the prayed-for understanding. Sen. Obama has already displayed not insubstantial contempt for deviations from traditional left politics.

I am sympathetic to Peggy Noonan's point of view, but how does one obtain reasonable interviews when most prospective interviewers are not merely unfriendly, but implacably hostile even to the point of dishonesty?

MadisonMan said...

You must address America in its entirety, not as a sliver or a series of slivers but as a full and whole entity

This cannot be overemphasized. If you spend your life surrounded by sycophants and yes-men (including women) then things will go sadly awry.

Methadras said...

East-Coast Elite psuedo-conservatism is the swamp that Peggy Noonan swims in. Most East-Coast conservativ(es)(ism) bear no relation to Western style conservativ(es)(ism). I read both articles as well and the entire time I'm reading Noonan I pictured her pining for her collegiate years once again. Reagan is shaking his head right now. I know I am.

Expat(ish) said...

I was, frankly, baffled about Buckley's conclusions. They may be intellectual in the sense that they promote wishing ahead of hard choices, but in no way are they conservative.

It is certainly one thing to be tired of Bush or to not like John McCain - I could certainly be put in both those camps. It is quite another to choose the candidate that less fits your entire philosophy in the *hope* that they will somehow be less bad than you expect them to be.

I am no HRC fan and the only thing that would make me vote for her would be if my other choice was BHO. Because at the end of the cycle you get two candidates to choose from, and sometimes you have to choose the lesser of two disappointments.

If I were Taiwan or Iraq I would be sh*tting my collective pants right about now.

-XC

NB: I am certainly not saying Buckley et. al. shouldn't criticize John McCain or the (horrible) Republican congress. But there is a big leap from there to voting for the other guy.

Kansas City said...

It amazes me how smart people like Buckley, Ann and Parker can disregard what Obama says he will do, and the his past actions and positions, and anticipate that once he is elected president, he will suddenly start agreeing with them. This is what Buckley said:

"But having a first-class temperament and a first-class intellect, President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren’t going to get us out of this pit we’ve dug for ourselves...."

Isn't that wishful thinking?

As to the lack of "press conferences" and scarcity of interviews, that is largely the press wanting to make itself important. I would prefer more interviews of Palin, Obama and everyone else, but how often has a press conference produced significant information?

Trooper York said...

Shorter Lace Curtain Irish Peggy Noonan:

"How dare that shanty bitch be the new face of the party. Well I never."

You know what, shes right. She will never.

Simon said...

"Buckley's explanation makes perfect sense to me."

Does it make perfect sense to predict that President Obama will behave differently to Senator Obama? I just don't understand that. Buckley's rationalization makes about as much sense as Doug Kmiec's. Noonan's is better, but deeply unconvincing. I happen to agree that the McCain campaign mishandled Palin's relationship to the press, but it is hardly surprising in light of how the press instantly and reflexively set out to destroy Palin from day - nay, minute - one.

TheCrankyProfessor said...

What I, as a fellow small government conservative raised reading National Review find bewildering about Buckley's endorsement is his willingness to VOTE for Obama.

I can imagine holding my nose and voting for McCain (if one lived in a battleground state) or voting for an interesting 3rd party candidate (I live in NYS - that's my out). But pulling the D lever with Biden on the ticket? THAT will make his father spin in his grave.

Oh, well.

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

Could someone please point out any evidence of this so-called first-rate intellect The One (PBUH) is supposed to possess?

I believe that either these people are so extremely stupid that they by contrast find Him so striking or they are just trying to be in the winning side; trying to cover themselves and be in the good graces of the tyranny that's coming.

Up to this day, I have not been impressed with anything he has said or done to consider him an exceptionally intelligent person. I perhaps think too highly of myself, but I fail to see His superiority.

Host with the Most said...

I have never been more ashamed of your intellect than in this post Ann. Which is it: Buckley is certain that McCain is unworthy because he has a record of standing up to his peers, but "hopes" Obama - who has NEVER stood up to the Democrats in his entire career(!) - WILL start the day he becomes President?

You are truly either on your way to senility or the fact that you live a sheltered - life where you don't personally even know one of the 40+ million American evangelicals - or many other heartland types of Americans - has made you unable to reason well any longer.

Henry said...

I actually agree with Buckley that Obama has a first-class mind and exceptional temperament.

But missing from this very short list of virtues is courage.

Where is Obama's moral backbone? When has he every gone against the desires of those who would promote him to power? Increasingly, to me, he resembles a Zelig-like figure, but one with the advantage of presence. He stands out, but that doesn't mean he stands forth.

Buckley expects Obama to buck the "special interest groups against whom he has (somewhat disingenuously) railed during the campaign trail" but never explains how the man's journalist-pleasing thoughtfulness translates into courage.

rcocean said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rcocean said...

Chris Buckley is known as a conservative only because of his name. Previously, he's been mostly apolitical.

He wasn't fired, he resigned. But NR would have been justified in firing him. Try to find a McCain endorsements at TNR and the Nation.

As for his endorsement. Lets see, Chris doesn't care about social issues he's a small government conservative. So, he's going to vote for a man who is a big government liberal. All righty then.

Trooper York said...

Peggy Noonan wants to be David Gergen without any balls.

Oh wait a minute; Gergen is a ball less eunuch as every Democrats favorite Republican functionary who disapproves of everything about the Republican Party.

Peggy Noonan wants to be David Gergen with a twat. Fixed.

George M. Spencer said...

Newsweek has had two revealing Palin covers. The first blazed the word "Palin tology" as though she were a troglodyte and described the shotgun she was holding as a rifle. The second cover, the close-up, has the following line: "She’s one of the folks. And that’s the problem."

How vulgar, the people, how "mindless" they are.

I will now sum up Ms. Noonan's editorial:

"Something infantilizing about this election....it's all now the faux down-home, patronizing--and infantilizing--moms and dads....[Mrs. Palin]...is a dope...Possibility of magic...man who came from nowhere...romantic realism...[she]...excites sensation...tinny lines...a new vulgarization..."

WIsh I could get paid to write dreamy, big-word, fancy-phrase bullshit like that. Imagine using the word "dope" in an op-ed piece in a major newspaper.

As for "first-class temperament," the test of a temperament is a real-world crisis. Other than campaigning, has Sen. Obama ever faced one?

