Jonah Goldberg to Sarah Palin: Do Your Job and Do Your Homework

Hmmmm... I think maybe there's absolutely no point to this post at all, given recent events in Juneau.

Awesome column which pretty much says everything I think. Goldberg notes he was one of Palin's earliest and biggest cheerleaders; I can't claim earliest or biggest, but I was definitely on the bandwagon before the nomination.

I'm not on it at the moment. Could get back on it. Would like to get back on it. But not on it at the moment.

This post has a necessary follow-up, which I'll do later. The follow-up may be more important. Conservatives have developed a bad habit of condemning opinions they don't want to hear but which, I believe, they secretly suspect might have a lot of truth in them; the more truth the fear might be contained in an unwelcome critique, the more withering the response, in an effort to shut that line of critique down before it "gains traction" in the media.

I'll get to that later. Suffice to say -- well, I've said it before. Not only is the idea that conservatives, of all people, can control what the liberal media reports simply by scrubbing anything "useful" to the liberal media out of our comments, it's also highly questionable that such a thing is healthy for a political movement, even if it could be achieved.

On to Goldberg for now. Seriously, I almost wrote this, more or less, last night, before deciding I'd rather watch The Office and old DVDs of The Prisoner.

But while McCain’s strategists do not cover themselves in glory for scapegoating you, you are not without blame either. You do seem to think the best advice is for you to stay just the way you are. Leaders listen to the advice they don’t necessarily want to hear.
For starters, every time I see you on TV, you’re whining about unfair press coverage. Don’t get me wrong: Much of it is unfair, and some of it deserves a response. But it’s not presidential. It’s not even gubernatorial. You are constantly taking the bait, taking up the fights your biggest fans want you to take up.
But here’s the thing: Don’t listen to your biggest fans. Don’t alienate them either, but don’t think that because the Palin4Pres crowd cheers, you’re making progress. Politics is ultimately about persuasion, and you seem entirely uninterested in that, preferring instead to play the victim. Well, victims don’t get elected president. Ronald Reagan was a laughingstock for liberals and despised by the press. But he didn’t whine or take the bait.

I have said this about Palin's tendency to only make news when the news is about she herself -- an insult, unfair news coverage, etc. -- rather than doing what Mitt Romney (for example) does, which is to comment on news not about Mitt Romney. Such as criticizing Barack Obama once or twice a week.

Now Mitt Romney can easily avoid making the news about himself, because he is simply not a charismatic figure. He is, for better or worse, kinda boring. Sarah Palin is naturally interesting and blazingly charismatic, and so there is always the temptation, for both her supporters and detractors, to make the story about her, which will always, due to her magnetism, be a more interesting story than any story about what she might be saying about this or that issue.

Issues are more interesting than Mitt Romney. Sarah Palin is more interesting than any issue. Thus the temptation.

But while this is a temptation, Sarah Palin should not fall into this trap. Yes, she is such a dynamic figure that we all really want to talk about her rather than, say, Obama's grudging half-a-surge in Afghanistan. Those who love her want to talk about her; those who hate her want to talk about her.

But that's the mark of a celebrity, not a statesman. And Sarah Palin has to fight the media's -- and now, alas, her supporters' -- impulse to taboidize her, to cover her primarily as a personality and only secondarily, if at all, as a policymaker.

Palin does not need to stoke the fires of passion for her. That is always there, always will be there. She has to do the exact opposite: Push her ideas and programs first, last, and always, and attempt, however futile the effort might be, to push Palin the Personality into the deep background.

She will not lose a single supporter doing this, of course. Quite the opposite. She can't really be un-interesting even if she tries, but it is critical that she does try, tries to fashion herself into not simply a white-hot personality, but a bland, gray policy wonk.

Again: She will not be successful in this. Sarah Palin doesn't do "gray." But the effort will be noted, and respected. And it will stop her detractors from endlessly debating her, at least to some extent, and force them to respond to the points she makes.

My problem is less that she is, as a person and personality, the focus of stories about her, and more that she allows herself to be the story to exclusion of making other more important issues the story.

It is inarguable that it's important for a candidate to connect emotionally with her supporters. And Palin has, quite obviously, accomplished this. But it's almost as important (people like to say it's more important, but they're lying; but it is still important) to make a rational, intellectual pitch

Palin is building on her strengths, to the point of diminishing returns (if not at the point of counterproductivity) while refusing to address her weaknesses. It's easy to play to one's strengths. They are, after all, your strengths. It is difficult to correct one's weaknesses.

But so far I do not see Palin making any obvious attempt to correct her weaknesses. Perhaps there's a lot of this going on under the waterline. Maybe she's boning up at home. Maybe she's avoiding giving a substantive address or the like until she feels ready, or until she thinks the time is right.

