Lucid reply to Potty Mouth Taibbi's spittle-flecked article titled, "Sarah Palin, WWE Star"

First, I want to congratulate you. You’re the first liberal media member I’ve seen who has actually acknowledged that a group of Obama supporters did in fact wear t shirts calling a woman a c*nt, in public and in front of her daughter no less. Now, does the fate of the Republic hand on such issues? No.

Still, it was interesting to see the media pretend it never happened, straight out of some Ministry of Truth from Oceania. Somehow, if a group of McCain supporters had worn a t shirt to an Obama event calling him a n—-r, I have a feeling we would have heard about. Non-stop, as the lead story on every news cast and the lead story in every Newspaper. McCain would have been forced to resign, end his campaign and turned into a national villain.

Not one media person ever asked Obama or Biden one question about those shirts. They never issued one statement. Even Biden, who always brags about writing the Violence Against Women Act. Biden, BTW, also never piped up when Obama supporter Sandra Bernhard was calling for someone to be gang-raped in NYC by a bunch of brothers. I guess degrading and threatening women is ok by him, as long as it’s the right type of woman.

I like your WWE comparison. Particularly apt since Linda McMahon may well be the next Senator from CT. Then the two of them could team up. Maybe Sarah should start using Rick Derringer’s “Real American” as her entrance music, like Hogan did. “What you gonna do brother, when the Sarah-mania comes for you?”

Although, I always thought Obama was a WWE type candidate as well. He always reminded me of The Rock. I kept waiting for him to open his rallies with “Finally, Ba-Rack has returned to Iowa to be with the millions…and millions of Ba-Rack’s fans”.

Obama and Palin are actually very similar similar on a number of levels, shocking as that might be for you to hear. Both are more popular and gained nootoriety for their charisma, persona and story more than for their policies or legislative backgrounds.

Both are outsiders, from way outside the US. Obama from Hawaii and Indonesia and Palin from Alaska. Both thousands of miles away from the DC-NY corridor US power. From places that relaly have played no role in US politics ever. Neither were groomed for politics or played any role in it growing up. Neither came from privilege(cf W Bush, Gore, Romney, Kennedy, McCain, Bush 41, etc…) Obama has a secretary named Palin and Palin has a secretary named Obama. Obama’s father herded goats, Palin’s father hunted moose. Both elicit an intense visceral dislike from the other side that really is hard to understand. Both played HS Basketball and athletics and sports are a part of their image. Palin ran track in HS. Obama smoked crack in HS. Both admit to smoking pot. Both married a spouse who is bigger and more macho/manly and muscular than they are, and who could probably beat them in a fight.

Both are the 1st real natl figures in each party from the post baby-boom generation, with no issues over Vietnam, the 60s, the draft, WW2 or everything else that dominated the scene for so long.

No one would ever call either of them a policy wonk like a Bill Clinton/Al Gore was or a Jack Kemp/Newt Gingrich on the GOP side. No one would say they had a wealth of legislative experience like a McCain, Kerry or Dole. They don’t really have any new or innovative ideas. They don’t have any new or guiding policy agenda like the New Deal, the Great Society, even Reagan’s set of overarching conservative themes that he had.(Well, I guess you could say that Palin’s ideas are pretty much the same as his, sort of like how Lenny Kravitz’s whole career was based on ripping off Hendrix). Palin is basically trying to be the best Reagan tribute band out there

Both made their mark through a stemwinder of a speech at a convention on natl tv that had more to do with optics, pizzazz and style than substance. Through appearances and speeches that exude personality and charisma. Both are young and attractive. Both are really like no other politicians we’ve seen before. Both made history. Both came from obscurity and overcame long odds. Neither of them is from political royalty like the Kennedy or Bush(or Romney or Gore)families. Neither is there because their spouse had a position of power(Clinton, Elizabeth Dole). They’re both their own man(or woman), soley responsible for their achievements. They both created their own personas and didn’t trade on nepotism or favors or the usual political rigamorale. Both have a huge ego and climbed the ladder very quickly.

If the economy hadn’t collapsed in September/October 2008 Palin would be where Obama is now and he’d be where she is. I doubt he’d have remained in the Senate if he lost. He clearly never really cared about it, it was just a stepping stone to bigger things.