Gordon Freece said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gordon Freece said...

Like a lot of people, Obama did well in school. And he looks pretty good in interviews with friendly journalists. The only time anybody's ever seen him handle adversity was just after McCain chose Palin, and he didn't do very well with it. He has had ample opportunity to lead in public life, but was unwilling or unable to do so.

Buckley likes Obama for the same reason Althouse does, as far as I can tell: His personal style is comforting. He's "one of us".

Well, I'm one of that same "us", too, and I'm having a hard time imagining how that's enough to make somebody a great president, or even a competent one.

Seriously: "He reminds me of my friends, and I hope he'll do a good job". That's a rationale for choosing him as the lesser evil, but you don't believe in a candidate for reasons like that.

With luck, Obama will govern as the timid party hack he's always been in public life, and rely on the press to hype him as a Great Leader while brainless clowns like Pelosi and Reid run the country for him.

If the media turn against him, God knows what he'll do. Of course, we might get lucky and he'll just sulk for the rest of his term.

But God help us if he tries to be the magical infallible "transformative" leader he's been hyped as.

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

What Kristol said is a point I have raised myself on this blog: democracies are in danger when they are ruled by an elite political class. Do we really need that? Do we want this?

I personally don't think we do, but many people seem to want it because they think we need it.

Simon said...

Host with the Most,
You charge, if I read you correctly, that that Althouse "live[s] a sheltered life," that she doesn't "personally even know one of the 40+ million American evangelicals - or many other heartland types of Americans," and this has deprived her of the ability to "reason well any longer." Could you explain this bemusingly insulting non sequitur?

Swifty Quick said...

No news conferences? Interviews now only with friendly journalists? You can't be president or vice president and govern in that style, as a sequestered figure.

The MSM forfeited the right to those when they were unable to stop themselves getting all giddy with the smears and lies about Palin and her family, starting right out of the shooter that very first weekend after the nomination with the lie about Trig really being Bristol's baby. And it went on and on nonstop from there. They would've gotten Sarah for their interviews, but they themselves lost the opportunity. Besides, I'd make the bet Palin hasn't been the one to call the shots about who she interviewed with and when. That would've come down from whoever it is who makes those calls in the McCain campaign, if not McCain himself.

Noonan, who I liked back when she was at the revolution, is coming across more and more like a green-eyed dilettante, a prima donna, unable to brook Sarah's success.

Baron Zemo said...

What he is saying dear boy is that the dear lady lives in a bubble in ultra leftist Madison and no more knows an evangelical than she does a Hottentot.

garage mahal said...

What he is saying dear boy is that the dear lady lives in a bubble in ultra leftist Madison and no more knows an evangelical than she does a Hottentot.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Crimso said...

"Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren’t going to get us out of this pit we’ve dug for ourselves"

Yeah, well pray (secularly or otherwise) in one hand and shit in the other, and see which one fills up first.

Baron Zemo said...

It is only a bad thing if it leads you to vote for the Hottentot.

garage mahal said...

Again, what's wrong with Hottentots?

Michael McNeil said...

Jonathan Adler at The Volokh Conspiracy also notices the CBS News piece, quoting some of what Ed Morrisey's piece also excerpts (see above), however this portion is worth repeating: “the candidate who has been criticized for having a bunker mentality when it came to the national media can now lay legitimate claim to being more accessible than either Joe Biden or Barack Obama.”

It seems that the shibboleths of the left concerning Sarah Palin are crashing almost daily.

Palladian said...

"No news conferences? Interviews now only with friendly journalists? You can't be president or vice president and govern in that style, as a sequestered figure."

Well that rules out Obama and Biden doesn't it?

Simon said...

Baron Zemo said...
"What he is saying dear boy is that the dear lady lives in a bubble in ultra leftist Madison and no more knows an evangelical than she does a Hottentot."

Yes, I get that, although I might point out that it isn't as though Althouse never interacts with conservatives or sees people advancing conservative views - she does so every day, right here. Even granting the premise, however, what I don't understand is how lack of interaction with evangelicals would deprive her of the ability to reason.

Bob said...

Palin's handling during the first few weeks have caused her to be damaged goods now. If McCain loses she has 4 years to repair that image. If I was a betting man I'd say she will look very good in about a year when the sheen comes off the Messiah. She has grown as a candidate in a way like Obama, she just started late. She's authentic and connects. She wasn't ready for the media wirebrushing at the start. But she's getting better and better at handling the MSM - a skill akin to lion taming.

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

garage mahal said...
Again, what's wrong with Hottentots?

11:15 AM


Absolutely nothing other than their very particular language which makes it impossible to know whether they are trying to get a beef fiber off their teeth after dinner or are warning you about terrible consequences of eating what you took for a wonderful delicious fruit.

Palladian said...

"I perhaps think too highly of myself, but I fail to see His superiority."

Me too. Of course, the Democratic candidate is always depicted as the intellectual by the press, because liberals are smarter than conservatives, but I've never seen evidence that Obama is extraordinarily intelligent. I suppose it's like someone who is "famous for being famous". Obama is a first-rate intellect because everyone calls him a first-rate intellect.

Baron Zemo said...

Why my dear fellow, when confronted with a difficulty or problem, a Hottentot will merely stutter or stammer. Or perhaps vote present.

Comrade Putin must be stroking his dog and smiling at the very thought. The Mullah’s are well pleased.

Palladian said...

"Yes, I get that, although I might point out that it isn't as though Althouse never interacts with conservatives or sees people advancing conservative views - she does so every day, right here. Even granting the premise, however, what I don't understand is how lack of interaction with evangelicals would deprive her of the ability to reason."

I'm wondering what it will take to get you to stop defending Althouse. It's not that she lacks the ability to reason, it seems rather than she chooses not to.

integrity said...

I agree with Noonan and all of the sane people who agree with her.

My hairdresser in L.A. is from a town of 1,500 in Wisconsin, literally right off the farm. Knew everybody in her town. She is voting for Obama with great enthusiasm, as are most of her 12 or 13 siblings. Her parents are voting for McCain, she tells me they vote on abortion alone.

What does location have to do with this? Nothing, it's about sanity and logic and reason. That's why the wingnuts don't realize just how out of touch they are.

