Posted on 07/15/2009 7:22:05 AM PDT by steve-b
When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced her resignation two weeks ago it was after a series of strange, petty bouts with her detractors. Many "frivolous ethics violations" had been alleged against her, she noted. David Letterman had told an ugly joke about her daughter. A blogger had posted something that was probably not true. Someone had photoshopped a radio talker's face onto a picture of her baby -- a "malicious desecration" of the image, in the words of Ms. Palin's spokeswoman.
Team Palin got duly indignant at each of these. They took special, detailed offense. They issued statements magnifying their wounds. And, finally, the governor resigned her office, a good woman cruelly wronged...
Indeed, if political figures stand for ideas, victimization is what Ms. Palin is all about. It is her brand, her myth. Ronald Reagan stood tall. John McCain was about service. Barack Obama has hope. Sarah Palin is a collector of grievances. She runs for high office by griping....
To become a symbol of this stature Ms. Palin has had to do the opposite of most public figures. Where others learn to take hostility in stride, she and her fans have developed the thinnest of skins. They find offense in the most harmless remarks and diabolical calculation in the inflections of the anchorman's voice. They take insults out of context to make them seem even more insulting. They pay close attention to voices that are ordinarily ignored, relishing every blogger's sneer, every celebrity's slight, every crazy Internet rumor...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
rino press.
No bias here move along nothing to see.
What BS. Palin did not resign as a victim, she resigned so she could fight without her hands being tied. Palin was not asking for any pity or government help. Palin voluntarily quit taking her government check, so she can freely fight for her cause of limited government, free markets, and traditional values. The scares the hell out of the Washington elites of both parties.
Strange, I don't see anything here about the $500,000 in legal bills. No doubt Mr. Frank simply forgot.
Seriously, I don’t see any victimhood claims coming from the Palins.
I see “this crap isn’t gonna fly and we’re going to do something about it”, but not “woe is me, please stop attacking us”.
Is there no end to these peoples lies?
The WSJ, online venue or not, has done itself a great disservice by publishing this nitwit.
But they are known occasionally to give print-time to Libs.
Of course he has Palin EXACTLY wrong, and cites just a handful of attacks against her instead of the verifiable TEN THOUSAND that have been coming her way for about NINE MONTHS now,non-stop, starting with, in retrospect, the cynical way she was manipulated by that false “maverick”,
John McCain. He and his entire campaign “brain trust” were and ARE completely out of touch with the American people that they would have needed to win the WH. THEIR careers are over.
In the words of Dan Akroyd....”Thomas Frank, you ignorant slut....”
Stevie-boy... why won’t you tell us your feelings on this? We all get the impression that you and fellow travellers agree with this drivel... right?
Targetting Palin is one thing. She’s tough.
Attacking her children is reprehensible and inexcusable.
The RINOS, lefties and any creep who agrees with them that they “should just take it” are sick.
And I suspect that the majority of the responses to this article will be that Ms. Palin is being maligned once again. Irony need not apply.
Who the heck is Thomas Frank, did Barney take himself a bride?
From Wiki:
Politics
Frank comes from a leftist political perspective and is highly critical of Republican governance, especially the presidency of George W. Bush. However, he has also criticized the Democratic Party for “swearing off economic ‘liberalism’”[1]. He is unique among writers on the American Left both for his political outlook, which revives the discourses of the American Populist Movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, [2] and for his polemical style, which has been said to update that of the muckrakers of the same historical era [3].
Frank is the founder and editor of The Baffler and the author of several books, most recently The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule. Other writings include essays for Harper’s Magazine, Le Monde diplomatique, Bookforum, and the Financial Times. His book What’s the Matter with Kansas?, published in 2004, earned him nationwide and international recognition.
Everyone on this site needs to remember that Thomas Frank is a close friend of Bill Ayres and Bernardine Dorhn.
That says it all about the man.
Even the media admitted to taking an anti-Palin stance. To deny such would be idiotic, at this point. I don’t think that means she’s “playing the victim card”. Honestly, would President George W. Bush be playing “the victim card” if he stated he thought the media treated him unfairly, and did everything they could to hinder his agenda?
I’m beginning to detect a pattern with her detractors.
They either paint her as a bimbo, or as a victim, because apparently a woman can only be one of those two things and I think Governor Palin is neither. A victim does not face their abusers head on, as Gov. Palin did with Letterman, Couric, Gibson, et. al.
And what does it, indeed, say about FReepers who agree with the article?
“The WSJ, online venue or not, has done itself a great disservice by publishing this nitwit.”
