Palinsanity.

I'm just coining a word. It means the way everyone went nuts after Sarah Palin made her entrance on the national stage. What are the symptoms of this mental disorder? Help me enumerate them. One certainly is the desire to comment on blogs, so have at it. Another is the obsession with the female body. Yes, let's talk politics -- let's talk about wombs and protruding abdomens and lactating breasts.

Palinsanity. You know you have it.

Cindy and Laura at the convention.

I've watched dribs and drabs of the GOP convention tonight, but the coverage is annoying. Gustav turned out to be a routine hurricane coming ashore -- which is great -- but I don't want to see repetitious shots of reporters in windbreakers in the rain in front of a tree that is blowing the way streamers taped onto air conditioners blow: enough to send you the message that indeed there is a breeze. But I did stop and watch Laura Bush and Cindy McCain, who read some words off the teleprompter in support of charitable giving -- which is nice -- but I didn't listen. I hope after tonight we get the normal convention schedule as originally planned and no more of this all-about-Gustav business. Aside from Gustav, today was such an insane day, focused on a 17-year-old's pregnancy. How could that possibly be news? And yet it was. So all I want to say is, wow, Cindy McCain had on a fabulous dress. I love the color, the collar, the cut, the ropes of pearls, the big pin. And I love the white blonde hair with the bangs and the tendrils. Lovely! Laura Bush.... not so much, but maybe that was intentional. Modest. Knowing her place. Not stealing the show.

Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol is pregnant!

Astounding! WaPo reports:

The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin said on Monday in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin's five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said.

"We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us," the Palins' statement said.

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support," the Palins said.

The Palins asked the news media to respect the young couple's privacy.

"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media, respect our daughter and Levi's privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates," the statement concluded.

Senior McCain campaign officials said McCain knew of the daughter's pregnancy when he selected Palin last week as his vice presidential running mate, deciding that it did not disqualify the 44-year-old governor in any way.

How bizarre! Is this just a coincidence or is this fact actually related to the rumors that went wild over the weekend, saying that Sarah Palin's new baby, Trig, was not her baby at all but her grandson?

IN THE COMMENTS: mcg said:

Well, I know this is shameless of me, but my first step is admitting the problem, right? My mind immediately went to Obama's comment that if his daughters "make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."

(Link for the Obama quote.)

John Lynch said:

It's an example of fitting in facts to a theory you want to believe. The Kos bloggers wanted something more bizarre, so they came up with it. Now, they'll be claiming vindication even when the primary smear, on Palin herself, isn't true.

Ben (The Tiger) said:

Did someone leak this to someone else but get the details wrong, like in a child's game?

That's the best explanation I've heard.

Sy said:

Well, Bristol was wearing an engagement ring at the announcement last week. Clearly, they were not trying to hide it. It's a private matter.

MadisonMan said:

I think the way to support a child through a pregnancy is to be there for them, not to embark on a national campaign -- sure, it's "only" 2 months -- that will shine the spotlight on the child. Anyway, that would be my reaction as a parent.

Oh, that looks like a meme. Sarah Palin must stay home with her special needs baby. Sarah Palin must stay home with her about-to-be-married, pregnant daughter. Ladies: Put your career on hold until everything in your family stops happening. I know, MM is a man and he's saying he'd stay home too, but would he? Would a man forgo his career to be there for a family member who is experiencing an important life transition?

Remember when John Edwards decided to go on with his campaign after his wife got a diagnosis of inoperable cancer? Now, I think Elizabeth Edwards was probably excited about the campaign and wanted to go on with it. In that light, why are you assuming that Bristol Palin isn't excited about her mother's campaign? Unlike Elizabeth Edwards, Bristol is not facing her last days. She's just starting out -- all caught up in life. Presumably, she's intense and positive about her pro-life beliefs, her love for the baby's father, her impending wedding, and the new baby on the way.

I imagine her eager to run around with the campaign, spreading the pro-life message to young people. Why should you think she would prefer to mope around the house, feeling ashamed, absorbing maternal comforting? On the campaign trail, she will be a loved and praised pro-life heroine, and she -- and her mother -- are likely to convert others to the pro-life side, with their glamorous and very positive image. Pro-choicers beware.

ADDED: In the comments Randy quotes my "Would a man forgo his career to be there for a family member who is experiencing an important life transition?" and says:

Ann, Joe Biden talks about facing that question when his wife and daughter were killed, and his sons injured, in that car accident. I can't recall anyone ever criticizing him for making the decision to remain in the US Senate and commute from Delaware to DC.

AND: The hunky boyfriend.

"Barack Obama will require you to work."