As someone pointed out many weeks ago(I forgot who), the repub party seems to be breaking along I.Q. lines.

What is going to happen if Palin loses now and you run her in 4 years? The republican party will be destroyed from within. Excellent.

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

Indeed, my dear Palladian, it is a rather futile attempt at applying the old principle of the square table turning into a round table.*



*Some people ascribe this to Einstein who is supposed to have said that if there were only 13 men on the planet, and they were looking at a square table and then 12 of them decided it was actually round, the table would ceased to be square and become round. Alas, I have never found the original quote, and now believe it to be apocryphal.

Baron Zemo said...

My dear boy he will never brook an unkind word about his beloved. Much as you continues to defend the music of George Michael.

Love knows no reason. It just consumes you.

George M. Spencer said...

Clean the Augean stables!

Reroute Alpheus and Peneus!

David said...

I plan to vote for Obama, but I think it's understandable that Palin would tend to interview with "friendly" journalists. How often has Obama allowed himself to be subject to probing interviews, even from a press that is friendly to him and docile about his weaknesses and faults? The press coverage of this election has been exceedingly unfair to Palin and McCain. Even Peggy Noonan has become a media snob.

Chip Ahoy said...

OK, Noonan, now I know for certain you're a changeling. Who are you, and what did you do with the Republican woman who used to write speeches?

I'm seeing the real Buckley and the real Noonan tied up and gagged being held in some closet on some remote island.

As the ten year old on the design show said of his bedroom being painted, without the slightest trace of racism or irony, black is the new white.

I reject every point made in this post. Evidence it really does get insane immediately before the elections. Looking for coherence Noonan herself falls apart completely. See ya. Wudn't wanna be ya.

Jim Hu said...

Obama strikes me as reasonably intelligent, especially when you measure him against Biden, Reid, Pelosi, Kerry and Daschle.

Of course, I think Palin is probably OK by that standard too.

I think Obama's demeanor appeals to many in the punditocracy - and perhaps Althouse - precisely because of its "professorial" qualities. He seems to be very good at letting others project their hopes and beliefs onto him... kind of like the dean who listens sympathetically to your concerns about the direction of the university but then does what he was going to do all along despite those concerns. But its OK, because he nodded gravely and sympathetically when you spoke to him.

I'm also starting to think that some of the vitriol directed against Palin is related to that distorter of everything in modern American politics: abortion. I'm wondering if Palin's stance is making the Noonans of the right queasy about the logical and moral inconsistency of the rape and incest exception.

Trooper York said...

The reason Noonan and Buckley despise Palin is that poseurs always hate and fear authenticity.

Peggy is a counterfeit hand bag on the sidewalk blanket of American Politics.

Mr. Buckley is John Lindsay’s liberal republican doppelganger.

Christy said...

Noonan? Isn't she the chick who got a plum job of commenting for a big network after the VP debate? Noonan's first words were, "She killed!" Noonan says what she is paid to say, nothing more.

Ann, don't I remember you confessing to a fear of small towns a couple of years ago?

KCFleming said...

Of Noonan and Buckley, and the defense of the indefensible, I can only respond: Isn’t it pretty to think so?

Simon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Simon said...

Palladian said...
"I'm wondering what it will take to get you to stop defending Althouse. It's not that she lacks the ability to reason, it seems rather than she chooses not to."

I think that there are many criticisms that can fairly be leveled at Althouse, particularly where Obama is concerned, and I've voiced many of them myself. She's never shown any hint of being troubled by fair, evenhanded criticism offered in good faith. But when I see something that is really just an insult masquerading as an argument, or a criticism that I think is wrong, unfair, incoherent, rests on a misunderstanding of her point, &c., am I going to defend her? You betcha.

AlphaLiberal said...

Etymology is the last refuge of the exposed and morally bankrupt.

To the thread subject come this commenter post heard round the world. Courtesy of Eschaton, originating blog is Swampland. It applies here to the politics Kristol promotes.

I believe in this election we will NOT see "The Bradley Effect". Instead, we will see what I call "The Simpson Effect", meaning, Obama will get elected simply because he is BLACK, in spite of the facts that he is "guilty" of being a Socialist, a liar, guilty of being in the MIDDLE of the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae debaucle that was responsible for the financial crisis, guilty taking in over $200,000 in illegal foreign donations, helping to campaign for and continuing a friendship with Prime Minister Raila Odinga who muscled his way into his position by encouraging his followers to commit mass genocide against the oppostion party, guilty of being pals with terrorists criminals, America haters and like Ayers , Rezco, Khalidi, Odinga, guilty of manipulating ACORN and encouraging voter fraud, guilty of running for President of the US when his Indonesion citizenship disqualifies him, GUILTY, GUILTY- but nobody cares because he is BLACK- just like OJ Simpson.

(Note to conservatives and other humor-impaired: that's not satire).

Anonymous said...

The original quote by Holmes re FDR was "''A second-class intellect. But a first-class temperament!''
Mr. Buckley ,whilst never having had a conversation with BO', finds him superior to FDR in all virtues.

Rara avis, indeed.

George M. Spencer said...

Alpha--

Thank you for cleaning the Augean stables.

Anonymous said...

Obama has consistent positions? What koolaid are you drinking?
Gov Palin has more consistent positions than Obama. First Class Intellect/Obama? Is that why all his college grades have been under royal seal? Is that why his law school grades are under royal seal?
Is that why the press isn't talking about his LSAT grades?
Is that why the press isn't talking about why he gave up (or was forced to give up) his Illinois lawyer's license before 2004 (believe it was 2002 or 2003) and has never re-registered in any other state or federal jurisdiction?
Why no inquiry into whether there were any disciplinary proceedings against Obama?
But Joe the Plumber, it's earthshaking to know what liens are on his property.
I used to like Powell and Noonan, but their logic is swiss cheese and meant to keep their places at cocktail parties.

garage mahal said...

Republicans have become the loser boyfriend that got dumped and can't get over it or even contemplate why, decides instead to just get ugly and do hang-up calls and drivebys.

"If I can't have her, NOBODY can!"

This is the face of the new Republican party? Good luck with that.

Clyde said...