But I don't think so. She has a big megaphone and does not appear entirely reluctant to use it; but mostly it seems to be used for "issues" which are, quite frankly, perfectly trivial.

And if she's pushing trivial issues, she's reinforcing the meme that she is a trivial person.

She can't afford that.

Back to Goldberg:

Second, peddling a few platitudes and truisms about free markets and limited government is no substitute for really knowing what you’re talking about. Yes, you can talk well about the stuff you know — oil drilling, energy, etc. — but beyond your comfort zone, you fall back on bumper-sticker language that sounds fine to the people who already agree with you but is useless in winning over skeptics.
President Bush had the same problem you do, which is why there’s a hunger for Republicans who can effectively articulate and sell our policies and philosophy. That’s why the wonks have the upper hand. Mitt Romney, Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, and other hands-on types are what the party wants and, frankly, needs.
Here’s the good news: You have time. Here’s the better news: You have something no one else in the party has — charisma. And I don’t mean you have the most charisma like it’s a consolation prize for not being elected prom queen. If money could buy what you have, Romney would have bought it all by now. Good politicians can learn how to win over audiences, but the great ones are born with the ability. Reagan had it. Clinton had it. Obama has it. You have it. You are the “It Girl” of the GOP.

Someone said of Palin, "What she doesn't know can be learned, but what she does know can't be taught." That is to say, her strengths -- blazing charisma and in-the-bones authenticity, and caginess, and innate understanding of how politics works at a gut level -- are largely innate and can never be learned. Michael Dukakis and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton certainly would have loved to learn what Sarah Palin knows intuitively; they would have paid any amount of money you can name to learn her gift.

But it can't be learned. As they say in sports, "You can't teach speed."

On the other hand, her deficits can be corrected. It's simple to correct them -- not easy, perhaps, but simple. You just start getting briefed (and briefing yourself) five times a week, and start writing Op-Eds for newspapers.

I think the big division in the conservative movement over Sarah Palin is actually a fairly small one. On one side are people who think she is the most important political figure since Reagan.

On the other side -- the side I now have fallen into -- are those who think she is potentially the most important political figure since Reagan.

The split, then, is whether she is or whether she could be, if she takes certain steps.

I don't really understand the ferocity of her supporters who attack any suggestion that Palin could stand some improvement in some areas. I will not parodize their view as believing she's "perfect" as is, I don't believe they think she's perfect, and I don't think they say she's "perfect" as is, either.

But they do seem to imply that, rather strongly. Palin's strongest supporters will allow, vaguely, that she might be flawed in some unspecified way, but when a conservative levels a specific criticism at her, or suggests she needs to improve in a specific way, they argue she shouldn't. Since I'm not aware of any specific areas in which Palin's strong supporters concede she might need specific improvement, I'm left with the implication that she's perfect as is.

Among the excuses made for her -- and yes, I do think they are excuses -- are the following:

Well, we don't want her campaigning for President 3 1/2 years before an election, anyway.

Bollocks we don't. First of all, appearing frequently to critique or rebut Obama and the Democrats isn't necessarily "campaigning" for President. Dick Cheney is not campaigning for anything -- would Palin's supporters deny they didn't want or appreciate Dick Cheney making a strong case for conservativism?

We conservatives both want and need all of our top-shelf political talent speaking out on as many issues as possible. If you believe, as I do, that Sarah Palin is one of our top political talents (if not the top), why on earth would you argue we don't want Sarah Palin out there giving interviews on Obama's policies as Cheney does? Are you really of the belief that it's better that John Boehner handle this duty?

Mitt Romney seems to be able to do this -- and Sarah Palin is incandescent compared to Romney.

Thus, I think it's pure excuse-making to claim "Oh, we don't want her out there strongly championing our cause anyway." Pure nonsense. Of course that's what we want. That's exactly what we want. Anyone claiming otherwise is just making excuses to explain away the fact that she isn't.

Sarah Palin's strengths are her authenticity and ability to connect with average people and getting all wonky would only diminish that. Untrue. Sarah Palin will have that ability whether she's speaking in platitudes or if she's speaking in specifics; the difference is that if she's speaking in specifics, she's making an intellectual appeal along with a gut one. Seeming to be on top of the facts helps her; how can anyone with a straight face argue it hurts her to appear to be scholarly or bright?

And yeah, I really have heard this excuse before, on this blog, in fact.

To go back to sports: This is like a Randy Moss fan claiming (in his old selfish days) that there's no need for him to run strong routes even when the ball isn't going to him or block vigorously for other receivers or running backs. His strength, his fans might say, was running deep routes for touchdowns.

Yes, that was and is his main strength. But is pure excuse-making to suggest he wouldn't be a better player if he added other strengths (or at least basic competencies) to his game. It's not as if Randy Moss loses his ability to catch touchdowns suddenly if he blocks for another player.

