"This book tour has only reinforced the tabloid aspects of her profile, wasted a platform to add substance, driven deeper the schisms in the Republican party and sucked the oxygen out of the room for anyone else to emerge. So, God bless."
They're entitled to their spin. The question is whether it makes them look worse and whether local reporters lap up what they've been spoonfed.
At the link is a list of 22 Sarah Palin "lies," such as "Palin Implies She Is The Only One To Get Questions On Her Appearance: '“Edwards, Obama, Clinton, and Biden were subjected to frequent scrutiny 'about their hair, makeup, or clothes.'" You know, if you have to use the word "implies," you ought to back away from the word "lies." Otherwise, you sound like a lunatic.
ADDED: Didn't Palin also "suck the oxygen out of the room" for Obama's Far East tour? Or did that do him a favor?
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So she is wrong to have a book tour? There are about a million political and media types who write books and do tours. Yet, Palin is the one they feel the need to condem. God, they really are threatened by her. Imagine if Ron Paul or Mitt Romney did a book tour. Would the DNC care enough to comment on it much less condem it? And what do they accomplish by the press release other than make themselves look defensive? I would think the proper answer would be "who cares".
She really does drive these people over the edge. They really are threatened by her.
The truism of the day is that Democrats own the mainstream media. But I think it would be a mistake for the DNC to act like it's true.
I used to respect Andrew Sullivan.
Now I just know he is a fanatic lunatic.
Seriously, he is in Nidal Hasan fanatic lunatic territory when it comes to going after Sarah Palin. Not legally insane, just so obsessed that he blocks out all sane discourse. Sullivan's goal is to destroy Sarah Palin.
At the link is a list of 22 Sarah Palin "lies," such as "Palin Implies She Is The Only One To Get Questions On Her Appearance: '“Edwards, Obama, Clinton, and Biden were subjected to frequent scrutiny 'about their hair, makeup, or clothes.'" You know, if you have to use the word "implies," you ought to back away from the word "lies." Otherwise, you sound like a lunatic.
I am so, so tired of regular political spin, and even politicians taking traditional political positions, being labeled as "lies". It's absurd. I keep seeing these lists of "lies" and these weird fact checkings and they are increasingly ridiculous and say nothing more than that the author doesn't like a person, or their positions. Feh.
She really does drive these people over the edge. They really are threatened by her.
Immensely. If someone can tell me specifically what it is about her, that so threatens them, I'd be very grateful.
I can only think of:
1- They perceive her as a step backwards towards Bush, who they finally got rid of.
2- The rural vs the urban.
3- The outward and sincere religiosity.
And personally, I think that they are deeply threatened by her personal life story.
A working-class, had absolutely no money background Union member; with gracious and supportive husband; a husband who furthermore, who is Native American; a son who fought in Iraq; a mother who didn't abort her Down Syndrome baby; a self-reliant, independent frontierswoman; one who whistleblew on her own Republican establishment and made it to high office on her own merits.
This is dream material for an American politician, especially a Democratic one.
And they are absolutely flummoxed that she's a Republican.
Cheers,
Victoria
A real lie is when you write that you ate X for dinner, but really you ate Y.
Why would a blogger lie about their (her) meal? I'd assume that anyone who would so easily lie about these insignificant details would also be comfortable lying about all sorts of other big and small things.
Liar is as liar does.
Actually splatchcocking is not a good analogy for what the left is doing to Sarah Palin.
This is.
Seriously.
They are simply frothing at the mouth. Spittle flying everywhere.
This is one little woman from Alaska on a book tour. They treat her like she's the Rosenbergs.
(Well, except that they'd probably welcome with open arms the Rosenbergs.)
Dang.
That is pissy snark.
Ha!
Palin can force the DNC to publish pre-emptive pissy snark.
Is that what they call an unforced error?
And there is always the risk that the local, small town reporters, will think they're being diss'ed by their betters who feel they can't come to the right conclusions on their own.
vbspurs,
You do realize that the thoughts you ascribe to others do not actually come out of their heads. Right?
Rather than fooling yourself into thinking that you can read the minds of others, perhaps you could expand on the reasons your mind has concluded that Palin is the next Thatcher/Reagan. Your insights into the greatness of Palin are so profound, I could never get enough.
Why is she freaking them out exponentially? I recall a video of a Kenyan Pastor in the Assembly of God Church who knew Kenyan witchcraft up close from warring against it in Africa took her aside and prayed a prayer of protection from witchcraft over her. That happened a year or two before she was suddenly plucked up and raised into the spotlight as McCain's VP.Sometimes the actors in the spiritual realm freak out when they are defeated by a stronger force then them.
vbspurs said...
A working-class, had absolutely no money background Union member; with gracious and supportive husband; a husband who furthermore, who is Native American; a son who fought in Iraq; a mother who didn't abort her Down Syndrome baby; a self-reliant, independent frontierswoman
Frontierswoman is more important than many would think, but independent is the key.
Sometimes we need a perspective from across the pond.
WV "autram" A guy named Gene who competed for King of the Cowboys.
Palin does truly make them insane. When a co-worker talks about Palin, she actually balls up her fists and gets purple in the face. It's a little frightening, but it's also kind of funny.
In my neck of the woods, Michelle Bachmann also drives them batty. They seem to reserve a special level of hatred for conservative women.
1jbp, Victoria isn't ascribing thoughts to anyone. She's guessing, as she clearly explains ("I can only think of ...") at what would drive people to react to Palin as they do.
Instead of ascribing motives to others, why don't you just try reading their own words?
Here is a vbspurs summarizing her own statements during the election:
"I said that with her sportscaster background, and her unabashed conservative charisma, that she was a female Reagan. She even reminded me of Margaret Thatcher, with her sledgehammer attitude. Heck, I even threw in an Andrew Jackson/Harry Truman analogy, just for kicks."
But then,
"None of this is right. Sarah Palin is Sarah Palin."
Er...brilliant, just brilliant.
Maybe vbspurs should stick to mind reading other folks; seems a little vacant in her own upper quarters.
ak,
Guessing what is in other folks' minds is mind reading.
Presumably vbspurs and others resort to this guess work because their own minds are running on empty.
Any criticism of Palin is spittle flecked unhinged frothy insaneness.
Frontierswoman is more important than many would think, but independent is the key.
Unapologetically so.
Frankly, when I was reading her autobio last night, I couldn't fathom having been her growing up under those conditions.
It seems wholly alien getting a quarter from her dad for every moose the kids could spot, and then putting in their eyeballs in their mouth to warm them up, to use as bait for fishing (she demurred, citing it as an example of her dad pushing them to be tough, but knew when they had their limits).
I have NOTHING in my personal life experience, not even my time as a Girl Guide getting my camping badges, to relate to Palin.
And for Democrats, with their emphasis on the inner city and urban life which they are infinitely more comfortable with these days, than the rural life they used to represent...she must be nothing short of unknowable.
Didn't Palin also "suck the oxygen out of the room" for Obama's Far East tour? Or did that do him a favor?
I'd say most people are more concerned about the economy than either Palin's magnificent progression across the country or Obama's not-so-magnificent trip to the Far East.
Palin does truly make them insane. When a co-worker talks about Palin, she actually balls up her fists and gets purple in the face. It's a little frightening, but it's also kind of funny.
I know two people, one who is my mother's lawyer, who have this very reaction to Sarah Palin.
Yesterday, when I was at the checkout at B&N, I happened to catch a glimpse of a woman reaching out to grab a Godiva chocolate box and when she bent over, she was holding not one but two copies of Palin's autobio. The woman right behind us was looking at us with utter hatred in her eyes. She was buying Andre Agassi's book. :)
If someone can tell me specifically what it is about her, that so threatens them,
Threaten isn't quite the right word, but it's the Minnesota accent.
"She was buying Andre Agassi's book."
