January 16, 2011

Holy Jeez! What if Sarah Palin is awesome?

HuffPo makes a montage from "Sarah Palin's Alaska" in an effort to make her look like the idiot they just know she is...


... and it totally backfires. She comes across as thoroughly lovable. Remember, as NYT columnist Charles Blow said:
"She’s like the ominous blob in the horror films: the more you shoot at it, the bigger and stronger it becomes."
By the way, has Blow walked back from his violent metaphor yet? Not only did he plant the image of shooting repeatedly at Sarah Palin in the minds of America's psychopaths and assorted young left-wing idealists, he compounded it with the suggestion that she isn't even human, that she is a monster who ought to be destroyed. Come on, Charles! Does the new civility apply to you or not?

97 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know, there is a chance - a slim chance to be sure - that due to Palin's lifestyle she is one of the very, very few women in America who hasn't jumped on the shaving bandwagon.

Peter

Meade said...

Charles Blow has the "Most Read in the last 24 hours" essay over at RCP right now.

TS said...

HuffPost. The place where smuglies hang out.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Palin is just an ordinary American girl.

If she was available, I'd ask her for a date!

Don't know if I'd vote for her, but I'd sure as hell ask her for a date.

kent said...

Come on, Charles! Does the new civility apply to you or not?

"IOKIYAD!"

mesquito said...

A Huffpy comments:

"How is it that no one's ever strangled her for her insufferab­le voice?"

omg omg omg

Freeman Hunt said...

I don't think Blow buys into the new civility. He called the attempts to link Loughner with the Right a Witch Hunt in the column I linked on the cafe thread.

Anonymous said...

"By the way, has Blow walked back from his violent metaphor yet?"

No, he has not and if he wants to continue bottom feeding at the NYT and Morning Joe show he won't.

He'll just let it fade away, if it will.

It will.

Fred4Pres said...

Jeff Goldstein notes this:

These people are who we knew them to be. And it’s been great to watch them try to hang themselves. Now, if only the establishment GOP will stop rushing over to cut the rope.

Fen said...

Eric "Moonbat" Fuller was just arrested for making death threats against a member of the Tea Party. His violent rhetoric is a result of the hate-mongering propaganda directed at the Tea Party by CNN, MSNBC, NYTs and Wapo.

So, according to the latest liberal talking point, those news stations should be shut down and investigated.

Add HuffPo to the list too.

Anonymous said...

@ ironrailsironweights

I think the good Governor just might redefine luxuriant.

Known Unknown said...

Holy Jeez. She comes off as a pretty regular person.

What really drives it home is the booger thing. Could you imagine John Edwards being caught dead trying to dislodge a kid's booger on television?

DADvocate said...

Todd is one of the luckiest guys int the world. How great it would be to have a wife who obviously enjoys do all that stuff. During the past week, my opinion of Palin has increased significantly.

The libs/lefties must have a moroseness contest each week. What do they have against enjoying life?

Anonymous said...

Whenever I read hateful comments aimed at Palin, a common complaint is that she the "perky cheerleader."

Even the normally sane Fred Reed of Fred on Everything leveled this one at Palin.

Palin was the point guard on an Alaska state high school champion basketball team.

She's always been active and athletic. This is one of the things that I like best about her. She tough and she can take a hit.

A thoroughly admirable woman, as far as I can tell from this distance.

Big Mike said...

Come on, Charles! Does the new civility apply to you or not?

He doesn't seem to think so, no.

Big Mike said...

@ironrails, you can always ask Todd.

But I wouldn't do that face to face if I were you.

Anonymous said...

What do they have against enjoying life?

We're collectively guilty of:

o Slavery
o Oppression of Women
o Destruction of the Environment
o Global Warming
o Suburbs
o Cars
o Homophobia
o Imperialism
o You Name It

It's a full time job doing penance.

Good thing the progressives aren't religious. Else, they'd have to go to confession.

TWM said...

In there minds 24/7. I know they hate her, but it's hate born of pure unadulterated FEAR. Oh, well, maybe some jealousy too, but fear it is for sure.

BTW, I am a Palin supporter so no qualification here . . .

Unknown said...

