Posted on 11/12/2008 3:35:52 PM PST by mgist
A Lefty Sees the Light
Camille Paglia, author, staunch liberal feminist and pro-choice advocate, has some interesting comments on the election and Sarah Palin today in her online column at Salon. Thanks to Hot Air. Paglia expresses doubts about the media's coverage, or lack of it, of several controversies surrounding Obama during his campaign. She says:
In the closing weeks of the election, however, I became increasingly disturbed by the mainstream media's avoidance of forthright dealing with several controversies that had been dogging Obama -- even as every flimsy rumor about Sarah Palin was being trumpeted as if it were engraved in stone on Mount Sinai. For example, I had thought for many months that the flap over Obama's birth certificate was a tempest in a teapot. But simple questions about the certificate were never resolved to my satisfaction . . .
Paglia also discusses the Ayers non-controversy and says that at first she was aggravated by Clinton's harping on Ayers during a debate with Obama, and accepted Obama's explanation of Ayers being just somebody in the neighborhood. Although her concerns about Ayers were "slow in developing," her doubts were enough to propel her into doing research on her own, even renting the movie "The Weather Underground. She has some interesting observations about Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn, who worked at the same law firm in Chicago as Michelle Obama in the 1990s.
Amazingly enough, Paglia recognizes that the media, with their bias against Palin, were too busy pursuing every single non-issue against her instead of doing proper investigative work on the many questions surrounding Obama's associates.
Given that Obama had served on a Chicago board with Ayers and approved funding of a leftist educational project sponsored by Ayers, one might think that the unrepentant Ayers-Dohrn couple might be of some interest to the national media. But no, reporters have been too busy playing mini-badminton with every random spitball about Sarah Palin, who has been subjected to an atrocious and at times delusional level of defamation merely because she has the temerity to hold pro-life views.
Most telling was Paglia saying "the shocking level of irrational emotionalism and at times infantile rage was exposed at the heart of current Democratic ideology -- contradicting Democratic core principles of compassion, tolerance and independent thought."
I am truly taken aback that Paglia recognizes the Democratic hatred that spewed forth and surrounded Palin from the time she was chosen by McCain. The liberal left with the help of the media absolutely tore Palin apart piece by piece. The emotion showed by both camps was similar to sharks in a feeding frenzy. Any little tidbit the media could talk about, whether it had a shred of truth or not, was discussed endlessly. Is Trig really her son (gasp!)? Did she want to censor books at the library? She has no experience! She's a hypocrite! Troopergate! Palin wants creationism taught alongside evolution (horrors!)! Her clothes! Her church prayed for her (terrible!)! She should stay home with her kids - No, it's okay to work outside the home!
Was all this frothing at the mouth because Palin dared to be a strong pro-life, pro-gun, evangelical candidate went against the Washington establishment and ignited the evangelical base that McCain had not only ignored but dissed, calling "agents of intolerance?" Yes, I absolutely think it was, and Paglia certainly recognizes that much of the antagonism toward Palin was because of Palin's stance on abortion and the fact that she didn't graduate from an Ivy League college. Don't get me wrong, Paglia also places blame on the right for the lack, but some of it is certainly deserved. However, she points out that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, from Kansas, has a very similar record to Palin, and she was supposedly on Obama's short list for VP nominee. I suppose it's just surprising to me to hear this kind of admission from someone on the left.
bttt
Great courage after the war is over.
Sure. Now that the evil Republican has been safely dispatched, we can show how fair-minded we are.
B*tch.
What is it with liberals? They don't seem to comprehend something dangerous unless they bathe in gruesome imagery. While at least Camille is finally at the party, she certainly showed up late.
It's like they can't understand, just to pick an example, that a bloodbath occurred when the US withdrew from Southeast Asia unless they physically go there and roll around in a pile of skulls.
Not many lumens yet but the filament has some charge coarsing through it.
No more parties for Camilla.
See you in re-education camp, sweetie. I call top bunk.
Too late.
She will just be one of the first to say it.
Whoopee.
Would not do it but it was well put.
Yes, how slowly they have come to realize the truth about Obama, always easier once your guy is in power. Perhaps his lies are beginning to see the light of day; however, I won’t hold my breath.
If someone like Paglia is just seeing the dawn, is it any wonder that masses of poorly educated Americans were cornswaggled by the media coverage and lack of coverage?
This type of people never change.
Better late than never. Can’t say the same for noonan.
She might come in handy if there’s a future.
She hasn't seen much light at all.
Might be something to that. I remember reading David Horowitz's Book Radical Son. His whole family was far Left communist types. David only "woke up" to what was going on with the Left when one of his best friends was murdered by the Black Panthers.
Paglia wrote supportive things about Palin before the election.
She, like Nat Hentoff and Christopher Hitchins, is one of the few honest folks on the left. Indeed, she’s the only actually honest pro-choicer: much to the dismay of the rest of the ‘pro-choice’ movement, she actually describes abortion as murder, but then favors the ‘right’ of women to murder their offspring as a way of resisting the ‘fascism’ of the natural urge to reproduction.
Somewhat amusingly, she and Rush are friends.
After Gov. Palin received the Veep nomination, and when the firestorm began, Paglia was one of the very few female commentators/journalists who saw what ‘we’ saw in Sarah. Though Paglia’s politics are far to the left of Palin’s, Paglia was steadfast in her recognition of the Governor’s intelligence, empathy and star quality. Paglia also routinely takes to task everyone from the Clintons to Couric...and was particularly scathing in her admonishments of the cadre of female journalist critics of Palins who either were born to or married (read slept) their way to power as contrasted by Gov. Palin actually rising to power by wit and work ethic.
There are many in media to criticize...Paglia is not one of them.
Most I asked, including McCain supporters, did not know about the massive ACORN voting registration fraud. With Obama in office and a dem congress this mockery of our sacred voting rights will not be corrected. What a huge price the dems had to pay to get a liberal elected.
I would save the polemics.
Camille Paglia’s complaint (from the left) that she doesn’t like being “played or gamed” is precious testimony. It’s not just rightwing crackpots or conspiracy theorists. Lots and lots of people are not satisfied.
Rush should give her another of his cigars. She loves cigars.
Yes, nature abhors a vacuum. And with conservatism dead, Socialism has filled the empty space.
The next great culture war will most likely be Islam vs. Socialism.
Tammy Bruce changed. Jon Voight changed.
Try Shari’a Law vs. judgment by a jury of your peers.
Right. And I’ve heard there were no nazis in Germany after the war. Everybody vass “gut cherman”.
Sigh... no, we’ll be here to pick up the pieces like we were after 9-11 when they’re all running around in circles going “what do we do? what do we do?”
Satan’s minions in the MSM went apoplectic when Sarah Palin was selected as McCain’s VP running mate. Tells you all you need to know.
Well, I have to admit, that there are exceptions even when I tend to believe that can not be. : - )
I think we’ll see more of these, it’s CYA time.
Hypocrite bastards.
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