Frankly, many of us out here in Flyover Country have become skeptical of the notion that just because someone graduated from Harvard or Yale that they are smarter than we are. It's not the Joe the Plumbers of the nation that drove the economy into the ditch; it was the Best and Brightest who attended the Ivy League schools, the Too Clever By Half chaps who did that.

The fact that Sarah Palin didn't attend one of them and instead graduated from the University of Idaho tells us that she is one of US, not one of THEM, which is why she is so popular with regular Republicans as opposed to the elitists like Noonan.

Christy said...

Eagle Wings, according to the Boston Globe, it was 2002 when his license lapsed because politics took over more of his time. The state senate, where he voted "present" so many times was occupying all his energies. We know Clinton never let his license lapse through his governorship or presidency because he lost it so famously. Does Biden still have a license to practice law? That is curious indeed.

Trooper York said...

Peggy Noonan wants to call up the other team and give them her old team’s playbook.

She is the Brett Favre of politics.

You know what? She could very well lose in overtime. Hee, hee.

hombre said...

"Buckley's explanation makes perfect sense to me."

Buckley's explanation is just elitism coupled with the cutesy ("I pray, secularly") journalistic simple-mindedness that dominates their medium.

We don't know that Obama has a first-class temperament or a first-class intellect. We know he has first-class media relations that operate to conceal his flaws and blunders from us, first-class speechwriters and first-class degrees from Ivy League Universities that guarantee nothing.

We also know that his character is decidedly second-class and is defined by extraordinary tolerance for Chicago and DC corruption, an unwillingness to depart from partisan liberalism, and a propensity to lie about his past actions and associations while smiling into the camera. Unfortunately, among the elites, character has become insignificant to the measure of a person.

BTW, when did a liberal ideologue ever understand that liberalism is not the answer to our problems? Or do Ann and Buckley think Obama is lying to the liberals too?

Brian Doyle said...

Noonan, who I liked back when she was at the revolution, is coming across more and more like a green-eyed dilettante, a prima donna, unable to brook Sarah's success.

Um... Sarah's a failure.

Brian Doyle said...

Frankly, many of us out here in Flyover Country have become skeptical of the notion that just because someone graduated from Harvard or Yale that they are smarter than we are.

You shouldn't be.

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

Doyle said...
Frankly, many of us out here in Flyover Country have become skeptical of the notion that just because someone graduated from Harvard or Yale that they are smarter than we are.

You shouldn't be.

1:01 PM


Based on...?

Trooper York said...

One can only hope that the Obama campaign can display the gritty gutty play that will allow them to close this election season just like the ultra-liberals favorite team: The New York Metropolitans.

Simon said...

Doyle said...
"'[Noonan is] unable to brook Sarah's success.' Um... Sarah's a failure."

That's an interesting theory. She took a campaign that had been left for dead in a political environment that was deeply inhospitable to it, and brought it within striking distance of victory. If you mean only that Palin hasn't done the almost impossible, you set a high bar.

Kirk Parker said...

"It amazes me how smart people like Buckley, Ann and Parker can disregard what Obama says he will do..."

Who dat? No relative of mine, I hope.

As far as this assertion of Noonan's:

"You must address America in its entirety"

No quarrel there, but isn't the implication that the likes of Dan Rather, Helen Thomas, and Dana Milbank are somehow representative of, or proxy for, me; that addressing them is in fact adressing me? I can't imagine a more preposterous or offensive statement in the realm of political communication than that.

Beta Conservative said...

So, Cruella De Neutral includes one line from Bill Kristol and several paragraphs from Noonan and Buckley. Hmmm...

Methadras said...

TheCrankyProfessor said...

What I, as a fellow small government conservative raised reading National Review find bewildering about Buckley's endorsement is his willingness to VOTE for Obama.


It's not bewildering at all. Buckley may be a Republican, but he is no Conservative. This ridiculous notion that Republican = Conservative should not cause the confusion.

ricpic said...

Obama is an icicle. Is that what a first class temperament means?

I'm Full of Soup said...

What did Mr. 1st Class intellect / Obama get in his college SAT exam? How were his grades at Columbia? When was his last no-holds barred interview? How many months did he put off going on Fox News channel?

Intstapundit ventured the MSM is going all out for Obama because they know they are dying and it is their last chance. Perhaps Noonan and others recognize the same thing?

And don't defend Althouse Simon - she does not care about us. If she did she'd stop posting crap like this heh.

integrity said...

Simon said...
Doyle said...
"'[Noonan is] unable to brook Sarah's success.' Um... Sarah's a failure."

That's an interesting theory. She took a campaign that had been left for dead in a political environment that was deeply inhospitable to it, and brought it within striking distance of victory. If you mean only that Palin hasn't done the almost impossible, you set a high bar.



I really hate to be a dick, but someone else pointed out last week that Queen Palin would not even be able to get through your posts without a dictionary and even then would have a tough time. So stop the lying and cheekery, you love her for one reason and one reason alone, because liberals don't like her. You know she has come off thus far as a dim bulb, with seemingly no interest in politics outside of Alaska.

Stop pretending.

Stop pretending.

Fans of "Scream 3" and Parker Posey should recognize my shout out.

Clyde said...

"Doyle said...

Frankly, many of us out here in Flyover Country have become skeptical of the notion that just because someone graduated from Harvard or Yale that they are smarter than we are.

You shouldn't be."

Wow, that must be some of that Ivy League wit. What year did you graduate from Vassar, Doyle?

Jon said...

Someone said: "The only time anybody's ever seen him handle adversity was just after McCain chose Palin, and he didn't do very well with it."

One of the stupidist memes in this election, cited again by Powell the other day, was that Obama's performance during the economic crisis was superior to McCain's- that he remained cool while McCain was erratic. This completely misses the fact that for Obama, the Wall Street meltdown wasn't a crisis at all, it was a gift. The more the stock market falls, the better for him. It's easy to stay calm when things are going well for you.

Now OTOH, whenever he's been confronted with developments that have actually diminished his chances of getting elected, Obama has been plenty "erratic' himself.

Unknown said...

Buckley: "I am a small-government conservative who clings tenaciously and old-fashionedly to the idea that one ought to have balanced budgets. ... I believe ... that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take it all away."

Buckley's been drinking too much of the Obama Campaign Cool-Aid. It's obvious that Buckley's contract was not extended (he wasn't fired) simply because he's not very bright.