Whether she's awesome is up for grabs (yes, I'd take a shot), but she certainly outclasses the competition.

mesquito said...

A Huffpy comments:

"How is it that no one's ever strangled her for her insufferable voice?"


This person never heard Pelosi Galore in full condescension mode?

PS Is that Huffpy as in harpy?

Freeman Hunt said...

I don't think Blow buys into the new civility. He called the attempts to link Loughner with the Right a Witch Hunt in the column I linked on the cafe thread

I think the new civility became the old incivility in about 24 hours. A new record for the disciples of Uncle Saul. At this point, only Byron York and VDH still seem to be snowed.

DADvocate said...

We're collectively guilty of:...

Good point. My father was a lifelong liberal. He could put a damper on anything. I often accused him of finding the cloud for every silver lining.

mesquito said...

How can you people be commenting on a stupid blog when there's hunger and injustice out there?

TWM said...

"How can you people be commenting on a stupid blog when there's hunger and injustice out there?"

Why not? You're doing it.

wv: feedes

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Its obvious that the "civility" push (genuine or otherwise) in the long run works against the left..

They need incivility to sustain them.. running for re-election, the novelty of Obama and the anti-Bush rhetoric will not be as 2008.. I'm predicting that they will need more infusions of incivility just to get them to the polls.

Whereas our side already has plenty of motivation ie Obamacare, the crippling national debt and the jobless economy.

KCFleming said...

TWM, mesquito was being ironic, not a real liberal.

ricpic said...

Since the French Revolution the constant drumbeat from the Left has been -- Be my brother or I'll kill you.

I wish I could claim that statement as my own but it was written by William Herrick, a young idealist who learned the bitter truth of communism in the Spanish Civil War.

Sarah Palin emphatically won't be their brother, or sister, which makes her a target for murder.

TWM said...

"TWM, mesquito was being ironic, not a real liberal."

Ahhh, irony. There should be an icon for it.

Henry said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
KCFleming said...

"Ahhh, irony. There should be an icon for it."

I agree.

How about /FeY

Get it? Oh, I'm a quick one.

Fen said...

Ahhh, irony. There should be an icon for it.

I use saracasm tags -> /s

But yes, unless you know the players here, it can be hard to pick up on it. Especially when the true libtards parody themselves.

Anonymous said...

She's normal. She lives happily in her extended family.

I think that this is a classic example of oikophobia."

Fen said...

saracasm: when Saracens make jokes

(ya, that should have been "sarcasm")


/via wiki:

"Sarcasm has been identified as a possible bullying action.[6]"

WTH?

Unknown said...

DADvocate said...

We're collectively guilty of:...

Good point. My father was a lifelong liberal. He could put a damper on anything. I often accused him of finding the cloud for every silver lining.


In non-political circles, that's known as chronic, severe depression.

Lincolntf said...

"Sarcasm has been identified as a possible bullying action.[6]"

Translation: We're doing all we can to criminalize it.

Henry said...

"Do not use his mullet as your towel."

She's funny!

"I have to pee."
"That's enough Willow."

She's got my vote, just for that line.

If you've ever gone camping with kids, you gain a great appreciation for the virtue of blunt enthusiasm.

G Joubert said...

@ ricpic 11:15

Good one. Some cosmic truth revealed there.

DaLawGiver said...

Almost every morning I check out Huffpo to see what is weighing on the collective Libtard mind. Palin is always there somewhere.

I never comment because of their moderation bullcrap.

As a thank you to Ann for a great blog AND for not moderating like Huffpo I now use her Amazon portal whenever I buy online.

kent said...

Eric Fuller -- last seen being involuntarily committed on the grounds of being a full-bore, thundering leftist freakshow -- is still (STILL!) ranting impotently, re: Palin:

"I know they're just going to attack, they would probably attack me. They'll distort. Particularly Miss Blood Libel herself. The spoiled princess party. I am willing to take them on."

Holy.

Freaking.

CRAP.

lucid said...

No, Ann, you don't understand. He is on the left, ipso facto morally beyond doubt or criticism. The left KNOWS the truth. No one else does.

wv: Blowhard (just kidding)

YoungHegelian said...

Sarah Palin has a special needs child. Her first moral obligation is to provide for that child and his future as best she can.

