Posted on 02/23/2009 9:19:15 PM PST by VinL
If Barack Obama has been the most remarkable phenomenon of the recent political scene, Sarah Palin must be second. The emotional responses to each-- especially by the media and the intelligentsia -- go beyond anything that can be explained by the usual political differences of opinion on issues of the day.
That liberals would be thrilled by another liberal is not surprising. But there are conservative Republicans who voted for Barack Obama, and other conservatives who may not have voted for him, but who are quick to see in various pragmatic moves of his since taking office an indication that he is not an extremist.
Anyone familiar with history knows that Hitler and Stalin were pragmatic. After years of denouncing each other, they signed the Nazi-Soviet pact under which they became allies for a couple of years before going to war against one another.
Pragmatism tells you nothing about extremism.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
I am up because I’m angry.
I want to know who “handled” Sarah, and I want to know who “handled” Jindal tonight.
The Jindal that I saw tonight was absolutely not the Jindal I’ve seen since his first run for Governor.
That’s just as the Sarah I saw in the first part of her campaign wasn’t the Sarah I’d known for a year before.
IMO, the Republicans are getting rid of who they consider to be “trash”.
However, I don’t think they have factored in how those of us who are conservative will react.
I have my party registration form downloaded, and waiting to be printed.
I’m going to be unaffliated.
I wonder, too, how a n00b such as Big_Monkey has such sway around here.
Incorrect on Fred Thompson. Read a little more about him and stay off wikipedia. Fred was a prosecutor (DA) back in TN prior to being asked to play one in a small role in a movie. That accidental happening began his movie career til he got an “itch” for public service. He ran and won his former senate seat and then retired on his own volition before being drafted to run for the presidency. Prior to all of this he had a very HUMBLE upbringing. He fathered a child as an adolescent and that experience taught he very deep lessons in life about deferred gratification and working hard to earn a living-—every Common Man’s understanding of life. Sarah also had HUMBLE roots, she pulled herself up by the boot straps, scrapped for a living growing up along with her family and has never forgotten from where she came. She smart, articulate, has a biting wit, is tough as nails, would probaly destroy you and me put together in a policy debate and most of all is still Humble and Honest to a fault. I know you’ll probably vote for Obama in ‘12 if she’s the GOP nominee. You got some extra dislike for her that’s unusual to have for someone that’s on our side. But it’s you right to go after the suit. She will be the nominee if she wants it and as things stand now she has a 50-50 chance of knocking off the Messysiah.
Typical MSM poll. They trash someone for weeks on end, then poll folks to find out what they think. Of course they're going to think Sarah isn't competent, because that's all they've heard for the previous 8 weeks.
The campaign, after she was announced, was a compressed, hectic timeframe. If she decides to run in the future, she'll have a much longer time to make her case to the American people, and she'll be a smarter politician because of the beating she took the last time. No, she wasn't prepared for the media onslaught, but she won't make that mistake again. I, unlike you, believe she's a smart woman, and will conduct herself accordingly, especially if she is running for the top spot on the ticket.
Folks seem to think that if McCain had only chosen one of the other guys, who were more well known to the base and the media, that he would have done better. I couldn't disagree more with that contention. The MSM would have done as large or larger hatchet job on one of those others, simply because they already had all the information they needed on them.
I think it's you that "needs to read a little more" about Fred Thompson. He INDEED has been involved in politics since graduating from college. Every hear of a little thing called Watergate? You don't have to be an office holder to be actively involved in politics.
As for disliking her. Nothing could be further from the truth. But, I want to the GOP to pick someone who can win. Sarah Palin cannot win.
Here's a sobering statistic for you. The GOP Presidential nominee has won the popular vote just ONE time since 1988. That's not a very good record. It seems that there a percentage of people here on FR that want to make it one time in 24 years.
Whoever you settle on supporting (ostensibly for the Republican side, if you’re serious about the desire for a popular vote victory, you’d better take Bobby Jindal off of your top 5 list after last nights stunning ivy league performance..........
Heh heh! Your choice of examples reminds me of an incident back in the mid-70's when I was a seasonal Park Ranger at Grand Teton. My regular job was at the Buffalo Entrance and Signal Mtn Campground, but I loved every chance they'd give me to ride along with the North District Road Patrol.
One day I was riding with an NDRP ranger named Randy Hunter, when he got a call to pick up a couple who had been stranded when their boat broke down; he was to shuttle them back to the marina where they'd parked their car.
During the ride, Randy was making pleasant conversation, and they told us they were locals, living in Jackson Hole. He asked the husband what he did for a living.
There were a few seconds of hesitation, which piqued my interest. Why would this guy hesitate? Was he unemployed, perhaps?