Mebbe if Palin did Meth the left would like her, too.
The top "lie" according to HuffPost readers is - according to a AK newspaper and even some Democrats there - more or less bogus. If you have a site, there's something you can do about it at the link, although you'll have to read between the lines and observe how I do things.
Um, Johnston's mother was making meth deals on Bristol Palin's cell phone Pogo. Wasilla is a meth haven, not sure that's a good comparison for you.
The only question that matters is:
Why does the DNC bother at all?
What could have the DNC so bothered about now private citizen Sarah Palin?
What possible damage could Sarah Palin do to Democrats that she must be targeted on a book tour in 2009 by the Democratic National Committee? I mean, if they Democrats really believe in the intelligence of the American people - as they always tell us they do - and are certain that only a small percentage of extremists is listening to her at all - as they also are always telling us is true - then why bother, DNC?
You act like someone very afraid.
Very, very afraid.
WV: EPROT (DNC Amusement Park off the coast of Florida)
Mebbe if Palin did Meth the left would like her, too.
THAT Pogo is a very true thing to say. Not specifically meth, you understand -- in fact, that would further characterise her as white trash.
It's just that she doesn't have the traditional foibles most Democrats like in people.
The "Mommy's little helpers" pill popping suburbanite; the girl who waitressed but partied hard in her day; the "travelling to find yourself" transient with no roots (like Obama).
Nah. None of this applies to Sarah Palin. She's an American. She's unapologetically in love with her country. She has personal standards. And she's a white Christian conservative.
The liberal death knell.
"but it's the Minnesota accent."
Well, it is for Glenn Beck.
During his radio show he was going on and on about how he hates that accent. Of course, he does still love the gal, so folks who don't support Palin as the president probably have more concerns than the accent--it's possible to be anti-accent and pro-Palin-for-president.
BTW, did folks catch the Newsmax interview where Palin was hinting that Beck would make a good running mate w/ her? Republican/con dream team 2012!!
but it's the Minnesota accent.
Great stuff, Madison Man.
Hear that, anti-Obama folks? You can now use his accent as a funny but legitimate excuse to explain why you loathe him.
Cheers,
Victoria
SERIOUSLY - This indictment of Democrats is the most important thing that Ann Althouse has written this year (are you listening "Media Matters"? you too, Rachel Maddow?)
At the link is a list of 22 Sarah Palin "lies," such as "Palin Implies She Is The Only One To Get Questions On Her Appearance: '“Edwards, Obama, Clinton, and Biden were subjected to frequent scrutiny 'about their hair, makeup, or clothes.'" You know, if you have to use the word "implies," you ought to back away from the word "lies." Otherwise, you sound like a lunatic.
Thank you Ann.
WV: EFFORSH (what Democrats give their best of after drinking the kool-aid of "implies").
Democrats and the MSM are terribly afraid that Palin will catch the hearts and minds of single white women who usually vote Democrat. They can't afford to lose them.
WV: pinks
Ain't goin there.
What these Dem operatives don't understand is that Sarah is our Jeanne d'Arc.
And they still won't understand after she plants our flag in Orleans.
"Democrats and the MSM are terribly afraid that Palin will catch the hearts and minds of single white women who usually vote Democrat. They can't afford to lose them."
Ha ha ha ha. That's a good one!!
Obviously you aren't familiar w/ reading the cross tabs of polling.
@1jpb, it doesn't take mind-reading for Victoria and others of us to realize that for some reason the junior member of a thoroughly beaten ticket continues one year later to scare the pants off the Democrats and their boot-licking lackeys in the mainstream media.
I frankly can't see why there should be such extreme emotions of fear and hatred. I just can't see her as the 2012 presidential candidate. I think the 2012 Republican candidate will be a sitting governor, and he (or she -- there are as many female governors who are Republican as there are Democrats) will have a chance to build their campaign staffs and try out campaign themes out of the spotlight, which is good for our side.
So while the DNC and their lackeys are taking potshots at Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, and Dick Cheney, they are not taking potshots at likely 2012 Republican Presidential candidates, and consequently I'm all for it.
I like Palin for the simple reason that she makes Huckabee superfluous and irrelevant.
That alone should garner all the praise we can give her.
It's not really the fake MN accent so much as the almost un-listenable smarmy sing songy tone, which of course is also even fake. She still thinks that anything that can fool Todd can fool everyone else, and is shocked someone would fact check her on her world book tour/media blitz. It's a perfect feedback loop, no matter how horribly she fails at an interview, politics, jobs, or anything else, is just more proof she is being treated unfairly by the world and just strengthens her support with her base. Which, fortunately isn't that big.
"to scare the pants ... such extreme emotions of fear and hatred."
LOL
The laughs just keep on coming.
Thank you conservatives, please do continue to elaborate on the ways that folks mock Palin because they're scared, afraid, and player-haters.
Do tell, what are some of the other reasons that folks mock Palin?
There's certainly hatred of white Christian conservative women in the fever swamp of the Left.
But even above that is her independence. She has shown that she can win while bypassing the traditional party organizations, and THAT is what really scares the crap out of both Dems and Repubs.
Operatives of both parties are thoroughly corrupt, and in Palin they see a threat to their cozy long con.
Hey mariner,
Have you had time to find a dictionary yet? Or, do you not yet know how dumb your comment was in that other thread?
Didn't Palin also "suck the oxygen out of the room" for Obama's Far East tour? Or did that do him a favor?
Maybe she should start bowing to people.
But even above that is her independence. She has shown that she can win while bypassing the traditional party organizations, and THAT is what really scares the crap out of both Dems and Repubs.
>>>>
VERY true. Palin is like Rush and Beck in that sense. They did not come to promince following the standard trajectory of the mainstream, so the mainstream has no power over them. They didn't create these people so they can't destroy them. And the three of them have no true need of the MSM and Beltway power blocks. Its completely separate.
That's the real crime here.
wv: Gonkness. Not sure if this is good or bad. But I think I wouldn't mind having gonkness.
Dark Eden,
Is that a recommendation for a new Althouse label?
"Palin is like Rush and Beck"
Seems like it'd get a lot of use.
Well, all that pro-Obama energy and enthusiasm has to go somewhere as he implodes.
At least one person from the McCain-Palin ticket has a shred of class.
John MCain:
"There's been a lot of dust flying around in the last few days and I just wanted to mention that I have the highest regard for Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace and the rest of the team ... and I appreciated all the hard work and everything they did to help the campaign," McCain told Reuters.
He added: "I think it's just time to move on."
"Campaigns are high-pressure situations. The only more high-pressure situation that I've been in is combat and prison," said McCain. "But you know, I'm proud of Nicolle and Steve and Rick Smith and Mark Salter and I'll always have great affection for them." .
Palin is intent on playing the victim.
She's a victim of the news media who dared asked her "difficult" questions.
She's a victim of the McCain campaign staff who she wants to scapegoat for her crappy campaigning and public appearances.
Etc, etc.
Conservatives sure are suckers for the victim play.
"Palin is like Rush and Beck"
Has a nice ring to it but I'm not sure it has enough snark for Althouse.
Know what this reminds me of? I know it's a stretch, but it reminds me of it anyway -- the DNC alerting the media about Palin's book tour with list of lies perceived by the DNC, (and repeated often right here in these comments) that is treating news organizations as an extension of themselves -- the very thing Republicans have been complaining about bitterly for years and ridiculed for the complaining for being asinine. God, how I despise political parties.