If she has decided to milk her fame by selling books and a tourist TV series to her fan base in order to provide an estate for that child's future care, isn't she doing what every moral parent should do?

lucid said...

In part, the center-right is so angry because the left has disdained and repeatedly tried to de-legitimize them.

When the tea party held its first demonstration outside the white house, Obama contemptuously claimed not to seen or been aware of them.

HuffPo is a leading practitioner of that kind of contempt.

Roger J. said...

the beauty of ms palin is she drives the crazies on liberal websites even crazier--got to love her for that alone-and except for the journolist whores and fellow travellers, no lone reads their shit.

Go sarah--libtards--grow up

Anonymous said...

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she wins the GOP nomination for president.

KCFleming said...

I'll confess I thought her voice might become annoying in her show.

But she came across as real and endearing. The one with the Kate-plus-8 mom was most amazing because it showed Sarah's motherly strengths to Kate's whining narcissism.

Unknown said...

- YoungHegelian:

You've stumbled into one of many reasons Sarah Palin will NOT - IMHO - run for president. As you said she has to provide for the specialized medical, educational, therapeutic, nutritional, pharmaceutical, etc, needs of her special needs child. Anyone who has a special needs child knows all too well that meeting those needs can get very expensive, especially when the parent wants to provide the best life she can for her child.

bagoh20 said...

Liberals remind me of the "The "Terminator" movies as they relentlessly try to destroy Sarah (Connor) Palin. In this video, Palin is armed and wearing a bandanna headband and IS Sarah Connor.

Meade said...

Did anyone else notice this teaser? Aired between segments of "Sarah Palin's Alaska"

Steve M. Galbraith said...

Sarah Palin is a talk show host. She should be hosting "Good Morning, Juneau" for chrissakes.

I wish the left would stop elevating her with these attacks.

It's like they both are in a conspiracy to help one another get attention.

Nuts, it's just nuts.

I think she's a nice person. Not a monster. But she's not an American Margaret Thatcher.

Nor an American Madame Defarge stitching the names of her enemies in the hides of a moose.

chickelit said...

Why even mock the left when it mocks itself so?

cubanbob said...

Perhaps it's me but can anyone take someone named Charles Blow seriously?

Chip Ahoy said...

That was ossum. I know for a FACT because every single clip said so. Of course the video is showing an artless mind by drilling attenuated ecphonesis.

The exclamation irritates by overuse. But I hadn't noticed that because I've not been paying attention to Palin. These people have been paying attention, close attention, compile-a-video close attention, so they're irritated in the way that I become irritated when my object of fascination does that.

Exactly like the cast of Ace of Cakes. The show comes on and I hit mute for this very reason. I wrote to Charm City Cakes on their first season along these lines (but never heard back, not even a thank-you, Sir.) Bitches.

"Why does your obvious creativity not extend naturally to language? You're driving me insane. Please accept my recommendations in the spirit they are offered. Possible "awesome" substitutions:

(updated here)

"Awe inspiring"
"That is characterized by awe!"
"Most impressive!"
"Amazing!"
"Stunning!"
"Sensational"
"Splendid"
"Great"
"I just wet myself"
"Gargantuan"
"Mind blowing"
"Astounding"
"My eyeballs just blew a gasket!"
"Stupendous"
"Wonderous"
"Wonder filled"
"Majestic"
"Blow me down and kick my ass!"
"Spectacular"
"Breathtaking"
"Dramatic"
"Extravagant"
"Striking"
"Oh my God, that's laccopetalum giganteum!" (giant buttercup)
"FUCK ME DEAD"
"I CANNOT BEHOLD ANOTHER SECOND OF THIS"
"MY EYES!
"OH MY GOD, A DOUBLE RAINBOW!"

Skyler said...

I was able to get to a tv a month or so ago and saw a few episodes. I think she is very down to earth, and quite a joy to be around.

But they really do need to edit it better so she isn't doing all the talking all the time. Maybe have someone else do more of the narrating. I ended up hating hearing her voice going on and on and on.

Bruce Hayden said...

What was humorous about the mash-up to me was that it appears that they were after her for saying, time and time again, that something was awesome.

