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Steyn: Hostess with the Moosest
The Corner ^ | 8-30-08 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 08/30/2008 5:38:54 AM PDT by cgk

The hostess with the moosest

   Mark Steyn

Over in the Frumistan province of the NR caliphate, our pal David is not happy about the Palin pick. I am - for several reasons.

First, Governor Palin is not merely, as Jay describes her, "all-American", but hyper-American. What other country in the developed world produces beauty queens who hunt caribou and serve up a terrific moose stew? As an immigrant, I'm not saying I came to the United States purely to meet chicks like that, but it was certainly high on my list of priorities. And for the gun-totin' Miss Wasilla then to go on to become Governor while having five kids makes it an even more uniquely American story. Next to her resume, a guy who's done nothing but serve in the phony-baloney job of "community organizer" and write multiple autobiographies looks like just another creepily self-absorbed lifelong member of the full-time political class that infests every advanced democracy.

Second, it can't be in Senator Obama's interest for the punditocracy to spends its time arguing about whether the Republicans' vice-presidential pick is "even more" inexperienced than the Democrats' presidential one.

Third, real people don't define "experience" as appearing on unwatched Sunday-morning talk shows every week for 35 years and having been around long enough to have got both the War on Terror and the Cold War wrong. (On the first point, at the Gun Owners of New Hampshire dinner in the 2000 campaign, I remember Orrin Hatch telling me sadly that he was stunned to discover how few Granite State voters knew who he was.) Sarah Palin and Barack Obama are more or less the same age, but Governor Palin has run a state and a town and a commercial fishing operation, whereas (to reprise a famous line on the Rev Jackson) Senator Obama ain't run nothin' but his mouth. She's done the stuff he's merely a poseur about. Post-partisan? She took on her own party's corrupt political culture directly while Obama was sucking up to Wright and Ayers and being just another get-along Chicago machine pol (see his campaign's thuggish attempt to throttle Stanley Kurtz and Milt Rosenberg on WGN the other night).

Fourth, Governor Palin has what the British Labour Party politician Denis Healy likes to call a "hinterland" - a life beyond politics. Whenever Senator Obama attempts anything non-political (such as bowling), he comes over like a visiting dignitary to a foreign country getting shanghaied into some impenetrable local folk ritual. Sarah Palin isn't just on the right side of the issues intellectually. She won't need the usual stage-managed "hunting" trip to reassure gun owners: she's lived the Second Amendment all her life. Likewise, on abortion, we're often told it's easy to be against it in principle but what if you were a woman facing a difficult birth or a handicapped child? Been there, done that.

Fifth, she complicates all the laziest Democrat pieties. Energy? Unlike Biden and Obama, she's been to ANWR and, like most Alaskans, supports drilling there.

Sixth (see Kathleen's link to Craig Ferguson), I kinda like the whole naughty librarian vibe.  


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: marksteyn; palin; steyn
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Hiatus Interruptus: Mark makes a brief return from exile to weigh in on the Palin pick. All hail the Mighty Steyn!
1 posted on 08/30/2008 5:38:54 AM PDT by cgk
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To: WhistlingPastTheGraveyard; knews_hound; All
PING!
2 posted on 08/30/2008 5:42:14 AM PDT by cgk (I don't see myself as a conservative. I see myself as a religious, right-wing, wacko extremist.)
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To: cgk

Mark is a real gem.


3 posted on 08/30/2008 5:42:27 AM PDT by xcamel (Conservatives start smart, and get rich, liberals start rich, and get stupid.)
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To: cgk

Great article.


4 posted on 08/30/2008 5:42:52 AM PDT by rawhide
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To: cgk

Oh, hardihar. Mark Steyn is the greatest.


