Kathleen Parker: Speak correctly, or build a big bunker ("Help! I'm getting angry emails!!!)

Chicago Tribune ^ | October 1, 2008 | Kathleen Parker

[presidio9]

Allow me to introduce myself. I am a traitor and an idiot. Also, my mother should have aborted me and left me in a Dumpster, but since she didn't, I should "off" myself.

Those are just a few nuggets randomly selected from thousands of e-mails written in response to my column suggesting that Sarah Palin is out of her league and should step down.

Who says public discourse hasn't deteriorated?

The fierce reaction to my column has been both bracing and enlightening. After 20 years of column writing, I'm familiar with angry mail. But the past few days have produced responses of a different order. Not just angry, but vicious and threatening.

Some of my usual readers feel betrayed because I previously have written favorably of Palin. By changing my mind and saying so, I am viewed as a traitor to the Republican Party—not a "true" conservative.

Palin's fans say they like her specifically because she's an outsider, not part of the Washington club. When she flubs during interviews, they identify with that too. "You see the lack of polish, we applaud it," one reader wrote.

Of course, there's a difference between a lack of polish and a lack of coherence. Some of Palin's interview responses can't even be critiqued on their merits because they're so nonsensical. "Let Sarah be Sarah" has become the latest rallying cry among my colleagues on the right. She'll be fine if we just leave her alone, they say. Between prayers, I might add.

Not all my mail has been mean-spirited. A fair number expressed polite disappointment; others relief and gratitude. Still others offered reasonable arguments aimed at changing my mind. I may yet.

[an amused spectator]

I have met her and corresponded with her. She is a peach with a great family, that’s who.

If you ever get the chance, tell her that most of the critics of her Palin column knew they didn't like it, but couldn't cut to the chase about what was supremely wrong with it.

I'll give it to you from the political professional amateurs @ Free Republic.

She asked Palin to step down. Any serious political person knows that if that happened, the election would be over for McCain. So Parker was in a way asking for the Republicans to concede the election, more than a month before the fact.

If she didn't know that, she shouldn't be commenting on politics. If she did know it - then draw your own conclusions, none of them good for a "conservative" political commentator.

[psw0585]

I’m sure that I have as equally long a list of my own that I feel bolsters my own opinion that Palin is categorically unqualified to be VP, let alone POTUS. In addition, I have a very short list of the reason(s) McCain chose her to begin with, which smack of the worst sort of cynicism and short-sightedness on his part.

We’re in this pickle because McCain refused to give America any credit for intelligence.

You just let me know whenever you care to exchange recipes.

[Will88]

“I’m sure that I have as equally long a list of my own that I feel bolsters my own opinion..”

Fine, but all you initially said you had was an opinion.

[Katarina]

Kathleen Parker deserved any attacks she got. Her article was disgusting about Gov. Sarah Palin.

[Allegra]

Who says public discourse hasn't deteriorated?

Oh, it certainly has, Kathleen. Just listen to pretty much any statement Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid utters, for example.

I'd say you're right in their league.

[psw0585]

That's simply not the case, and you know it.

I stated that Parker's qualifications to deem Palin unqualified as she did were derived from her opinion -- and, in this case, I would add her informed opinion.

Parker delineated, quite succinctly, her reasons for that doubt: that, quick study or not, Palin doesn’t know enough about economics and foreign policy to make a majority of Americans comfortable with a "President Palin," should conditions warrant her promotion. She notes rightly that Palin filibusters and repeats words, filling space with meaningless, often non-sequitur dead wood. You and I know the quotes...so there's no point repeating them here...but they are indeed painful to hear and even worse to watch and hear. "Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there," as Parker noted.

Parker isn't responsible for Palin becoming a drag on the ticket -- Palin is. And McCain took a big, impetuous gamble when he chose her, a decision borne largely in reaction to Obama's dissing of Shillary and to steal some thunder away from the DNC, which was getting all the news. His instincts in this case seem to have proven him wrong. The fact that Parker points this out and that it pisses you off doesn't make it any less true.

In my opinion, that is.

[Revolting cat!]

Some of Palin's interview responses can't even be critiqued on their merits because they're so nonsensical.

A piece of advice: don't watch the interviews. (I don't.) Sarah Palin is not running for the position of the most frequent quest on your favorite boob tube show.

[Revolting cat!]