Bear with me please, I realize Palin is no messiah. When Jesus did his tour of Palestine, having already identified himself as not a friend to the established priesthoods and the stranglehold they held over the spiritual lives of the people who otherwise had little need for intervening earthly forces so thoroughly insinuating themselves between humanity and deity, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the officers of the Sanhedrin Court were naturally alarmed and sought to discredit him. They sent out their cadets to badger him with questions on his stops with the hope of tripping him up and catching him in conflict with some Jewish law or another easy enough to do since there were literally hundreds of them, daily proscriptions that bogged down each individual's moment to moment existence, kissing the parchment posted at each doorway and saying a specific prayer before entering, that sort of thing. Rubbing grain stripped from a roadside field in the palms of his hands then chewing the grain on a Saturday!, when work was forbidden. They gleefully reported back every tiny infraction, building up their case against him. Holding him to impossible rules that nobody could reasonably follow. Along the way, as instructed, the cadets presented him with the age-worn questions the rabbis sat around debating for decades on end -- the wife of the brother, of the brother, of the brother, of the brother, as they all died in sequence, whose wife would she be in heaven? What coin could be used to pay state taxes? Images were forbidden, images on coins therefore forbidden by Jewish law, yet Roman taxes must be paid. These familiar incidents recorded variously in the synoptic gospels.
‹pedantry›
Incidentally, you know about "Render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar, and to God that which is His," but less well-known is his follow up summation that blew away those gathered there, "You error in your questions because you know not of the kingdom of heaven. In heaven there is no man and no woman, there is no rich nor poor, no free nor slave. [These distinctions are part of physical reality, and not part of heavenly existence.] Now piss off. Possibly not that last part.
‹/pedantry›
In my view, this is what makes the DNC appear desperate and mean spirited, not well organized and confident. It's part and parcel of how party loyalty diminishes people.
Mariner blows this out of it's ass:
There's certainly hatred of white Christian conservative women in the fever swamp of the Left. .
I call bullshit. See if you can back up that paranoid victim talk. Don't conservatives dislike identity politics? (My bad, thinking they might be principled and consistent!)
Is Sarah Palin an individual or a member of a victimized class?
Show us your proof for this outlandish claim.
Talking points for local media, which will work with few exceptions.
It is so discouraging to see a national political party engage in such juvenile and offensive criticism. Why aren't there some adults in charge?
Palin scared democrats and liberals to death. She was virtually the perfect candidate in terms of charisma and connection with people, so she has to be destroyed. And the democrats with their media friends have pretty effectively destroyed her as a viable candidate for president.
At the same time, I think Palin contributed by providing some lousy interviews and, even today, by not providing much depth in his answers to questions. She had the opportunity to revive her standing by coming back on the stage talking as an expert about energy, cap and trade, the economy, and other serious subjects. Instead, she comes back talking about the campaign, bickering with campaign aids, Levi Johnson, her family, etc.
People do understand that all political parties have these "staff" who routinely send out "emails" and "news releases" and "statements" that seek to make life difficult for their opponents?
It's like you think Althouse stumbled upon some grand discovery. This is business as usual.
Snore!
She is loathed and feared by the left for all the aforementioned reasons. But the reason that the response is so exaggerated and hysterical is simple. She's simply far more physically attractive than anything the lefty politicians have to offer. Being vain and narcissistic in general it just simply puts them over the edge. Not to mentioned even the males on the left are notoriously feminized and metrosexual, so the vicious and nasty jelousy that females tend to exhibit towards each other is further amplified by hords of vagina men who act like sisters in arms.
Blech.....
A couple of linguists analyzed her accent and said that the Minnesota thing is legit for the area of Alaska she grew up in. Comes from migration during the depression apparently. So I think Garage is wrong about the fake accent.
This is just stunningly dumb:
The truism of the day is that Democrats own the mainstream media .
Dude. The MSM is owned by big business. You know, rich people. Executives who don't like Democratic constituencies like labor unions, feminists, minority groups, environmentalists.
Companies like TIME Warner, defense contractor General Electric, banksters, etc, etc.
Or maybe you can point to an MSM owner who is, demonstrably, a liberal.
"The stupid! It burns!"
I love this coming from people who don't know jack about what people on the left think:
She is loathed and feared by the left for all the aforementioned reasons. .
What do you base that on, Paul? Rants from right wing radio? Do yuh think that's accurate?
"I love this coming from people who don't know jack about what people on the left think:"
I live and work in radical lefty liberal land. Deep in the belly of the beast. I know what lefties think. Intimately.
You don't know what the fuck you are talking about. But hey, no surprise there troll boy.
Paul, that was a very empty response. That's all ya got and it ain't much.
News flash: I'm a leftie. And your descriptions of "what lefties think" are BS.
Both the Dems and Althouse keep asserting that Going Rogue is nothing but fluff. Well, here's a passage from page 388:
We got into this economic mess because of misplaced government interference in the first place. The mortgage crisis that triggered the collapse of our financial markets was rooted in a well-meaning but wrong headed desire to increase home ownership among people who could not yet afford to own a home.
Politicians on the right and left wanted to take credit for an increase in middle-class home ownership. But the rules of the marketplace are just as constraining as human nature. Government cannot force financial institutions to give loans to people who can't afford to pay them back and then expect that somehow things will all magically work out. Sooner or later, reality catches up with us.
Fluff?
Paul:
She's simply far more physically attractive than anything the lefty politicians have to offer. Being vain and narcissistic in general it just simply puts them over the edge. Not to mentioned even the males on the left are notoriously feminized and metrosexual, so the vicious and nasty jelousy that females tend to exhibit towards each other is further amplified by hords of vagina men who act like sisters in arms. .
Sexist. "You're women are ugly is not a political argument."
And Republican men are ninnies.
Who is pissing their pants in fear of trial for KSM? Who has been spreading fear for years over men who live in caves?
The right wing is a bunch of pussies led by chickenhawks.
We Democratic men respect women, which you see as a weakness. We would never tell women, as Republicans have to Nancy Pelosi, to stay in "their place."
Gawd, you suck.
Just finished Going Rogue fellow republicans.
Absolutely loved it, natch.
I laughed, cried, got angry.
Totally real, and honest and heart breaking.
The impact on me will be felt for years to come.
Thank you.
The mortgage crisis that triggered the collapse of our financial markets was rooted in a well-meaning but wrong headed desire to increase home ownership among people who could not yet afford to own a home. .
False. Not true. A lie and fabrication. Not supported by the data. Regurgitation of ideological talking points.
It's false. A zombie lie told by dishonest people like Sarah Palin. To your point it proves she is not capable of an original thought.
"I'd say most people are more concerned about the economy than either Palin's magnificent progression across the country or Obama's not-so-magnificent trip to the Far East."
This is undoubtedly true. Unfortunately the economy is depressing and "concern" doesn't mean that nearly everyone wouldn't rather talk about something else.
"Threaten isn't quite the right word, but it's the Minnesota accent."
Ha! This is (most likely) also true. I don't think that many people are even aware of their prejudices based on regional accent. (People *from* Minnesota think they sound *just* like newscasters. This is very untrue!)
"Well, it is for Glenn Beck.
During his radio show he was going on and on about how he hates that accent. Of course, he does still love the gal,.."
It's one thing to be aware of your prejudices. How many people hear the accent (any accent!) and rather than think, she *sounds* like an uneducated hick, think, she *is* an uneducated hick? Or how many people are reflexively negative toward that odd thing that John Kerry speaks even if it's not coming from John Kerry?
Growing up in Minnesota I realize that the accent is a sign of great mental acumen. ;-)
OTOH, it took some serious work after first recognizing that I made a number of unflattering assumptions based on a southern accent to get over that personal failing.
"Who has been spreading fear for years over men who live in caves?"
Ah... you know who. Because the men who live in caves are only a dire threat when Obama and Democrats needed to find a reason to criticize Bush for going after men in market places blowing up children.
Why aren't you going after Bin Laden, the REAL threat?
We'll pretend here, for sake of argument since that's what those people using Bin Laden as a political wacking stick do, that the man is not long dead and rotted and buried in that cave.
