Palin's candidacy is no joke

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | 10/29/2008 | BEKAH GRIM

[markomalley]

At the Seattle Poetry Slam last week, a poet got up to the microphone and said, "This poem is from the perspective of Sarah Palin." Before the poet even started the poem, everyone laughed. It's become possible to make a Sarah Palin joke without even making a Sarah Palin joke.

The Palin joke wagon has catapulted above the norms of political humor. It's become hip to hate Palin.

Much has been said about the "Cult of Celebrity" in regards to Barack Obama's campaign. It's the idea that Obama's star power, rather than his stance on issues, will carry him to the presidency. The media add to this phenomenon by routinely casting Obama in a favorable light -- literally. Most pictures of Obama feature some strange light saber from heaven casting an angelic glow upon his head. (i.e., the May issue of Rolling Stone).

In regards to Palin, there exists a "Cult of Anti-Celebrity." It's trendy to make Palin jokes. If you take Palin seriously, no one is going to take you seriously. If you haven't seen the Tina Fey skits, your friends will give you the same flabbergasted reaction as if you hadn't seen any of the actual presidential debates.

Most of the Palin humor is irrelevant to the campaign, such as jokes about the state of Alaska, her accent and her physical appearance.

Some have said McCain has "fallen for a femme fatale" and that Palin was chosen simply because she's good looking. Rush Limbaugh even called her a "babe." Is this politics or a high school locker room? Americans were toasting their glasses to "what great strides the women's movement has made in this historical election."

Yet, the incessant comments about a candidate's physical appearance would not be a public fixation if McCain had chosen a good-looking male governor as his running mate.

The Palin comedy craze is seldom contributing anything new or meaningful to the political spectrum (i.e., the cover story of last week's Seattle Weekly). Enough recycled humor about an already limping candidate. Jokes make for cheap laughs. It's time for articulated arguments, which make for meaningful discussions and thoughtful voting decisions.

If we are watching a candidate for the point of anticipating him or her saying something stupid, then we're not actually listening -- we're digging for punch lines. How can we make an educated decision about a candidate when we're unwilling to even hear her out? Comedy does not equate a political education.

The Palin humor patrol is a sign of a culture oversaturated with irrelevant fixations concerning the presidential election. It's become commonplace to pick up the newspaper and see a front-page story solely about how the candidates' wives were dressed. Have we forgotten this is a presidential race, not Joan Rivers reporting live from the red carpet?

Commentators have criticized Palin for being a former beauty queen -- I criticize the media and consumers who have made the presidential race into a beauty pageant, where aesthetics and empty rhetoric have become more important than actual policy issues. Who we cast our vote for shouldn't be based on airbrushing, comedy sketches and irrelevant gossip about the candidates' personal lives.

If you're not going to vote for Sarah Palin (which, really, I hope you don't), it should be because you disagree with her policies -- not because you agree Fey does a damn good satirical impression. Don't be a passive observer of pop culture; know who you're voting (or not voting) for based on candidate stances and solutions. Don't be a laugher, be a thinker -- and only then, go be a voter.

[markomalley]

I guess today is the day for the papers to be "balanced" to establish their credibility (see also the SF Chron editorial I posted earlier).

[Cindy]

CNS NEWS.com: "OBAMA SEES SUPREME COURT JUSTICES AS CHAMPIONS OF THE WEAK OVER THE STRONG" by Matthew Cover (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "In both speeches, the Illinois Democrat chastised the nominees not for their positions on specific constitutional issues or matters of law but for what he perceived as too often siding with the strong instead of the weak. He charged Roberts, for example, with being dismissive of claims of racial and gender discrimination and criticized Alito for making a habit out of siding with government and corporations against plaintiffs and workers.") (October 29, 2008)

THREATSWATCH.org - blog: "ENTERING A NEW ERA" by Jay Fraser (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "However, to consider that the War on Terrorism and its battles are over simply because the United States has not had to withstand another direct attack on our soil would be naive.") (October 28, 2008, 6:19 pm)

NEWSMAX.com: "EXPECT FEWER LIBERTIES IF OBAMA WINS" by David Limbaugh (COMMENTARY SNIPPET: "I am sincerely worried that if Obama wins, the checks and balances incorporated into our Constitution may not be enough to prevent a radical and irreversible diminution of our individual liberties because a confluence of factors has emerged to create a climate conducive to fundamental change. These are the factors:") (October 28, 2008, 8:40 am)

FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE.com (FOX NEWS): "THOSE MARXIST COLLEGE YEARS" by Bill Sammon (October 29, 2008)

FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE.com: "PALESTINIANS CAMPAIGNING FOR OBAMA" by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook (October 29, 2008)

JIHAD WATCH.org (GLOBE AND MAIL.co.uk): "GAZA STUDENTS CALL U.S. VOTERS, ASKING THEM TO SUPPORT OBAMA" (October 27, 2008)

DANIEL PIPES.org (HUDSON INSTITUTE): "PLO ACKNOWLEDGES: STILL AT WAR WITH ISRAEL" by Daniel Pipes (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Yasir Arafat may have shaken Yitzhak Rabin's hand in 1993 and signed solemn declarations about ending the war to eliminate Israel, but late last month, in a New York City courtroom, the Palestine Liberation Organization formally confirmed that it still sees terrorism against Israelis as legitimate acts of war.") (October 28, 2008)

FAMILY SECURITY MATTERS.org: "BARACK OBAMA'S ANTI-ISRAEL ALLIANCES" by Rachel Neuwirth (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Rashid Khalidi was the director of the PLO's press agency WAFA from 1976 to 1982, at a time when the PLO was conducting a massacre of 37 Israeli civilians in a bus on Israel's coastal road, the brutal murder of a four-year-old Israeli girl in Nahariya, and numerous other terrorist killings of Israeli civilians. The PLO was also waging a brutal war against the Lebanese Christian community during this period, and carried out numerous massacres of Lebanese Christians; the worst of these was the killing of about 500 people in the village of Damour.") (October 24, 2008)

Elections.FOX NEWS.com: "LA TIMES REFUSES TO RELEASE TAPE OF OBAMA PRAISING CONTROVERSIAL ACTIVIST Video of farewell party for alleged PLO worker shows Obama toasting 'friend and dinner companion' with questionable past." (October 28, 2008)

AMERICAN THINKER.com - blog: "THE SAID-KHALIDI-OBAMA CONNECTION" by Ed Lasky (October 22, 2008)

stepping back in time...CAMPUS-WATCH.org - Campus Watch Research: "COLUMBIA U. RELEASE EDWARD SAID CHAIR DONORS: NAMES ARAB GOVERNMENT" (March 19, 2004)

stepping back in time...CAMPUS-WATCH.org (FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE.com): "SECRETS, DONORS AND THE EDWARD SAID CHAIR" by Jonathan Calt Harris (November 19, 2003)

stepping back in time...MARTIN KRAMER'S SANDBOX - blog: "RASHID REDUX" (Posted Janurary 29, 2003)

[Post no. 2] - ARCHIVES - Topic: BIDEN & OBAMA (aka B & O) (October 28, 2008 -- Click Here TO VIEW MY ARCHIVED LINKS.)

JEFF HEAD.com - Videos: "THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH - Obama In His & His Supporters Own Words"

[klamath]

I think you forgot the barf alert!

[HerrBlucher]

Reagan was an ongoing joke to leftists too, but the joke was on them after two landslide victories and a legacy that no dem can match. Leftists are in love with themselves and believe themselves to be smart, perceptive, and wise.....LOL!

Sarah Palin is going to crush these idiot leftists, first as veep and then as prez, 12 years of Palinoconservatism....how sweet it is!

[markomalley]

I think you forgot the barf alert!

I thought so too, on first glance, but when I actually read the piece, he was criticizing the left making a judgment on her as the result of the satire rather than making a judgment on her as the result of her stand on issues.

Like I said, it appears that today is the day to put in the "balanced" pieces (so they can point to those few articles and say -- "See, we are being fair")

[jazzlite]

They will never be balanced in the eyes of at least half of America..Sarah Palin has been the latest sacrifice to their hedonism. God knows and sees all..His way is not man’s way no matter how powerful man might feel at any point in history. We are all flesh and blood with finite minds and dying bodies..And, after we leave here, our soul will rest in peace or writhe in torment, depending on what we believe and how we chose to demonstrate that belief during this gift of life. No matter how powerful the powerful feel, they are not the Creator and when they begin to overtly use their power to choose who wins and who loses in society, they lose and no poll will reverse that. Just remember, “Render unto Caeser what is Caeser’s,” and give your true committment to the true Creator of the Universe. People turn to God in a mighty way when persecution comes down..Look for it. Sarah Palin is the poster child for it’s serious beginnings in the US. I have never witnessed anything like the unwarranted hatred coming against her. It is truly diabolical.

