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 ...
Like Mrs. Palin?
No, I think one of the complaints is she we to four different colleges in five years. It would have been very difficult to criticize her if she'd graduated in a normal time-frame from Idaho, Washington St., Oregon etc, etc. But, she didn't. It appears that she struggled mightily with some tier IV colleges. That's a problem.
Some of Palin's problems were brought on by the MSM and some by the McCain campaign. But, if you can't answer "tough" questions like, "What do you read on a regular basis?, then some of the damage has been self-inflicted.
Thomas Sowell columns re Obama
Ego and Mouth
A Perfect Storm
Taxing Times
Obama and the Law
Obama and “The Left”
Polls and Pols
Believers in Obama
Negative Advertising
The Real Obama: Part IV
The Real Obama: Part III
The Real Obama: Part II
The Real Obama
Do Facts Matter?
Idols of Crowds
Changes in Politics
Whose “Special Interests”?
The Galbraith Effect
…As Well As Several Other Issues
Are Facts Obsolete?
Conservatives for Obama?
Cocky Ignorance
Obama and McCain
Irrelevant Apologies
Success Built on Work Ethic
An Old Newness
A Living Lie
Obama’s Speech
Race and Politics
Thanks for the ping jaz. Already on it. Check this out:
“widdle_wabbit to rockinqsranch
I believe Mr Sowell voted for Obama. Is Mr Sowell a conservative?
I recall seeing him interviewed twice before the election and watching in stuned (sp) amazement that Mr Sowell was leaning toward Obama.
Maybe if we could produce a candidate worth voting for...
Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies “
AND MY REPLY:
rockinqsranch to widdle_wabbit
Dr. Sowell voting for Obama!? NO WAY would Dr. Sowell vote for Obama! Are you certain it was Dr. Sowell you saw interviewed? Dr. Sowell wrote against Obama, mocked Obama, ground Obama up and mixed him with eggs for breakfast constantly.
LOL, I refuse to believe it. He did not vote for someone he wrote constant negative articles about.
You know more about this than myself jaz. What say you?
Although Sowell and his good friend Dr. Walter Williams are conservative and apart of Academia, neither has ever fitted in with uppity left or right intelligentsia, nor have they ever cared to for that matter. Dr. Sowell identifies with Gov. Palin’s realness and refusal to back off her life’s principles.
He’s seen too many “conservative” POLITICIANS suddenly “grow” and “progress” as they seek higher office. And he sees her genuiness as something to defend.
I once told a friend that I thought Sowell should be in someone’s administration. He remarked he didn’t think that would ever happen...Sowell cherishes his independence of thought. But I’m wondering......if Sarah asked him to come aboard as a policy advisor....humn.......
“Perhaps the best way to try to understand these reactions is to recall what Eleanor Roosevelt said when she first saw Whittaker Chambers, who had accused Alger Hiss of being a spy for the Soviet Union. Upon seeing the slouching, overweight and disheveled Chambers, she said, “He’s not one of us.”
Don’t trash Dr. Sowell, read the article. It took me about five time to figure it out.
Check post 43, that should convince you he didn’t vote for 0bambi.
Dr. Sowell ROCKS!
But there is one more reason that Palin wasn’t as popular as she could have been, and that reason was sexism. Not by men, but by women on both sides of the political landscape.
I’ll let the readers figure out what I mean by that.
It was sexism by women and it was another thing too..plain and simple..two little words..PRO LIFE.
If Sarah had been Pro-Choice, the libs and these hypocrite women who talk about how “Every woman has a right to have their own opinion as long as we agree with it” those are the kinds of women who were anti-palin from the beginning
Thanks for the heads up RQSR but I spotted it as you probably have seen. :)
RTFA.
You got it, Smooth and there’s not much doubt in my mind that she’ll be in the White House one day.
Well, here are two criticisms that can stand up. Her inability to speak more than grammatically correct complete sentences in a row without a teleprompter and her lack of knowledge on foreign and domestic policy issues as demonstrated in her interview with Couric and the debate (when she didn't correct the lunatic Biden about Lebanon).