Alpha Liberal @ 6:33...You nare the 100% wrong one on the financial collapse. It my have come on any way in a slow and non crisis mode over 7 years after the Dot Com Bubble fizzled out, but it was the bubble of home loans for nothing down to any breathing human that blew up another bubble that left a huge hole for the over-indebted and underwater people when it collapsed.
Alpha is totally 100% correct. All the data show that the GSEs didn't even jump into subprime until the private market had gone there and the GSEs market share was being eaten alive because of all the junk products from Wall Street. The GSEs actually got into this market as it was blowing up, not before. Even then the GSEs never got into the most sketchy products.
Hilarious example ricpic. LOL
That was awesome.
Palin's serious policy section is filled w/ right wing talking points rather than informative data and facts. Perfect.
"A couple of linguists analyzed her accent and said that the Minnesota thing is legit for the area of Alaska she grew up in. Comes from migration during the depression apparently. So I think Garage is wrong about the fake accent."
Garage is claiming she *faked* the accent?
Oy vey.
I mean... Uffda.
"I call bullshit. See if you can back up that paranoid victim talk. Don't conservatives dislike identity politics?"
Yeahbut... it's the conservatives accusing the *liberals* of identity politics. Have liberals made some claim that they don't identify and deal primarily with groups?
It may not be correct that liberals dislike Palin so very much due to her demographic, but it's certainly not a conflict of conservative principles for conservatives to suggest that liberals do.
Ricpic,
Stick this in your pipe and smoke it. Those talking points will rot your brain.
As Nancy said: "just say no."
1jpb, please, anything but dull, through the Community Reinvestment Act and the regulatory and legislatives changes made in 1989, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2008, the laws dictated private loans be made, not necessarily just Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans. But I am so fucking tired of pointing to this, surely you're just playing and not nearly that thick.
Why are the American people so willing to consider an Obama OR a Palin as qualified to be POTUS?
Clearly, the best either has to offer is their personal charisma.
Which seems to have been enough for at least ONE of them.
Forget about the DNC being afraid of Palin, the American people should be afraid of the Presidency being hijacked by the "pretty people", and those who like to watch them.
Stick this in your pipe and smoke it. Those talking points will rot your brain.
You realize that Fannie and Freddie do not actually make home loans?
"Fannie Mae does not directly loan money to you, the "primary" Borrower, but rather loans money in the "secondary market", or to lending institutions. In short, by lending money to your lender, this frees up capital for your bank so they can go on to make more loans.
In order for Fannie Mae to buy single family home loans from mortgage bankers, savings and loan associations, commercial banks, and other financial institutions, the loans must conform to their set of "Fannie Mae guidelines."
So, YES, the private lenders and banks made the crap loans and THEN sold them to Fannie and Freddie. Why could they make crap loans? Because Congress lowered the lending standards so everyone who could fog a mirror could have a house. You could loan with no equity in the home, down payment, little financial history, get a loan at 105% of appraised value. The rules that banks used to go by were tossed out...Baby...Bathwater.
When the bad loans were packaged into the Fannies and Freddies and sold on the secondary market or used for leverage...the amount of sub par loans in the packaging was obscured and not disclosed. As these mortgages began to fall apart, the ability of the FNMA & FMAC to pay the interest to the bond holders became a shaky proposition and the value of the instruments (notes/bonds) started to tank.
We can thank Congress, the CRA rules, removal of Glass Steagall and of course ACORN for this financial debacle.
Chip,
Read the link, and read ALs second llink.
CRA was no big deal!!
BTW, I spent a while as a bank executive during most of this (until I cashed out in 2006) where I dealt w/ a couple dozen lenders (some CRA, some not) because I oversaw (among other things) the sale of our paper to the highest bidder.
I can 100% assure you that my CRA bound bank NEVER made a bad loan to satisfy CRA. When we did make a sketchy loan here and there (and we did very few of them: I insisted that we charge the same fee rate for every customer, and these sketchy loans were (relatively) a lot more work than higher quality loans, but since I wouldn't let my bank charge the awful fees that most lenders allowed these loans were bad for my productivity, hence I discouraged loan officers from making them) it was to collect the fee and sell the paper as soon as possible to Wall Street or a GSE.
I have been intimately familiar w/ the products offered by the GSEs, and other lending institutions. I knew who would take the real crap, and who wouldn't. I increased my bank's home lending operation's profit by 216% at the same time my portfolio of loans increased in quality. This was done because I'm an expert of where to place loans. I (as well as the statistical data) can assure you that Wall Street was the place to go w/ the junk loans, NOT the GSEs.
Musical interlude of course!
Burning Down the Tent!
DBQ,
See above, I realize way more than you, as a failed loan officer, ever will.
In far more important news, Lindsay Graham absolutely spanked Atty Gen Eric Holder today in the Congressional hearings. Holder had . . . . . absolutely no idea what to current law.
Holder's wife is gonna have to put cold cream all over her husband's ass tonight!
After putting on my hip boots and wading through the dreck from the Palin frothers here, I could find not a single good reason for why the DNC should be spending this kind of capital on the has-been bottom-half of a lame ticket.
Can anyone help me out here?
Not really, Mark.
Because I essentially agree with you that there is no reason at all for the DNC to do this *if* Palin is a has-been from the bottom of a lame ticket.
A lot of people *say* she's no kind of threat to anyone, but that not how they act, and actions speak louder than words.
Garage is claiming she *faked* the accent?
Ah yea. Hello! I have this accent because I'm from this area. Nobody in Alaska talks like that. There is literally not one single cell in Sarah Palin that isn't phonier than a 3 dollar bill.
garage, I have it on good authority that Palin isn't even a woman. I live in Brooklyn, and everybody here knows bitches don't use guns, they knife you.
All the liberals on here sound like Cartman having a profanity laced temper fit about his mother in one breath. And then in the scream "what do you mean we hate her?"
Liberals truely are pathetic. I think in the end what makes them hate Palin so much is that she completely pierces their hypocrisy about caring anything about average people. Liberals love "The People" as an abstract. But they actively loath and despise most individual Americans. Here is a woman who connects with all of the very people liberals claim to represent but in fact hate with every fibre of their bodies and have no ability to connect with. Liberals actively loath middle and lower class white people. Yet can't for the live of themselves undertstand why the stupid proles won't vote for them. But of course liberals are the compassionate ones and Conservatives are the rich elites.
Palin completely pierces that hypocrisy and reveals liberals for what they are. For that, they will never forgive her.
CRA was only a part of the housing debacle. It was also Greenspan keeping interest rates artificially low. It was more than anything else the collective insanity that caused people who should have known better to think houses were somehow immune from supply and demand.
I think also it is the result of a general societal rot. None of our instutions, sans the military and even that is slipping, work anymore. All of the wrong people seem to get to the top. I am quite sure there were people in AIG and Lehman who said the whole thing was insanity. And I have no doubt they were shoved aside long before they ever reached a position to do anything about it.
Garage
Not to belabor the point but the two academics--liberals both-- said that the area she is from was settled by Minnesotans who migrated during the 1930's. Here is one of several places to find info.
http://www.slate.com/id/2201318/
Here is a woman who connects with all of the very people liberals claim to represent but in fact hate with every fibre of their bodies and have no ability to connect with.
Then how come they didn't vote for her? Let me guess, the liberal media.
"Then how come they didn't vote for her? Let me guess, the liberal media."
They did actually. But McCain was at the top of the ticket. And even McCain won a lot of the country. Obama just won more. But, McCain won a lot of the people, poor and middle class whites, the Dems hate so much. And whatever Obama won, he wont' be winning it again in 2012. Baby Jesus gets one term
@1jpb, very interesting post by you at 7:25. Here's the problem I have. If everybody behaved as you did, then how did we get a house of cards that collapsed as suddenly and as widely as the mortgage industry seems to have collapsed 14 months ago? I know that my wife wound down her 2nd career as a realtor with no buyers anywhere and trying to help people who should never have qualified for mortgages (and who were wildly upside down) to do short sales. My intuition is that something went seriously wrong with the regulatory industry and the most obvious culprit is CRA but maybe there's something else at play here.
