CALLER: You know, [Mitt Romney is] not my favorite candidate... but... I will say this: Yes, he's establishment; yes, he was governor of Massachusetts. But Rush when I compare him to the establishment candidate four years ago, meaning McCain, I feel better about Romney. I think he genuinely has enough conservative values, I think he definitely has an economic background, and I would feel comfortable if he did win; whereas I never would have felt comfortable if McCain won, except that Sarah was there.This struck me — I was listening to the podcast this morning, after knowing the results of the Iowa straw poll — because of the strength of the confidence in Sarah Palin and the comfort embodied in the simple reference "Sarah." I'm touched by this, because I'd always thought that it would be difficult for Americans to get their minds around the idea of a woman as Commander in Chief. Even those who celebrate the advancement of women would, I thought, worry about trusting a woman with the ultimate responsibility for the security of the world. But here is a very conservative man, this caller, who is wary of John McCain, but able to tolerate him because of her. At the same time, Republicans are embracing Michele Bachmann. I'm not hearing any balkiness about accepting a woman President. It has become almost instantly normal.
RUSH: ... Now, you said Romney's not your favorite. Who is?
CALLER: I'd love to see Sarah Palin run, but I really want to look at Perry.
How did that happen, and why did it happen on the Republican side? When Hillary Clinton ran for President in 2008, there was a lot of talk and enthusiasm about the idea of the first female President. It wasn't normal. The non-normalness was a big plus for some and a negative for others. Barack Obama's path forward came in reaction to Hillary in what — I think — history will see as a very strange psychic shift in the minds of Democratic voters. No! Not the woman! Somehow, within the minds of Democrats, the African-American man could stop the woman, and so, he vaulted into the foreground and, despite a shocking lack of experience, won the presidency.
But these Republicans... what is happening in their minds? How was it that they so easily accepted what looks quite a bit like the simple equality of women?
Posts
254 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 254 of 254I really appreciate the truly free forum you run here, Professor Althouse, but couldn't you ban J? He (it?) brings absolutely nothing to the table. His one accomplishment is to make garage seem civil in comparison. I'm serious. The creep can't even get his Spanish insults right.
Anybody else want to sign this petition?
"rubes & oxycontin" country.
Where I live, these folks almost always vote Democratic, that's who they consider responsible for getting them their welfare and disability checks.
Good to see that Althouse's Sarah Palin posts are back into the 200+ range.
____________
wv = turge: A term was first coined by our very own Titus to capture the feeling of imminent defecation.
Roger J. said...
Hey C4--is it possible for you to get thru a fucking post without talking about "progressive jews
===========
Given their disproportionate influence on media, PC, DC, the post Warren Court legal system, Hollywood, Wall Street, global finance, and socialist politics...hard to avoid not pointing out the negatives to their deeds, utterly.
It's like talking terror without bringing up Muslims.
Or crime without the disproportionate influence of young black males.
I don't see you running around calling people who connect terrorism with radical Islam, bigots. Despite all the endless claims of Muslims that they deserve an immunity from criticism privilege too, from past "genocide".
Progressive Jews deserve no pass. What happened to them 70 years back doesn't wash away the right to criticize them what they did in the Soviet Union, or the problems they have caused or strongly contributed to, later.
Besides, everyone knew exactly who Pauline Kael was talking about when she said 'her people' could not abide Nixon and her disbelief that 'her people' were not able to influence the little Americans elsewhere to make the correct decision.
(The Crypto Jew)
Besides, everyone knew exactly who Pauline Kael was talking about when she said 'her people' could not abide Nixon and her disbelief that 'her people' were not able to influence the little Americans elsewhere to make the correct decision
Yeah she meant readers and writers at the Washington Post, Goof-Ball…
Progressive Jews deserve no pass.
Here's what I don't understand about these sorts of references. How do Progressive Jews differ from Progressive Christians or Progressive Atheists in terms of "deserving no pass"?
And what about politically conservative Jews? Do they deserve less of a pass than other conservatives?
I understand your skepticism about "progressives." What I don't understand is what other dimension of politics is illuminated by reference to Judaism.
(The Crypto Jew)
Here's what I don't understand about these sorts of references. How do Progressive Jews differ from Progressive Christians or Progressive Atheists in terms of "deserving no pass"
In case you haven’t put it together it’s not the “Progressive” that bothers C4…it’s the “Jooos.” Any Juuice, but the Progressive ones bother him the mostest….