If you are at all young, he wants you out in the community, picking up trash and the like.

I hope the people in the community will do their part and keep littering, so the young people can learn the lessons the government wants to teach them. This is a mandatory program, 50 hours a year for public middle and high school students. So that's a lot of littering we need to keep this program going. As for college students, they'll have a choice, but they "will be induced to do 100 hours of service each year at an effective salary of $40 an hour tax free." Yes, the rich will be absolved. They can go to private school and, later, blow off a $4,000 tax credit. But if they are civic-minded, they can be helpful and stroll around the community from time to time, littering.

AND: I think children are already forced to work when they are sent to school. School is work. Respect that work. Let them know that it is work, and it's their job. And when they are done, let them play. Let them have their free time. Don't appropriate any more of their time. How dare you!

"We wanted to be part of a historic event... We knew Johnny White's would be the place to be...."

"We'll probably switch to water about 10 o'clock, sober up, and see if we can help out."

Life in New Orleans, spared by the hurricane.

ADDED: Does this mean God is for or against John McCain? I've lost track.

AND: "One doesn't anticipate that one's private conversation will be surreptitiously taped by some right-wing nutcase. But that's the nature of what we're dealing with."

Christopher Hitchens "can tell the difference between a true tumbrel remark and a false one."

And, he assures us, it's not John McCain saying -- asked about his houses -- "I think—I'll have my staff get to you. It's condominiums where—I'll have them get to you." It's:

The late queen mother, being driven in a Rolls-Royce through a stricken district of Manchester, England, said as she winced at the view, "I see no point at all in being poor." The Duke of St. Albans once told an interviewer that an ancestor of his had lost about 50 million pounds in a foolish speculation in South African goldfields, adding after a pause, "That was a lot of money in those days." The Duke of Devonshire, having been criticized in the London Times, announced in an annoyed and plaintive tone that he would no longer have the newspaper "in any of my houses."

Get it?

"Yes, it may be a fake pregnancy suit..."

"... but we have no evidence of that, other than self-serving testimony of Alaska Airlines crew claiming that they had no idea Palin was pregnant."

Daily Kos struggles to understand how the hell to blog about Sarah Palin:

Flogging this rumor in light of what seems to be pretty solid counter-evidence is just squandering whatever credibility we have. In the words of Janor Hypercleats, "They's laughin' at you, boy." There is so much more that we could be highlighting regarding Palin; we don't want that to be tarred with "from the same people who smeared Palin's teenage daughter..."

There's even a poll about whether this attempt to back slowly out of the sewer is helping -- and the vote is split 72-27.

Nice to see that their main concern is preserving their own credibility so they can carry out other, more effective, attacks. Because the whole point of appearing to be decent and feminist is to be able to push your political agenda.

Helen Mirren on date rape.

CNN reports:

Dame Helen, who picked up an Academy Award last year for her portrayal of The Queen, said she was date-raped "a couple of times" when she was young but did not report the attacks because "you couldn't do that in those days."

Despite her experiences, the British-born actress said date-rape was a "tricky area" and something men and women had to work out between themselves.

She said it was rape if a couple engaged in sexual activity but the woman said "no" at the last second.

However, in comments likely to anger anti-rape campaigners, she added: "I don't think she can have that man into court under those circumstances. I guess it is one of the subtle parts of the men/women relationship that has to be negotiated and worked out between them."

That's a little ambiguous. Is she saying individuals should work things out on their own or is she attempting to opine on the way police and courts would handle such a case? If the latter, she's not a lawyer and she's talking about Britain. If the former, she's stirring up a hot old topic.

In the U.S., I think we know that we can call the police in the situation she's described: "Not with excessive violence, or being hit, but rather being locked in a room and made to have sex against my will." But, I assume, many individuals decide not to report this crime (and many other crimes that occur among friends and family).

"Palin is now where she is ... not because she has fought her way to the top of the national greasy pole."

Andrew Sullivan brings the phallic symbolism to his answer to the question why he hasn't "swooned over the chance of a female vice-president who didn't get there by marriage, like Clinton." Well, that's his (sexualized) paraphrase of what Ross Douthat asked about:

For months and months, all through Hillary Clinton's losing campaign for the Presidency, my colleague Andrew Sullivan insisted over and over again that his furious anti-Hillary partisanship was in fact a defense of authentic feminism, since Hillary's ascension to the White House would represent the worst sort of pre-feminist, second-hand success - a woman marrying her way into power, that is, rather than attaining it on her own. Well, now John McCain has picked as his running mate a woman who embodies all the post-feminist virtues Andrew insisted were absent in Hillary Clinton's ascent - she's risen from working-class obscurity to govern a state dominated by an old boys' network (where the other prominent female politician is a classic legacy pick), while successfully juggling motherhood and her career and never, ever, piggybacking on any of her husband's achievements.... [Y]ou'd think that Andrew would confine his attacks on Palin to critiquing her record and mocking her lack of experience, rather than, say, posting emails accusing her of being a bad mother for accepting the nomination, snickering over her children's names, and razzing her as a bimbo and a "trophy candidate."