His 'prayer' that Obama will eschew leftist politics is beyond ludicrous and demonstrates cluelessness of epic proportions.

McCain's balanced budget plan may well be too aggressive - but at least he put Washington on notice while Buckley fails to mention that Obama's plan will expand the government budget deficits.

Buckley might have had exhibited some credibility if for example he chose to explain how and why Obama's mentorship under Wright for over 20 years serves to make Obama a better president than McCain - who admittedly has not had the benefit of Wright's Afro-centric, Black Liberation Theology, America-hating teachings.

And while he was at it he could have explained why the relationship Obama chose to have with Ayers - an admitted little 'c' communist - is a such a good thing for our nation as well.

Buckley can continue to bask in Obama's demeanor all he wants, but one thing he should know for certain: Voting for Obama will go a long way to ensuring the government will finally become big enough, and leftist enough, to "take it all away".

Simon said...

integrity said...
"[S]omeone else pointed out last week that Queen Palin would not even be able to get through your posts without a dictionary and even then would have a tough time."

Assertion isn't argument. For all the assertions that Palin is dumb or "anti-intellectual," no one has come forward with evidence or argument that supports the claim.

"Stop pretending. Stop pretending.

Repetition isn't argument, either.

I'm Full of Soup said...

And I agree with Henry. Obama has exhibited ZERO courage in his life.

He has been out there riding the breeze. Hence Obama has no record of solid, hard work, no record of determination and effort, no evidence of formulating hard opinions or executing difficult decisions. Outside of school, where are his substantive accomplishments?

integrity said...

Simon said...
integrity said...
"[S]omeone else pointed out last week that Queen Palin would not even be able to get through your posts without a dictionary and even then would have a tough time."

Assertion isn't argument. For all the assertions that Palin is dumb or "anti-intellectual," no one has come forward with evidence or argument that supports the claim.

"Stop pretending. Stop pretending.

Repetition isn't argument, either.



I dont' believe an intellectual like yourself(especially a British one) believes one thing you have said about Palin. But I think she gives you a huge boner, and that's enough for you. Screw everything else. Sometimes I think like that too. You're human.

Simon said...

AJ, she's just calling it as she sees it. If she's wrong - and she is wrong, in my own opinion - we should explain why she is wrong. Snide insults and the like are discourteous and aren't even particularly helpful. She is a reasonable person; if you think she's wrong, seek to persuade her. Give her an analysis that shifts her thinking; show her a truth that influences her feelings; try to divine, understand and speak to her concerns. Lord knows I don't do a good job of this, and I know it, but that's the only thing that's going to work, and serendipitously, it is the most appropriate deportment for a guest.

Beta Conservative said...

I remember reading in "The Best and the Brightest" that LBJ was awed by the heavy hitter intellectuals JFK has recruited. The Ivy League boys that Noonan et al apparently admire. Anyway, when LBJ was relating the story to his mentor and hero Sam Rayburn, Sam said "I'd feel a lot beter if one of them had run for sherrif once."

Halberstam then spent much of the book detailing how those great minds deepend our involvement in Viet Nam, and caused a split in America that still exists.

Why this elite devotion to the highly educated? Think there were any Ivy League lawyers at Fannie and Freddie? How about Lehman and AIG? On the board of our pals at Acorn?

Reagan was the best political mind of my lifetime, and Clinton was 2nd. One was Ivy and the other ordinary. There is absolutely no correlation between elite education and Political accomplishment. In fact, the evidence runs the other way.

Simon said...

Integrity, as I read your comment, it boils down to this: you've made up your mind about Palin and the kind of people who support her, and you seem to have an opinion of who I am, and any tension between who I am and who can support Palin in your imagination is to be resolved by presumption of bad faith. Your mistake is in the premise that one cannot have an intellect and support Palin.

Brian Doyle said...

Your mistake is in the premise that one cannot have an intellect and support Palin.

There are shakier premises.

Anonymous said...

Democracy/vulgar/Bad White People/Sarah Palin/guns/hate/fear/bigot/rural/red meat/trucks/outdoor activities/White babies/churches/beer/Faith Hill/racists/plumbers/sin/history/clinging to the past

Democrats/educated/Good White People/BuckleyNoonan/old typewriters/contempt/smugness/inclusive/arugula/Volvos/art galleries/adopted non-White babies/Starbucks/wine/Madonna/Redeemers/lawyers/salvation/historic/progressive change

Brian Doyle said...

Buckley and Noonan don't become honorary Democrats just for giving up the ghost on McFailin.

Nichevo said...

Doyle said...

" Frankly, many of us out here in Flyover Country have become skeptical of the notion that just because someone graduated from Harvard or Yale that they are smarter than we are.

You shouldn't be.
"

Let's try a syllogism:

My IQ was last measured by Stanford-Binet (or was it Wechsler?) at 152, I believe. My SATs were 780M 740V in 1989, back when 1600 was perfect. I was rejected at Harvard, Yale and Columbia.

Clinton, Bush, Gore, Kerry, Obama were accepted to Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and their IQs are reported in the 120-130 range or thereabouts.

Therefore, people who attend Ivy League colleges are not necessarily smarter than people who don't.

Klar?

Brian Doyle said...

And don't the McCain's have an adopted non-white baby? Is there anything wrong with that?

walter neff said...

Only in your mind Doyle.

Perhaps you can claim that it is really Sarah Palin's baby. I would not put it past you.

ricpic said...

Peggy Noonan wants to be David Gergen with a twat.

I thought lace curtain Irish were twatless. Live and learn.

Ray said...

Progressives want to be led and distrust people, and thus welcome governmental power and authority and fear it when power and authority is decentralized and dispersed to the people. See gun laws; the core assumption among most progressives is that their neighbor can't be trusted with the power of owning a weapon. The underlying idea of this philosophy boils down to a benevolent feudalism, where the masses are ruled over by their betters.

Conservatives are no great lovers of liberty in general, however there are enough libertarians and classic liberals attached to the conservative movement that it at least pays token service to the idea that the citizen ought to be the ultimate master of his own fate, and that government mainly exist to prevent the infringement of the rights of it's citizens. In that construct there's no real need for an exceptional leader, because mainly a leader is tasked simply with being your proxy and acting as you would act. the core assumption there is that you are smart enough to manage your own affairs and that it's simply inconvenient at scale, and thus the systems of representatives to speak for groups of citizens.