I'm being serious now; I'd like your take on what went wrong and why.
[Just don't say "Sarah Palin.]
Then how come they didn't vote for her?
What part of "She wasn't the one running for President" rolled off your back?
40 years from now, people will think Palin WAS the 2008 top-of-the-ticket. Hell, the DNC apparently thinks so now.
@AL: We would never tell women, as Republicans have to Nancy Pelosi, to stay in "their place."
Oh fer chrissakes, maybe not so much here, but in general this is bullshit.
If you go to one of the 12,000-comment threads that erupt on the HuffPo anytime her name is in a headline, you'll see page after page after page of bitterly hateful invective from sneering left-wingers commanding her to return to Alaska and mind her family's business.
@garage: "Nobody in Alaska talks like that."
Yeah, and nobody in Alaska except that Palin doofus uses duct tape to keep the frostbite away.
Thank you for your omniscient expert commentary. A-hole.
America’s elite and Palin-haters worldwide should not be so quick to dismiss or disregard the future of Sarah Palin. No other national political figure so completely fills Middle America’s vacuum of frustration and hate for the Left and Right as Sarah Palin.
Middle America has been abandoned by the Left and Right, who have saddled it with a $700 billion taxpayer bailout, an unnecessary and costly war, a soaring deficit, and an overall neglect of the pocketbook issues that impact Middle America every day. Where are job creation, quality public education, affordable healthcare, and fiscal responsibility, to name a few?
Middle America is mad as hell at the Left and Right and they just might be willing to roll the dice on someone like Palin, who lacks an Ivy League education, is a working class hockey-mom with a disabled child, and who has blue-collar roots like many of the folks in Middle America. The status quo on the Left and Right have produced nothing material for Middle America, which may toss conventional wisdom into the toilet and throw the lever for Palin, figuring it has nothing to lose, and it may be right.
The Ivy League educated on the Left and Right have delivered little to nothing for Middle America, perhaps precisely because they are out of touch with the issues that someone like Palin understands personally.
However, to say that Palin is a salmon swimming upstream is an understatement. The results of a CBS News survey released Monday indicate that 66 percent of respondents do not want her to run for the White House in 2012. Seventy percent of respondents to a CNN/Opinion Research poll said she is not qualified to be president.
More difficult for Palin is the fact that the trend is not her friend—public opinion is moving in the wrong direction right now.
In the CBS survey, 43 percent of GOP respondents said Palin would have the ability to be an effective president. Only 11 percent of Democrats and 29 percent of independents agreed.
However, there is an opportunity for Palin among independents, where Palin’s rating is 41 percent favorable, and 48 percent unfavorable, according to Gallup.
These numbers are not great, but there is plenty of time if she can move the needle by appealing to Middle America and independents, which is where elections are won or lost.
Clearly, Palin has put the monkey on her back, especially with her resignation from Alaska’s governorship in July, a self-inflicted wound that will be difficult to explain away. However, don’t put it past Palin to put lipstick on this pig and paint herself as a victim of politically motivated and baseless ethics charges that prevented her from successfully serving the people of Alaska, forcing her to do the noble thing and take the bullet by resigning.
We can say what we want about Palin, but no Republican in recent history has created such frenzied excitement across the country as she has. Just take a look at the fervor she stirs as she wheels across Middle America on her book tour.
Perhaps this is a misreading of the tea leaves, but one could argue that she creates a wee bit more excitement than Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee, the two Republican front-runners for president in 2012. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed woman just may be queen.
A. Muser
http://americanmuser.wordpress.com
After putting on my hip boots and wading through the dreck from the Palin frothers here, I could find not a single good reason for why the DNC should be spending this kind of capital on the has-been bottom-half of a lame ticket.
Because the DNC, for some reason, considers Palin a potential candidate for office, and they want to weaken her by doing the equivalent of sending canned letters to the Editor of the local paper.
What part of "She wasn't the one running for President" rolled off your back
She was on the ticket. I was responding to John's claim that she "connects" to the very people liberals are supposed to represent. If she did connect to those people liberals "represent", they would have voted for her. She "connects" with a sizable base of conservatives, and she wasn't at the top of the ticket, for instance.
Meanwhile, 1jpb and garage, maybe you can enlighten me as to why there is so much attention being paid to Sarah Palin by Democrats? Is it because she dared to carry a Downs child to term? Is it because she failed to counsel her young daughter to abort? Is it because most urban liberals are frightened of guns and Sarah Palin is apparently a good shot?
I mean let's get real here. She was a minor political figure until the summer of 2008, when she became the junior member of a losing ticket. I don't see why you care about her, much less display so much venom. Only a serious political junkie remembers who ran with Gore in 2000 or with Kerry in 2004.
Heck, half the reason I bought her book is because her (co-authored) best-seller drives liberals half crazy.
Thank you for your omniscient expert commentary. A-hole.
Not a prob at all, fuckface!
You're a better person than that, garage.
Big Mike
I was kidding!
He called me an A hole.
as far as why Dems keep talking about her, why don't you ask Althouse? She keeps posting about her. Palin likes to be talked about, from her rolling book tour, media blitz, Facebook, etc.
Big Mike,
The thing you (and your cohorts) are missing is that we have a two way street here.
If cons stopped defending, adoring, and following Palin there would be no motivation to mock her. For all the anti-Palin comments it seems that there are at least one pro-Palin comment.
She's banter fodder, like all the other BS here and elsewhere. If she wasn't the driver of a bunch of conversation some other trite subject would fill the void.
Anyway, the main point is that it takes two to tango, so you cons should look in the mirror when you're trying to figure out why Palin gets juices flowing: you're half of the reason.
What is the DNC worried about?
My guess is that while the MSM was able to suppress how well she did with the Blue Collar demographic from the Rust Belt, the DNC knew. She had the same sort of rock star campaign stops through there that Obama had throughout other parts of the country.
As you can probably tell, that sort of people from that part of the country formed the foundation for a certain type of populism going back all the way to Andrew Jackson. Unfortunately for the DNC, up until recently, this demographic has been on their side, and not the Republican side.
And, we are talking the traditional swing states that really determine elections, and have for likely better than a hundred years. PA, OH, MI, IN, IL, etc.
Notably, these are also some of the states where President Obama's popularity has dropped the fastest. Why? I would suggest that this demographic is anti-elitist, and Obama is running an elitist Administration (yes, Bush did too). They are more likely to own a gun than attend the symphony. And more likely to have served honorably in the military than attended a top tier college.
Telling us that Palin is stupid because she went to state schools, instead of Columbia and Harvard just doesn't work with them - since they are far more likely to have done the same.
This has been a safe Democratic demographic for well over a hundred years, and it has been slipping away since probably the time of Goldwater, or maybe Nixon.
So, why didn't Palin do better there in the last election? Again, my theory is, as stated above, that McCain wasn't all that popular with that demographic, due to his long time in Wash., D.C., and his campaign controlled where she went and where and how she campaigned.
Also, as I noted, the size of her crowds was routinely ignored during the campaign by the MSM. Why? Obviously partly it was political bias. And partly, it was the fact that the MSM doesn't have enough reporters, etc. to follow both the presidential and VP candidates, and so followed the Presidential candidates, and, esp. Obama, because of the historical nature of his campaign.
He called me an A hole.
Sometimes you are. Me too. I don't know anybody who isn't one at least once in a while.
I already tried to ask Althouse why she cares about Palin. No answer.
A lot of people seem to be responding to Palin at a very visceral level. I think once McCain decided to pick a woman as his running mate he should have chosen Kay Hutchison or perhaps Jodi Rell (I wish I knew how Rell's position on civil unions would play with the base -- I suspect it resonates with center, though). Palin wasn't ready to play on the national stage and if McCain had had the brains of a lobotomized grasshopper he'd have seen that.