In short, it looks sexist. Sullivan's answer is well-composed -- though that "greasy pole" sticks out:

Please. I do admire someone who's risen the way Palin has, and I've said lots of nice things about her. But let's be honest: Palin is now where she is - not as Alaska governor but as vice-presidential nominee - because an old white guy decided to play some identity politics, and felt he had to shake up his campaign, not because she has fought her way to the top of the national greasy pole. It's great that by a combination of a decrepit and degenerate political establishment in Alaska, and her own personality and tenacity, she has just become governor of Alaska. But McCain's choice of her - as is impossible to miss - is a cynical ploy to exploit Democratic divisions over gender. I mean: how many Republican vice-presidential picks have lauded Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro in their acceptance speech? It wasn't even subtle. I find this kind of attitude to be about condescension, not feminism, about tokenism, not post-gender meritocracy.

And, please, there is nothing sexist in being amused by the names of someone's kids; I found the Romney gaggle hilarious. She was a beauty queen, for Pete's sake. She has been presented to the nation like a trophy candidate. And some women do indeed find her running for vice-president with a four-month-old disabled child somewhat incongruous. These are the big leagues. These issues are worth airing.

My sense is that this pick is insulting to voters, especially women voters, and terribly condescending to Palin. It's as much about countering sexism as picking Clarence Thomas was about countering racism.

Is there also some place where Sullivan talks about the whether Obama had to climb the greasy pole or whether there was some "condescension" and "tokenism" there too? Surely, he can't believe that was all "post-[racial] meritocracy." And since Obama was propelled in part by revulsion against Hillary -- did Sullivan himself feel reflexive revulsion? -- there is some reason to view his rise to power to be about condescension, not feminism, about tokenism, not post-gender meritocracy.

IN THE COMMENTS: Bissage writes:

I really don’t get where Mr. Sullivan is coming from with all this greasy pole stuff.

Maybe he should hang with a better crowd.

All I know is the people I hang with keep their poles bright and shiny clean.

It’s really not so very hard.

ADDED: Yes, I know "greasy pole" is an established expression, not some concoction of Sullivan's.



Now, enough of those disapproving, patriarchal sneers.

The Sarah Palin craze continues.

There are already over 350 comments on that last post. It seems as though you're ravenous for Sarah Palin posts. This is just a test. Would you like to talk about her earrings?

What earrings would you choose for visiting a national disaster?

Asks John Aravosis, displaying this picture of Sarah Palin wearing supposedly disrespectful hoop earrings while accompanying John McCain to Mississippi to speak about the approaching Hurricane Gustav.

You know what Aravosis is trying to say: She's too low class to be Vice President. She's... she's... trailer trash.

"Stop prying into other people's vaginas, even if you happen to oppose them politically. What is wrong with you people?"

The insane obsession with Sarah Palin's pregnancy rages on.

This will all go down in the annals of feminism, people. So think before you write. Andrew? [AND.]

IN THE COMMENTS: The first comment is from Maguro:

Let me be the first to say that I've never politically opposed anyone's vagina.

Ha ha. We start with the grammar.

AND: I see I'm getting Google traffic from the search "Sarah Palin Is NOT The Mother," which currently returns 311,000 hits. The top one is a new Kos diary, from ArcXIX:

Now, I've known liars in my life. Their single core problem is not with themselves, but those around them. If they're never called out on their twisting of truths and fabrications, they simply continue to make larger lies.

Well, Sarah, I'm calling you a liar. And not even a good one. Trig Paxson Van Palin is not your son. He is your grandson. The sooner you come forward with this revelation to the public, the better.

Whew! That is ugly. Pictures are posted, with captions like: "Sarah's waistline never changed. Her wardrobe still remained tight and professional." Note the gratuitous insult to pregnant working women. They can't possibly dress in a professional manner. There are also enlarged photos of the 16-year-old daughter with comments about the shape of her abdomen. The whole world is invited to talk about that teenager's body.

Despicable, sexist trash. Shameful.

