Posted on 07/23/2010 2:30:03 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Sarah Palin can't expect anyone to take her seriously as a presidential candidate--not after what she said this week.
In recent days, the former Alaska governor and Tea Party fave has been on a tear against Journolist, a listserv for nearly 500 journalists, policy wonks, and academics, most of whom are self-identified liberals working for self-identified liberal outfits. The participants on this off-the-record email chain promoted their work, debated politics and policy (occasionally quite sharply), and traded and tested ideas for articles and columns. Last month, The Daily Caller, a conservative website, began running articles based on Journolist archives it somehow had obtained. Some conservatives immediately denounced Journolist as a secret cabal that established a party line for the dreaded liberal media.
Palin was one such rightwinger. On Tuesday, citing a Daily Caller article that focused on how several liberal opinion journalists in 2008 were pondering how to respond to stories about Jeremiah Wright (Barack Obama's controversial reverend), she contended that Journolist was proof that the mainsteam media--or, as she calls it, the "lamestream" media--is biased, characterizing Journolist members as "'prominent' mainstream media personalities." That was a misrepresentation: writers and bloggers for The Nation, The American Prospect, Mother Jones (my home base), the Center for American Progress, the New American Foundation, and other liberal media organizations and think tanks are not usually considered mainstream media leaders. (The founder of Journolist, Ezra Klein, did move from The American Prospect to The Washington Post, but he was knowingly hired by the newspaper as a liberal blogger.) It's hardly surprising that out-of-the-closet progressives would share progressive ideas with colleagues. Journolist was no conspiracy; it was a community--a virtual bar, without booze. I explain all that here. (Membership declared: I was a mostly nonactive member of Journolist; I haven't used it in years.)
Palin's blast revealed deep ignorance. Journolistas were generally not prominent MSMers. And the few prominent journalists who were part of Journolist were mostly already known as commentators of a liberal bent. Yet Palin was pretending that Journolist was evidence of an MSM cabal. Worst, she tweeted, "forget freedom of speech and freedom of the press if these yahoos ever get their way in America."
During an interview with The Daily Caller, she went further, calling Journolisters "sick puppies"--as she reacted to another article on the now-defunct listserv revealing email messages sent the day John McCain surprisingly picked Palin to be his running mate. In these emails, several participants--including two Mother Jones reporters who worked for me at the time--pondered why McCain had picked Palin and what would be an effective critique of her. That liberal reporters would privately discuss how best to criticize a conservative politician whose policies they oppose does not strike me as shocking. In fact, I am certain that during the 2008 campaign journalists at conservative media outfits talked among themselves about how best to puncture Obama.
But Palin was offended. In responding to The Daily Caller piece, though, she conceded a major point about herself: she does not posses a hardy enough constitution to be president. In that interview, The Daily Caller reports, Palin said the media became a key reason she decided not to finish out her term as governor.
Consider that for a moment. Eight months after the grueling 2008 campaign was over, Palin, by her own admission, was not tough enough to handle the media and had to quit her job as Alaska governor. After confessing that, how can she possibly present herself as presidential timber? If she allowed herself to be hounded out of office in Juneau by the big bad press, could she withstand the slings and arrows of the media while under pressure in the White House?
This part of her reaction to The Daily Caller article is a tell. Looking to scapegoat the media for her decision to quit--a decision widely described at the time on the left and right as bizarre--she displays her own weakness. Does a true commander in chief turn tail when "sick puppies" bark?
I wonder if Palin meant to reveal this much. Possibly, she was lazily exploiting the latest Journolist revelation. Bashing the liberal media is good for Sarah Inc. It sells books and six-figure speeches. And it's good politics, for this theme is an oldie-but-goodie relished by the GOP base and tea partiers--the sort of voters who will dominate the Republican Party's 2012 presidential primaries. Still, saying that she could not do her job in Alaska because of pesky reporters is a true admission of weakness. If you can't stand the heat from reporters (including the ferocious liberals of Journolist), how can you be strong enough to deal with the Russians, the Chinese, the North Koreans, the Iranians, the Taliban, and, oh yes, the terrorists? They're a bit more fierce than Katie Couric.
****** One of my Twitter followers, Greytdog, sent me this tweet on Thursday: "perhaps the question should be why is the media obsessed w/Sarah Palin who hasn't done anything except quit & twit." Good point. But given that there is a chance she will run for president in 2012--and be a credible candidate with a base of supporters and fundraising potential--that means there is a chance she will become president. (I'm not handicapping the odds of either possibility.) Consequently, she deserves to remain under close scrutiny from journalists. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Ronald Reagan was regarded by some as a joke: a Grade B movie actor pitching for GE and then Barry Goldwater. He certainly warranted watching.
