Posted on 01/13/2011 6:25:59 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Sarah Palin is as polarizing a figure in American politics as one could imagine. Adored and championed by many conservatives, elderly and rural folk; reviled and denigrated by many liberals, progressives and intellectuals.
Mrs. Palin is in the news again due to her inappropriate use of the term “blood libel” in a response she made to critics who held her rhetoric partially to blame for the recent massacre in Tucson, Ariz. which severely wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, once targeted for removal from office by Palin.
Palin was rightfully peeved to be held in any way accountable for the violent actions of a mentally disturbed young man
However, from my vantage point as a (hopefully) unbiased outsider, what fascinates me the most about ex-Governor Palin – and the American body politic as a whole – are the mixed messages and misplaced alliances that are inherent in this country.
For one thing, Sarah Palin will probably never become President of the U.S. because she does not have an Ivy League education.
In fact, the last President to lack such an elite degree was Ronald Reagan – but he was kind of an exception. He already had wide name recognition as a Hollywood actor and even then he had to spend years building his political career in California, struggling long and hard to make it to the White House. Reagan was almost a septuagenarian when he first assumed office.
Otherwise, consider the four most recent occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.: Barack Obama (Columbia, Harvard); George W. Bush (Yale); Bill Clinton (Yale, Oxford); and George H.W. Bush (Yale).
What is striking about this list is that the two Democrats were born in modest circumstances and still attained the coveted Ivy League degrees – seemingly, a prerequisite to a career in high political office.
Moreover, two other “near-miss” Presidents (Hilary Clinton and Al Gore) also boast Ivy League pedigrees.
However, Sarah Palin comes from a far different background – the child of schoolteachers in remote Alaska, former beauty queen, sportscaster, moose-hunter and one who attended a plethora of no-name, obscure colleges in the Northwest and Hawaii.
No ivy in sight.
It is precisely because of her modest upbringing and “ordinariness” (i.e. lack of pretension and/or urban sophistication) that attracts Palin’s supporters and repels her detractors.
While she deserves to be criticized for her ill-advised “blood libel” comment, a lot of the other criticism she has faced seem rather excessive and unfair.
There are, of course, members of her own Republican Party who also ridicule her and believe she is unfit to hold public office. These same Republicans are also likely to berate the Tea Party as “extremists” and not reflective of the GOP’s true philosophy.
Part of their dislike of Palin, I believe, arises from the fact that she did not attend a prestigious university and is, therefore, “unqualified” to run for President. Democrats are, naturally, almost unanimous in their hostility towards her.
And this points to the growing class divide in this country irrespective of political affiliation.
We may never again see an American President who did not attend the hallowed halls of the elite universities. I’m not really sure if that represents progress or not.
Gee Lincoln never graduated from an Ivy League college.
“Gee Lincoln never graduated from an Ivy League college.”
Neither did Harry Truman.
Why be doomed? They’re a freaking dime a dozen.
I would prefer someone who wasn't brainwashed by a liberal education camp (AKA Ivy league college)
>>However, from my vantage point as a (hopefully) unbiased outsider..<
I started laughing at that point..
No more Bushes and no more Ivy Leaguers!
U of Idaho is just fine.
If we let these elitist swine ruin our country we have only ourselves to blame.
It was libel about blood. What’s their problem? That she stepped onto a word that they’ve already allocated to something else?
Who are they to allocate words?
Alan Dershowitz Defends Palin on ‘Blood Libel’
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/257003/alan-dershowitz-defends-palin-blood-libel-daniel-foster
In a statement to BigGovernment.com:
The term “blood libel” has taken on a broad metaphorical meaning in public discourse. Although its historical origins were in theologically based false accusations against the Jews and the Jewish People, its current usage is far broader. I myself have used it to describe false accusations against the State of Israel by the Goldstone Report. There is nothing improper and certainly nothing anti-Semitic in Sarah Palin using the term to characterize what she reasonably believes are false accusations that her words or images may have caused a mentally disturbed individual to kill and maim. The fact that two of the victims are Jewish is utterly irrelevant to the propriety of using this widely used term.
If anyone questions Sarah’s intelligence remind them that the smartest people in the country are the ones who got us into this mess. We need someone in the White House who loves our country. We need a patriot for President!
“...Sarah Palin will probably never become President of the U.S. because she does not have an Ivy League education.”
That’s a PLUS, in my book.
Harvard was bought by Arabs for the usurping, sissy-boy...where are his “brilliant” academic records?
AND, I have a frazzled, depressant-using sister, who attended Harvard...she voted for the sissy-boy with no academic (or otherwise) record. ‘Nough said.
These people are too talented to waste their abilities playing politics ~ they should stick to research, medicine and doing property title searches or something.
No ivy in sight. Thank God! This nation can’t endure much more ivy.
Ivy League=Rino!
Nuff said.
I guess that the fact that she could out debate the Loon doesn’t matter.
After all, he - bought his toy degree from Harvard fair and square.
Or did he? Where did that money come from?
And who convinced that joke of a school to lower their standards so much?
Off the track record of what Ivy alums have done to the nation & the Constitution while in Washington D.C., I consider Palin blessed to be unencumbered by an elitist educational pedigree ... and not just because it's easier breathing when your head isn't firmly wedged up your own ...
Anyone who has every worked with an Ivy League grad knows they don’t make good employees.
Ivy League should be a disqualifier there is something in the water.
Case closed!
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