AND: ArcXIX displays a huge blowup of the picture of the 16-year-old and issues a faux-scientific opinion: "Bristol is pregnant in these pictures. She is not carrying belly fat, which grows outwardly wide, and does not become dome-shaped. That's because fat is generally evenly distributed around the abdomen and a fetus is not. Bristol's chest is sticking out, a normal body reaction when sucking in stomach muscles." Belly fat grows outwardly wide? Nonsense. People come in all different shapes, and female abdomens tend to protrude. If the girl was pregnant and inclined to hide it, why would she be wearing tight clothes and standing in proud half-profile? I apologize for asking that question, but I'm hoping to shake some sense into those who are pushing this story. They should be ashamed to stoop so low for the sake of politics. I doubt if the Obama campaign wants this kind of help, not that it's likely to be any help at all.

UPDATE: The first link in this post goes to a Metafilter thread that you can still read but that is deleted from the front page of Metafilter. The reason given for the deletion is: "you should probably keep this in the existing palin thread." Here is that first Palin discussion, which has 1420 comments as of Monday morning. Search on the page for the word "pregnant" to see how obsessed people have been about this. Since this thread was set up as a generic discussion of of Palin, it is a better gauge of the obsession. You can see how this issue popped up and seized the hive mind.

"Where does the story come from that I don't like beer? Come on, man."

Barack Obama on "60 Minutes," fending off a Steve Kroft crack about how he's gone out of his way to seem like the common man.

ADDED: Here's some transcript (and video):

"You know, I think we really underestimate people in the neighborhood. In the neighborhoods I came from, you came from. I really think we underestimate them," Biden remarked. "People get it. I think they're looking for more than whether or not Joe Biden's from Scranton and she hunts. I think that's you know, 'What ya gonna do about it?'"

"But you tried really hard to reach these people. You went and sipped beer, which I know you don't particularly like - I mean you even…," Kroft remarked.

"Steve, I had a beer last night. I mean, where do these stories come from, man?" Obama asked.

"I'm the one… [that] doesn't drink," Biden pointed out.

"Where does the story come from that…I don't like beer? …C'mon, man," Obama said.

"You even tried bowling," Kroft remarked.

"Time out there," Obama said.

"I've got to defend my bowling honor here," Obama said, laughing. "It is true that my bowling score left something to be desired. The reason I bowled though, wasn't to try to get votes....."

"If people with Down syndrome ruled the world."

From the National Association for Down Syndrome:

Affection, hugging and caring for others would make a big comeback....

All people would be encouraged to develop and use their gifts for helping others....

People would be refreshingly honest and genuine....

We believe, too, that a stuffy high society would probably not do well in the world of Down syndrome.

However, we believe that BIG dress up dances would flourish. People with Down syndrome love dressing up and dancing at big shindigs. They have a ball, and ...can they dance!...

People engaged in self talk would be considered thoughtful and creative. Self talk rooms would be reserved in offices and libraries to encourage this practice.....

Order and Structure would rule...

IN THE COMMENTS: hokiepundit writes:

Um...let's not forget that adults with Down Syndrome aren't just perpetually-innocent children in big-people bodies. They still have things like libidos and the capacity to act hatefully. They're just as human as the rest of us and it's unspeakable that people will abort their Down Syndrome babies, but these aren't supermen but simply men.

Man, I feel like I just harshed some mellow. I'll just go back to my legal reading now.

I respond:

Hokie, sure, we know that. This is just an effort to encourage respect for people who are part of the diversity of humanity.

I'm getting a vibe from some of the anti-Palin writings on the web that it's irresponsible to give birth to a Down's child unless you are planning to give up all your other aspirations in life. To me, this is thinly veiled abortion-encouragement, and it's quite horrifying.

I don't really want people with Down syndrome to rule the world. "Order and Structure would rule"... I think we know how things like that work out in practice.

ADDED: Rule-the-world fantasies are interesting and crazy and, at bottom, scary.

If I ruled the world/Every day would be the first day of spring/Every heart would have a new song to sing/And we'd sing of the joy every morning would bring/Every man would be as free as a bird/Every voice would be a voice to be heard/Take my word we would treasure each day that occurred/My world would be a beautiful place/Where we would weave such wonderful dreams/My world would wear a smile on its face/Like the man in the moon has when the moon beams/Every man would say the world was his friend/There'd be happiness that no man could end/No my friend, not if I ruled the world.

Hey, I can picture Barack Obama singing that, but here's the great original recording by Tony Bennett.

"You're quite close to death/Because you're addicted to meth."

See more Kristin Chenoweth videos at Funny or Die

This is a parody of the TV show "Intervention," and we were just talking about how that show was getting distressingly close to a looking like a comic parody. Not with singing though.

