"Liberal/leftist/progressive fear and loathing Edition...
Main Street Radical:
"The mainstream media spent considerable time pointing out that Sarah Palin used a crib note written on her hand during a question and answer session at the Tea Party convention. I have to admit that I have, just before a presentation, scribbled a few key reminders on my hand. Unlike Ms. Palin, however, my sweaty palms rendered the text unreadable and worthless after the first few minutes of public speaking. Maybe the press should comment on Sarah Palin’s ability to stay cool under pressure and her ability to read completely sweat-free notes hours after they were written. The use of a 'hand prompter,' as some are calling it, should not be condemned. We are in the middle of a huge budget crisis and the federal government could save millions by adopting its use rather than dragging teleprompters to every Obama speech. In this case, the President should take a cue from the little man, the everyday guy who jots down some hasty notes to make sure they emphasize their key points. After all, it can be nerve racking to speak to a large audience as Ms. Palin was doing, and, as the President knows, it can be down right terrorizing to address an audience of 11-year-olds... Luckily, Palin was able to pronounce each of the words on her hand prompter. Of course, she didn’t have any big words like 'corpsman.' One mispronunciation could be explained away, but for the Commander-in-Chief to seemingly have no clue as to how to pronounce the word properly (and may not even know what a corpsman is) is a little embarrassing."Melanie Phillips:
"As all sentient people on the planet are now aware, Sarah Palin is a figure of extreme derision. She has been mocked for her ignorance of the world beyond Wasilla, Alaska, her total absence of education let alone sophistication, her wince-worthy wordplay, her homespun hicksville homiletics, her God-bothering gabbiness, her chavvy dysfunctional family (is she the grandmother of her son?? is she the mother of her grandson???), her hair, her glasses, her hockeyness, her beyond caricaturableness...has there ever been such a total idiot and embarrassment in political life? How is it then that such an all-time airhead who, we were reliably informed, was 'toast' when she bowed out of Alaskan politics, has now put herself at the head of the most significant grassroots movement in America, the ‘Tea-Party’ populist revolt?"Donald R. McClarey:
"My colleague Eric, a man of the Left, and someone who has my strong respect due to his pro-life commitment, has posted that Sarah Palin had a few key words written on a hand as a mnemonic device during the teaparty convention. Much of the Left is of course in a feeding frenzy about this, betraying the unending obsession they have with Palin. This of course is more fun for them than concentrating on the abysmal failure of the Obama administration and that their agenda is only slightly more popular currently with most of the American public than the bubonic plague."Michael Eden:
"There’s a saying that when you point at someone, three fingers are pointing back at you. That pretty much sums up what happens when the left attacks Sarah Palin... And for all the derision of being as dumb as a box of rocks, Sarah Palin demonstrates again that she is still smarter than every single member of the mainstream media combined. Because she understands the difference between Rahm Emanuel using a disparaging term to mock the diminished intellects of the far left, and Rush Limbaugh’s using the same term to mock Rahm Emanuel and the galling self-righteous hypocrisy of the left."Matt Lattimer:
"As Sarah Palin considers a run for the GOP nomination in 2012, she is as puzzling a political phenomenon as ever. Among the grassroots she is greeted with rapture —selling more books more quickly than any other political figure since Colin Powell. John McCain’s onetime foreign policy guru remains on board as an adviser, puncturing the notion put forward by Palin critics that she was an unteachable, uncooperative shrew. At least for the moment Palin also has a fan in Senator McMaverick himself. Facing a right-wing primary challenge in Arizona, the famous pork-buster McCain is now asking his former running mate to help save his own bacon. Yet in D.C.’s risk-averse political circles, the charges against Palin are daunting: politically inexperienced, hopelessly vapid, can’t speak without a teleprompter, oversimplifies complex issues into a bunch of feel-good slogans—basically everything Hillary Clinton’s campaign said about Barack Obama. And yet the truth is that the “misunderestimated” Palin couldn’t be in a much better position right now if she planned it (And we all know, of course, that she’s far too simple-minded to have done that)."Bob Beers:
"As as been reported, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs mocked Sarah Palin’s much publicized use of notes written on her hands at the daily White House press briefing... This bit of juvenile comedy was in retaliation to Sarah Palin making fun of Obama’s use of Teleprompters during her Tea Party Conference speech... Yet again we are witness to the incredibly thin skin of the Obama Administration... Going as far back as the campaigns of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, politicians have spoken using a list of talking points to keep them on track. This is nothing new. Lincoln’s address at Gettysburg was written out entirely and then read by the President during the ceremony. Are we going to see some snide liberal putting on a top hat and mocking Honest Abe? Seriously, if he were here today I would not be surprised to see it happen. Liberals have no shame, only agendas."Tom White:
"The mark of how effective Sarah Palin’s speech was on Saturday is obviously subjective. But knowing the left’s fear and hatred of this powerful woman, the best gauge may be the reaction from the left. The verdict: It was a powerful and effective speech. The left is all abuzz attempting to marginalize and trash her comments. Every word is parsed for some sinister and diabolical meaning. Like the global warmers, the left sets out to find proof that their preconceived notions about armed revolution and violence are Palin’s true intentions. And, of course, they are totally off target. So they turn to ridicule and innuendo. Nothing new there... And if you take a look at the high pitched squeals from the 'In the Tank' Media, this lady did an amazing job of putting the fear of Palin in their black hearts. I’ll bet Chris Matthews even had the fear “running down” his leg... What an incredible amount of time and press is generated to try to denigrate Sarah Palin. And it’s still not working."Dr. Melissa Clouthier:
"Texans love Sarah Palin. The folks who came to hear Perry and Palin speak, on a Superbowl Sunday, no less, roared their approval for Sarah. She got bigger cheers than did Perry–though he got lots of crowd-love, too... They are good friends and share many political philosophies. I wonder if they’d like to be on the same ticket. Who’d be the top of the ticket? I don’t know. Sarah Palin strikes me as pretty alpha. I have a hard time seeing her play second fiddle again. Rick Perry doesn’t seem to mind basking in her glow, though... I found myself musing on their collective experience running two big, energy-producing, economically solvent states. Their small-government drive is looking pretty smart right now. Texas is a mecca for business which creates jobs. The state enjoys lower unemployment numbers, thus more tax payers, thus less need for out-of-work benefits. It’s a cycle that is good for state fiscal success. Now, the left hates these two candidates. But it’s hard to argue with their executive experience and proven results."Henry Blodget:
"We caught Sarah Palin on Fox News Sunday today. She... has vastly improved a key weakness over the past 18 months--her one-on-one interview skills. Questions that, previously, would have annoyed or stumped her, she now easily deflects and then uses to go on the attack... Her positioning vis-a-vis the campaign she is already running is perfect... Sarah Palin has also been able to quickly put the whole quitting thing behind her. Now that she can handle being asked questions, it's not surprising she's already the Republican front-runner."Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Anthony J. Tata:
"I escorted Sarah Palin through Walter Reed Army Medical Center in our nation’s capitol... She upended her Sunday calendar, postponing a book event in Iowa, so that she could see our wounded at Walter Reed. She... was quickly in Soldiers’ rooms, sitting with them, hugging the wounded, chatting with the families, holding the children, signing her books, giving away every ounce of energy she had in every room. I was impressed... My 'insincerity detector' is pretty good and I give Governor Palin high marks. She was in the moment with those Soldiers and families. All wrapped in one person, she was leader, mother, friend, grateful American, and grieving parent. Indeed, she slipped emotionally between comments such as, 'I can see my son in you,' and 'I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve given to our great country.' Her son, Track, is an active duty Soldier in the combat infantry brigade in Alaska. Clearly, she could see her son in these Soldiers because he had been driving around Iraq leading the commander’s security team into the most dangerous areas, and she had been living every mother’s impossibly difficult job to pray for the best and know that the worst was possible. She has walked a mile in their shoes."Neo-Neocon:
