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Poor, Persecuted Sarah Palin -- The GOP embraces the culture of victimhood
Wall Street Journal ^ | 7/15/09 | Thomas Frank

Posted on 07/15/2009 7:22:05 AM PDT by steve-b

When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced her resignation two weeks ago it was after a series of strange, petty bouts with her detractors. Many "frivolous ethics violations" had been alleged against her, she noted. David Letterman had told an ugly joke about her daughter. A blogger had posted something that was probably not true. Someone had photoshopped a radio talker's face onto a picture of her baby -- a "malicious desecration" of the image, in the words of Ms. Palin's spokeswoman.

Team Palin got duly indignant at each of these. They took special, detailed offense. They issued statements magnifying their wounds. And, finally, the governor resigned her office, a good woman cruelly wronged...

Indeed, if political figures stand for ideas, victimization is what Ms. Palin is all about. It is her brand, her myth. Ronald Reagan stood tall. John McCain was about service. Barack Obama has hope. Sarah Palin is a collector of grievances. She runs for high office by griping....

To become a symbol of this stature Ms. Palin has had to do the opposite of most public figures. Where others learn to take hostility in stride, she and her fans have developed the thinnest of skins. They find offense in the most harmless remarks and diabolical calculation in the inflections of the anchorman's voice. They take insults out of context to make them seem even more insulting. They pay close attention to voices that are ordinarily ignored, relishing every blogger's sneer, every celebrity's slight, every crazy Internet rumor...

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Politics/Elections; US: Alaska
KEYWORDS: analysis; anklebiters; festivalofzot; justsaynotomitt; mittbotalert; mittbotzot; mittwitt; mythromney; obamabotzot; palin; palinhaters; pds; poorpoormittens; sarahpalin; stenchofromney; trollhammer; victimhood; victimpolitics; waronsarah; whenmittbotsattack; whenrinosattack; zot
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1 posted on 07/15/2009 7:22:05 AM PDT by steve-b
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To: steve-b

rino press.


2 posted on 07/15/2009 7:23:22 AM PDT by ken21 (i am not voting for a rino-progressive.)
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To: steve-b

No bias here move along nothing to see.


3 posted on 07/15/2009 7:24:21 AM PDT by bikerman (Buck Farack)
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To: steve-b

What BS. Palin did not resign as a victim, she resigned so she could fight without her hands being tied. Palin was not asking for any pity or government help. Palin voluntarily quit taking her government check, so she can freely fight for her cause of limited government, free markets, and traditional values. The scares the hell out of the Washington elites of both parties.


4 posted on 07/15/2009 7:26:11 AM PDT by Always Right (Obama: more arrogant than Bill Clinton, more naive than Jimmy Carter, and more liberal than LBJ.)
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To: steve-b
When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced her resignation two weeks ago it was after a series of strange, petty bouts with her detractors. Many "frivolous ethics violations" had been alleged against her, she noted. David Letterman had told an ugly joke about her daughter. A blogger had posted something that was probably not true. Someone had photoshopped a radio talker's face onto a picture of her baby -- a "malicious desecration" of the image, in the words of Ms. Palin's spokeswoman.

Strange, I don't see anything here about the $500,000 in legal bills. No doubt Mr. Frank simply forgot.

5 posted on 07/15/2009 7:26:11 AM PDT by Logophile
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To: steve-b

Seriously, I don’t see any victimhood claims coming from the Palins.

I see “this crap isn’t gonna fly and we’re going to do something about it”, but not “woe is me, please stop attacking us”.


6 posted on 07/15/2009 7:26:35 AM PDT by MrB (Go Galt now, save Bowman for later)
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To: steve-b

Is there no end to these peoples lies?


7 posted on 07/15/2009 7:27:04 AM PDT by NurdlyPeon (Sarah Palin: Americas last, best hope for survival.)
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To: steve-b

The WSJ, online venue or not, has done itself a great disservice by publishing this nitwit.
But they are known occasionally to give print-time to Libs.
Of course he has Palin EXACTLY wrong, and cites just a handful of attacks against her instead of the verifiable TEN THOUSAND that have been coming her way for about NINE MONTHS now,non-stop, starting with, in retrospect, the cynical way she was manipulated by that false “maverick”,
John McCain. He and his entire campaign “brain trust” were and ARE completely out of touch with the American people that they would have needed to win the WH. THEIR careers are over.


8 posted on 07/15/2009 7:27:41 AM PDT by supremedoctrine
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To: steve-b

In the words of Dan Akroyd....”Thomas Frank, you ignorant slut....”