But, of course, it is awesome, at least for someone who was born in northern Idaho, and raised in Alaska. I have spent enough of my life in areas where this sort of thing existed to realize that whatever we have down here, they have even more of up there in Alaska.

I would have loved to have taken my kid, when growing up, on these excursions. And, I think that these experiences are far more valuable for the kids than the Kennedy home movies that Meade linked to.

I probably could have done the climbing bit back in college, but after my youngest brother fell on his head climbing outside Boulder, and died, I have had horrible acrophobia. And, I did get sea sick, when we went out for a boat tour when I was in Alaska. Plus, from what I have heard about bush flying up there, I might not have been a happy camper in the small plane. (Last week friends of mine from Fairbanks regaled me about their travails flying into Kodiak).

But, other than that, what kid wouldn't want those sorts of memories growing up?

Synova said...

You've got a booger!

I have ten gnats stuck to my lip!

LOL!

Yes, she's awesome.

I honestly don't know what sort of anger and hatefulness would have to be in a person to think that this video makes her seem unappealing.

Seriously.

William said...

She's composed of Eleanor Roosevelt's anti-matter. Sarah Palin is the last of the frontier brides. Her documentary should have been filmed by John Ford.....I think like Eleanor Roosevelt she is better at representing the spirit of her ideas as opposed to actually executing them. That's not to say she ineffective, just that she's more fun as a muse than as an administrator.

Caroline said...

I didn't watch the "Alaska" show, but I did look at part of the clip Althouse posted (I got the gist of it pretty quickly).

The more I hear it, the less Palin's voice irritates me. I think I'm becoming inured to it . That's probably a bad sign for those campaigning to demonize her.

kk said...

I wonder what the subliminal messaging of a video like this is. I mean, you see someone's picture while repeatedly hearing happy laughter and the word "Awesome" -- I can't imagine it would hurt.

WV: undem - Sarah Palin is the UnDem

Bruce Hayden said...

I mean, you see someone's picture while repeatedly hearing happy laughter and the word "Awesome" -- I can't imagine it would hurt.

I think that it really depends on who you are. Plenty of people who would see this stuff might internalize an awesome, but be too sophisticated to verbalize it. And they would be the ones who would criticize her for stating the obvious.

Sometimes I think that part of why she rubs so many wrong is that she sometimes wears her feelings on her sleeve. And that is, to them, a mark of the less sophisticated.

But, it is also because she is, to some extent, the anti-Obama in this area. He is someone who doesn't usually seem to be able to emotionally connect with people. I know that my mother would have preferred the Obama approach, having descended from Puritan stock. And that may be why my father, living with my mother for more than 50 years, may be put off by her too. It is just not something that people of their type do - all that emotional stuff.

wv: equally - a real word. Not sure of its relevance here, but still an accomplishment.

traditionalguy said...

Is this post is here just for the Halibut.

The Scythian said...

The video says more about the person who edited it than Sarah Palin.

I've never made a secret of disliking Palin, but it's difficult for me to imagine how a video like this would actually hurt her in any way.

John henry said...

Ironrails,

I have been doing daily research on this for some time and I am seeing a trend away from shaving. Not full blown jungles but tasteful (and tasty) patches and landing strips.

Have you been noticing this?

Revenant said...

I agree; the video makes her look likable. It also makes her look like she genuinely likes stuff -- that her life isn't all about politics.

I don't know that that's *true*, but that's what comes across.

The Scythian said...

kk wrote:

"I wonder what the subliminal messaging of a video like this is. I mean, you see someone's picture while repeatedly hearing happy laughter and the word 'Awesome' -- I can't imagine it would hurt."

Not that this clip really deserves a lot of analysis, but watch it again and ask yourself, "Why would somebody think that this segment makes Palin look bad?"

By the end of it, you'll realize that the video was made by the kind of bedwetter who has yet to get over the trauma of being awkward and not very fit in high school.

kent said...

the video was made by the kind of bedwetter who has yet to get over the trauma of being awkward and not very fit in high school.

Oh, terrific. Another Michael Moore flick...?

Hagar said...

Is there anything this woman can't do?

That may also be a good part of their problem with her; especially the juveniles who put this clip together.

The Scythian said...