"The author of the original piece about the bracelet, Eric Robinson, at least had the grace to apologize. But not before a torrent of contemptuous hatred had already been displayed in the comments sections of several left-wing blogs. It is hardly surprising, however, that many of Palin’s detractors jumped at the chance to blast her for the bracelet without even bothering to confirm the basic facts. It was a case of assuming the worst, seeing what they expected to see. They considered the incident to be only one more piece of evidence confirming what they believed they already knew, and what they feel should be self-evident to any thinking person: Sarah Palin is a stupid, lying, child-exploiting, shameless, opportunistic right-wing nut. That there might be a more benign explanation for any of her behavior does not even occur to them, and therefore no further fact-checking would be needed. This rush to judgment is not the exception but rather the rule when criticizing Sarah. Palin-hatred is as old — and as persistent — as her presence on the national scene (that’s 'hatred,' as distinguished from mere disagreement on issues). There have been countless explanations for it. If anything, the phenomenon is over-determined, representing a toxic brew of class warfare, misogyny, envy (much of this coming from women), and elitism."Stacy Drake:
"Since when did hatred become acceptable to the left in this country? For the entirety of my life, I have watched them tell the public at large that they are all about 'tolerance' and 'acceptance...' The target of their hatred... Sarah Palin... Actually, I think leftist media agents give more respect and common courtesy to captured terrorists and convicted murderers, but that assessment only comes after seeing this with my own eyes... The left likes to deny that they 'hate' Sarah Palin. They say they have "contempt" for her, or as Mika Brezezinski says, 'we’re not about hate.' Mika and her co-host Joe tried real hard, in between receiving White House talking points, during a recent segment of their MSNBC show, to convince themselves that it's not 'hate.' But it is... Actions or rather, reactions speak loudly... The relentlessness and blindness of their misguided smears and insults defines the emotion."The Conservative Camp:
"The message from Palin was clear that Americans are growing suspicious of the largest government growth in generations while they fear leaving their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren with an insurmountable debt from which they may never recover... Rather than heeding the warning, the progressive-liberals and their lefty friends of most of the mainstream media reacted to Palin’s speech, Brown’s win and the T.E.A. Party convention in the only way they know how... When it comes to bitter, condescending liberals, attacks on those with whom they disagree are never simple criticisms about policy or issues. Bitter, condescending liberals start to attack their opponents to wholly destroy that individual. Ignoring the message sent to them by the voters, and despite their own failures to do what they promised, the progressives and bitter, condescending liberal elitists intend to continue focusing the blame on George W. Bush and conservatives in general, while they work to totally and personally destroy Sarah Palin and Scott Brown... It would be nice to see the radicals of the political left try to engage in political debates and disagreements in a civilized manner instead of trying to destroy the lives of those with whom they disagree. However, with every vitriolic slam the bitter, condescending liberal progressives make against the likes of Sarah Palin and Scott Brown, the stronger and more appealing the latter become to the vast majority of the American electorate."Joan Williams:
"Sarah Palin is playing chess. I don't know what game the Administration is playing, but they just walked right into her carefully laid trap. Palin, the strategist, is amazing to watch. Her brilliance is her ability to tap in to the class conflicts that drive American politics these days. Obama, whom I have supported since Iowa, just doesn't get it... But there are millions and millions of Americans are out there, working as hard as they can, some just as smart as Obama, who never get anywhere. They clean your shirts, mop your floor, fix your TIVO, sell your computer service contracts. They work hard their whole lives, and they feel left out, disrespected, undervalued -- treated as if they are stupid. So there's the Obama Administration's spokesman reinforcing Palin's narrative, showing that the elites think that average people who write notes on their palms are stupid. We progressives better wise up, or the class conflicts that are driving American politics are going to defeat our most cherished goals: universal health care, addressing global warming, and all the rest of it. Smugness is fuel for the fire for Americans in the 'missing middle' -- people who are neither poor nor rich."streiff :
