Posted on 07/08/2009 1:48:05 PM PDT by moneyrunner
Dear Rich,
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m starting to think that Christopher Buckley endorsing Barack Obama for President may not have been an isolated case of poor judgment. Your piece, Sarah Palin Up and Out, tells us quite a bit more about you than it does about Palin.
At the risk of being sued for copyright infringement, I’ll quote the beginning of your screed:
In all the speculation about why Sarah Palin quit the Alaska governorship, no one — right or left, supportive or critical, rational or conspiratorial — has credited her stated reason that she had to do it for the sake of Alaska.
It’s just too absurd. .. But she still proved adept at the traditional political art of extreme disingenuousness.
You then go on to state: She didn’t want to put Alaska through the hell of a lame-duck governor who would “hit the road, draw the paycheck, and ‘milk it.’” Never mind that if she feared becoming a lame duck, she could run for re-election — especially if “serving [Alaska’s] people is the greatest honor I could imagine.”
Well, my friend, and you are my friend, you may have reached the pinnacle of your ambitions by being editor of a magazine that has to beg for gift from its readers, but Sarah Palin has bigger goals. The reception she received from the Republican base showed that she was the biggest draw in the party. If she wanted to see whether she stood a chance of being the leader of the party, and perhaps its Presidential nominee, she needed to make a move. No matter how much she loved Alaska. You can’t run for President from there. Distance won’t let you; not if you are also the governor.
(Excerpt) Read more at moneyrunner.blogspot.com ...
“If the people at FR — who get teed off anytime anyone (even those with solid conservative credentials) points out obvious issues with Palin”
What are the obvious issues?
Read the rest of my posts on this thread, for starters.
“But, while an inexperienced Lefty like Obama will get a pass from the media, an inexperienced Republican will not.”
Unemployment is still straightlining downward, housing inventory is now up to a year, and the contraction in manufacturing will go exponential with the car plant shutdowns this summer.
Anyone associated with the Bailout will be dead meat on the hook and Palin’s lone voice against this outrage will trump anything the Dems or Repubs have to muster.
That is why the inexperienced Reagan won big - people were fed up and it is destined to happen again.
Maybe you’re right. I doubt it. If you are, I’ll be glad. But, the media will still be doing everything it can to make excuses for Obama and to trash the Republican running against him.
“Read the rest of my posts on this thread, for starters.”
How kind of you.
Well I did and found out you dont.
That is, you dont substantiate Palin’s “faults”.
In fact, less the emotive bits, your statements betray the same qualities you fail to elicit from Sarah, to wit:
“She is great on the social issues, not so great on the economy/free enterprise.”
(Uh, Didn’t she coin “Drill, Drill, Drill” - but thats right, Goldilocks can borrow, borrow, borrow)
“she is woefully lacking in knowledge about things which a person with a serious interest in government and access to news media should have known.”
(”things”? You almost lost me there. Its a good thing you added “serious”)
“She does exactly as Lowry says, clings to hackneyed sound bites for dear life.”
(As it appears you do...)
” She also rambles, and you wait and wait for her to get to a point that makes some sense, so you can start breathing again.”
(...Nice weather were having...Think Ill go for a walk)
“Some of Sarah’s “populist” ideas include bragging about sticking to the oil companies, and attacking Wall Street for the banking meltdown...”
(Contrived-oil-shortage-Bear-Stearns-douchebag says what?)
A few points about Bill Buckley. He never won an election. I recall vividly that, when asked what he would do if he won the race for mayor of New York replied: "ask for a recount."
Buckley made his name as a public intellectual, using family money and connections he founded a very influential magazine that never broke even. I was one of his biggest fans and still have hundred of copies of NR.
If Palin were running as the replacement for Bill Buckley, the criticisms of her may be warranted. But she is not. I refer you and everyone who is interested to another article I just commented on an article by a female feminist Democrat who wonders why feminists knowingly lie about Palin. And it's not just Democrats or feminists. It's a popularity contest that many people are afraid of bucking.
For now, the Libs have created an image and the Lowry NRO types, even Krauthammer, believe it's better to go along. If she survives and thrives, they will rush to her side, telling her that they were there for her all along. If she fails, its "I told you so." Why would anyone except the next-in-line allow themselves to be part of this school of piranhas?