OldGrouchyCranky said...
Lastly, recall good folks, that the Republicans of Lincoln's day were referred to as "Radicals." Plus what was said above about the 1964-65 Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts.
No, the Radical Republicans wanted a Soviet-style occupation of the South complete with the hanging of the Confederate cabinet and the major surviving Confederate generals.
By contrast, Lincoln was considered a moderate.
There’s Sarah Palin And Then There’s… ???
"It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Somewhere in the center of the photo below is former Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin, attending the Iowa Sate Fair yesterday. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a media throng! I may be going out on a limb here, but I submit that the entire GOP presidential candidate field combined could not draw this kind of coverage."
RedState
My mother says, often, "I was born before women could vote, and I want to live long enough to see a woman as President, just so long as it isn't Hillary!"
Things have changed.
I distinctly remember a relative (southern Baptist) arguing that a woman couldn't serve as Pres. He refered to Paul as a justification.
I pointed out the Maggie Thatcher example, but he wasn't convinced. (Regan was in charge, ect.)
Now things have all changed. Why? Maybe just a certain amount of time/new generation? Don't know, but he has changed his mind.
Republicans got to the point of seeing candidates for the capabilities, rather than physical features, MUCH sooner than Democrats, who have yet to arrive at that point.
Cedarford @ 3:58 PM
After I realized it was TUBBS, selected by the left ... and not the wild kids ... that are getting labeled as the only zoo population on earth ...
Did I realize why racial and ethnic smears just don't work!
We tend to identify the "outliers." Not the ones who really represent out aunts, and uncles. And, the people we know.
And, it isn't "undo" influence, either. Not by any group.
It is, however, how the "money set" ... keeps power. Jews and Blacks are hardly included amoung "those."
Oh, yeah.
And, I remember back to Pauline Kael's comment. So, I said it out loud at home. And, my mom shot back "she did."
After that surprise I tend not to group people into categories that I even know how they vote.
DBQ - If Obama announced he was dropping Biden, which new VP would make you enthusiastic enough to vote for him?
The VP has other functions than to just be a pitch hitter in case the President should be "taken out of the game". That is probably the most important part of the VP.
However, I would assume that a VP also helps to shape policy. The VP is usually somewhat in line with the main party line. Or is considered complementary to the President. Providing strengths and skills where the President may be weak.
I believe that Biden was (ostensibly) picked for his foreign policy experience because it was admitted that Obama had none. That was a joke of course since Obama had NO experience and Biden practically nothing.
However. In the hopes that the VP would be the one to step up into Obama's vacant seat (one can only hope)....... Zell Miller or someone in his mold.
I would never vote for Obama....EVER!, in any case....no matter WHO they picked as VP because I disagree with about 98% of the Democrat/Liberal agenda.
C-4's antisemitism is deriving Jew hatred from everyday bad conduct of men>
If an Italian does something bad, he will be agaist the guy who does it/
Same reaction if a Chinese or a Mexican does something wrong.
But if a Jew does something wrong, then C-4 wants all Jews tagged and eliminated.
What about tagging and eliminating those sneaky Italians, Chinese and Mexicans as groups ?
And why attack gentiles who love Jews instead of attacking Jews as a group? Really, why?
You don't think Palin has "a distinctive toughness?" Really?
That was my reaction as well.
I wonder if anyone ever printed "Thatcher is a c---" t-shirts, or mused about her children having sex.
(One wonders how low the left really is capable of going.)
(And I should say, "mused about her children having sex with adult men" - because I'm thinking of the Letterman thing.)
The person who has taken incredible heat nukes from the left and still is out front and leading the charge with a smile on her face is Sarah!
And conservatives love it. She has shown by her actions and demeanor and character fitness to be CinC. Meanwhile we have a Cinc, who is acting more like a stereotypical woman with the vapors than the strong women being presented on the GOP side. The convergence is amazing.
Perhaps the only thing that bugs me about this blog is the rule that Althouse will ban you for using the word "ni**er," (in any context, IIRC.) and yet she tolerates the vile, anti-semitic bile that spews forth from J and Cedarford as a matter of course.
I've always been curious about your standards in this regard, Althouse.
Some clarification would be appreciated. Because, as I understand it, if I call Crack a filthy ni**er, I get the ban hammer, but if J calls someone a filthy Jew, he gets a pass?
It's vexing.