9 posted on 07/15/2009 7:28:01 AM PDT by Always Right (Obama: more arrogant than Bill Clinton, more naive than Jimmy Carter, and more liberal than LBJ.)
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To: steve-b

Stevie-boy... why won’t you tell us your feelings on this? We all get the impression that you and fellow travellers agree with this drivel... right?

Targetting Palin is one thing. She’s tough.

Attacking her children is reprehensible and inexcusable.

The RINOS, lefties and any creep who agrees with them that they “should just take it” are sick.


10 posted on 07/15/2009 7:28:24 AM PDT by SolidWood (Sarah Palin: "Only dead fish go with the flow!")
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To: steve-b

And I suspect that the majority of the responses to this article will be that Ms. Palin is being maligned once again. Irony need not apply.


11 posted on 07/15/2009 7:28:28 AM PDT by atlaw
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To: steve-b

Who the heck is Thomas Frank, did Barney take himself a bride?


12 posted on 07/15/2009 7:29:55 AM PDT by Perchant
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To: steve-b

From Wiki:

Politics
Frank comes from a leftist political perspective and is highly critical of Republican governance, especially the presidency of George W. Bush. However, he has also criticized the Democratic Party for “swearing off economic ‘liberalism’”[1]. He is unique among writers on the American Left both for his political outlook, which revives the discourses of the American Populist Movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, [2] and for his polemical style, which has been said to update that of the muckrakers of the same historical era [3].

Frank is the founder and editor of The Baffler and the author of several books, most recently The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule. Other writings include essays for Harper’s Magazine, Le Monde diplomatique, Bookforum, and the Financial Times. His book What’s the Matter with Kansas?, published in 2004, earned him nationwide and international recognition.


13 posted on 07/15/2009 7:30:00 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: steve-b

Everyone on this site needs to remember that Thomas Frank is a close friend of Bill Ayres and Bernardine Dorhn.
That says it all about the man.


14 posted on 07/15/2009 7:30:06 AM PDT by Maine Mariner
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To: steve-b

Even the media admitted to taking an anti-Palin stance. To deny such would be idiotic, at this point. I don’t think that means she’s “playing the victim card”. Honestly, would President George W. Bush be playing “the victim card” if he stated he thought the media treated him unfairly, and did everything they could to hinder his agenda?

I’m beginning to detect a pattern with her detractors.
They either paint her as a bimbo, or as a victim, because apparently a woman can only be one of those two things and I think Governor Palin is neither. A victim does not face their abusers head on, as Gov. Palin did with Letterman, Couric, Gibson, et. al.


15 posted on 07/15/2009 7:30:54 AM PDT by IMissPresidentReagan (We have standards, we fell short of those standards, but at least our side has standards. - Kristinn)
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To: Maine Mariner

And what does it, indeed, say about FReepers who agree with the article?


16 posted on 07/15/2009 7:30:54 AM PDT by MrB (Go Galt now, save Bowman for later)
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To: supremedoctrine

“The WSJ, online venue or not, has done itself a great disservice by publishing this nitwit.”

I read the WSJ every day. Frank has always been a j-off.


17 posted on 07/15/2009 7:31:00 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Pray for, and support our troops(heroes) !! And vote out the RINO's!!)
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To: SolidWood

steve is at it again. You’re getting boring steve. Using the library’s computer again?


18 posted on 07/15/2009 7:31:47 AM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: steve-b
From the article:

The piling-up of petty complaints is an important aspect of conservative movement culture.

Petty complaints? I consider the evisceration of the Constitution and the metastasizing national government to be anything but petty.

19 posted on 07/15/2009 7:32:09 AM PDT by Logophile
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To: steve-b

TOTAL BS!!!!!!!

Sarah isn’t about whining. Far from it. She’s stronger and has more testosterone in her than ALL of the male GOP Senators & Congressman. She knows how to fight!

I am so sick and tired of seeing the RINOs post all this “Well, can she really take all this pressure? She’s got a mental disorder. She can’t do this!” CRAP!!!!

There are millions of us behind Sarah! These RINOs/liberals/state-run-media need to understand that if they mess with Sarah, they mess with ALL of us!!!!

SARAH PALIN, 2012!


20 posted on 07/15/2009 7:32:10 AM PDT by wk4bush2004 (SA-RAH, 20-12! SA-RAH, 20-12! SA-RAH, 20-12! SARAH PALIN, HELL YEAH!!!)
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