"McCain gave us... a former beauty queen as the person who could be asked to take over the White House in an emergency if anything happened to [him]."

Writes Andrew Sullivan.

So we get to pick whatever "former" activity of a candidate seems least presidential and call them that? Do you really want to go there?

The Democratic Party gave us a former cocaine user/community activist to take over the White House without even a stint as Vice President.

Madonna's first concert.

Very cool. (Via Metachat.) Now, there is a men-in-shorts issue here, but I'm going to give this one the okay, because it's clearly satirical fashion. And because it's Madonna! Anything Madonna does is automatically right, within the context of Madonna.

AND: Originally via the 50 greatest arts videos on YouTube. There is so much great stuff at that link that I can't pick one thing out to display. Talk about anything there that you like.

"Troopergate" requires a "disambiguation" page in Wikipedia.

Isn't it strange that the scandal being pushed against Sarah Palin has the same moniker as a scandal that dogged Bill Clinton and another one that ruined Eliot Spitzer?

Bush and Cheney will stay away from the GOP convention because of Hurricane Gustav.

Reports CNN. Other changes to the convention are needed:

"I wouldn't call it a nightmare, but it is a very perplexing challenge," said a GOP official planning the event.

A senior McCain source said Saturday that officials are considering turning the convention into a service event, a massive telethon to raise money for the Red Cross and other agencies to help with the hurricane.

Be careful. People will say you're just trying to claim viewers, and the viewers are going to want to see pictures of the big storm. They are going to want to see reporters dodging shards of metal.

Quite aside from the convention, Bush needs to handle the emergency brilliantly well. That is the best way to promote the Republican Party. Demonstrate competence.

IN THE COMMENTS: sammy990099 says:

I guess Michael Moore was right. There is a God in heaven. And he, in his wisdom, has provided a convenient excuse for W and C not to appear in St. Paul.

Good point! Here's the Michael Moore clip, in case you haven't seen it:



ADDED: And then there's this, former National Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Don Fowler laughing with Congressman John Spratt of South Carolina about the hurricane:



"It just demonstrates God's on our side." Then that must be the devil right behind you with a digital camcorder.

Mouth-corner spittle, in HDTV.

Amanda Hess (via Instapundit) was watching Obama looking nice and "crispy" on HDTV and then, suddenly, there was "a small collection of saliva in the left crease of the candidate’s mouth."

The development nearly incapacitated my housemate; he spent the remainder of the speech in a nervous fit, wishing aloud that one polite delegate would flag down the candidate and discretely wipe his own mouth, the telltale indication that Obama “has got something … right over … no … a little to the left … there, you’ve got it.”...

Near the speech’s end, Obama did move to wipe the corner of his mouth, causing a grand celebration among the party. However, the move only displaced the spittle, helping it to migrate lower down the lip.

Ha ha. This brings back fond memories of blogging for me. From October 13, 2004, live-blogging the last Bush-Kerry debate:

Bush is smiling a lot, and the left side of his mouth nevertheless turns down oddly. A glob of foam forms on the right side of his mouth! Yikes! That's really going to lose the women's vote. [UPDATE: the NYT and the WaPo take note of this, and only this, observation and I react to that attention here....]

And that was without HDTV. That was the first time this blog got quoted in the NYT, so I'm pretty nostalgic about Bush's spittle. But I'm looking back on the vague, fuzzy past. We've got a new crisp guy now and a wrinkly old geezer and, with HDTV, we'll be able to inspect the individual bubbles of any mouth foam.

Think too of the skin blemishes. Everyone's skin will look bad in closeup on HDTV, which brings more clarity than seeing the person in person. It's hyperrealism. And unlike in person, you can get right up close and stare at it and talk to other people in the room about it. And blog about it.

Now, it's going to be important for politicians to wear makeup, strong makeup. Not just a little powder. And then how are they going to look to the people who are around to see them in person? In fact, how are they going to look on HDTV when we can see that they've got on makeup. Garish! Crazy!

Unless....

... they are female.

Ah, finally! A real advantage for women.

Thanks for the technology, guys. We will now use it to rule the world.

ADDED: But Chip Ahoy got out his magnifying glass:

Why are art critics so mean to artists?

A sensitive reader of art criticism -- "close to tears after reading yet another disrespectful, humiliating passage in this week’s paper" -- wants to know: "Why do you print such hurtful stuff?"

Ah, easy for the critic to highlight the clueless sensitivitoid.

The real attack on the critic would come not from those who think he's too mean, but from those who are even meaner. Let's see those letters too.

IN THE COMMENTS: We go off-topic to discuss the recent "fake Titus" controversy, and I'm moved to add the "funny in the comments" tag.