This is the real disconnect with the Palin issue. Progressives can't conceive that anyway would seriously entertain the notion of one of the masses actually being put in charge of something. And the other side is perplexed as to why anyone would object to the qualifications of someone that's actually been an exective. Neither side understands that it boils down to class, to caste. Distilled, that's what Buckley's column was all about; it's pretty much straight out of Victorian England. Well I don't agree with this Obama chap, but at least he's a proper gentleman. McCain's trying to get elected with the scullery maid's daughter.

And why wouldn't progressives build a caste system around going to the right schools and knowing the right people? They've ensconced themselves pretty deeply in education, and that makes them the gatekeepers of the system, making sure that whoever goes through it has been 'vetted' (the new word of the year). That Sarah Palin didn't go to Harvard and spend junior year in Europe matters because a Sarah Palin who had, in all likelihood, wouldn't be a moose hunting, antiabortion conservative had she done so. It would've been indoctrinated out of her. This is why progressives are so big on credentials; as much as they're a mechanism to prove qualifications, they're more useful as a political shibboleth, shorthand for the 'correctness' of your viewpoints.

Revenant said...

[we are] skeptical of the notion that just because someone graduated from Harvard or Yale that they are smarter than we are.

You shouldn't be.

So you admit that George Bush is smarter than you? :)

Brian Doyle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Henry said...

Jim wrote: Reagan was the best political mind of my lifetime, and Clinton was 2nd. One was Ivy and the other ordinary. There is absolutely no correlation between elite education and Political accomplishment. In fact, the evidence runs the other way.

Well said.

Think there were any Ivy League lawyers at Fannie and Freddie? How about Lehman and AIG?

I'm reading Michael Lewis's Liar's Pokers at the moment. It covers the start of the mortgage bond business. In the process a bunch of really brilliant guys at Salomen Brothers managed to destroy their own investment bank. The high point is when Lewis, a newly minted bond salesman, asks his more experienced colleague what he should sell.

Sell short on Salomen Brothers his colleague tells him.

rhhardin said...

Empson teaching English Lit in China

For example, I remember a Chinese student who put in an essay on the Scotch Ballads `The ballad must be simple and vulgar'. Most of the essay was spent in laborious praise of the Scotch ballads, which he felt to be required on him, but I gathered that he felt they were like popular works in China which a proud scholar would despise. That is, he knew the word had two meanings, and wanted to use it to drop an insinuation. The mistake was, therefore, an extremely marginal one ; it was merely that he took `of the common people' to be the head sense, under which `coarse' could insuinuate itself as an Implication (equated to the head sense, perhaps). But this is a definite mistake ; whatever the political or literary views of the reader, he will feel that there has been a ridiculous collapse of an attempt at tact.

``Dictionaries'' in The Structure of Complex Wordsp.403-404

mccullough said...

I want smart, knowledgeable people in government.

Obama and Palin may be smart but they don't appear to be knowledgeable enough.

McCain is smart and knowledgeable.

Biden is neither smart nor knowledgeable.

W. is smart but willfully ignorant. That's probably the most dangerous.

Clinton and H.W. were smart and knowledgeable.

Reagan was pretty smart and pretty knowledgeable.

ricpic said...

No more convoluted quotes, rh, 'kay?

Or, at least add an, in other words, for us lowbrows.

integrity said...

Simon said...
Integrity, as I read your comment, it boils down to this: you've made up your mind about Palin and the kind of people who support her, and you seem to have an opinion of who I am, and any tension between who I am and who can support Palin in your imagination is to be resolved by presumption of bad faith. Your mistake is in the premise that one cannot have an intellect and support Palin.



I do believe that, but based on actually listening to Palin herself. As I just listened to a live interview she did with Michael Medved while I was at lunch. Palin was awful, and I listened to the interview for a 1/2 hour. She is sorely lacking to say the least, and in way over her head.

I'll always believe your defense of her is a pose, until she proves to be intelligent(not just highly manipulative).

My premise is correct until then.

blake said...

I'll second Nichevo and argue that nobody wants my intellect in office, regardless of how first-rate it is.

I want a government that an idiot can run because idiots will be running it most of the time. To me that means that if it can be taken out of the government's hands, it should be.

I'll also second Junyo: It is a class thing. Palin's not part of the elite and if you think she's scary, imagine what she could do the political class: Pretty soon you could have guys in coonskin caps and wader boots and domestic beer drinking bowlers thinking they can run things. Without a single experience with the right-thinking redistributionists of the Ivy Leagues! [Gasp!]

There's really only one response needed to President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren’t going to get us out of this pit we’ve dug for ourselves and that's I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody.

Michael McNeil said...

Doyle sez:
I admit Bush is smarter than your average Bush voter, but personally I went to “Harvard or Yale.”

And what was your major, Doyle?
Same question to “Integrity.”

Me, I went to the University of California at Santa Cruz — and majored in physics.

I'd be more than happy to go head to head with Integrity, or Doyle, over our respective intelligence.

blake said...

By the way, etymology is great and important for understanding the flavors of the many synonyms of English. Over time these get merged into having the same meanings, unfortunately, due to imprecision of the users, but to not be aware of their origins is a non-trivial ignorance.

TMink said...

"President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren’t going to get us out of this pit we’ve dug for ourselves...."



Right.

Just like George Bush got more conservative after winning re-election and Neville Chamberlain really butched up after Hitler played him like a fool and Bill Ayers repented from his previous acts of terrorism.

Mr. Buckley, these are the spots on the leopard. They do not fall off.

Trey

Anonymous said...

Doyle said...And don't the McCain's have an adopted non-white baby? Is there anything wrong with that?

That is not enough to outweigh his other disgusting flaws.

Same with Todd Palin being 1/128th Eskimo.

Cedarford said...

Expat(ish) - It is certainly one thing to be tired of Bush or to not like John McCain - I could certainly be put in both those camps. It is quite another to choose the candidate that less fits your entire philosophy in the *hope* that they will somehow be less bad than you expect them to be.

Not at all. It is better sometimes for a Party that betrayed it's backers with an orgy of spending, corruption and an incompetent President manipulated by Corporatists and Neocons - to get a clean break and a sentence in the wilderness to renew itself (or die).