Those who argue she not only doesn't need to add a bit of wonkery to appeal are making pretty much the same argument -- If Sarah Palin gets all super-smart and in-command on us, well, gee! Suddenly many of us might not like her so much.

Untrue. People may resent those with gifts they don't have but they always respect them. I don't think there's a person in the country who wouldn't prefer a genius over a non-genius as president. (Note well: A genius is not necessarily, and not even frequently, of the typical posturing intellectual stripe; indeed, it's those who have doubts about the fineness of their intellects who most frequently wear the mantle of the typical posturing intellectual.)

One doesn't forget how to speak English if one learns how to speak French. Indeed, learning another language is one of the best ways to learn your own. Strength adds to strength. Strength never subtracts from strength.

She has plenty of time. Yes, she does, but as they say: No time like the present. If someone's going to quit smoking, there's no terribly strong reason they should wait to quit. If someone's going to lose weight, there's no good reason to delay.

Delay is often a sign of a lack of commitment. Delay usually means it's not going to happen at all.

And she doesn't have as much time as people claim. Running for president now takes at least two years. Two years. So basically she has until November 2010 to start running. I, for one, would like her to hit the ground running at that point, and not be learning statecraft as she runs.

She's a fighter; that's why we love her. This excuse is offered when it's suggested she should refrain from spats with the like of David Lettermen.

There is truth in this: We conservatives are sick to death of conservatives who ball up into the fetal position while liberals kick them in the spine. We do like fighters. And I love Sarah Palin's willingness -- nay, eagerness -- to fight.

However.

There are fights that we more need her to fight, and fights she more needs to fight, than these personal, celebrity-feud type deals.

Some say "we like her pointing out media bias." Yes, I do too -- but wouldn't it be more effective for conservatives, as well as more helpful for her own gravitas, if she pointed out media bias in situations having nothing at all to do, directly, with Sarah Palin herself?

That would be a double-win: She would be helping the cause and helping herself tremendously as well, because she would start to earn the reputation of a general political thinker.

If media bias is her thing -- and since it's my thing, I can't hold that against her -- why not address it in the context of, say, health care "reporting"? Anything to get her out of the trap of tabloidization and into the habit of pushing herself a major policy guru.

Posted by: Ace at 03:33 PM

Comments

1
I think this horse already left the barn.

Posted by: Unicle tweets at July 03, 2009 02:36 PM (UU3J6)

2
I think we can put to rest the Palin '12 talk.

She's out. Done. Finished.

Posted by: Unicle tweets at July 03, 2009 02:38 PM (UU3J6)

3 Good post, just a bit late

Posted by: brak at July 03, 2009 02:41 PM (/hUC/)

For starters, every time I see you on TV, you’re whining about unfair press coverage

Taking on the media is the single most important thing Republicans can do, even more than taking on the official Democratic party. The real source of the Dems power is not the brilliance of the candidates, it's that they control the flow of information n America. Any Republican how does not address that is wasting everyones time.

Oh, and Goldbergs a pansy.

Posted by: flenser at July 03, 2009 02:41 PM (gTVQs)

I jumped on Dr. K's stunningly myopic remarks re Sarah here yesterday and the needle barely moved. 30 hours later... lookee lookee.

Don't get no respect, I tell ya.

Posted by: Bat Chain Puller at July 03, 2009 02:41 PM (SCcgT)

6 Really, she's no longer a threat resigning? What a sad day indeed.

Posted by: The McCain Campaign at July 03, 2009 02:44 PM (OYBnL)

And upstaged by the Flaming Skull above, to boot.

Happy Independence Day, morons.

As if anyone will read this. Helloooo.... helloooo...... echo echo echo....

Posted by: Bat Chain Puller at July 03, 2009 02:53 PM (SCcgT)

8 Ace - Quit corresponding with Allah, it's affecting your judgment. Leave Eeyore to ponder why we shouldn't love the policy acumen of Oylmpia Snowe and welcome our new masters of ankle-grabbing nuance and "grayness". Putting aside the presumption that Palin has nothing better to do than re-make herself in the image of losing "moderate: Republican candidates favored by the media, she still has a state to run in the middle of an economic melt down.

As for all the "help" some seem to be willing to provide Gov. Palin, I see it has pleasantly worded attacks masked in the guise of supporting her. Goldberg, Will and the majority of anti-Palin "intellectual pundits" are the descendants of the Rockefeller wing of the Republican party. Many, in and out of the Republican Party, will look down on Palin forever because she is a conservative middle class woman. She didn't attend an Ivy League school, she doesn't have a flat in Manhattan and she has a "funny" accent. They, on the other hand, aspire to the best cocktail parties and invites to the Hamptons on the weekends. Face it, it's really what underlies the crux of their arguments about the Governor.