Neither of then had any real experience like the 2 terms as Gov of CA Reagan had, the 10 yrs as Gov of AR that Clinton had, the 8 yrs as VP, head of CIA, UN Amb, Amb to China, RNC Chair that Bush 41 even had. Even the 20+ yrs in the Senate and military service that McCain, Kerry, Dole all ahd.

You write of her Gump-esque rise to stardom and her monstrous and narcissistic ambition. . Perhaps, but are you saying that doesn’t remind you of anyone else? Scrawny guy, big ears.

I mean, certainly a guy who goes from State Senator to a keynote spot at the DNC to Senator to appearing on Oprah to hawk his best-selling book to media messiah to running for President in 2 years time doesn’t have any monstrous ambition/ No ego there, no sir.

Nothing Gump-esque about that DNC Speech, about that State Senate opponent being DQed because of a fluke techincality incolving ballots, about his career being launched in Hyde Park hero Bill Ayers’s living room, about Jack Ryan imploding over that sex scandal, about Oprah annointing him The One, about the Wright tapes not coming out until well after IA and NH, about all those moment where Obama just happened to be in the right place at the right time, the center of attention.

Certainly a guy who made that HOPE picture of his face an iconic image, who attended rallies with millions chanting O-Ba-Ma! O-Ba-Ma! over and over again(surprised he didn’t stop in Nuremberg when we went to Germany instead of Berlin), who offered himself up as the vessel of change, who wrote in his book “people project themselves on to me” and he welcomes that, who said that his election alone was a sign of the change the country had made, who flies out at the last minute so he can soak in the personal glory for bringing the Olympics to his hometown, who established that faux Obama seal, who gives an outdoor convention speech with a Greek Columns backdrop as if he was Pericles doesn’t show any signs of narcissism. Nothing to see, just move along.

The truth is that both of them really gained their fame for who they are, not what they are. Obama because of his racial background and personal story and Palin because of her sexual background(and yes, lets face it, because most of the older guys who run politics and the media have probably had very, very naughty thoughts about her, those glasses, and letting that long chestnut mane down)and personal story. Obama would have gotten nowhere if he was just your usual white liberal from Illinois. Ask Dick Durbin and Paul Simon how that worked out for them. Nor would Palin if she was your avg middle aged white guy.

Both connect with their supporters more on an emotional and gut level than a policy level. People don’t support Obama because of his brilliant ideas on the tax code or his studious analysis of Sarbanes-Oxley. Or his incredible insights into Afghanistan or terrorism. Or his heroic miltary service. They support him because of who he is, what he represents, what his story represents, because he represents them, their generation, their stories, their background, etc… Because he connects and resonates with them.

Just as for a bunch of other people(albeit at this point probably less than the Obama group)Sarah Palin represents them, their background, their story. Because she connects and resonates with them.

Now, neither of those two groups on their own is enough to win. Obama needed the group in the middle who was totally fed up with Bush and the GOP and for whom the financial meltdown and market crash was the last straw. After less than a year, they seem to be showing some reservations about him. If they get fed up with him and the dems and the debt, the deficit and high unemployment(as they did with Carter), they’ll shift back over to the other side(the GOP) and the Palin group will have enough to win in 2012. That’s how politics works.

And Palin stoking white resentment? Maybe. Are you honestly saying though that Obama wasn’t any vessel for black resentment? For finally being able to get back at the man, at Whitey as Homey the Clown would say. There was no black pride when it came to Obama?

Him going to SC in a must win spot and doing his best Denzel/Brother Malcolm impression and telling the overwhelmingly black crowds that “You’ve been hoodiwnked! You’ve been bamboozled!” and then catching himself and laughing nervously when he realized what he was doing in a stae where he need huge black turnout and support was just a coincidence. No racial element there. No stoking the fires. Lets see what happens if Palin starts quoting the white version of Malcolm X to redneck audiences in Dixie. I doubt it will be glossed over like Obama’s Malcolm X act was.

For those who think he didn’t know what he was doing, read Dreams From My Father. Malcolm X wsa a huge influence on young Barry Obama nd he knows all about him. He’s seen the movie. He knows the hoodwinked/bamboozled line.