@1jpb, interesting feedback loop going on here. The only reason I pay any attention to Palin is because your side is fussing over her, and yet you say the only reason you keep lobbing turds in her general direction is because of me.
For all the anti-Palin comments it seems that there are at least one pro-Palin comment.
Well sure. But what's the ratio? Seems to me that it's something on the order of six or seven variants on "I hate Palin" for every "we only like her because we enjoy watching you lefties crap your pants in public" response. There's got to be way more to it than that.
WV: "bufflarr" - the city in upstate New York with the bad football team, as pronounced with an Minnesota accent.
Finally, someone above suggested that this criticism of the MSM is misplaced because the MSM is big business.
But that assumes that big business is in bed with the Republicans. It isn't, and hasn't been probably for most of the last 50 years. For a long time, people working for large businesses, have been willing to vote Democratic than esp. those running small businesses. As some wag pointed out, the fastest way to become a Republican is to own your own small business. (which is why, for example, lawyers who work for big firms tend to break left, and those who work for themselves or in small firms tend to break right).
Plus, they know which side their bread is buttered on. The most egregious case, of course, is NBC/MSNBC, which are owned by GE, which seems to have developed an unholy alliance with the DNC, and esp. the Obama White House. Their networks work as a cheering section for Obama and the DNC, and in return, they get all sorts of goodies, including TARP funds, and an inside track on pretty much any Green money out there.
GE/NBC/MSNBC are, I think though, the extreme example here, where their MSM components are used as a loss leader for government largess. Mostly, I think that it is just somewhat bad business, combined with an institutional leftward bias from the demographic that ends up working in MSM. The problem though is that it is becoming ever more obvious that this leftward tilt is not good for business (except, again, for GE), and that luxury is less and less likely to be ignored.
Of course, as with all this, it is conjecture, no more valid than any here. We shall see over the next years whether they go out of business, or shift towards the center (or both). Or not.
Well sure. But what's the ratio? Seems to me that it's something on the order of six or seven variants on "I hate Palin" for every "we only like her because we enjoy watching you lefties crap your pants in public" response. There's got to be way more to it than that.
Why do I like her? It really is somewhat visceral, and has nothing (I hope) to do with her looks.
Rather, I think that I am anti-elitist, deep down, and that is what appeals to me about her. And, I think I inherited it from my father, who, though a lawyer, always preferred dealing with those of more common backgrounds. If I were to guess, I would surmise that his ancestors probably voted for Jackson, and maybe even Bryant.
While I think that I would have enjoyed knowing a pre-Presidential Clinton or Bush (43), I definitely would not cross the street to have a beer with President Obama. I have nothing in common with him, except that we are both lawyers. What would I ask him? Does he really believe all the crap he and his Administration spout? Does he really understand why his economic, international relations, and national security policies are so bad for this country? Why bother? He wouldn't be honest anyway.
But there is something really compelling to me about the Palins. They are so average and normal, but extrodinarily so. They are middle American, who haven't forgotten where they came from.
Let me add to that last part. Politicians, esp. on the left, pretend to have common roots, and the common touch. Biden made it clear his common roots. Yet, he did so in his starched shirts and tailored suits. At least it isn't as phony as when tried by a Kennedy, Rockefeller, or Kerry. Obama is the furthest thing from that - prep school, Columbia, then Harvard Law, etc. And while you most often see him in a well tailored suit, Sarah Palin looks most comfortable in fleece. And, realistically, despite most of my adult life being spent wearing a tie (I probably have over a hundred of them), I prefer showing up for work wearing fleece. (of course, I need to wear a suit when meeting with clients, since it is much easier then to justify the sort of billing rates we charge).
It will be interesting to see which newspapers get their stories on the book tour using the copy / paste function from the DNC email.
It will be interesting to see which publications use the copy / paste function on the DNC email to write their stories on Palin's book tour.
When Palin tell Barbara Walters on national TV that the Obama economic plan (jobs) is "backasswards" it resonates deeply with Americans who think with a 10% unemployment rate that raising taxes and putting our grandchildren into financial bondage (read slavery) to "make jobs" and "fix the economy" is backasswards.
It's been a long time since someone "normal" has been this visible in national politics.
I think it is hard for libs to grasp that people see her (favorably) as "normal."
Bruce,
Do you realize that your devotion goes way beyond anything I've seen written re BHO by one of his supporters on the blog? Not that your Palin worship is unique on this blog. But, you must recall that some of us are targeted as the Koolaid drinking, Messiah worshiping, Obots, and I'm fairly sure you're on the other side of that fence.
This is what is so hilarious about Palin's followers, especially when they start tossing out the Obot accusations.
Funny stuff.
P.S. Don't worry about the tie, it's what's inside that counts. You're a good, non-elite person! [At least, I think that's the sort of things that flighty libs like to say to console their fellow psychologically adrift weaklings.]
This is hilarious. The libs keep sending out more and more frantic messages saying "stop talking about Sarah Palin!"
And they simply increase the amount of discussion about Sarah Palin.
Thirty years or so ago -- about the time Ms. magazine got petty and boring, so I moved on -- if someone had described a future Gov. Palin to me, I would have been thrilled that such champions were on their way. Feminism in its best sense means the ability of each woman to contribute their unique expressions into this world, whatever that may be. In that sense, Palin represents the very best of the feminist movement.
It is a pity that the current American Orthodoxy, that demonizes this amazing woman so viciously, imagines they are an improvement over the old Orthodoxy that enforced its own strict path for women.
We shall, however, overcome.
JAL opines: When Palin tell Barbara Walters on national TV that the Obama economic plan (jobs) is "backasswards" it resonates deeply with Americans who think with a 10% unemployment rate that raising taxes and putting our grandchildren into financial bondage (read slavery) to "make jobs" and "fix the economy" is backasswards.
That's great. However, her solution is more or less a stock GOP solution rather than, for instance, enforcing our imm. laws. If she did the latter, now that would be going against the corrupt Beltway hacks.
Bruce Hayden opines: While I think that I would have enjoyed knowing a pre-Presidential Clinton or Bush (43), I definitely would not cross the street to have a beer with President Obama.
I'd love to have a beer with GWB, and in fact I'd even buy it and bring it too him. Hopefully it would be loud in the bar so he wouldn't hear me zipping up.
But, seriously, Hayden's mindset - the refusal to engage - is incredibly damaging, along the lines of those who think that because they don't watch NBC News what they broadcast doesn't have an effect on their lives.
P.S. I tried to confront BHO almost three years ago over foreign-linked persons who were involved in organizing a march he attended in Chicago. I then began trying to get others to go ask him that or other questions, all without receiving virtually any help at all. If I had received help with that, he might not be president today (and McCain might not have been the nominee).
Alpha is totally 100% correct. All the data show that the GSEs didn't even jump into subprime until the private market had gone there and the GSEs market share was being eaten alive because of all the junk products from Wall Street. The GSEs actually got into this market as it was blowing up, not before. Even then the GSEs never got into the most sketchy products.
Hilarious example ricpic. LOL
That was awesome.
Palin's serious policy section is filled w/ right wing talking points rather than informative data and facts. Perfect.
And the bailout for the GSE are over $400 billion so far. More to come.
Bruce,Do you realize that your devotion goes way beyond anything I've seen written re BHO by one of his supporters on the blog? Not that your Palin worship is unique on this blog. But, you must recall that some of us are targeted as the Koolaid drinking, Messiah worshiping, Obots, and I'm fairly sure you're on the other side of that fence.
But maybe I can come close to Chris Mathews and the tingle up his leg. I haven't gotten that far yet, and really hope I don't. But, we shall see.
