Posted on 06/03/2011 9:21:10 AM PDT by Hojczyk
Talk radio host Mark Levin added to a growing chorus against Charles Krauthammer yesterday, saying he’s “sick and tired” of the pundit’s smears against Palin.
Levin took issue with much of the common criticisms of Palin, particularly those concerning whether or not she can win the 2012 election and how she left her governorship post early, which is normal for presidential candidates, Levin says.
“So what is it? What’s the problem?” he said. “She’s solid on social issues. She’s solid on fiscal issues. She’s solid against these subsidies against big companies – in other words, she is not a corporatist. She’s not a crony or a believer in that. She’s solid on taxes and spending. I’m just confused. She’s solid on Israel. She’s solid on the military. She’s solid with respect to our allies. Is there some big issue that’s disqualifying? What – because the liberals don’t like her? …
“I’m getting sick and tired, as I said yesterday, last week and I’ve said over the months – I’m getting sick and tired of these smears by Krauthammer against her,” Levin said. “He’s a thoroughly decent man, I understand, but he doesn’t seem very decent in this regard and I don’t know why. He’s certainly owes us a column or a better explanation, doesn’t he? He wants to influence the outcome.”
Levin is spot-on. Krauthammer is not the only one — and Sarah Palin isn’t the only object of his disdain. Krauthammer, Karl Rove and other conservative strategists have derided Herman Cain and Donald Trump, as well. Maybe it’s in the nature of punditry to point out the “flaws” in a politician’s pedigree, and it’s certainly within the scope of commentary to poke holes in a candidate’s policy positions, but, when thoughtful criticism becomes insistent censure-for-the-sake-of-censure, it reveals little more than the pundit’s superior view of himself.
But what I like best about Levin’s comments are not his criticisms of Krauthammer. What I like best are his affirmations of Palin — not so much because of any personal affinity for her, but because of a personal affinity for positivity. I’ve thought this repeatedly, as pundit after pundit and columnist after columnist has pointed out all that’s wrong with the GOP field. It seems to me a more productive approach might be first to enumerate each candidate’s qualifications — and then pick whichever candidate out-qualifies the rest. Build on the positive, in other words, rather than merely point out the negative. If conservative critics just have to criticize somebody, let it be Obama.
FYI.
Yeah, but she let her little daughter ride on the back of a motorcycle. (hah, and that’s the ONLY thing they can definitively say against her—and that one is so weak, it only draws laughter. I know lots of guys who were DRIVING tractors at Piper’s age!)
Palin is pro-life -- nothing could be more clear.
Pro-life people oppose Embryonic Stem Cell research.
If Palin becomes president, Krauthammer's hopes of walking again will be dashed.
QED
There's yer problem - they're not conservatives strategists, they're republican strategists.
Not an ideological bone in most of em. Cain, Palin, are outside of DC phenomena and a threat to these guys' livelihoods as beltway pundits.
A meritocracy? Anayzing positions and choosing the one that best reflects the nation’s historic values? My God, man, what are you thinking? /sarc.
I’ve been more and more impressed with Palin this last week, not just in her incredibly astute playing of the MSM, but in her increasingly articulate explanations of her positions.
Colonel, USAFR
I heard Mark’s rant last night, and I’m telling you, it was one for the Talk Radio Hall of Fame.
He completely demolished the elitist PDSers in the media for their abject lack of substantive arguments against Palin, or her politics.
Absolutely brilliant.
There's yer problem - they're not conservatives strategists, they're republican strategists.
Not an ideological bone in most of em. Cain, Palin, are outside of DC phenomena and a threat to these guys' livelihoods as beltway pundits.
Me too.
Sick and tired of these elitist champagne and caviar pinheads telling everyone what can and cannot, should and shouldn`t be.
Krauthammer’s hopes of walking due to stem cell research needs to be focussed on adult stem cells.
Embryonic stemcells have produced nothing but cancer.
Hooray for Levin! Hooray for Palin!
There are more issues than this one where these “conservative” pundits reveal that for them, being part of the establishment is much more important than standing for firm conservative principles.
Think about Krauthammer’s and Rove’s and Kristol’s, et al., stance on amnesty, Tea Party adherents, and numerous other issues.
Unfortunately, they get to set the agenda on TV and in the press. For example, open borders and amnesty are existential threats to the United States and the American culture, but do you think it will even become an issue during the coming campaign?
They hate Palin and Cain, because they are not one of them.
Here’s a chance to pick up a $100 reward from me - prove by some real metric (grades, IQ tests, etc.) that Obama is smarter than Palin. My $100 is safer than the depleting gold at Ft. Knox. Yet Rove and Krauthammer subscribe to the view that Palin is a stupid dunce, and Obama is a genius.
I still think that there are enough of the "undecided" voters who see her as Tina Fay to keep her from winning the general.
But she does continue to make all the right enemies, which I do richly enjoy.
Chances are by the time my WV primary rolls around the nomination will be decided, dammit.
I take Krauthammer and George Will with a grain of salt. Occasionally they still say something useful, but they can’t extricate themselves from the wreck of the old Republican machine. Palin is about the future.
BTTT!
As smears go, Krauthammer’s are sort of benign, IMO.
Agreed! they are not conservatives! It’s going to take hardcore conservatives to demolish the whack left! They don’t have the balls to do the job.
No he's not! He's a repulsive neocon. There's nothing conservative about him and he's always nasty. Levin knows it. Levin is a very poor actor.
Look a little deeper and you won’t see his smears as benign.
If the criticism is coming from the left, people blow it off as just oppositionalism.
But when it comes from a supposed “conservative”, people think “there might be something to this...”
That's what the campaign is for. If Palin can't convince them over the next 17 months that she's smarter than Tina Fey, then I've misjudged her.
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