And once upon a time, as if this personal thing new? Do you remember the dems going after Bush for his natl guard thing, his DUI, everything having to do with Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Love Canal and the Internet and sighing, Edwards’ haircut(which the Obama team now admits they spread), Bush41 and the supermarket scanner, etc… Politics has been focused on these extra-curricular things for years.

As for the Couric interview, yes there’s sour grapes. Just like Obama sent his team after FOX News, just like he goes after Glenn Beck, just like his people spread talking points about Limbaugh and Hannity. Obama has a thin skin as well, another thing they share in common.

However, Palin does have a legitimate point when you consider that they filmed hours of footage. (Why Palin or the GOP/McCain team would ever agree to hours of footage with someone so far up Obama’s ass her bob is touching his colon is beyond me, but so be it. Obama and the dems would never agree to hours of footage of Obama and Hannity or Beck, for example. And certainly not to leave them full editorial control)

Does anyone honestly believe that if Obama or Biden had said a “what do you read” comment or some of the other things she said that The Perky One would have ever aired the footage? Hell No. It would have stayed on the cutting room floor and no one would have ever known. They’d have aired other footage.

She does have a point when you consider that Couric didn’t ask Biden 1 question about his multiple instances of plagiarism. About his blatnt lying over his academic record. About his cheating in Law School and almost being expelled. Nothing about any of that.

When you read the transcript Couric asked her close to 100 questions. 95 of them have perfectly fine answers. 2 or 3 are bad answers and the other 2 or 3 are so-so. If it was Obama or Biden the entire story would have consiste dof the 95 good answers and no one would ever have seen the bad answers. In baseball a 300 avg gets you to the hall of fame. I’d say a 950 avg with a hostile interviewer like Couric is ok.

She does have a point when she points out Couric asked her 12 times about abortion and the morning after pill. When Couric brought up these absurd hypotheticals like 12 yr old girls being raped by their father. When she kept badgering her endlessly about it. Liberals always bring up the 12 yr old raped by her father. That happens about as often as Couric finishing out of last place in the ratings, which is to say virtually never.

Or what about when Biden told Katie how FDR went on TV to reassure them about the Stock Crash. Never mind FDR wasn’t President until 4 yrs after the crash or that TV wasn’t invented and in the US until 10 yrs after the crash, let alone most Americans having one in their homes which didn’t happen until the 59s. But The Perky One never reaired that one a thousand times, nor did the media or SNL make a big deal over it. It also shows how dumb Couric herself is. If she had realiized Biden’s blunder she never would have aired it. She believed him 100%. Nice to know a major news anchor is so misinformed. Maybe she should go on Jeopardy like Wolf Blitzer.

Or how CBS and Katie Couric blatantly lied on their transcript in regards to her answers. For example, how she clearly tells Couric “I’m Ill(as in sick) about the position America is in” in regards to the economy and bailout. But Couric and CBS say on their transcript that she said “I’m ALL about the position that America is in” which is totally nonsensical. No apology or correction from Couric. None.

Here’s the sum total of her questions to Joe Biden on abortion: Katie Couric: Why do you think Roe v. Wade was a good decision?

That’s it. No, “Sen, if a 30 yr old woman is perfectly healthy and decides to kill her baby because she simply doesn’t want the hassle, why is that a good thing?” “Do you agree with that?” “Should that be constitutional?” No 12 different questions or badgering on abortion for Biden.

Or take this line from her: “Polls show that Sen. McCain and Sarah Palin are making inroads among white female voters who are less educated,”

Sure, Katie, because all those blacks that voted for Obama just finished their PhD dissertations. All those 18-29 yr olds just back from Cambridge. But she gets the meme out there.

I wonder when Katie will report on Biden’s 32% approval rating among Independents in the latest Gallup poll? 9 points lower than Palin’s 41%, as amazing as that sounds.

Whatever. The Couric interview had no impatc on the election, on polls. The economy and the market crash decided it(along with Bush’s huge unpopularity, the Iraq War, the huge Obama spending and ad edge and a few other things).