5 posted on 08/30/2008 5:43:13 AM PDT by bboop (Stealth Tutor)
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To: cgk

Note to Mort Kondracke: Here’s some required reading for ya :)


6 posted on 08/30/2008 5:43:16 AM PDT by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: All; WhistlingPastTheGraveyard
And... for a bit of reading fun... here are the reactions of HillaryDieHards to the Palin pick:

They're Chatting up a Storm in Hillaryland   [Jonah Goldberg]

Here.

7 posted on 08/30/2008 5:43:59 AM PDT by cgk (I don't see myself as a conservative. I see myself as a religious, right-wing, wacko extremist.)
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To: cgk
Cheese, Moose, Palin.

Just D*mn. Outdone again.

Cheers!

8 posted on 08/30/2008 5:45:45 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: cgk
(to reprise a famous line on the Rev Jackson) Senator Obama ain't run nothin' but his mouth.

Preach it, brother!

9 posted on 08/30/2008 5:46:20 AM PDT by don-o (Avoid the rush. Donate to FR today.)
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To: P-Marlowe; Gamecock; MeekOneGOP

Excellent analysis by Steyn of the Palin Pick.


10 posted on 08/30/2008 5:46:43 AM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain -- Those denying the War was Necessary Do NOT Support the Troops!)
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To: cgk

OUTSTANDING!


11 posted on 08/30/2008 5:49:01 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: cgk

Where has Steyn been? I haven’t seen his columns in a while.

He makes great points though.

We have more “real experience” on the bottom of our ticket than the Dims have on the top of their ticket.


12 posted on 08/30/2008 5:50:44 AM PDT by tips up
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To: cgk
All hail the Mighty Steyn!

Mark's OK with the pick. On with the campaign!

I wouldn't get carried away with the naughty librarian bit - Mr. Palin looks like a nice guy, but one that can take care of business.

13 posted on 08/30/2008 5:52:11 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson (For events that occurred in 1938, real time is 1938, not 2008.)
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To: cgk
So glad Steyn’s back! Great article!
14 posted on 08/30/2008 5:53:18 AM PDT by ishabibble (ALL-AMERICAN INFIDEL)
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To: Mrs. Don-o; Fudd Fan; HonestConservative; NormsRevenge; glock rocks; tubebender; SouthTexas; ...

ping


15 posted on 08/30/2008 5:53:42 AM PDT by don-o (Avoid the rush. Donate to FR today.)
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To: mewzilla
" Note to Mort Kondracke: Here’s some required reading for ya :)"


I know your heart is in the right place, but Mort is a lost cause.

Besides, if he should read it, it wouldn't penetrate.

These leftists are way too deep in denial.

16 posted on 08/30/2008 5:54:02 AM PDT by G.Mason (Duty, Honor, Country)
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To: cgk
Obama......looks like just another creepily self-absorbed lifelong member of the full-time political class that infests every advanced democracy.

That's going to leave a mark.....

I might add Biden fits right in there in the self-absorbed category

17 posted on 08/30/2008 5:54:15 AM PDT by Popman (McCain as POTUS is odious, Obama as POTUS is unthinkable.)
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To: cgk; Bender2
Sarah Palin and Barack Obama are more or less the same age, but Governor Palin has run a state and a town and a commercial fishing operation, whereas (to reprise a famous line on the Rev Jackson) Senator Obama ain't run nothin' but his mouth.

Great line.

18 posted on 08/30/2008 5:54:37 AM PDT by big'ol_freeper (Let's Roll!!)
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To: don-o

I believe it was Marion Barry who uttered those immortal words about Jesse. Of course in Barry-speak, the last word comes out “mouf.”


19 posted on 08/30/2008 5:58:01 AM PDT by blau993 (Fight Gerbil Swarming)
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To: cgk
Whenever Senator Obama attempts anything non-political (such as bowling), he comes over like a visiting dignitary to a foreign country getting shanghaied into some impenetrable local folk ritual.

Almost peed in my pajamas!

20 posted on 08/30/2008 6:01:48 AM PDT by Right Wing Assault ("..this administration is planning a 'Right Wing Assault' on values and ideals.." - John Kerry)
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