I don't think that some on the Right will be happy with Sarah Palin. Lots of corrupt go-along-to-get-along Republicans in Alaska don't like her either.
Scrub Lowry, and all of NRO. All of them.
They supported Palin strongly during the election, to help their RINO McCain. Now, well, shes a threat to RINOs EVERYWHERE. So this hit piece.
Two faced hypocrites. And NRO is among the greatest RINO supporters in the conservative media.
Lowry has broken the 11th big time here. I will not forget.
Nonsense. Intellect doesn't stop at the pearly gates of DC. And you post anonymously while I don't. Is there a whiff of hypocrisy there?
He goes on to say The fact that this stereotype is unfair does not justify conservative politicians in ignoring its power.
Thanks, Dick, for bringing us that unfair image of Palin. With friends like this, she doesn't need enemies.
Mrs. Palin does not play by the rules, not the left’s rules, and not the squishy moderate right’s rules. Rich is now in the girly-man camp.
Fail. Buzz off Rich.
Do you think it went unnoticed? Do you think we cannot mark an elitist who claims to be a “conservative” the same damn thing as a leftist elitist?
So now, they decide to point out obvious issues with Palin and of course, we poor dumb non-elititist have to swallow the basic Washington squishy moderate crap? Think again.
Get a clue. The steam roller is heading your way.
I’m not the one setting myself up as smarter than any of the prominent conservatives who have expressed doubts about Sarah Palin.
I believe that's of Rockefeller where he paused to greet some hecklers after leaving his limo.
The one of him at the podium in San Francisco was from the 1964 convention. At the time I don't think any mainstream media would have included that photo.
.. so I guessing I saw it in something that came from a John Birch Society’s American Opinion Library -- or similar "alternate" source.
The photo here shows intensity but the one I am thinking of shows him infuriated. He had five minutes to speak and the Goldwater delegates would not let him speak, it took him 20 minutes to finish.
Why wouldn't they let him speak? His side of the party was pushing for a plank that would have declared Goldwater's Tenth Amendment support equivalent to the Ku Klux Klan.
Thanks again!
Even before the Internet I could not figured it out either; for example, Mr. Buckley and his PBS show Firing Line.
In the words of this NY Times article, How 'Firing Line' Transformed the Battleground, By Laurence Zuckerman: "After a few years, Mr. Buckley mellowed. . . ."
It seemed to me that Mr. Buckley turned his PBS show Firing Line over to Mr. Ira Glasser of the ACLU and others but especially Mr. Glasser.
I lost interest. I knew how Glasser and the liberals felt from the other 99.994 percent of the broadcast week.
In general liberals argued that one hour a week of Firing Line was all the fairness that conservatives needed -- and they infiltrated and took over the damn show!
Talking like a liberal, reasoning like a liberal, is not helpful for the Governor.
But, then again, I’m one of those stuffy old conservative types, that thinks that a bigger mouth doesn’t equate to a more robust opinion.
I recognize that I am a minority, and that my way of rational thinking and rational endowing of the franchise is outdated (regardless of who is the candidate).
I should just let blustering win the day.
I never said anything about Palin. The article said we could run someone like Obama. Obama is an ill-informed mouthpiece, and I said we can’t run someone like that.
I said nothing about Sarah, and in fact specifically avoided discussing Governor Palin.
I was talking about Obama, and how the last thing we should take from the last election is that we can run an ill-informed mouthpiece for PResident.
The poster commented that the lesson of the election was that we COULD run an inexperienced person and still “win”. I was debating his point.
I have no idea who the right person would be in 2012. Fortunately, we have a year or two for that to sort out.
I’m more concerned with finding good people for 2010 to try to take back the house.
I have no interest in Romney at this time, as he is not currently running for any office. If he runs for office, I will have to evaluate who else is running, and make an informed decision about how many of the candidates I can support.
In the meantime, my history is to build up as many viable candidates as possible, so we have a choice and so we don’t make the opposition’s job easier. There are plenty of others here at FR who excel at destroying candidates they don’t like in the vain hopes it will make THEIR candidate win the election.
As I have corrected several others, my comment said nothing about Palin, and was specifically about the poster’s assertion that the 2008 election proved we don’t need a candidate with experience. That is the WRONG message, and it certainly won’t work in 2012.
It’s funny though how so many people who are already wedded to Palin for President read “ill-informed mouthpiece” and automatically think “Palin”.
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