John McCain is an erratic man noted for his many betrayals of Republican goals over the years. He stands for more wars, more Open Borders, and the other 90% - doing what Bush II did.

If Ford had beaten Carter in 1976, we likely would have had 4 years of Republican failure in DC amidst economic crisis and then no Reagan in 1980, but a Democrat.

And people know what they would get with McCain with his near 3-decades as a DC insider, and it isn't good enough.

More wars, more spending, more debt, more tax cuts for Wall Street, more illegal immigration..and an erratic old man who has an underqualified Fundie woman as his backup.

Better roll the dice. Maybe Obama can succeed when the suspicion, even in Republicans, is that Mccain would doom us to more bad leadership. And if Obama fails, Republicans have 4 years to seriously work on fixing their failures at attracting voters outside the "Southern Base" and can offer up a better nominee than an old lifetime Senator.

*****************
Expat(ish) - Because at the end of the cycle you get two candidates to choose from, and sometimes you have to choose the lesser of two disappointments.

Yep, I'd feel a lot better if it was Hillary and Romney as nominees. Or even if Fred Thompson was running with a pledge he would consume at least 3 cups of coffee and a sixpack of Red Bull a day.

******************
Expat(ish) - If I were Taiwan or Iraq I would be sh*tting my collective pants right about now.

Add in Georgians, "noble" Darfurans, Afghans, Israeli land grabbers.
But what exactly is the American "duty to die" and spend hundreds of billions on "freedom-lovers" that bring nothing to the table in return? We don't have treaties with them.

Perhaps it is time for the Iraqis and the others - to get their shit in one sock and for Taiwan to stop refusing to spend significantly on it's own military and work harder on it's global case for more future autonomy than they have so far..And for Japan to step up.

We have our own big, big domestic problems that have been ignored too long for a period of foreign adventurism, nation-building, and providing a feast for the Corporatists.

AlphaLiberal said...

And, welcome, General Powell (and maybe Ann Althouse? is that final?) to the growing ranks of Obama supporters.

Here's hoping we can pull our country out of the ditch and get it back on the road to peace and prosperity.

Michael McNeil said...

Perhaps it is time for the Iraqis and the others - to get their shit in one sock and for Taiwan to stop refusing to spend significantly on it's own military and work harder on it's global case for more future autonomy than they have so far..And for Japan to step up.

In other words, since liberals in the U.S. are no longer willing to help defend them, it's time for Taiwan and Japan to get the Bomb and arm to the teeth.

You do know how many missiles China now has aimed at Taiwan, right? Hundreds. China's population: 1.33 billion; Taiwan's population: 22.9 million; Japan's population: 127 million (CIA World Factbook).

mccullough said...

Alpha Liberal,

Colin Powell testified as a character witness at Ted Stevens corruption trial. Said Stevens is an honest dude with a sterling reputation.

Now he's telling us Obama is the real deal, too.

William said...

I like Sarah Palin very much. My liking for her leads me to discern many things about her that most liberals would say are simply not there. Well, ok. She has a very brief record in public life and many things, good and bad, are being extrapolated about her. I admit this....My problem is that the same can be said of Barack Obama. His public record is sketchy and a lot of it is problematic. Liberals are reading a great deal into him. He gives me a strong Dinkins vibe, but I have been wrong about a lot of things....If Obama wins, he is my President, and I hope he is all the good things liberals take him to be. And I hope Russia becomes the utopia of the working man.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Simon:

I really don't care who Ann supports or who she votes for. That is what I was trying to say.

mccullough said...

By the way, in case anyone thinks very highly of Chris Buckley and his dead dad.

"The married D.C. author [Buckley] fathered an out-of-wedlock son with his former publicist, Irina Woelfle. Five years ago, he agreed to pay $3,000 a month in support but have no contact with Jonathan, now 8. His father, William F. Buckley Jr., died in February, leaving millions in his will to his only son and two legitimate grandchildren -- but specifically excluding Jonathan from any share of the estate, the Hartford Courant reports."

These guys are assholes

Brian Doyle said...

He gives me a strong Dinkins vibe

I bet he does.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

As I just listened to a live interview she did with Michael Medved while I was at lunch. Palin was awful, and I listened to the interview for a 1/2 hour

Yeah but....wasn't it hard to actually hear what she was saying with your fingers stuck in your ears chanting "la la la la, I can't hear you"

integrity said...

Dust Bunny Queen said...
As I just listened to a live interview she did with Michael Medved while I was at lunch. Palin was awful, and I listened to the interview for a 1/2 hour

Yeah but....wasn't it hard to actually hear what she was saying with your fingers stuck in your ears chanting "la la la la, I can't hear you"



She had a very supportive comrade in Medved and did not help herself at all.

Did you bother to listen to it DBQ?

I think we know who is covering their ears chanting la la la during Palin's interviews, now don't we? Hint: It ain't me.

Republican said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Republican said...

Palin is held to a higher standard than any of the men-and even when she meets and exceeds the standards, which snotty intellectual conservative pundits notice?

Kirk Parker said...

junyo,

Just to clarify:

"See gun laws; the core assumption among most progressives is that their neighbor can't be trusted with the power of owning a weapon..." unless they are on the government payroll.

For a parallel example, an AR-15 rifle is an evil "bullet hose" "assault weapon" if owned by an ordinary citizen, the sort of thing that would only be owned by someone who likes the idea that he can kill lots of people in a very short time. But the exact same rifle magically becomes the much calmer-sounding "patrol rifle" when issued to a police officer (and such issuance is becoming much more common.) Furthermore, the "killing lots of people quickly" property goes away with the name change--either that, or else the people who favor this magical transformation don't actually mind the police being highly lethal.

It's just another instance of the self-government question, really.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Did you bother to listen to it DBQ?

I was working and don't listen to the radio at work. And frankly I have no idea who Medved is.

integrity said...

Dust Bunny Queen said...
Did you bother to listen to it DBQ?

I was working and don't listen to the radio at work. And frankly I have no idea who Medved is.



You would enjoy him. He is a right-wing radio host and never strays from right-wing dogma. He is a gift to any repub that comes on his show, always makes them look great. I only listen when I am at lunch, he comes on at 12PM PST.

a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...