Posted by: MCPO Airdale at July 03, 2009 02:53 PM (l51zO)

9 To the "insiders" and "caring conservatives"

You just handed Obama a second term. Fuck you

Posted by: kbdabear at July 03, 2009 02:53 PM (0Lv+U)

10 Yes.

I spent all friggin' morning writing this and it's mooted.

Posted by: ace at July 03, 2009 02:55 PM (gEsIJ)

Conservatives have developed a bad habit of condemning opinions they don't want to hear

Conservatives can hear the sort of opinions you're talking about in the MSM. We don't need to hear them from "our own" side. We don't need people in our ranks who are always eager to be one step ahead of the MSM in coming up with new lines of attack on Republicans.

If this is as clever a tactic as you make it out to be, how come the opposition prospers without it? There is nothing a Democrat can do which will result in criticism from left-wing bloggers. And both the left-wing bloggers and the Democrat party are soing very well for themselves.

Conservatives do not have the bad habit you speak of. What they have is the bad habit of being overeager to attack their own.

Posted by: flenser at July 03, 2009 02:56 PM (gTVQs)

I spent all friggin' morning writing this and it's mooted.

No, the principle is still worth discussing. And you're wrong about it.

Posted by: flenser at July 03, 2009 02:57 PM (gTVQs)

13 Time for a "won't have Palin to kick around anymore" speech IMO. The last guy that tried that ploy got elected president...twice.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at July 03, 2009 03:00 PM (g/H5G)

14 Did you guys know that an M-80 makes for a pretty good butt plug?

Posted by: poon at July 03, 2009 03:01 PM (i31Zq)

15 You just handed Obama a second term.

That's OK. That just means that'll be the last time a democrat is elected president for the next 30 years. This crew is fucking up way worse economically than even FDR did.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at July 03, 2009 03:02 PM (g/H5G)

16 It is totally Goldberg's fault she resigned...even though he says it isn't.

she read his article and threw in the towel. That's why there was no warning.

And that's the conspiracy I am going with.
tink

Posted by: Tinkerbella at July 03, 2009 03:02 PM (pLs/O)

17 >>>". Putting aside the presumption that Palin has nothing better to do than re-make herself in the image of losing "moderate: Republican candidates favored by the media,

I said nothing about becoming more moderate. I suggested she become more articulate and fluent in national policy.

It's interesting that you equate being more fluent in policy as being more liberal.

I don't.

Posted by: ace at July 03, 2009 03:07 PM (gEsIJ)

18 This is great news!

I'm sure Mitt Romney will win everything in '12. He just needed to get John McCain out of the way.

Of course, there's a corollary to this new principle that conservatives can't criticize Palin without the hounds descending, it's that no one can defend Palin without being called a cultist.

Frankly, between the two, I'll take the defenders. Who needs more people who are so eager to tell everyone what's wrong with the unorthodox conservative stars?

I hope Governor Palin's health is okay. Prayers to her and her family.

This stinks. I really think Gov. Palin may have been our only chance in '12. Romney? Don't kid yourself. Huckabee? Why bother?

Posted by: Kensington at July 03, 2009 03:13 PM (ZqTlA)

19 And, notwithstanding the obvious game changer today, I'll never understand why, for guys like Krauthammer and Goldberg, it was game over in July, 2009, 3.5 years away from the nearest presidential election.

I think their expectations were unrealistic and unreasonable.

Posted by: Kensington at July 03, 2009 03:15 PM (ZqTlA)

20 kensington,

It cannot be that she is perfect. Anyone suggesting seriously she is perfect would be, almost by definition, a cultist.

Ergo it is should not be impermissible to notice she is imperfect or attempt to goad her into becoming better.

Posted by: ace at July 03, 2009 03:16 PM (gEsIJ)

21 Thank you, Flenser. for articulating what was going through my mind, somewhat incoherently.

Seems it's easier for Conservatives to do a "Thompson" on our most promising candidates than to support them. I can understand constructive criticism, but what I see here and elsewhere about conservatives, from conservatives, does not qualify as constructive, but destructive and divisive picking at the scabs of wounds inflicted by our opponents. This post could have been written in the vein of "Gee, Sarah is da bomb! I think she could be even more effective by.... ". Instead what I hear is all about her fatal flaws and the tone is that she has already been written off, despite supposed support for her in the future. This was happening before this most recent event, also.

Not that most of Ace's points are not valid, but we have to trust our own people to be smart to figure out these things out on their own, and merely support them, despite their flaws, as liberals do their own.

As I said before, the Democratic party is being run and headed by some of the most scurrilous, dishonest, venal pricks on the planet, and do you hear any destructive criticism of them from liberals? No. It is one of the reasons they are winning.