I hear Eva Braun was a lovely person also, but she had lousy taste in men.

And we all respect her as Hidegarde Rodham's biological mom.

[Will88]

It was an exceedingly dumb move on the part of the McCain campaign to allow Gibson and Couric to have long, drawn out interviews with Palin that they could later splice and edit to show whatever they chose. That just set things up for problems, and for questions about details few other candidates are asked about.

And, no, Parker’s made no good points because they were long, gotcha interviews designed to ask questions they knew a governor barely two weeks on a national ticket would not have dealt with. Bush, Reagan, Clinton and Carter as governors had long prep times for interviews before they announced a run for president because they planned to run and prepared, and had time to prepare. Palin had virtually no notice, and the little time she had was used to prepare for the convention, not for policy study on every imaginable issue.

I don’t think there has ever been a governor put on a national ticket so suddenly in our memory, with so little time to prepare. All that happened is a testament to the utter stupidity of the McCain campaign for allowing interviews of that length, with those particular journalists as Palin’s very first interviews after accepting the nomination.

Parker is a bogus conservative, piling on for some reason known only to her. Any half sensible person knows there is a lot to prepare for when going from governor to a national ticket, and no one has had less time to prepare than Governor Palin.

The McCain campaign handling of a very bright and capable, enormous addition to the ticket has been utterly and totally stupid and incompetent. The question is can she (and they) recover, or has their ineptness and hamhandedness tainted and diminished a bright young star in the party.

That’s what I know about this situation.

McCain needs to learn to let the MSM spit and fume and whine. They are not his friends (has he ever learned that), and he loses little or nothing by making them adapt to his timetable, and not the other way around.

[psw0585]

On many points we agree, and on as many more we will have to agree to disagree. I don't think Palin was or is ready for prime-time, period...and certainly not up to the challenge of the Oval Office. I think she would have been better off groomed and prepped for 2012, when she could have gone head to head with the Hildebeast and REALLY generated some fireworks.

McCain was never going to woo Clinton women into the GOP with Palin -- they're hysterical and simple-mided, but they weren't buying into the theory of some that "any woman would suffice" when it came to getting their vote. Had McCain gone with someone with more gravitas, but still with pro-life, pro 2nd Amendment street cred, he'd be kicking ass and taking names and this Obama joke would have been a fading punchline long ago. Palin could have been given a Cabinet position, given some national profile, and she'd have been set.

Parker was stating the obvious, in my book. Palin wasn't prepped, and neither she nor others were taking this sh*t seriously, apparently. As it stands, if McCain dumps this election, she may not even get re-elected Governor. F***in' hell.

[psw0585]

P.S.:
If you're going to bag on Parker, note that Charles Krauthammer, George Will, David Brooks, and David Frum have all basically said the same thing about Palin (only without as much snark, granted)...and if she doesn't perform brilliantly tonight, you're going to hear half the party calling for her to be kicked to the curb.

And in the event of a poor showing against Blow Lie-din, regardless of whether she steps down or not, you can stick a fork in the whole damn deal.

[Will88]

“If you’re going to bag on Parker, note that Charles Krauthammer, George Will, David Brooks, and David Frum.”

I noticed them as it happened. Krauthammer is brilliant, but is a Jew from Canada and does not understand Palin or her appeal. Will has spent his career in DC and has always been a borderline elitist snob. Not that familiar with Frum, but Brooks is just the pretend conservative for the NYT. He’s a country club, Rockefeller sort. All these guys are the old line Rockefeller sorts who are somewhat embarrassed by the conservative Republicans from flyover country.

They all seem to forget and dismiss what a lift Palin gave to McCain’s DIW campaign. The financial crisis has changed things more than any other factor, and that’s not Palin’s fault, and it’s not her fault how silly McCain looked declaring an unnecessary suspension of the campaign.

But still, Palin was terribly and incompetently mishandled by the McCain campaign. She can learn anything she needs to learn, but they have foolishly played into the MSMs hands and let them make her qualifications the issue. We’ll see if she can make up for the campaign’s mistakes.

And they are spending little or no time pointing out that Obama is the most unqualified presidential nominee in modern times, or since WWII.

It’s McCain and his campaign managers who have screwed up royally, and might have squandered the very best thing that happened to them since he became the nominee. Sarah has a big task tonight, but if she falls short the blame still lies 100% with the incompetent management of her role in the campaign.