Then the answer came out .... he was a composer.
Aha! Now I figured out why the hesitation. From top to bottom, Randy looked the part of a typical cop - badge, uniform, holster, dark shades, heavy duty flashlight doubling as nightstick, ticket book, car with siren and flashers, etc. (He also acted the part. Frinstance, I remember when his fellow Road Patroller Stan Pugmire received in his mail the latest copy of a glossy-photo gun & weapons catalog geared towards law enforcement, and came rushing to meet Randy, they excitedly pored over its contents, like two sixth-graders with a girlie magazine).
So I could see what this composer was thinking ..... blue collar cop type .... no appreciation of fine arts .... probably will chuckle or smirk when I tell him what I do for a living ..... he probably wouldn't even consider that as a valid way to make a living ..... should I lie?
By this time I was looking around to the back seat, so I saw this guy's face when Randy asked him, "Wait a minute. What did you say your name was?"
The guy answered.
Randy asked, "Didn't you compose the [name of some obscure piece of classical music]"?
You should have seen this guy's jaw hit the floor.
It turned out that Randy, while going to law school at U of Wyo, took time to play (some string instrument ... cello?) with some Wyoming city's orchestra, and what's more, they had recently played a piece written by this same composer.
LOL!!! It was hard for me to suppress an ear-to-ear grin! I think this guy learned a valuable lesson about pigeon-holing "obvious blue collar types" that day.
You’re on to something here. RINOs are sabotaging us!
And the Democrats have won 51% or more of the popular vote just one time since 1964.
How 'bout them apples?
(For the record, Carter won with 50.1%, Clinton never broke out of the 40's, and Gore's plurality in 2000 was still in the 40's.)
I did not stay home, I voted for McCain and I KNEW he was a RINO.
I was not happy then about my lack of choice, and I am not happy now.
McCain was and is no conservative, and many conservatives KNEW just that. I knew that. I wanted a choice and all I got was a CHANCE that Palin MIGHT get elected as VP and MIGHT be more conservative than McCain. Well, I KNEW and I went anyway. Many went ANYWAY, held their nose and voted for a sure loser.
IMO, this tired old “you stayed home and we got Bambi” needs a rest. I want someone to vote in the affirmative for POTUS, not someone to vote against. If the Republicans want to win, let them get a clue, appeal to a conservative base, close the primaries to Republicans and let the chips fall where they may.
What a GREAT story!! Love your description, too, of Randy and pal poring over the gun mag as if they were sixth-graders poring over a girlie magazine!
correction: Ayers should have been executed
Correction wholeheartedly accepted.
Believe it or not, I did have something about ‘ol Sparky in my original draft.
Ayers is cowardly scum.
I think it's a waste of time responding to the Sarah bashing types on FR, so I don't...but thank you for your sacrifice.
I don't know if they are trolls, or genuinely don't get it.
The things that the MSM has been saying about Palin are the kind of things they've been saying about Pubbies for years.
Most famously, a guy named RR...who endured years of MSM boilerplate depicting him as "intellectually uncurious." What are the thread critics' responses to his accomplishments?
I find their objections to be questionable at best, suspect at worst. Are they victims of Alinsky, or practitioners?
“All over the South for the first times in their lives old warhorse white boys like me were enthusiastic about a woman running our country because she represents what we believe in and cherish.”
Amen, amen, and amen.
I wonder if that could be boiled down to bumper-sticker length.
The fact is that if people would have held their noses and voted for McQueeg, we *might* not be watching our country going down the tubes. There were several freepers here on election night bragging that they stayed home.
Republicans did not turn out in the numbers that they did in 2004. The difference in those numbers would have put McQueeg over the top. Obviously, those of us that did hold our noses are not to blame. Those that sat home don’t have a gripe coming about the current situation, imo.
I'll simply add that Gov. Palins's big sin is that she embodies the American spirit. That is anathema to the Ivy/Oxbridge crowd.
I don't suppose the liberal media has noticed that the favorites of the conservative base are a woman and a person of color. I guess it doesn't count if you don't condescend to them and use them to fill quotas.
I don't suppose the liberal media has noticed that the favorites of the conservative base are a woman and a person of color. I guess it doesn't count if you don't condescend to them and use them to fill quotas.
**The fact is that if people would have held their noses and voted for McQueeg, we *might* not be watching our country going down the tubes.**
If McCain would’ve won, the economy would’ve still been in the tank no doubt. But what you would’ve seen is a more mature group of gray beards huddling to come up with a realistic, workable solution. McCain wouldn’t have been out talking down the economy even further, and he wouldn’t have been out to this day still campaigning for 2012.
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