What I hope at this point is that Sarah is resigning because she can no longer support the Republican party, and plans to start her own. Perhaps The Constitutionalist party, or the Tea Party would be appropriate names.

She will have my support, and my vote, if she does.

Posted by: West at July 03, 2009 03:16 PM (Rupsw)

22 >>>Conservatives can hear the sort of opinions you're talking about in the MSM. We don't need to hear them from "our own" side.

We don't? Not even if half of conservatives happen to believe that Sarah Palin needed some seasoning?

We don't need that kind of dissent from "our side"?

Posted by: ace at July 03, 2009 03:20 PM (gEsIJ)

23 Ace, where the fuck did I ever say she was perfect?

She's wrong on Title IX. She never should have allowed that picture to be taken with the flag cavalierly thrown across a chair. She should have shown more saavy with the turky slaughter video.

But saying she's ruined because she didn't retreat to study policy is ridiculous. She's running Alaska, and who knows what she was studying in her free time? I figured she was working away on her own schedule.

And I'm sorry for dropping the "f" bomb there up there, but what else does a strawman argument like you just dropped deserve?

Posted by: Kensington at July 03, 2009 03:23 PM (ZqTlA)

24 Here is the money shot:

"Some say 'we like her pointing out media bias.' Yes, I do too -- but wouldn't it be more effective for conservatives, as well as more helpful for her own gravitas, if she pointed out media bias in situations having nothing at all to do, directly, with Sarah Palin herself?"

If she is able to transition from self-defense to taking the fight on issues directly to the left, she would be unstoppable.

Posted by: DCox at July 03, 2009 03:24 PM (jzNfC)

25 ^{"We don't? Not even if half of conservatives happen to believe that Sarah Palin needed some seasoning?"}

The problem was that too many of "our" guys were eager to question the seasoning before the meal was even cooked. Calling her out 3.5 years before the election makes as much sense as taste testing the turkey fifteen minutes after putting it in the oven.

Hey, guess what? It hasn't finished cooking yet. What a surprise. Better throw it out and go eat Mitt Romney instead. He's at least half-baked.

Posted by: Kensington at July 03, 2009 03:25 PM (ZqTlA)

26 Those are some pretty trivial imperfections you name. Only the Title IX thing is even a matter of substance. the other two are questions of comportment and media savvy.

Posted by: ace at July 03, 2009 03:26 PM (gEsIJ)

27 Could it be she and her family have simply tired of it all? And if so, could there be a great, and I mean great, TV career for her?

Posted by: David at July 03, 2009 03:31 PM (Amg0K)

28 That's all I had so far, Ace. What other big glaring problems did I miss, policy wise? I was prepared to be disappointed by her stance on illegal immigration, but we hadn't gotten that far yet.

The real problem that you and Goldberg seem to want to articulate is that she's "whining" too much. Of course, whining is in the ear of the beholder. Some of us think it's simply legitimate to call out the media for their crappy reporting.

Between Goldberg and Palin, the former sounds more like a whiner than the latter, to my ears when, for example, he complains about the email flack he's taking over Palin.

But I know, I know. Cultist.

Posted by: Kensington at July 03, 2009 03:44 PM (ZqTlA)

29 Guys, here's the thing: I love Sarah as much as anyone here, and she would have made a kick-ass prez.

But after Obama Americans aren't going to elect another "charismatic" figure for a quarter century. It's going to be brainy, multifaceted policy wonks in the mold of Jindal and Gingrich.

America is like a naive teenage girl swept off her feet, and Obama is the dashing stranger that gives her genital herpes. It's smart, goody-goody, dependable boys from here on out.

Bank it. Jindal is the front-runner. Forget the awful speech he gave earlier this year, he'll survive it. Forget that he's not a great looking guy. None of it will matter.

Remember: America got herpes. She isn't going to look for any more adventures.

Posted by: JB at July 03, 2009 03:45 PM (t7pP+)

This was really pathetic. The GOP needs a Conan not someone who knows what issues to respond to. Limbaugh doesn't survive by ignoring the attempts to smear him but by going for the throat. That;s why the Left despises him. It is why the Left despises Palin and the RINO's try to palm off losers like Romney, McCain and Huckabee.

Palin whinning? Get real, I haven't seen any political figure subjected to the insults she has been. In fact she'd be justified in going medieaval on most of the MSM. I won't even comment on the scum that constitutes McCains staff.

Go Palin. And ignore the bleacher bums.

Posted by: Thomas Jackson at July 03, 2009 03:52 PM (B8gqF)

31 Here's my problem with those who wish to persuade me that candidates such as Mitt Romney, the Republican Moderate Independent Green governor who bankrupted the state of Massachusetts by MANDATING health care insurance, is a politician whom I can trust has great financial ability to save America from President Obama's MANDATED health care insurance.