(The Crypto Jew)
To put a cynical spin on it Chief Mojo…”N!**er” is frowned on in polite Madison Society, and Althouse would be ostracized were she to allow its use. HOWEVER, Anti-Zionism or Anti-Semitism is “edgy” and intellectual….
Only troglodytes would drop “N!**er” , but Dr.’s Walt and Mearsheimer can be anti-Semitic, and be accepted into polite society.
Consider it the anti-Anti-Communism of the early 21st C.
Well you see Cheif Mojo hating the Jews is politically correct.
Even the secular Jews like to do it.
Just ask Ezra Klein and the rest of the Kapo's of the juice box mafia.
Republicans don't think of people as members of groups. They think of them as individuals. That is why they feel perfectly comfortable saying McCain is a squish with no principles who cannot be trusted, Obama is an idiot who has never fully understood anything in his entire life (and likely never will) and Sarah is competent and normal in a way none of the other candidates are.
Because they can declare people foul without concerns of racism or sexism, Republicans can also declare people fair who meet their standards regardless of sex or race.
The other thing to keep in mind is that in the hierarchy of victimhood being black still trumps being female. No one knew squat about Obama and certainly none of his views, associations or accomplishments were laudatory in any way. Even his campaign slogan was cadged from a children's cartoon (I will give him this --- he knew the mentality of his audience) and was completely substance free. So essentially the people who voted for him were voting for generic black guy over old white woman.
Essentially Obama was a novelty item... an impulse purchase at checkout. Why --- wouldn't we look nice with a black president? Couldn't we feel good about ourselves? Yes we could! We might even look good enough to get invited to the Nobel's! We would make history. The seas would recede and the lion would lay down with the lamb. That is why he beat Hillary.
Now ask us something less blindingly obvious.
Dust Bunny Queen:
They just cannot seem to comprehend that a person can be a female, conservative fiscally, libertarian on social issues and agnostic on religion of all stripes.
Are you married?
If not, would you like to be?
:-)
Sounds like the perfect woman to me.
A 25 year old tour rookie just won the PGA at Bobby Jones' club in Atlanta.
He hit an 180 yd 5 iron across the lake at 18 and won it in the playoff with an Alabama boy.
I remember 35 years ago on the same hole and course watching a young Alabama boy named Jerry pate hit the same 5 iron shot to win the US Open. The crowd cheered for 5 minutes in 1976.
I was standing 10 feet from Pate when he hit his shot. But the wife won't let me go out in the summer heat all day anymore.
Enjoy life while you are young like Keegan Bradley.
She doesn't seem to ban criticism black culture, or when using negative black stereotypes, or even other racial slurs. In that way, it's not inconsistent with how some people talk about Jews.
In fact, blacks get a lot worse treatment here than Jews do, so quit whining.
Also why should anti-Zionism get someone censured? That's creepy.
As a Libertarian, I went with the party's candidate.
Now that's a funny comment.
"but couldn't you ban J? "
Just ignore him/her.
Do you watch Bill Maher every night?
@MarkG:
That's creepy.
Right, MarkG. Tell it to the ashes.
And thanks for enlightening me that it's all about quantity here at Althouse comments when they're bashing the filthy jews and the ni**ers. Makes all the difference in the world.
Interesting it matters to you that you keep count.
"Radical Republicans wanted a Soviet-style occupation of the South complete with the hanging of the Confederate cabinet and the major surviving Confederate generals."
Stop making things up.
Interesting it matters to you that you keep count.
Hmmm, yes, very interesting...
One, Ann's original post was tongue-in-cheek as she channeled the mocking tone and worldview assumptions of an East Coast urban liberal. To anyone who thought Ann was putting her actual feelings out there, please have your satire meter checked at your next appointment.
Two, lots of folks firmed up for McCain because of Palin. The MSM focused on her negative polling numbers, which were strong, but they frequently downplayed her positive numbers which were equally strong. What it boils down to is that people either really liked or downright hated Palin (especially the Libs who were scared to death of her). Yeah, it sucked to be 'polarizing' in a national election, but she also developed a very committed and solid core of voters. Can't say the same about John Kerry and John Edwards, neither of whom inspired anything beyond wearing the donkey on their jerseys.
Three, I felt better about the GOP ticket after Palin came on board. McCain offered me nothing to get enthused about. Not that I think she's the next Reagan, but at least after she gave her convention speech I felt that one of them could rise to the occasion when called for.