Kent wrote:

"Oh, terrific. Another Michael Moore flick...?"

Hah!

To be fair, if Moore put a clip like that together, it would be more effective. His politics may be vile, but he is a very skilled propagandist (although he has been off his game since Fahrenheit 911).

Fen said...

Not that this clip really deserves a lot of analysis, but watch it again and ask yourself, "Why would somebody think that this segment makes Palin look bad?"

By the end of it, you'll realize that the video was made by the kind of bedwetter who has yet to get over the trauma of being awkward and not very fit in high school.


Consider the more likely possibility that the Libtard who made it actually felt those clips reflected poorly on Palin.

Libtards. Yes they really are that deranged.

Phil 314 said...

Don't you all know this past week was all about psychopathology.

In spite of no evidence to support it many on the left claimed that right wing rhetoric lead to this shooting

Delusion= firm, fixed conviction in spite of evidence

Any mention of Palin leads many on the left to reflexively, almost ritualistically, ridicule the woman

Obsession/compulsion = intrusive thoughts that lead to an irresistible action to "undo" the thought.

So are we dealing with Paranoid Schizophrenia or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

Skyler said...

I suppose the person who made this and intended it to give a negative reaction felt that this was just evidence of how fake she is. That is, since we "know" that she is an evil, corrupt, killer and accomplice to assassination attempts and is devoid of all humor and humanity, then since this video shows her laughing and smiling then it must obviously demonstrate that she is also duplicitous and fake.

It's kind of like how cold weather is proof of global warming. A laughing Sarah Palin is proof that she is evil.

mrs whatsit said...

I finally figured out why they hate her so much. She is having so much FUN. With her energy, zest, willingness to try new things, love for her family, and wide open sense of wonder, she is having more fun in that short clip than those smug self-righteous sourpusses have managed to have in their whole lives. No wonder they can't stand her!

Automatic_Wing said...

The right type of white person is supposed to express his or her love of nature through ironic pop culture references, not through vulgar interjections like "Awesome!" and "Holy Jeez!".

T. Coddington Van Voorhies III is not pleased.

The Scythian said...

"Consider the more likely possibility that the Libtard who made it actually felt those clips reflected poorly on Palin."

Not only did I consider that, it's exactly what I said!

I was just being more specific.

To put it another way, the majority of clips in the video are of Sarah Palin (or the Palins) engaging in athletic, outdoorsy, or active pursuits. If someone thinks that such pursuits reflect poorly on Palin, what does that say about the person putting the video together?

Quaestor said...

Slightly off-topic

Here's a quote from the wonderful, ritmo-esque Eric Fuller (via Dodd Harris, via Reynolds):

I use extraordinary persuasive charisma to interest blase, apathetic, oblivious and at times hostile voters to listen to the voice of justice and consanguinity

Looks like Mr. Fuller did a thesaurus search on brotherhood and got burned.

kent said...

the wonderful, ritmo-esque Eric Fuller

That comparison is completely and indefensibly unfair. To Fuller.

Quaestor said...

Fen wrote: Eric "Moonbat" Fuller was just arrested for making death threats against a member of the Tea Party.

"...and involuntarily committed to a mental health facility...."
KPHO Tucson

sakredkow said...

Yeah, if this was someone's idea of making Palin look like an idiot I think they failed. It looks more like a commercial for a product.
Neither did it interest me at all in the product. "Thoroughly lovable?" We must have different ways of defining that!
I can think of few celebrities who I might call thoroughly lovable, you know, Katie Holmes, Olivia Wilde, Wilford Brimley. But I can't think of any politicians, let alone Sarah Palin. WTF are you smoking???

Quaestor said...

Wilford Brimley lovable? It's gotta be the walrus moustache. Go watch the John Carpenter version of The Thing and tell me if Brimley sans the hirsute lip is lovable.

Quaestor said...

And Katie Holmes? Eeewww! She's been in bed with the Cruise-creature. Eeewww!

wv: hamely - to be less than handsome in Scotland

Caroline said...

"It also makes her look like she genuinely likes stuff -- that her life isn't all about politics."

Yes, she seems like a happy, upbeat person, that enjoys life. That probably drives unhappy people nuts. "How dare she be so happy when I'm so miserable!!"