Or that Republican Conservative Independent Green John McCain is way better on foreign policy when he aped Presdient Obama's 'America tortures, close Gitmo'

By the time Conservative Republican Gov Bobby Jindel runs for President I have no doubt that the Republican Moderate Independent party will reach across the aisle joining their political opponents as they persuade the nation to believe that Conservative Republican Gov Jindel is a 'backward creationsit who perfoms exorisms'.

In any case; come mid 2010 I am going to feel sorry for all the stupid suckers stuck living anywhere hear the NE quadrant; poor suckers will be left with the hefty tax tab that I won't be paying. Get your goodies from Bloomberg NY pussies.

Posted by: syn at July 03, 2009 04:31 PM (7mgBe)

32
Good work, Jonah and Krauthammer, now maybe you'll get invited to some of the 'cool' peoples parties. And all you had to do to get those invites was suck a little elite c*ck. But it didn't taste all that bad, did it?

Posted by: Hughie at July 03, 2009 05:05 PM (iGqcN)

33 Ace, Jonah and Allah out to get a room together with a king sized bed. I'm done with Hot Air and NRO. AOSHQ? I'm at the tipping point.

Posted by: MrsPaulsFishSticks at July 03, 2009 05:16 PM (PBGAP)

34 Posted by: MrsPaulsFishSticks at July 03, 2009 05:16 PM (PBGAP)

First, let me say I am honestly interested in your opinion. Sometimes emails/IMs/blog posts or comments can come off as challenges and not an honest interest.

Why would you be done with those guys over this?

Isn't there a difference between Frum/Noonan and Hot Air, NRO and AOSHQ? It's one thing to attack Palin as a dolt and a danger as opposed to saying she may have some weaknesses that need work?

Again, I am honestly interested in what you've seen, here especially, that you think is beyond the pale and would make you give up on it.

Posted by: DrewM. at July 03, 2009 05:21 PM (iTt2X)

Hey Fishy:

I'm with you. This place is beginning to stink like Moran's. You just can't get to be really RINO enough to be accepted as "serious."

Strange I don't recall Drew and Ace attacking Romney for his failures or Guiliani's breath taking lapses. Exactly how was Palin lacking? But then again let's not forget those dinner invitations and the job offers at Vanity Fair etc.

Just accept it the Frum McCain thing is in this year. All the Noonans are doing it.

Posted by: Thomas Jackson at July 03, 2009 05:30 PM (B8gqF)

I think it's interesting to make a point about only seeing Palin on tv when it's something that's likely to be unflattering. Does Palin decide when she's on the national media, or is someone else involved?

I also take exception to Goldberg's point about not seeing Reagan constantly defending himself against the ample media bias he faced. True, but his kids were grown when he ran for national office. The extent of the attacks on his kids involved speculation that Ronnie Jr was a little light in his ballet slippers, and I know Johnny Carson never made jokes about his daughter Patty getting raped at a baseball game when she was only 14. Who knows what he might have done under those circumstances?

Posted by: OCBill at July 03, 2009 05:30 PM (p28Ei)

37 Posted by: Thomas Jackson at July 03, 2009 05:30 PM (B8gqF)

Did you miss the part last year where McCain was vilified though the primaries and we pretty much sucked it up for the team in the general?

Perhaps you can point me to the post where Ace or any of the rest us have posted one supportive word about Frum, Noon, Parker, etc.

Posted by: DrewM. at July 03, 2009 05:35 PM (iTt2X)

38 You know the flipside to "elites" (Frum, Noonan, etc) and supposed "elites" and squishes (NRO, AOS, etc) attacking our own is some of you attacking them anytime they criticize, even when done constructively. You're throwing them under the bus/out of the Party accusing them of trying to do the same. Both sides are attacking our own.

Posted by: howsa at July 03, 2009 05:50 PM (OYBnL)

39 Sanford, Palin, who's going to go down next? Bank on it, there will be a week to put Palin in the ground, and then the MSM will move onto the next target. These people will not wait until the next cycle.

There go my dreams of Dennehy/Palin 2012.

Posted by: howsa at July 03, 2009 05:55 PM (OYBnL)

40 2011 campaign year for pres is a really long way away so I'm not going to worry too much.

There's so much time and now that I think it's premature to say she doesn't have a chance. Lot can change between now and then, and ultimately it is up to voters not pundits to decide.

I'm pretty disgusted with McCain aids who smear her with leaks. I still like her. In the meantime Obama is destroying our economy and country.

Posted by: Village Idiot at July 03, 2009 06:21 PM (bzBZ0)

DrewM:

Whats the matter can't you respond directly to my queries. So not attacking the failings of the various GOP types is sucking it up for the team and attacking Palin now is?

