Comments on: How The Left Went Wrong By Not Getting It Right About Sarah Palin–UPDATED

By: fuster

fuster — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:55:14 +0000

Well, Jerry, Dan Quayle certainly qualifies as an elder in comparison to Obama, but he hasn’t done anything since leaving office that would advance any claim to being a statesman.

By: Jerry in Detroit

Jerry in Detroit — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:11:14 +0000

The campaign against Palin is nothing new. The collective media pilloried Dan Quayle; who was an elder statesman in comparison to the current resident of the White House while conveniently overlooking Biden’s repeated public gaffes. I may or may not agree with Sarah on all issues but I do believe that our collective media has failed us in their stated mission and should be regarded as no longer relevant.

By: Paul_In_Houston

Paul_In_Houston — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:33:05 +0000

People are even rethinking the Katie Couric interview and Ms. Palin made a really good point: Why not release all the tape, unedited and uncut?-

Probably, the missing parts will turn out to have been “lost/misplaced/deleted”?

By: fuster

fuster — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:05:52 +0000

Might also be creditable to argue that she was also selected because of her looks, relative youth and her sex.
it worked to the extent that it got plenty of ink and positive attention for McCain’s candidacy for a short time. After a week or two, she was unable to do more than help propel the ticket to a rather poor second-place showing.
She was certainly more popular with conservatives than was McCain and she remains popular with conservatives. Perhaps she’ll be able to add something besides popularity in future.

By: Jonathan G

Jonathan G — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:31:19 +0000

In 1988, a rather liberal person of my acquaintance told me, in reaction to George Bush’s selection of Dan Quayle as his running mate, that “nobody votes for vice president.” The thing is, the selection of a running mate is arguably the first decision made by a president because it is a presidential decision that necessarily must be made before the election.

When then-Senator Obama selected the old party hack Joe Biden as his running mate, I knew for certain that President Obama wasn’t going to act as the “Washington outsider” that some were insisting he would. On the other hand, Senator McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin was an interesting choice. Here was someone few people had heard of and who went against all logic as a choice of running mate.

Look, running mates are chosen for a variety of reasons, but usually those reasons revolve around the conventional wisdom of presidential elections. The VP candidate is chosen to deliver the electoral votes of a large home state for the presidential candidate or to strengthen a policy area that is viewed as weak for the presidential candidate or as a sort of payback for support from some powerful group of constituents or, most often, a candidate is chosen because they can do several of those things, but Sarah Palin could do none of those things.

There was absolutely no reason for those who follow the conventional wisdom to expect her to be a choice, nor any reason for her to study up in case she was selected, so I’m not surprised that Governor Palin came off as unprepared because she was. Nobody cares about Alaska’s three electoral votes nor were there any fatcats whose donations came with a Sarah Palin string attached.

It is arguable that she was brought in to shore up McCain’s conservative credentials or was selected to boost his image as a “maverick” who would invigorate the country with new approaches or that her reputation as someone who cleaned up the Alaskan Republicans could make the ticket look more reform-oriented, but that’s not enough, in conventional opinion, to offset the real risks of putting a relative unknown into the spotlight.

But it worked! And it worked in the only way it could work. I’ve concluded that complaining about the media’s focus on her is unreasonable. Of course the media was going to focus on her as the only someone in the race that hadn’t already been written about absolutely to death. She was new, she was interesting, and she got a lot of ink because of it. That attention was a double-edged sword because although it exposed her then weaknesses, which you well state, it took considerable “buzz” away from the Democrat’s campaign.

Her selection vaulted her, quite unprepared, onto the national stage and it was up to her to figure out how to proceed from there. I thought then that she had the ability to make something of herself, once there. As a matter of fact, I still do. I also have concluded that it’s still true that “nobody votes for vice president.”

We’ll have to wait and see what happens next.

By: fuster

fuster — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:51:30 +0000

She wasn’t painted stupid.

She showed herself to be inexperienced and ignorant and unready and willing to run for national office anyway.

It’ll be good for her and her admirers if she takes the time to learn and to mature.

By: Jeff Pollack

Jeff Pollack — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:31:04 +0000

Palin’s appeal is her grounded realness. The 2008 campaign was a disaster for her — caused by the McCain handlers and her own inexperience on the national stage. As you say, she’s climbing back to neutral status and must continue her growth. She also must adjust her syntax. She’s extremely prone to run on sentences that fold back on themselves. Not only do they make terrible soundbites but they are incredibly difficult to follow and her points often get lost. Hopefully she’ll listen to someone…it’s a change that won’t affect her essence.

By: Dr. Melissa Clouthier

Dr. Melissa Clouthier — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:15:02 +0000

Whatever it is, the Smarty Pants Set believe it. They are the hive-mind and nothing, not even facts, dissuade them.

By: O Bloody Hell

O Bloody Hell — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:04:41 +0000

> Because anyone who disagrees with leftist conventional wisdom is, by definition,…

Sorry, I think “wisdom” is the wrong word, here.

“Twaddle”, “Absurdities”, “Talking Points”

All are suitable terms.

Wisdom….mmmmm, not so much so.