Posted on 09/07/2008 4:54:42 AM PDT by Kaslin
"Here ruining people is considered sport," so concluded Vince Foster in what many believe was his suicide note. "Here" is Washington D.C., and the instrument of ruination is the politics of personal destruction.
Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin is the latest person to find herself in the crosshairs of those aiming for her ruination. Her offense? She accepted Senator John McCain's invitation to be his running mate for the 2008 Presidential election. This historic milestone of a woman running on the Republican ticket was soon transformed into histrionics. Any real analysis of Governor Palin's public record was jettisoned in favor of digging up dirt about her personal life, real or concocted.
First came the snide comments on Governor Palin's looks. Most of those comments came from feminists, the same women who decry sexism and complain that too much attention is paid to how a woman looks. Nevertheless, they are the same women who keep us abreast of Hilary Clinton's changing hair styles and her preference for pantsuits. Who can forget the vitriol aimed at Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris during the 2000 Florida recount? How she applied her makeup became more important than how she applied the law. We may have come a long way baby, but cattiness persists among the feminists.
Next, Governor Palin was attacked for being a bad mother. Suddenly the crowd who proclaims women can only find fulfillment working outside the home have become homebodies. Crocodile tears were shed over whether Governor Palin would be abandoning her children if she became Vice President. It's ironic that feminists now complain that she should be at home with her kids.
But let's not kid ourselves. Many of the folks now supporting Governor Palin's bid for Vice President would be casting similar aspersions upon her if she were Senator Obama's running mate. Their unconditional support for Governor Palin, notwithstanding her family circumstances, is, for many, an abandonment of the notion that motherhood is a woman's highest calling.
Then came the attacks on Governor Palin's family. Her husband's DUI when he was 22 years old (over twenty years ago) was trotted out to see what kind of reaction it would receive. It didn't receive much of one but hey, it was worth a shot.
The most despicable attack was directed at Governor Palin's 17 year old daughter Bristol. One columnist tried to fabricate a scandal that Trig, Governor Palin's 5 month old son, was actually Bristol's and that Governor Palin claimed to be the mother in order to avoid embarrassment and save face. The scandal was replete with pictures of Bristol from 2006, claiming she was then pregnant with Trig, a mere eighteen months prior to Trig's birth. The columnist—not one to let the facts stand in the way of a good story—still demands a note from Governor Palin's doctor before he will be satisfied.
All of this microscopic scrutiny did lead to the Palin family's acknowledgement that Bristol is indeed pregnant (five months) and that she and her boyfriend plan to marry. This, of course, led to more aspersions on Governor Palin's fitness as a mother and provided a chance to extol the virtues of condom use as the centerpiece of sex education. You see, Governor Palin believes children should not be having sex and, thus, abstinence is what they should be taught. No doubt Bristol's circumstances have reinforced her belief.
Congressman Barney Frank joined in the mud slinging by commenting that Governor Palin's home is "in great turmoil." That's the same Barney Frank who claims he didn't know that a homosexual brothel was being run out of his Georgetown townhouse some years ago.
Thankfully, the one adult in all of this has been Senator Obama. He reacted to the attacks by saying, "Let me be as clear as possible. I have said before, and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits. And people's children are especially off limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Governor Palin's performance as governor or her potential performance as a vice president." The Senator went on to remind everyone that he also was born to an eighteen-year-old mother.
One blogger got it right when he wrote, "In our politics today, we don't just debate people, we destroy them." Both the left and the right are guilty of this bloodlust. The casualty count is high. No doubt many good people—people that would be of great service to the country—are reluctant to serve in public office because of the politics of personal destruction.
America will be better served if voters stay focused on the issues that face the country. Tabloid political coverage takes our focus off the important issues, and diminishes our electoral process. We can do better.
zer0bama’s co-author of one of his “two autobiographies before the age of 50”
said that Barry was the master of nasty attacks behind the scenes while publicly decrying those attacks.
“i can say without reservation that i hate the left.”
i would say the same but it seems that hate is too tame a word to describe extreme revulsion, disgust and abhorrence; not even those words are adequate. think of what the left has done in the last century and try to think of the words that would describe indescribable acts of cruelty and treachery; it’s just an impossible task for language to adequately describe cosmic foulness.
IMHO
They are right to be fearful.