Four, I'm still not sure if I'd vote for Palin for prez; I'd have to see how her campaign went. I thought she got tripped up a little too easily in 08. But, I do have unabashed admiration for her as she is a doer, not a navel-gazing intellectual douche that snipes at everyone who disagrees with them.
ED: You're correct, Lincoln was a moderate but the "Radical" name tag was there early on well before April 14, 1865. Still, his killing was the lever the Radicals used to try and destroy Southern society and life style forever. Yep, Stalin probably learned a lot from Stanton and his minions. Doubt that Johnson cared that much about harm being done to the South but certainly seemed to want to protect his own prerogatives and home state.
Still, "Radicals" were Republicans long before the hippies grew their hair long; not that the 1860 version was good, it was not; the 1960s version was terrible too.
OBTW: That impeachment of Johnson might have been much more interesting if the Senate had convicted Johnson. Given the Constitutional issue at play, wonder how our professor would have "ruled" on that point? Maybe she'll have a blog about that someday. Would Johnson have the fortitude, and will, to tell Congress to go fish? Not that I think that's what Clinton would have done, different strokes for different crimes.
Cheers and enjoy the day.
"Maybe she'll have a blog about that someday."
Not likely.
Republicans don't think of people as members of groups. They think of them as individuals.
Funny.
In short Althouse, conservatives in reality are vastly different from conservatives in the deranged imaginations of leftists.
I am another very conservative man who felt better^^^^^^not as bad about voting for McCain because of Sarah Palin.
Hagar,
It is not "experience" that counts, but how you handled yourself in the past when encountering problems beyond your "experience."
Yes!
That's why character is THE most important attribute in a candidate.
1) No Executive experience, State is the worst MANAGED Cabinet…
2) No campaign experience, unlike Obama whose forte IS campaigning
3) A “squish” on Affirmative Action;
4) And, IIRC, Gun Control.
We’d have been “Moidelized”…it would have been embarrassing AND Painful…Politics ain’t the NBA…you don’t go from Jr. High or High School to the NBA, in politics, there ain’t NO substitute for experience, in this game. The missteps would have come left and right and the ads write themselves.
Joe, don't make the other side's point. State is hard to manage, but Condi's State Department didn't have the blow-ups Hillary!'s has had. (Or Bill's, for that matter.)
You buy campaign staff. There's plenty of talent out there. Tell me Condi could have been as inept/stupid as McCain.
Squish this, squish that. See my point re: McCain.
Condi was/is a first-rate intellect (as opposed to Barry, who just played one on TV), a veteran of back-room turf wars, a hawk in all the right places, and, back to TV, telegenic as all get out. And you know, she goes on Oprah and blows the Big O (Oprah, that is) a kiss back stage, and Barry gets basted like the turkey he is when he tries to schmooze her.
You keep aiming for the perfect and you're going to give the Dems another pass in 2012.
Even those who celebrate the advancement of women would, I thought, worry about trusting a woman with the ultimate responsibility for the security of the world.
Excepting, of course, that the term "leader of the free world" in reference to POTUS is increasingly archaic. Would that it were not so, but 'tis true.
"traditionalguy said...
A 25 year old tour rookie just won the PGA at Bobby Jones' club in Atlanta."
Thanks,Jim Nantz, I DVR'd this.
"I distinctly remember a relative (southern Baptist) arguing that a woman couldn't serve as Pres. He refered to Paul as a justification."
There's always dummies in any group who use Paul as an excuse but for the most part, it seems to me, someone using Paul as a justification (instead of an excuse) isn't talking about inherent capabilities. Someone taking an extreme position and arguing that women shouldn't work out of the home aren't arguing capabilities but that a woman being under the authority of a man (not her husband) is wrong. It's not that she can't do the job, that she's too emotional or that she's not got good judgment or isn't as smart as men. If the argument is about authority within the church, again, it's not based on arguments of competence.
Wow, looks like Ann is getting spanked a bit on this thread.
"This post just highlights Althouse's political origins. Hard to shake off." - Christopher
This.
I've always loved working with people who are brutally competent; I don't care if you're a purple hermaphrodite with pink spots...that's irrelevant.
Things have been this way for quite some time. You really need to start hanging out with a different crowd, Ann.
Welcome. :)
P.S.- Funny how many other people here said they voted for Palin (as did I). I can't stand McCain, and was going to sit that one out, or vote 3rd party in protest until they added Palin to the ticket. I voted for Palin, hoping hackboy would become ill and not be able to fulfill his position.
wv:drophin... one letter off of what I wish Sarah could have done.