I hope Katie is happy in dead last place 4 yrs running, with the worst ratings in tv news history. I only wish Sarah had mentioned that to Oprah. “I actually feel sorry for her now, Oprah. She has the lowest ratings in the history of TV News. It must be tough for her”

As for Newsweek, why can’t it be all 3? A liberal plot, sexist, AND a desire to sell magazines. The options aren’t mutually exclusive. Of course it’s sexist.(Or maybe Newsweek will put Gov Paterson’s(NY) shoot that he did for Runner’s World on the cover soon. I mean, if it’s not sexist we should be expecting to see his any time now) And Newsweek is clearly liberal. They themselves admit it. No point in hiding it. I just hope Sarah takes solace in the fact that Newsweek is doing so badly and bleeding so many subscribers that they need to use her to boost their newsstand sales and actually try and make some money. BTW, I believe Newsweek recent laid off a good amount pf people. I wonder if they’ll get any of the money from the sales of the Palin cover?

As for repulsing Independent voters, Obama and Biden and the dems seem to be taking care of that all by themselves. Just look at VA, NJ where Is flocked to the GOP(inlcuding for McDonnell, a candidate endorsed by Sarah Palin and one who she donated 2500 dollars to and made calls for. She didn’t seem to hurt him in a key swing state). Look at Bidens 32 among Is, down from 59 earlier this year. Look at I low support of health care and their grades for Obama on the deficit, jobs, and Afghanistan. A number of recent polls have even shown Obama himself below 50 and dropping among Is. Obama and Biden need to worry about themselves, not Palin.

But all in all, an insightful article on Palin from a liberal viewpoint. Just thought she deserved some defending. Again, thank you for being the only liberal to ever acknowledge the truth that Obama supporters wore tshirts calling a woman a c*nt, in front of her own children no less. I hope they’re proud of themselves.

I did like your WWE reference. Battle Royal 2012. Jim Rosss with “Good God! Is that Sarah Palin’s music!…My God! Obama has just been slammed through the Spanish Announcer’s table!…” Should be good times.

Both are more popular and gained nootoriety for their charisma, persona and story more than for their policies or legislative backgrounds

I got to the above statement (6th para) and stopped reading. It is wrong wrong wrong. Conservatives are NOT into charm/persona - we are about AMERICA! Sarah's background, and her Patriotism - love of our country our Military and willing to speak out against evil forces against America, belief in dig, baby, dig - is her calling card and what conservatives admire. She's pro America all the way.

So Taibbi can take his/her/their propaganda piece and choke on it.

tabbibi is a great writer, this guy not so much.

i wish he would have left it to a better writer to do this, tabbibi just gets to think we’re rambling idiots now.

Imus also loves Levin.
He’s had both of them on his show, and in fact
runs commercials of Levin’s rants with I-man saying ‘
“I think Mark Levin is FANTASTIC~!”
Imus is an individual, very hard to pin down, and I wouldn’t want to. Also has great taste in music and plays
great stuff ALWAYS on his morning radio show in the NYC market. Matt Taibbi is a “journalist” who has made a name for himself by being a kind of journalistic ‘shock jock’, and started the ball rolling on notoriety with his piece about 4 1/2 years ago for the New York Press titled “The 52 Funniest Things about the Upcoming Death of the Pope”..
ALL of them were grotesque obscenities, as if the title wasn’t risky, stupid and evil enough. And he’s NOT a good writer at all, he merely embodies the ESSENCE of SNARK.

And by the way, if the spelling of the surname is right, this is NOT the Jon Meachem I thought it was-—the editor of Newsweek. I don’t think that one is nearly as smart.

Agreed, Taibbi sucks. He comes up with interesting themes (Goldman Sachs, politics as populist spectator sports)but is handicapped by his prejudiced self-righteousness, potty mouth, and his indignant libtard bias, but outside of those issues........

I am not disagreeing with respect to whether or not we are talking about the same Jon Meachem, I don’t know. But I find it hard to believe that a Newsweak editor would try to add some balance to a discussion by bringing up the dueling stupidity of Obama & Biden, and discuss how poorly the media covers their gaffes.

Taibibi is a whiney ass metro-punk. He is shaking in his jammies just thinking people like...and will vote for Sarah Palin.
Her rise in public awareness and voter popularity gets him all wee weed up.
His run as a "Sarah-hater" will be as short as his self-imagined relevance to solid political discourse.

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