But, maybe the question is where were you a year or two ago with Obama? Now, we have seen his screw ups, his weaknesses, what Hope and Change really means, etc. And the luster has gone off him by a lot of those who supported, or even just voted, for him.
But, seriously, Hayden's mindset - the refusal to engage - is incredibly damaging, along the lines of those who think that because they don't watch NBC News what they broadcast doesn't have an effect on their lives.
It's not really a question of engaging there with President Obama. I just don't have anything in common with him. When I was in college, I liked the Bill Clintons and the GW Bushes, but not the John Kerrys, and definitely not the Barak Obamas. I probably would have been ok with a John McCain (III), but likely not a Mitt Romney - even though he was my favorite candidate (I still think that he was the most qualified and would have done the best with the economy of any major candidate running).
I am not sure of your point about NBC news. They are becoming irrelevant, but, yes, complete irrelevance is probably still a couple of decades away. They and much of the rest of the MSM. The demographic that watched network news most slavishly is dying off.
And why? Because the Internet (and, yes, to some extent, talk radio) is much better at keeping you informed. I can be much better informed after a half an hour online than I ever could with network news - and I am old enough to have a kid who grew up with the Internet, and that generation and those a head of them, are even more connected. What you don't have really is the filter of a network news, newspaper, or magazine between you and the news. So, you can get both sides of almost any issue effortlessly.
That's great. However, her solution is more or less a stock GOP solution rather than, for instance, enforcing our imm. laws. If she did the latter, now that would be going against the corrupt Beltway hacks.
You mean like cutting tax rates during a recession (instead of raising them massively), cutting spending then too (and not allowing it to get out of control in boom times). Allowing companies to fail when they screw up. Sending criminals to jail, even if they are politicians. All that sort of stuff?
In other words, she shouldn't be in favor of the solutions to our economic policies that have worked in the past because, well, I am not sure where you were going with this.
We have seen now what the stock Democratic party solutions are to our economy, foreign relations, national defense, law enforcement, political corruption, etc., and they become increasingly unattractive as time goes on under firm Democratic Party control of our country.
"Implies She Is The Only One To Get Questions On Her Appearance" ?? to the contrary, she says that her experience gives her great empathy for what hillary and other candidates go through with criticism of their appearance.
these folks don't even bother to listen to what she says before they go off on their rants, do they?
1jpb,
I wanted to stay out of this, but what you have written above is the polite version of, "if you did what I told you the first time, bitch, I wouldn't have to hit you." The attacker chooses to attack; the defender must defend. I don't like Sarah Palin; I think (and have always thought) that Guilliani and Romney are both better candidates. But the grounds upon which Ms. Palin is attacked are grounds that apply to me and so I am forced to defend her to defend myself; I will not idly allow traits of myself be villified.
I don't pretend to understand the antipathy to Ms. Palin on the Left, but I've seen it from Progressive Republicans and from Democrats. I am a member of Mensa, I hold a degree in Engineering from a highly ranked university, and I'm in the middle of my MBA at a school highly ranked in my concentration. I TA for the graduate introduction to finance class. I don't consider myself ignorant or stupid. But it also means that I don't perceive the "otherness" that some people seem to need from politicians and leaders. Ms. Palin doesn't have that, but it doesn't bother me. But to attack someone whose very strength is that she reminds us of the most remarkable women in our lives, particularly in a subculture that believes strongly in chivalry, is folly. When you attack her, I will defend her, and when I defend her, I come to like her.
The wisest thing I've read in this thread is the person who asked why we're looking at Sarah Palin or Barack Obama. I've just finished Jim Collins' How the Mighty Fall and I think we're deep in Stage 4 of decline, during which the search for Charaismatic Leaders and Quick Fixes plays a defining role. We don't need to be and we have a long way to go before we're in real trouble, but 9/11, the problems it uncovered, and how we reacted to it has shocked a lot of people, particularly those of my age, who have never been faced with momentous times. It is the shock, not the need, that starts that decline. If someone wanted my vote, they'd tell me, "I promise not to do anything Big, Momentous, or Important. I'd work the issues quietly, one by one, in an incremental manner. We do not need the radical action of a crisis; we need the intense focus of a driven people."
But that's my 2 cents.
I am an outsider, and I must say that the liberals who have posted here show up the reason why liberals are a dying breed. The hysterics over Sarah Palin are akin to the ending of the wicked witch of the west "I'm melting" type reaction. Actually, the Wizard of Oz is a very good study for the human condition when it comes to downright mean behaviour.
I did not really pay a lot of attention to Sarah Palin during your presidential election. There was a lot of negative publicity drummed up by a group of very misogynistic individuals (men and women). These same individuals dished out similar treatment to Hillary Clinton (now personally I do not like Hillary Clinton for a variety of reasons).
Since the elections I have found a group of people who have been lifetime Democrat supporters, yet they campaigned for John McCain and Sarah Palin (mostly for Palin). These people are Hillary Clinton supporters. They are disenchanted with the Democratic party because of the fraud that they saw first hand during the caucuses to nominate the Presidential candidate. What they have intimated is that the Iowa caucus for example was stacked with people bused in from Illinois whilst the Hillary Clinton supporters were turned away at the door.
I must admit that hearing about this side of the whole campaign has been illuminating to say the least. It shows to me that the Obots would do anything to get control of the White House, even as they put into power a person who lacks the administrative experience of Sarah Palin.
When I look at these three people, I see Clinton as one who has credentials but I do not know enough about her background as to her work experience. I do know her role as FLOTUS. I know that she could be a real banshee, and I know some other unflattering things about her. Yet, I think that as President she would not be leading the USA so far down the wrong path. (even if I think she would still make some very real mistakes). The Obot is nothing more than an empty vessel. There is no real background information. His academic records are not available for scrutiny. He did nothing during his time as editor of the Harvard Law Review. He has no executive experience, and he failed miserably with the Ananberg Challenge. Then we have Sarah Palin who became the governor of the State of Alaska. She is not Ivy League but she has a degree. She made changes in Alaska that made the state prosperous. She showed that she truly can be bi-partisan (compare the promise for bipartisanship with the reality). No wonder the misogynists are afraid. They attempted to destroy Hillary who was in the way, and they just have to destroy Sarah.
Maggie wrote:
Since the elections I have found a group of people who have been lifetime Democrat supporters, yet they campaigned for John McCain and Sarah Palin (mostly for Palin). These people are Hillary Clinton supporters. They are disenchanted with the Democratic party because of the fraud that they saw first hand during the caucuses to nominate the Presidential candidate.
Have you read this recent blogpost by the Hillbuzz crew? It actually brought tears to my eyes. I really like PUMAs and felt sorrier for them after the election in 2008, much more than for my fellow Republicans.
We know absolutely no one in Bush family circles and have never met former President George W. Bush or his wife Laura.
If you have been reading us for any length of time, you know that we used to make fun of “Dubya” nearly every day…parroting the same comedic bits we heard in our Democrat circles, where Bush is still, to this day, lampooned as a chimp, a bumbling idiot, and a poor, clumsy public speaker.
Oh, how we RAILED against Bush in 2000…and how we RAILED against the surge in support Bush received post-9/11 when he went to Ground Zero and stood there with his bullhorn in the ruins on that hideous day.
We were convinced that ANYONE who was president would have done what Bush did, and would have set that right tone of leadership in the wake of that disaster. President Gore, President Perot, President Nader, you name it. ANYONE, we assumed, would have filled that role perfectly.
Well, we told you before how much the current president, Dr. Utopia, made us realize just how wrong we were about Bush. We shudder to think what Dr. Utopia would have done post-9/11. He would have not gone there with a bullhorn and struck that right tone. More likely than not, he would have been his usual fey, apologetic self and waxed professorially about how evil America is and how justified Muslims are for attacking us, with a sidebar on how good the attacks were because they would humble us.
Honestly, we don’t think President Gore would have been much better that day. The world needed George W. Bush, his bullhorn, and his indominable spirit that day…and we will forever be grateful to this man for that.