[DiogenesLaertius]

They are doing it now when they believe its too late to matter.

[markomalley]

They are doing it now when they believe its too late to matter.

Exactly. Today is the day for them to post the "balanced" so that they can claim that they have been "fair."

[Man50D]

Sarah Palin is going to crush these idiot leftists, first as veep and then as prez, 12 years of Palinoconservatism....how sweet it is!

People keep forgetting or refuse the obvious fact she, like any VP candidate, is chosen as so because VP candidates agree to support the Presidential candidate on at least a majority of the issues. That's not a comforting thought regarding Palin considering McCain supports Amnesty for illegal aliens, the fallacy of human induced global warming, restricting free speech via campaign finance reform, opposing drilling in ANWR and the latest socialist bail out plan. The first three issues McCain went to the socialist extreme of sponsoring legislation with flaming socialists Ted Kennedy, Joe Lieberman and Russ Feingold. All are positions also supported by Obama

[JOLLYDODGER]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2117856/posts A news story the mainstream will never tell about Sarah and her support.

[Steely Tom]

Reagan was an ongoing joke to leftists too, but the joke was on them after two landslide victories and a legacy that no dem can match. Leftists are in love with themselves and believe themselves to be smart, perceptive, and wise.....LOL

And they think they're good-looking too.

[JoJo Gunn]

Balance? What balance? 

Some have said McCain has "fallen for a femme fatale" and that Palin was chosen simply because she's good looking. Rush Limbaugh even called her a "babe." Is this politics or a high school locker room?

It took Rush all of a couple of seconds to say that. The "writer" is all but apoplectic that the likes of an Andrea Dworkin isn't up there front and center.  

[normy]

I was a t a college party in Seattle back in 93 when Clinton came on the tube. Everyone in the room cheered and got excited. They then showed Bush and I cheered. Boy did that fry the room. Most just looked at me like "you like that guy?" Some actually asked the question and I told them I did and why. Some got in my face and one screamed "That guy thinks your an idiot!"

"Well Clinton knows your an idiot that's why he talks about boxers and plays his sax on MTV!" I shot back. He could only come back with something about their votes canceling out mine.

The truth slams these smart asses in their place. One friend from Seattle saw Arnold Schwarzenegger on TV and remarked "can you believe this idiot is gonna be California's governor?"

I shot back "He's better that you, I mean he has a degree, he started a nation wide industry using the talents he had and parlayed that into a multi million dollar box office career and now he's gonna use that to get elected. What have you done?"

Same thing can be said for VP Palin "She's better than you! The difference between you and her is that she has been a mayor, a governor of Alaska and helped run a commercial fishing oufit all while raising 5 kids. You haven't done shit in your life buddy compared to her." That shuts em up quick.

[markomalley]

Balance? What balance?

Well, let's try this on for size (and keep in mind that this is out of the Seattle Post Intelligencer...):

• Enough recycled humor about an already limping candidate. Jokes make for cheap laughs. It's time for articulated arguments, which make for meaningful discussions and thoughtful voting decisions.
• How can we make an educated decision about a candidate when we're unwilling to even hear her out?
• Commentators have criticized Palin for being a former beauty queen -- I criticize the media and consumers who have made the presidential race into a beauty pageant, where aesthetics and empty rhetoric have become more important than actual policy issues.
• If you're not going to vote for Sarah Palin…it should be because you disagree with her policies -- not because you agree Fey does a damn good satirical impression. Don't be a passive observer of pop culture; know who you're voting (or not voting) for based on candidate stances and solutions. Don't be a laugher, be a thinker -- and only then, go be a voter.

Compared to most of what we've seen out of the MSM, that is incredible advice.

In case I haven't said it before, I have no illusions that the MSM getting buyer's remorse or actually doing the right thing. I just find it funny that multiple sources picked today to have the balanced arguments. I'm sure that tomorrow it will back to the usual drivel.

[JoJo Gunn]

Actually, their marching orders to appear “above that sort of thing” came in a few days ago. Another example:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2117364/posts

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

You haven't done shit in your life buddy compared to her.

That same response could be delivered appropriately to Barack Obama in comparison to Sarah Palin.

[remur389]

Too bad all the current candidates have not received the same media coverage as Palin...then even the MSM could not hide the true facts of her qualifications and the other candidates lack of them.

While she has proven her executive and management abilities, the other candidates have been vegetating in the Senate or worse.