How very, very descent of you to lay this all aside in honor of Palin. And how very descent of you not to support Frum, Noonan, Moran and the like and do the same thing they are.

But then you come (pardon my altering the quote) TO BURY PALIN, NOT TO PRAISE HER. Yes your goodwill toward her is obviously different from Chris Buckley, Frum and Noonan.

Posted by: Thomas Jackson at July 03, 2009 06:24 PM (B8gqF)

42 Whats the matter can't you respond directly to my queries.
Posted by: Thomas Jackson at July 03, 2009 06:24 PM (B8gqF)

Which queries are those exactly?

Posted by: DrewM. at July 03, 2009 06:26 PM (iTt2X)

43 ^{"Both sides are attacking our own."}

One form is more harmful than the other.

For example, when Parker was demanding that Palin quite the ticket last Fall, and I attacked her for it, we were both attacking "our own", I guess.

But Parker's attack was destructive and would have only hurt the GOP's chances against Obama, whereas my attack against her to shut the Hell up about changing the ticket six weeks out was the only sensible response to her stupidity.

See the difference? We were both attacking, but the attacks were not morally equivalent.

Posted by: Kensington at July 03, 2009 06:37 PM (ZqTlA)

44 Well said.

I was a Palin supporter, but I think this was a mistake, and I'm not sure she can recover from it. She's a fighter, which is exactly what the Republicans need, but now the press can call her a quitter. That will hit her in her strengths. Every debate, every commercial, every press report is going to mention how she quit her job.

And I really wanted her to get elected, make an official visit to Saudi Arabia, get out of the plane, shake a few hands, and then say, "I'll drive." Now my dream will never come true.

Posted by: AFFA at July 03, 2009 06:40 PM (7mgY4)

45 I had a longer post but long posts suck so I'm just going to get to the point. We should be able to talk about Sarah Palin using constructive criticism without yelling at Ace/Goldberg that they've become the new Peggy Frum. That's fucking stupid.

Posted by: Brenden at July 03, 2009 07:00 PM (54lqZ)

46 If I wanted to join a party where I was required to have uncritical fawning adoration for the titular head, I go join the Democrats or maybe the Paulbots.

Posted by: Techie at July 03, 2009 07:32 PM (cxW4X)

47 >>>It cannot be that she is perfect. Anyone suggesting seriously she is perfect would be, almost by definition, a cultist.

Ergo it is should not be impermissible to notice she is imperfect or attempt to goad her into becoming better.

Posted by: ace at July 03, 2009 03:16 PM (gEsIJ)<<<

Your logic requires the law that if the most enthusiastically supported conservative that we have is not perfect, then it necessarily follows that it permissible (or as it appears from the supposed "conservative" commentators - "required") to perpetuate the Dem/MSM's meme in criticizing, damning, and/or destroying her, which is fucking retarded.

Posted by: gm at July 03, 2009 07:49 PM (hRAj+)

48 Brenden : "Go home and do your homework" - Calling that "constructive criticism" is what is fucking stupid.

Posted by: gm at July 03, 2009 07:52 PM (hRAj+)

49
MrsPaulFishSticks, I sympathize with how you feel. But before you give up go over to Hot Air and read Doctor Zero's take on all of this. I grew up in and around DC and what he says is spot on. Oh, and all of those pol's, bureaucrat's, and other indispensable people, well their sh*t stinks just like everyone else's. Sometimes it stinks worse.

Posted by: Hughie at July 03, 2009 08:32 PM (iGqcN)

50 I gave $1k to the McCain campaign right after Palin was announced as the VP choice, only because of that fact. I liked her and backed her with my hard-earned money. What she did today is completely incomprehensible to me, politically. It makes absolutely no sense to me in the context of running for President in 2012.

Posted by: mpbk at July 03, 2009 09:31 PM (xziKR)

I think Palin will slowly become the one Repub to voice an anti-Obama
gestalt for the nation. There will be a book, town hall meetings, and a
general "presence" on TV and in print in which she will eclipse the
impotent conservative spokesmen in banging away at Obama's plan.
She will be seen as an apostle, not a candidate, and will be more
able to address the masses than a campaigner might. She will be able
to confront Obama in a thousand ways... a zing here, and a zing
there which will be seen somewhere on TV. She's probably past
being vulnerable to the left's slings and arrows. And as a "non-
candidate" may be able to bitch-slap Bammy when no one else
on our side seems capable.

Posted by: Trajan at July 03, 2009 09:39 PM (+QEyM)

52 "There are fights that we more need her to fight, and fights she more needs to fight, than these personal, celebrity-feud type deals."

Seriously. If you fight David Letterman and win, what do you win?