Buckley has his opinion. I don't see that he has added any testable evidence. I do agree with part of his analysis. There is tremendous variance in the possibile outcomes if Obama is elected. To me he is an interesting combination of fifties apparent opposites: the communist and 'The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.' I see his presidency as emanating from that 'center.' But, as the 50's song had it, Que sera, sera (unless of course contributing to the RNC now and voting makes a difference).

Simon said...

integrity said...
"I'll always believe your defense of her is a pose, until she proves to be intelligent(not just highly manipulative)."

Or, presumably, until your opinion of me drops to the point where you think I'm dumb enough to be sincere, right?

integrity said...

Simon said...
integrity said...
"I'll always believe your defense of her is a pose, until she proves to be intelligent(not just highly manipulative)."

Or, presumably, until your opinion of me drops to the point where you think I'm dumb enough to be sincere, right?




Oh, I'll never accuse you of being dumb. I think your party is under seige and the Palin thing may be a resultant mental disorder. BDS in reverse.

No matter how many theories I come up with I can't figure out how you can support her(considering what she has presented to you thus far), without being disingenuous. Can't get there.

Maybe if Obama wins you'll fess up.

Nichevo said...

"Maybe if Obama wins you'll fess up."

Sure, because nobody will object to torture done by a Dem. administration, let alone The One's. In fact, it won't even be torture, they'll call it "tough love."

For every question of Palin's abilities, how an honest person can gloss over the same questions for Obama is incomprehensible. And, of course, she is not the top banana on the GOP side.

integrity said...

Nichevo said...
"Maybe if Obama wins you'll fess up."

Sure, because nobody will object to torture done by a Dem. administration, let alone The One's. In fact, it won't even be torture, they'll call it "tough love."

For every question of Palin's abilities, how an honest person can gloss over the same questions for Obama is incomprehensible. And, of course, she is not the top banana on the GOP side.




What has Obama not answered that you want to know?

I will go apeshit if Obama in any way advocates torture, as will all libs like me. I don't think it's a matter of which euphemism is used, it's shitty policy that must be stopped. I don't want that stuff done in my name as an American.

Nobody is going to let Obama continue Bush policies.

Nichevo said...

integrity, you are too generous. Let me tee off your courteous and responsive reply:

What has Obama not answered that you want to know?

Senator, may I, or people whom I can trust, please examine:

a certified copy of your long form birth certificate

your school transcripts

your medical history

your ACORN records

and anything else you've been holding out on us? (suggestions welcome from the gallery)

Have you ever heard of the Laffer Curve? If so, do you have an opinion on the theory's validity?

What could have possibly possessed you to say to those reporters, "Can't I just finish my waffle?" To complain about being asked to continue after answering EIGHT whole questions at a presser? To scratch your head with your middle finger when speaking of Hillary?

..Oh hell, I can't go all night now, I have work early. Reserve the right to revise and extend remarks, and share time with other questioners...


I will go apeshit if Obama in any way advocates torture, as will all libs like me. I don't think it's a matter of which euphemism is used, it's shitty policy that must be stopped. I don't want that stuff done in my name as an American.

Is it torture particularly, or illegal activities in general? How did you feel, to name one example, about Al Gore saying "That's why it's covert, go grab his ass?" How do you like him going back on FISA?

Nobody is going to let Obama continue Bush policies.

I don't think you understand the powers of the President of the United States.

This deserves more attention than I can offer right now, but again, I thank you for engaging here.

From Inwood said...

TY

You've got it when you say

"The reason Noonan and Buckley despise Palin is that poseurs always hate and fear authenticity.

"Peggy is a counterfeit hand bag on the sidewalk blanket of American Politics.

"Mr. Buckley is John Lindsay’s liberal republican doppelganger.

Ya see they're channeling Sally Field:

"They like me, they really like me."

Like Peggy, let me plagiarize, or rather semi-plagiarize from a better writer:

So full of careless envy is affect,
It shows through when imposed unchecked.

(see Hamlet IV, v. 22-23).

One would think from Ms N's Locust Valley Lockjaw & sesquipedalian vocabulary that she is to the manor born. Gee she went to Fairleigh Dickinson in Joisey? Not that there's anything wrong about that! It just doesn't give one the right to look down on Sarah Palin, my dears. Peggy is MoDo's clone without the playfulness; she has ceased to amuse or entertain.

Buckley's piece contains everything one would wish for except logic. He has just written a novel, a masterpiece of satire about the vetting process for SCOTUS judges & the Joe Bidens who misuse the system & now he says: "I'm gonna vote for Joe Biden (not one of us, my dears) & for The One who will appoint guys who are supposedly antithetical (a Buckley word, you betcha) to my views, because The One has temperament & intelligence." (Where’s Lou Grant when we need him?) Yesterdays’ views, I guess.

Peggy's main claim to fame is her purloined lines from High Flight, an autobiographical sonnet by a WW II aviator.

Here's my parody:

Peggy Noonan’s

Sonnet in Praise of Her Own Nothingness

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Fairleigh D
And danced the telly on laughter-gossamer wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tummler glee
of centerist clods, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the eerie babbling. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting fools along, and flung
My eager self through footless halls of doctrinaire....
Out, out, the long, delirious, peekaboo
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor even eagle flew—
And, through my lifting mind of self-conceits
I reached that quite trespassed abode, abase,
Puckered my lips, and kissed the a** of the Elites.

From Inwood said...

Comment on NRO:

"Oh, but Obama is one of us. Not a conservative...I mean smart. Smart is the new conservative. Just ask Andrew Sullivan.

"All these Obamacons remind me of what Elaine hoped about her boyfriend:

'Elaine Benes: Well, I'm sure he's pro-choice.
'Jerry Seinfeld: How do you know?
Elaine Benes: Because he... Well... He's just so good-looking'"

Anonymous said...

I too am dismayed that so many people can't seem to accept Obama's words as an indication of what he thinks, believes or intends. I was just at Ace of Spades a few days ago, re-reading the Women's Guide to Men, Written By Men, and cam across this:

The Words That Come Out Of His Mouth: The Secret Source Of What A Man Is Really Trying To Tell You!.

It's also a handy guide to figuring out what Biden actually means most of the time.