She represents the dismantling of their power base.
It’s in her record, it’s in her attitude, it’s in her character.
Bill Clinton did not get what he deserved.
I thought so too. I wasn’t able to pay close attention when this all started after McCain announced Palin as his choice. After the outrageous claims about the baby began, the mainstream media said Palin was at fault for bringing this on her daughter by accepting the offer of VP - when it was the left that started the rumor in the first place deliberately targeting her daughter!
mortal language cannot describe immortal evil.
but it makes perfect sense, as does all the policies of the left, when viewed in the eternal Good v Evil, Yahweh V Satan battle.
You don't know what I'm talking about, and so I'm the ass?
Anyone on Free Republic during the Clinton years will have seen it half a dozen times at least, and then there's this post from December 2007 here on FR.
Or March 8, 2003 - and nobody posting on the thread batted an eye.
Thankfully, the one adult in all of this has been Senator Obama.
Yeah, right. He left the dirty work to others. His own campaign web site had the crap on it. There is no indication that he fired the webmaster. No, Barry is playing puppet master, getting puppets to do the dirty work while shedding crocodile tears over the slime.
None of us “get what we deserve” due to the mercy of God.
Take heart in “eternal judgement”, though.
I agree. If a Democratic Sarah Palin had emerged, I think that conservatives would actually be saddened and would say so, in no uncertain terms. It would be a mournful recitation, not an angry, vindictive one. It all goes to the central fact of conservatism (at least, the Christian kind): we are all on a journey and we definitely make mistakes along the way. It is not that we err, but what we do when we have erred, that makes all the difference. We would lament a liberl Sarah's errors and misjudgment, point out her logical and philosophical flaws and generally try to keep the rhetorical bridge unburnt.
After all, anyone who comes to their senses might actually be MORE effective for good than one who never strayed in the first place. To err is to have one's heart and mind rubbed in the consequences and have the opportunity to connect the proper dots for those who never had to cope that way.
“i would say the same but it seems that hate is too tame a word to describe extreme revulsion, disgust and abhorrence; not even those words are adequate. think of what the left has done in the last century and try to think of the words that would describe indescribable acts of cruelty and treachery; it’s just an impossible task for language to adequately describe cosmic foulness.”
Sometimes words are inadequate and fail. This may be one of those times. I agree with your sentiment.
So how is Obe’s Community Organizing going since he has to send HIS kids to a snooty, expensive, private school?
So the issue is not the process, but the scale of that process? The participation of national media in that process? At least we should be clear here about what we're finding objectionable.
I recall that MSNBC canned David Shuster for saying that Chelsea was "pimped out" by Hillary during the senate campaign, and that was merely a tasteless choice of words, not a literal reference to sexual prostitution. But again, here on FR, it was repeated and reinforced, along with stories about Chelsea's "gay bar pub crawl."
I suppose if the major networks canned everyone who sad vicious and nasty things about Palin and her family, though, they'd have to shut down.
During the first months of his campaign, he was ‘above’ the fray, above race.
He started falling behind Clinton. He found the race card. He used the race card throughout the remaining months, against Clinton and even some at GOP nominee McCain.
Yesterday, Team Obama found the race card again and started using it against Palin. Someone raised an allegation that Palin referred to Obama as ‘Sambo’ in a restaurant some months ago.
Look for the race card to be used more and more. After all, that is about the only weapon Obama has in his arsenal.
Yeah right. He left the dirty work to others...etc...
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
When L Flint offered a million bucks to anyone who could get ANY dirt on a sitting ‘R’ during one of WJC’s tribulations, Clinton sat there with that $hit Eatin Grin and said—I have no control over what other people do—.
Which, in essence, is true but he didn’t even have the wherewithall to denounce the move (with the same grin).
Well, I suppose one or two percent might still fit the difinition of "many."
I hope you sent a well worded KMA to your “Bro” Bob for his unsolicited screed.
You're kidding, right? I can think of many.
Ted Kennedy, Chappaquiddick. Bill Clinton, woman abuser and perjurer. Charles Schumer, Indymac bank. Gerry Studds, pedophile. William Jefferson, money in freezer. Ronnie Earle, prosecuting DeLay. Mike Nifong, Duke University (should be in jail).
And these are the ones just off the top of my head!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.