J... you keep mentioning John Wesley, but I'm more of a George Whitefield kind of guy.
I don't know if you're really into theology or just a poser, but here you go...
http://www.spurgeon.org~phil//wesley.htm
:)
wv: hyptspot... = Althouse ;)
Wow, alot of banter about "jews".Whatever happened to Hasidic Jews? I'm sick of all these fake Jews...jino (jew in name only... like cino{christian in name only}).
Posers.
wv: bribess... what I think most people sell their religion out for.
Count me in as another who voted for Palin.
It was such a let down that the Republicans let the media nominate McBushDole for them, just another Progressive Republican, who thumbed his nose at the conservative base on so many key issues, like the Potentially Insufficiently Documented Future Reliable Democratic Voter Act, a/k/a amnesty, McCain-Feingold, etc.
If McCain had picked anybody else, anybody, he would have lost by thirty points. She energized a base thoroughly dispirited by 8 years of Bush like no one else I can think of would have.
It was such a perfect storm for the Democrats that Obama should have breezed into the presidency - the financial meltdown oh so conveniently happening just 6 weeks before the election, 8 years of Bush alienating his own base while also being despicably and dishonorably demonized by the media, Hollywood, the professoriat, the unions. Sarah is the only reason it was as close as it was.
I never did understand why the left hated Bush so much, unless it was payback for Florida. The only things he ever did for the right were the tax cuts, the War on Terror, and Roberts and Scalia. Otherwise he was the best Republican president they could have gotten.
For religious conservatives, there are precedents within the Judeo-Christian tradition for women rising to power in order to protect and foster the existence and value of the sacred community -- think Esther and Judith, but also Miriam (Moses' sister) and Deborah (who was one of the Judges in Israel before the establishment of the Davidic monarchy).
Sarah Palin is the single reason that I pulled the lever for McCain in 2008. Otherwise I wold NOT have voted in a presidential election for the first time in my life. Her sex had nothing to do with it. Being a woman, I know we will have a woman President, but don't get my knickers in a twist over it like the traitorous Dems do over minorities and other such demographic games.
"I'd always thought that it would be difficult for Americans to get their minds around the idea of a woman as Commander in Chief."
Yeah, and America will never elect a black President, because we're racists, right?
Maybe our race/gender problems don't originate in the American people, but in the liberal mind.
Conservatives don't have problems with woman candidates. They have a problem with anyone who feels their gender, or race, is a qualification. It's strange to see the Professor wonder how this ocurred, as if it is a new development. It isn't. She used to believe something untrue, and is now understanding it isn't. That's not a change in conservatives, it's an improvement in her understanding of conservatives.
"And another question could have been "When will liberal women accept conservative women as their equals?""
I'm guessin' never.
Mark,
"The Republicans best shot at the Presidency in 2008 would have been Condi Rice. If the powers in the party had had any sense they would have seen that. "
Except Rice was probably smart enough to not want the job. Goodness knows I wouldn't take it--would you?
Joe,
You're totally wrong about the gun control part. Rice has spoken, very approvingly, of the importance of firearms to her family and others during the Civil Rights era.
Crack,
I generally appreciate what you have to say (with or without a hard edge), but I've gotta say that your 11:32am is priceless and just about the best thing said so far.
pm317,
Hillary an "intellectual powerhouse"? Really???? Mind giving us the brief outline of why you think that is so?
(I write this as no fan of H!, but who certainly would have voted for her in the general election if the R's had gone nutcase and nominated the Huckster.)
(And yes, I know I shouldn't engage J, but sometimes I just can't help myself):
J, dude... you do know that market capitalism in our modern sense didn't even exist in Luther's time, don't you?
Wow, alot of banter about "jews".
Well, that's Cederford.
You think you're having a McCain-Palin discussion, but what you're actually talking about are the Jews.
Green Bay Packers? It's the Jews.
Herman Cain and Donna Summer? Jews.
Dinosaurs are Jews. Tom Cruise? Jew. Spermatozoa? Totally Jewish.
'67 Mustang? Jews. The flush toilet? Jews. Christians? Jews. Muslims? Jews. Atheists? Commie Jews.
Whatever happened to Hasidic Jews?
I think there's some concern that if we have a blog post that actually talks about Jews, C-4 would officially blow up.
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