She also fared poorly in the one-on-one with Couric in a way that a Thatcher or a W or a Reagan never would.
Her lack of intellectual curiosity and inarticulateness (making her very un-Reaganesque on both counts) is what makes me not support her for 2012.
Even Ann Coulter made it clear that she will not be ready in 4 years.
Palin never actually boasted of ignorance or explicitly scorned learning or ideas. Rather, the implicit charge was that Palin’s failure to speak the language and to share the common points of reference of the educated upper tier of American society essentially rendered her unfit for high office.
This form of intellectual elitism is actually fairly new in America, though it has been a dominant feature of European society since World War II. It is not as exclusive or as anti-democratic as cultural elitism is in other countries, because entry to the American intellectual elite is, in principle, open to all who pursue it. And pursuing it is not as difficult as it once was, at least for the middle class. Indeed, most of this elite’s prominent members hail from middle-class origins and not from traditional bastions of American privilege and wealth. They can speak of growing up in Scranton, even as they raise their noses at dirty coal and hunting season.
Nor is membership in the intellectual upper class determined by diplomas hanging on the wall. Palin could have gained entrance easily, despite the fact that she holds a mere degree in journalism from the University of Idaho. Although the intellectual elite is deeply shaped by our leading institutions of higher learning, belonging to it is more the result of shared assumptions and attitudes. It is more cultural than academic, more NPR than PhD. In Washington, many politicians who have not risen through the best of universities work hard for years to master the language and the suppositions of this upper tier, and to live carefully within the bounds prescribed by its view of the world.
“Don’t trash Dr. Sowell, read the article. It took me about five time to figure it out.”
It says at the bottom of your post that you are responding to post #40, but when I go to that post, it was me responding to another post that had nothing to do with what you are posting.
I’ve had one major bad day with another FReeper, and I’m not in the mood for anymore crap today.
What are you talking about, or is it truly RQSR that your post is intended for?
Dr. Sowell for your information and guidance is one of my hero’s. You will not find me “trashing Dr. Sowell” period. I will disagree on occasion such as my original post this thread which was post #10, but believe me that’s rare. Almost the same as disagreeing with myself.
I hear what your saying and I agree that the Katie Couric Interview did not go well, but you also have to understand from Sarah’s point of view, exactly what happened. The infamous question about “What do you read?” Ok first of all, what kind of question is that, I know I know, simple question, but has anyone EVER asked Obama or Biden or even McCai what the heck he reads..no, so how come Katie felt it SO necessary to ask Sarah Palin, because it was a set-up..what do I mean, simple..Katie was already prepped by the Obama campaign beforehand, everyone knows that, this question was meant to do something and it was this..if Sarah had said “I Read the Wall Street Journal” she would have said “What article did you read today” if she did not remember as specific article she read, well there ya go, it was a set-up question. Anyone here who has read the Autobiography by Kaylene Johnson knows that Sarah knows how to read, she has been reading books and newspapers since age 5..she KNOWS how to read, but she knew why she was asking it, and did not know the right way to respond to it, saying instead “I read everything” now just imagine for a minute, being in a room with people who hate you, really really hate you and want you to look like a moron, and you knew they were gonna ask you question after question, how would you respond? The Katie Couric interview was NO interview, it was an interrogation, plain and simple. Now could Sarah Palin have handled it better, yes of course..I think someone with more experience with nasty press a-holes would probably know how to, but someone new to the game, they are not gonna know what to do in a situation like that, I think she was just shocked, shocked that someone could ask a question like that, like what, she reads the damn funnies, what does Couric think she reads, like Couric is saying “Hey idiot, what do you read, people here want to know what a moron like you reads” it was disrespectful and nasty and Sarah knew it, and she wasn’t gonna be suckered into it. She figured she would rather say I read everything then get into a series of gotcha questions that were a waste of time. Now that is my two cents about the whole thing
So... Jindal?
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