Palin, by her own admission, was not tough enough to handle the media and had to quit her job as Alaska governor. After confessing that, how can she possibly present herself as presidential timber?
What was Palin's actual quote?
If it is as described here, it's a flat-out dumb thing to say. I'm sure not believing it from this guy, though.
That’s some word-twisting, that is. She couldn’t afford the media, and neither could the state of Alaska. Presidents aren’t as limited as are mere governors. Even if it were true then, she’s probably learning a lot now. We’ll see; she seems to be doing all right so far.
No thanks. No David Corn, ever.
I know this is petty of me, but I saw Corn on TV once and found him revolting, not just personality-wise. I see his name and cringe. Can't even recall the subject, but he came off as unusually hate-filled, even for a socialist journalist.
The opposite side of the coin is that the “journalists” who looked for every angle of attack on Palin ( who else in politics ever had to defend a pregnancy as her own ?) looked for every angle to spare Obama attacks. If they were so convinced that he was of “presidential timber,” why were they so afraid of having him have to face tough questioning?
All the author provides is his own words. Not exactly forthcoming.
I just realized, David Corn. Why did I bother?
Of course Governor Palin is not qualified to be President. Why she is not even qualified to be a woman because:
1. She does not hold racist feelings against people not of her 'kind' like Shirley Sherrod.
2. Unlike Shirley, Sara has never sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture for Millions of $$$.
3. Unlike Shirley, Sara does not hate the FOX News Network.
4. Unlike Shirley, Sara does not consider herself a victim when she is attacked.
Therefore Sara Palin is not qualified to be a woman let alone a serious candidate for Public Office. This even though she has held various elective offices for more years than Shirley Sherrod and of course, Barak Obama.
Yeah, kind of interesting—if these words are so damning, why not quote them?
His audacious lies about how the Jounolistas aren’t mainstream are just reminders of why Corn is and always has been no more than a lefty hack who looks like the aliens in the original V mini-series.
And, who does David Corn like that’s a conservative and not a RINO/leftist? Leftists who pretend to be objective, while, really, being politically biased, is the norm for how many decades and counting?
Yes! I have found David Corn to be beyond revolting.
That is because I have seen him on TV more than once.
#1: Interesting to note that he calls his companions "Journolistas". That was a term discussed/invented(?) here on FR couple of days ago IIRC.
#2: "That liberal reporters would privately discuss how best to criticize a conservative politician..." And then suddenly the opinion makers were just "reporters". Reporters are supposed to report the news (I think that is why they are called "reporters"), not run propaganda stunts....
#3: "Sick puppies" - puppies are sweet creatures. I think only the mothers of the Journolistas can think the same of them. Palin is such a nice person.
#4: It wasn't the "sick puppies" that made Palin reisgn. This is what she said:
"The media incentivized political opponents to file false ethics charges and expensive, wasteful, frivolous lawsuits against me, my family and my staff, in an obvious attempt to destroy us”
#5 Corn has not been able to shed the B-actor meme yet. Man he is such an eighties type.
Yes, here is the link to the JournoLista thread.
“presidential timber”
Well, Al Gore was said to be wooden.
She said the media became a key reason she decided not to finish out her term as governor and faults, in part, the McCain campaign for failing to vigorously defend her.Palin chose to be a public figure at the highest level, as a candidate in a presidential campaign, arguably inviting the most intense scrutiny imaginable.
Yet TheDC revealed posts from Jounolist that show liberal journalists coordinating attack lines against Palin from the moment McCain picked her, suggesting she may have had the deck stacked against her.
Palin said she sensed the vitriol coming from campaign reporters at the time.
“It was too obvious to me, my family, my administration and anyone else who knew me (and my record) that we were in a defenseless position the minute I gave my acceptance speech and the hordes of Obama’s opposition researchers-slash ‘reporters’ had descended upon Alaska,” Palin told The DC.
Palin, whose conflicts with key McCain campaign staffers are infamous, said the campaign could have stood by her more firmly.
“To not have had the McCain campaign staff defend my record was an insurmountable challenge, because once a bell is rung, it’s impossible to un-ring,” Palin said.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/22/sarah-palin-strikes-back-at-journolists-sick-puppies/#ixzz0uUynPIil
Palin knew what we all knew... and the journolist now proves that what we suspected was indeed true.
Again, she did the right thing in resigning. Now, she's out of the corner and on a national stage where she can fight back- and has done so with gusto, alacrity and grace.
i just threw up....
The same old mean girls still at it! How pathetic.
Perhaps they can take some Midol and feel better in the morning.
He is one of the JournOlists. He has no credibility on the issue of politics.
And we can’t afford this self proclaimed messiah as president either but he doesn’t have the honor and integrity to step down.
Perhaps impeachment will be the answer to solving a dilemma like Obama.
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