As we will always be grateful for what George and Laura Bush did this week, with no media attention, when they very quietly went to Ft. Hood and met personally with the families of the victims of this terrorist attack.
FOR HOURS.
The Bushes went and met privately with these families for HOURS, hugging them, holding them, comforting them.
If there are any of you out there with any connection at all to the Bushes, we implore you to give them our thanks…you tell them that a bunch of gay Hillary guys in Boystown, Chicago were wrong about the Bushes…and are deeply, deeply sorry for any jokes we told about them in the past, any bad thoughts we had about these good, good people.
Cheers,
Victoria
A couple of linguists analyzed her accent and said that the Minnesota thing is legit for the area of Alaska she grew up in. Comes from migration during the depression apparently. So I think Garage is wrong about the fake accent.
I find her accent curious, rather than grating (though I can see where others could find it so). I'm British, so American regional accents fascinate me.
I too read exactly that in the Kaylene Johnson book, as well as other articles during the campaign: that her parents lived in that part of Idaho with a lot of newcomers from Minnesota specifically, and the Midwest in general.
But that doesn't explain why she's the only one of her siblings to have an exaggeratedly strong Minnesota-like accent. None of her parents have it as strong either (her father comes closest, and he's from Los Angeles!).
It may be like George W. Bush, who had the only truly strong Texan accent of all his family members, including my ex-Governor Jeb Bush (who speaks with only a slight Southern twang).
I think liberals pick up this accent anomaly of Palin and perhaps just unconsciously, it bothers them as it reminds them of Bush.
Cheers,
Victoria
Ahem, that last bit came out rather obscure.
What I mean is not that Bush and Palin share the same accent, but especially given that they are the only members of their family WITH THEIR SPECIFIC strong accents, that liberals pick up a vibe of regionalism, perhaps for reasons of forced "authenticity" with the common man, which they in turn (ever ready to look for the negative spin) think is fake.
The obvious reason, that not all people speak the same way, especially in large families (Eunice Shriver didn't have as strong a Bostonian accent as Jack or Teddy, e.g.), somehow escapes them.
I certainly do not speak like my cousins.
Liberals are not shrinking in numbers.
That's only here on the new Althouse.
Man- it would be too good to be true is she ran for pres, I hope y'all get your wish and she becomes a fully formed political machine.
http://www.sarahpac.com/
please, donate today.
Alphaliberal,
Your links do nothing to refute the Palin claim on mortgages referenced here.
1) Your pdf link shows that "CRA Assessment Area" loans were only a modest portion of subprime loans. But this does not not disprove the significance of the CRA, combined with securitization, in launching a race to the bottom in loan quality. Once FNMA et al were buying risky loans from poor minority neighborhoods, risky loans from other neighborhoods, being almost by definition slightly less risky, were inevitably going to be made and securitized.
2) More to the point, Palin did not just blame the CRA. The Palin quote here blamed a government desire, by members of both parties, to increase home ownership rates. Even most liberals agree the problem was due to inadequate regulation, for which the Bush Administration should take much of the blame.
But it is well documented that Bush and Rove had fully bought into the idea that higher home ownership was good for the economy, and good for making the home owners into Republicans. This is an important reason for Bush's failure to crack down on marginal loans. We can argue about whether the strong support for marginal loans on the part of Congressmen, especially liberals, was a greater or lesser reason, but I don't think you can convincingly refute Palin's claim that "The mortgage crisis that triggered the collapse of our financial markets was rooted in a well-meaning but wrong headed desire to increase home ownership among people who could not yet afford to own a home" -- at any rate, your links do not come close to doing so.
Nobody in Alaska talks like that.
It's so funny when Sarah Palin haters or -scorners seek to portray Alaska (selectively looking at things in purely population terms) as a tiny state — like it was just another Delaware (i.e., the present Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden's home state).
But population isn't everything, even in a human context. Administering-governing a state of fundamentally sub-continental size, together with an unforgiving climate and diverse topography, is no trivial feat.
Alaska if it were placed atop the contiguous U.S. would extend from the Atlantic at Charleston, SC, in the southeast; to the Pacific at Los Angeles, CA, in the southwest, and all the way to the North Dakota-Canadian border in the north. Altogether it's one-fifth the size of the entire rest of America.
Even in population terms Alaska ought not sensibly be despised, being about the same size today as, say, Virginia was back in 1787, when the latter dominion contributed so powerfully to the founding of this nation, including supplying two of its first three presidents (out of a population of some 700,000 souls, 280,000 of that being slaves).
Moreover, for the last almost century and a half, English-speaking Americans and other folk talking various dialects have been moving to and fro and settling in various districts of enormous Alaska (not to speak of its native and Russian speakers); and the idea that all of Alaska talks like any unified single dialect, and that nowhere, say, could there be a population of former Minnesotans who have relatively preserved their speech amongst the variety in Alaska, is absurd. (You're really stretching here, garage.)
Clearly Alaska's citizens regard Palin's dialect as Alaskan enough for them to have elected her to office as governor of the state.
And that's also the reply to whomever it was wondered how either Palin or Obama was supposedly qualified for the Presidency.
Obama as a legislator with no previous executive experience was qualified for very little. It is governors of the individual states (not legislators, and not corporate heads and the like) who in general are best qualified for the country's highest office.
Palin as the successful and productive governor of a very substantial state (and Alaska is extremely substantial) was certainly qualified to be a Vice Presidential candidate in 2008, and may prove herself ready for even higher office in the future.
Obama now is the President, and thus one would think is recipient of all the top-level executive experience one could possibly want or need — but he, since entering the office as an extremely naive liberal, appears not to be displaying a very promising learning curve in response to that fire-hose torrent of experience.
Unless Obama adapts a real “reality-based” appreciation of local and world affairs, his administration shows signs of being in severe trouble.
As cockroaches flee from the light
So Lib'rals reflexively fight
When shown the facts
Of how Sarah acts
The scare makes their sphincters slam tight
....nnnn..'o.o'..uu!u....algie
Illegitimi nOn carborundum
liberals pick up a vibe of regionalism, perhaps for reasons of forced "authenticity" with the common man, which they in turn (ever ready to look for the negative spin) think is fake.
Her detractors detect the sound of regional dialect and it provokes scorn; it's the flip side of detecting elitism in John Kerry's Boston accent: neither side is the better for doing so.
What's truly insidious IMO is how the unique voice of Americans in the world is singled out by the left as aberrant from the worldhive mentality-metaphorically, the unique American voice is something to be scorned, something which must be forced to meld into the multiculti ethics of government.
Witness the legal ethics of Eric Holder.
Nobody in Alaska talks like that.
You know, I had a friend who’s mother was from Minnesota and she lived there maybe until she was 2 or 3, then she lived in Arkansas the rest of her life. That MN accent still popped out from time to time and she never quiet sounded as southern as the rest of us. Accents are funny.
Not to mention the ridiculousness of hearing people criticize her accent who are totally cool with Obama breaking out his own faux southern accent whenever he wants to make a point. (Obama: “Mer-ci Beau-coup” Me - *cringe*)
Scott said...
"The truism of the day is that Democrats own the mainstream media"
CARE TO EXPLAIN?
I'm from Idaho, and lived in Alaska, and talk just about like Palin. I even say "you betcha", and said it before it was cool. :)
I have a great friend who is Australian, married to a Texan, and who has lived near San Antonio for at least 30 years. She still says "bu-NAH-ner" for banana. She babysat my first child about 8 hours a week. In time, my son began to say "bu-NAH-ner", and "Wool-maht" for Wal-Mart.
She has five children. Four of them have ordinary vanilla accents, very slightly Australian. Her fifth child has a very thick Texas accent, more Texan than George Bush. So who knows why he says "y'all" and not bu-NAH-ner??
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