I read the WSJ every day. Frank has always been a j-off.
steve is at it again. You’re getting boring steve. Using the library’s computer again?
The piling-up of petty complaints is an important aspect of conservative movement culture.
Petty complaints? I consider the evisceration of the Constitution and the metastasizing national government to be anything but petty.
TOTAL BS!!!!!!!
Sarah isn’t about whining. Far from it. She’s stronger and has more testosterone in her than ALL of the male GOP Senators & Congressman. She knows how to fight!
I am so sick and tired of seeing the RINOs post all this “Well, can she really take all this pressure? She’s got a mental disorder. She can’t do this!” CRAP!!!!
There are millions of us behind Sarah! These RINOs/liberals/state-run-media need to understand that if they mess with Sarah, they mess with ALL of us!!!!
SARAH PALIN, 2012!
And Obama and hope? Yeah. I have hope! That America will wake up --that people will come to see what kind of things he is doing; what kind of thugs he is hiring--latest:
threatening Senator Kyl of AZ
hiring for czar to advise on science and technlogy a man who with the Erhlichs wrote a book touting earth's answer would be to have govt. control all resources, every aspect of life, and cut down on human beings--suggesting a way to cut down might be to put something in the water supply to render women sterile
that hired as his green czar Van Jones, avowed, card carrying communist who advocates whatever it takes to get the job done.
I have no respect for writers with public access who can do no more than jump on the "get Palin" bandwagon, while this takeover of the country by 3d world thugs is happening with lghtening speed under the banner of hope and change--Obama's hope that he can change the country to dictatorship before enough catch on.
vaudine
Well, that'll prove to Thomas Frank just how wrong he is to accuse Palin's fans of being thin-skinned.
I'd like to disseminate this info - do you have a linkable source?
Who? Oh, another Democrat dip$#&% attacking a Republican. Another straw in the wind that lets us know that Sarah has the Obamanoughts worried in a big way.
Slight correction,
she has the entrenched elitists worried in a big way.
Thomas Frank........probably not-too-distant cousin on Barney. And the similarities probably don’t end there either.
Carrying Thomas Frank’s bilgewater I see.
I promise you it will not be Mitt Romney or any other RINO that stimulates and motives Americans in support of limited government, tax-cuts and a strong military.
So little Stevie, Sarah still hasn’t responded to those pictures you sent her of you in that pretty pink bra and suspenders outfit? That has to be the only reason you would post this lefty drivel here at FR, right? Face it, she’s just not that into you!
Sarah Palin as the consumate “victim” is simply the new meme, replacing the previous Sarah Palin as the consumate “hick.”
Memes are employed by individuals who obviously aren’t paid to think for a living.
I don't need any of this hypocrisy. They have no high-ground.
To a leftist, if a conservative does not resist the libel - he/she must be confirming and probably hiding more, so - twice as guilty. If resists - conservative is a worthless pussy who “complains” about the kid stuff.
I started to skip Mr. Frank's opinion long time ago, but, as I see, his “logic” remains the same.
Sarah, now free from the Governorship obligations, must become much sharper and truly brutal in her politics. That's all.
For leftists, normal human reaction will never be Ok anyway.
I noticed another poster, not to be mentioned by name,
that is anti-Palin, and just happens also to be one of the vehement evo-atheists on the crevo threads.
I see a pattern.
Bull crap! Rinos cower and take it. The dems have the press to turn on anyone who takes them on with their own medicine. A conservative has no one to turn to for help. Especially the RINO republican party.
Memo from the White House: “Sarah Palin must be desrtroyed. Carry on.”
Who can take their mewlings seriously?
Not so. It's part of being "fair and balanced." It's a signed column with the nitwit author taking full responsibility for his irresponsible opinions. There's even an email address at the bottom to contact him directly. I respect that. At least he's man enough to face his opponents, unlike most in the liberal media.
I disagree with every word he wrote and will let him know personally in a polite way. He's a professional conservative-basher (just read his little bio squib) and he's doing what he does. The WSJ is doing us a service by publishing what he and liberals like him are thinking so we can counter them. Forewarned is forearmed.
When I saw this article on opionionjournal.com earlier today, I was wondering when steve-b would post it.
Sarah Palin is not playing a victim -- although she most certainly in fact is. The point of Sarah Palin is that an otherwise innocent American is being deliberately and maliciously pilloried for absolutely no reason other than for holding the conviction of her beliefs. If her ideas were being debated and she wa losing the debate and therefore claiming victimhood that would be one thing, however, the state-run MSM is laboring to utterly and personally decimate her and her family for simply holding her beliefs and having the audacity to publicly express them! That is the real issue.
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