"A lot of us have wondered why Obama spokestoad Robert Gibbs has been taking every available opportunity to belittle Sarah Palin. It is always unseemly when a paid representative of the President uses his position and taxpayer time to slag on a private citizen or a new organization. Unseemly, of course, is part of the ambiance that you get with the current administration but the frequency of Gibbs’ criticisms stood out even by the cesspool standards of the White House press operation... Today what we’ve long suspected was the truth has been revealed. The White House fears Sarah Palin... The White House, far from dismissing her has pulled on its brown trousers in anticipation of this fight. They are trying to use Alinsky Rule 5 on Palin and it is failing because their opinion doesn’t matter to an increasing number of Americans."Andrew Marcus:
"The gleeful vilification of Sarah Palin for her use of a note during her Q&A segment betrays any facade of decency or humility on the part of the Progressive Left of the Democrat Party, let alone the slightest sense of irony, given our Teleprompter-in-Chief. As for the alleged hypocrisy of Sarah Palin, the implication is that the use of a hand-written note (as it were) during a packed ballroom speaking engagement is somehow equivalent to the inappropriateness of the President using Teleprompter-One in a classroom of 6th graders. This implication is both false and laughable... Progressive elites weighing in to consign Sarah to idiot status doesn’t exactly diminish her standing among the average Tea Partier, who love her almost in direct proportion to how much Progressives hate her. Progressives traffic in the politics of name-calling and character assassination. They have forfeited any goodwill presumption of credibility when it comes to objectively criticizing anyone on the Right, let alone their most vilified American citizen target, Sarah Palin.Ronald Brownstein:
"Palin's elevation of the instinctive wisdom of heartland Americans over the rarefied knowledge of egghead elites echoed conservative arguments against Democrats dating back to Adlai Stevenson and the 1950s. But it's easy to imagine Palin trying to consolidate beer-track Republicans by directing the same attacks against Romney -- a wealthy and modulated former management consultant who radiates expertise from his crisply starched shirts to his imperturbable hair. "It does set up a fascinating contrast," says GOP consultant Michael DuHaime, McCain's 2008 political director. One lesson from Nashville is that if Palin ever takes the leap from celebrity to presidential candidate, the populist guns that conservatives have aimed against Democrats for decades could be loudly brandished inside the Republican tent."New York Sun:
"Palinism is starting to emerge as a worldview that includes a comprehension of the nature of the war, a respect for the sovereignty of democracies, an understanding of the relationship between high taxes and high unemployment and low taxes and low unemployment, an appreciation for sound money and a strong dollar, and a tendency toward constitutionalism. We’re a long way from endorsing a candidate for the next presidential election, but if this is what is emerging from a woman so many like to set down as a lightweight, it’ll be something to see what basic ideas emerge from her competitors."Jeff Jacoby:
"Sarah Palin’s visible support for Israel... goes deeper than mere support. I was struck, during her debate with Joe Biden in the ’08 campaign, by the way she spoke so unapologetically and matter-of-factly about feeling 'love' for Israel. I just looked up the transcript of that debate, and there is a point when she says, 'I’m so encouraged to know that we both love Israel, and I think that is a good thing to get to agree on, Senator Biden. I respect your position on that.' She didn’t say it with any pointed emphasis — it came out as if it were the most natural sentiment in the world... Have you ever heard any other American politician speak on a national stage about 'loving' Israel? I never have."Caroline Glick:
"Sarah Palin’s emergence as the mouthpiece of populist opposition to Obama presents Israel’s supporters – and particularly Israel’s Jewish supporters – with an extraordinary opportunity and an extraordinary challenge. Palin’s coupling of support for Israel with her populist domestic agenda marks the first time that support for Israel has been treated as a core, populist issue. The opportunity this presents for American Jews who care about Israel is without precedent... Palin’s future in politics is unknowable. But what is clear enough is that today hers is the strongest single American voice opposing Obama’s foreign policy and the loudest advocate for supporting Israel and denying Iran nuclear weapons. For this she deserves the thanks and support of American Jewry."- JP
No comments:
Post a Comment