I bet if you could do a study cross-tabulating people who knee-jerk hate Palin (not the reasonable critics, just the rabid haters), with those who are suffering from depression, you'd see a correlation.

Of course you could probably find the same correlation with any hater. Hating and happiness is tough to pull off in the same mind. (Or a sane mind, for that matter.)

Quaestor said...

I used to be a rabid hater, but I gave it up. It was useless. Hate them or love them they still eat your herb garden.

kent said...

@Quaestor: Now imagine Katie Holmes and Wilford Brimley together. Naked.

Sweating. Writhing.

"Katie Holmes. It's the right thing to do."
/brimley

Anonymous said...

I have been doing daily research on this for some time and I am seeing a trend away from shaving. Not full blown jungles but tasteful (and tasty) patches and landing strips.
Have you been noticing this?


Sadly, no. I too have been doing regular research, using multiple sources (Image Fap, You Porn, Guess Her Muff and Voyeurweb), and it sure appears to me that the Hideous Pedophilic Bald Eagle is as popular as ever. Perhaps an occasional landing strip, but that's about it.

Peter

Quaestor said...

I have trouble visualizing Wilford Brimley writhing naked. In my imagination he just seems to roll.

kent said...

Lefty narrative on Eric Fuller already taking shape

EXCERPT: "See if you can follow the logic: According to Olby & Co., Jared Loughner isn’t responsible for his own actions. Sarah Palin and the teabaggers are, despite a complete lack of evidence that there’s any connection. Whereas Eric Fuller is responsible for his own actions, despite parroting the same crap that the professional left has been spouting for a solid week."

Caroline said...

@Quaestor

I used to be a rabid hater, but I gave it up. It was useless. Hate them or love them they still eat your herb garden.


:D

JAL said...

HuffPo. The place where 45 year old women do NOT hang out with the Wild Ones.

Group visualization guys! --->

Ariana climbing up the mountian in her bare hands. Even when she was 45.

hahahaahahahah!!111!1!!!

Sorry for that.

JAL said...

Aa for being the anti-Obama ...

Remember when he went to the FL Gulfcoast and did the photo op in the water with his little girl [Malia?]?

Now .... visualize Sarah and Todd in the water with Piper ...

See?

That was easy.

Caroline said...

Don't you all know this past week was all about psychopathology

To keep going with your line of thought and my previous post, (and at the risk of beating a dead thread):

Rather than worrying about rhetoric poisoning the psychotics (since even if rhetoric got in, the end result would be like a game of telephone, once it passed through all the different voices in that person's head), I think we need to be more concerned about rhetoric and hate-speech taking root in a depressed (but otherwise sane) mind; and having their discontent lead to anger, and anger lead to violence, and ... dear lord I sound like Yoda. I'll stop.

knox said...

I'm sure I'm late to the party, but I just noticed the "civility bullshit" tag. LOL

Palladian said...

Who's your favorite Blow?

A. Charles Blow
B. Kurtis Blow
C. John Blow

For me, it's "C". Blows's job was as organ master. Blow on the organ must have been a magnificent event to behold.

Charles Blow just sucks.

JAL said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mariner said...

Youngblood,

To be fair, if Moore put a clip like that together, it would be more effective. His politics may be vile, but he is a very skilled propagandist ...

Indeed. Another blogger dubbed him "Tubby Riefenstahl".

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The collective left can suck it.

Methadras said...

Is this their version of the Fairness Doctrine?

Freder Frederson said...

Even if the clip does show her as being "lovable", how does that mean that it "totally backfires" in the effort to make her look like an idiot? The two are not mutually exclusive. There are a lot of extremely lovable idiots in the world. You just don't want them having their finger on the nuclear button.

As for Charles Blow's column--get off it. You obviously can't read plain English. His message is that metaphorically (technically it is a simile--you do know what that is don't you) shooting Palin does no good, it just makes her stronger. Is that the best violent rhetoric you can find against Palin?

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

"Do not use his mullet as your towel."

Hah.

Methadras said...

Freder Frederson said...

His message is that metaphorically


Didn't you get the memo, moron? Metaphors are dead. Long live the new civility and new metaphors.