Posted on 10/01/2008 11:59:28 AM PDT by presidio9
Allow me to introduce myself. I am a traitor and an idiot. Also, my mother should have aborted me and left me in a Dumpster, but since she didn't, I should "off" myself.
Those are just a few nuggets randomly selected from thousands of e-mails written in response to my column suggesting that Sarah Palin is out of her league and should step down.
Who says public discourse hasn't deteriorated?
The fierce reaction to my column has been both bracing and enlightening. After 20 years of column writing, I'm familiar with angry mail. But the past few days have produced responses of a different order. Not just angry, but vicious and threatening.
Some of my usual readers feel betrayed because I previously have written favorably of Palin. By changing my mind and saying so, I am viewed as a traitor to the Republican Party—not a "true" conservative.
Palin's fans say they like her specifically because she's an outsider, not part of the Washington club. When she flubs during interviews, they identify with that too. "You see the lack of polish, we applaud it," one reader wrote.
Of course, there's a difference between a lack of polish and a lack of coherence. Some of Palin's interview responses can't even be critiqued on their merits because they're so nonsensical. "Let Sarah be Sarah" has become the latest rallying cry among my colleagues on the right. She'll be fine if we just leave her alone, they say. Between prayers, I might add.
Not all my mail has been mean-spirited. A fair number expressed polite disappointment; others relief and gratitude. Still others offered reasonable arguments aimed at changing my mind. I may yet.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Ms Parker must have been touched with the enlightenment of The Messiah?
she’s been getting angry emails since 1988???
Cool.
I don’t know why Kathleen would do this. She is a lovely and smart person.
I am very disappointed in her.
Who knew that Nostradamus was a conservative?
KP is a lefist tool, always has been. I’ve already cancelled my subscription to Townhall because of her, and I let them know it. Let her wither on the vine of her own biased agenda.
My prediction is that her career as someone that Conservatives take seriously is over. She’ll resurface writing for Slate or as a house negro on MSNBC.
...and her parents saw FDR on TV in 1929.
If she and the MSM would be honest with the public on who they support, we would not give a fat rats arse!
But her love of Hussein is what lead her attack Gov Palin, after all she did vote for Clinton once.
She is quite the idiot. I didn't realize she had previously said positive things and then said bad thing about Palin. I just care what she said in her stupid, negative critique.
Again, what an idiot.
Don’t bother changing your mind. You are as vacuous as the Ditsy Chits and are in good company.
You insult Governor Palin and then you are insulted when you get your own ignorance back at you?
Conservative columnists should know that they are dealing with an intelligent, principled readership. We can read Leftist drivel in a vast variety of places, so we don’t need to read it in “conservative” columns.
However, perhaps she can be the token “conservative” on CNN if she plays her cards right. The pathetic David Gergen can’t last forever.
I sent her an email and told her to quit whining about ‘bipartisanship’, that that was just a euphemism for the Republicans caving in to the Democrats.
I told her that politics was a rough and tumble business and if she couldn’t accept that then she should find something else to do.
BTW, I was nice. I didn’t offer threats or personal attacks.
reasonable discourse is fine tight up until the day we wake up in the American soviet socialist republic.
Less obfuscation, more straight effing talk.
beyond tired of politi-babble. say what you mean and mean what you say.
too much to hope for.
“Allow me to introduce myself. I am a traitor and an idiot.”
I wouldn’t agree with those characterizations, Kathleen. I think you’re mostly an ignoramus and a hypocrite.
What qualifies you to declare Governor Palin as unqualified to be the VP nominee?
And where is your article declaring Obama the most unqualified major party presidential nominee in memory of most living Americans? His ‘qualifications’ and ‘experience’ to be president are thin, and almost non-existent.
With the article you wrote, you simply made yourself look clueless, biased and ignorant, etc., etc.
She’s wrong about Sarah, and maybe she’s wrong about a lot of other things as well, but this sentence, buried later in the article, does read true:
“The picture is this: Anyone who dares express an opinion that runs counter to the party line will be silenced. That doesn’t sound American to me, but Stalin would approve. Readers have every right to reject my opinion. But when we decide that a person is a traitor and should die for having an opinion different than one’s own, then we cross into territory that puts all freedoms at risk.”
We don’t need to become like the loony frothing libs. We can express disagreement with decorum and dignity, rather than resorting to death threats and name calling. That is not the way that real conservatives - real AMERICANS - should behave.
I’m disappointed she did such a rapid about-face on Gov. Palin. I don’t think it’s morally or intellectually justified. But even more disappointing is the kind of reaction this has let loose. We are supposed to BELIEVE in the IMMORTAL ideals of America - free speech, the right to dissent, the value of RATIONAL AND INTELLIGENT DISCUSSION in the public space. Isn’t this the VERY REASON we find it so absolutely critical to defeat Obama??
Let’s not become what we hate.
There are idiots in every large group, Parker points them out to paint those that oppose her with the wacko label. She certainly hasn’t had the kind of vicious attacks that Gov. Palin has, and she stuck her knife in the back.
Sooner or later Rachael Maddow is going to tell Pat Buchanan "shut up Pat, it's my show" one time too many, and after he explodes there may be an opening for Parker.
I myself am irked that there are fellow conservatives who express themselves via homocidal/scatological/sexual disgust imagery. It is so malicious and imbecilic, it makes us sound like leftists.
C'mon. We can do better than that.
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