Posted by: Stoop Davy Dave at July 03, 2009 11:20 PM (QqUgm)

53 @ 30 "The GOP needs a Conan not someone who knows what issues to respond to. "

Close. We need a Kull.
The capital is riddled with entrenched Valusian-style serpent men, that is.
Swap out "magical face-changing powers" for "media complicity," and it's a fair metaphor. These snakes control the way in which we the public see them, and see their stupid policies. It's a big advantage, and it's all theirs.
We need a Kull who can gut some of these snakes, rhetorically, on live television.
And right now, we ain't got one.

Posted by: Zombie E Howard at July 03, 2009 11:36 PM (QqUgm)

#42

Drew M:

I assumed you can read. But I do appreciate your imitation of TDUB.

Or are you auditioning for FireDogLake?

Posted by: Thomas Jackson at July 04, 2009 12:01 AM (B8gqF)

55 Maybe she is going on a quest to find an ancient Atlantean artifact which will break the Valusian spells that have enthralled the political class. If that's the case, she once again has my full support, and I would be more than willing to resub and help out with my Tier 2 Dark Templar if she's on the Wicanna server.

Looking at the other governors and senators, etc... I don't know. I can't really see any of them in office. I think Palin was our best shot. Maybe there's a clever strategy here, and I'm just not savy enough to see it.

Posted by: AFFA at July 04, 2009 12:06 AM (7mgY4)

I really think this has nothing to do with politics. There is no political angle to this that makes any sense. What she's telling us today that she's getting out of politics, that's what I took from it. There's no "this was a poor political decision" or "this will hurt her in 2012". She's quitting. Going Galt. Going to raise her family and do some fishing. She's not interested in it anymore, and really has no more political ambitions.

In other words, she's going to a place where she doesn't have to listen to Jonah Goldberg's pointless criticism. "Go home and do your job and your homework?" Her reply is "Screw you, Jonah. I don't work for you or any other media *ssholes." She's tired of having her family mocked and her vagina probled by the likes of Andrew Sullivan. Who can blame her? Her quitting is a sign of her mental health and our country's sickness. I don't think there is any political calculation to this at all.

Posted by: PalinFan at July 04, 2009 02:17 AM (tKpq0)

57 Sure she could learn all those things, get her briefings, do some studying. But who would hear it? People who read right-leaning blogs and that's about it.

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Posted by: Tiffany at July 04, 2009 05:20 AM (fRkuf)

59 Palin decision to not finish her term as Gov. of Alaska surely indicates she doesn't have the stomach for dealing with running for higher office in the future.

The media and much of the general public is jaw-dropping condescension and evil toward her and her family.
Lead by the media and the Democratic Party of hate, the average Democrat apparently has the same hateful attitude toward her. Many of Democrats I know aren't elitists and couldn't cross the road without someone holding their hand, yet they think Palin is a hick?

Anyone associated with throwing filthy comments about her family including a down syndrome infant. That Andrew Sullivan's vile should even be considered as printable material proves the left can't go much lower. Yet, the left's acceptance is considered normal, cause after all Palin is just a stupid, idot, worthy of ridicule.

I don't blame her for wanting to get from under the unrelenting crush of bile, but it means she isn't going to be able to rise above what will be used against her in the future.

I like Palin a great deal, but I never felt she was quite ready. She has her brilliance, and that could have been developed in a power way. But, I can see that she isn't able to deal with the stress of putting her family through such unreasonable harassment.

She said some strong and poignant things in her statement, but it was rather unfocused. Obviously, life has been going poorly for her as governor. People of Alaska better get it together or they'll end up as another dead liberal state that offers nothing except a stipend to keep you down and wanting.

If she does actually plan to run for office, I don't think it's going to go any better for her. She might prove to be more effective behind the scenes.

Good luck to her.

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Posted by: Average Jen at July 04, 2009 11:15 AM (cHpah)

"Palin decision to not finish her term as Gov. of Alaska surely indicates she doesn't have the stomach for dealing with running for higher office in the future. "

Every lefty troll, loser astroturfer and moderate runs amok pretending to actually have concern for Governor Palin. She has taken more flak than anyone I have ever seen for no offense to the opposition whatsoever. I would like to know what she has done for them to continue attacks 6 months after the election is over. Your line here is total bullshit and she is leaving on her terms. Alaska isn't issuing IOUs to its citizens from unpaid returns, she leaves the state fiscally sound.

I don't know what the future holds for Sarah, but I wish her the best possible future. The people of the United States at this point just want a decent honest person who we can trust not to rape us for their own personal gain. She may not be the person to lead us, then again she may be. We shall see, as I am sure whatever move she makes next will be news.

Just stop the pretense, Mayor Barry got re-elected after being caught smoking crack in a hotel with a prostitue. Mrs Clinton has a high position in government for staying married to Mr Clinton. Sarah Palin can't be take seriously though, because she decided to resign while leaving her state in a fiscally sound position? Bullshit!

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