Saturday, September 06, 2008
"Spectacularly Ordinary"
Bill Whittle returns with an essay on NRO:
Sarah Palin is the anti-Obama: not a victim, not a poser, not riding a wave but rather swimming upstream — and most of all, not having run for president her entire life. She is the first politician I have ever seen — and I include Ronnie in this, God bless him — who strikes everyone who sees her as an actual, real, ordinary person. Immediately came T-shirts saying I AM SARAH PALIN. HER STORY IS MY STORY. There is a lot of Obama swag out there, too, but none of it says HIS STORY IS MY STORY. Hold that thought till November 5.
She is so absolutely, remarkably, spectacularly ordinary. I think the magic of Sarah Palin speaks to a belief that so many of us share: the sense that we personally know five people in our immediate circle who would make a better president than the menagerie of candidates the major parties routinely offer. Sarah Palin has erupted from this collective American Dream — the idea that, given nothing but classic American values like hard work, integrity, and tough-minded optimism you can actually do what happens in the movies: become Leader of the Free World, the President of the United States of America. (Or, well, you know, vice president.)
If you support the McCain-Palin ticket, whether affirmatively or by default, read the whole thing. If you support O and Joe, you probably should just move along, because Whittle's love of the two Republicans will make you want to puke.
18 Comments:
By 
, at
Sat Sep 06, 08:32:00 AM:
Good Lord. She's running for the second highest office in the country. I don't want her to be like my next door neighbor or that wiz kid in the cubicle down the hall who always knows something about everything. This is NOT a Frank Capra movie guys. This is the person who may be President (albeit a "spunky" President...) with more responsibilites than delivering one-liners.
Here's some food for thought: Is she ready to make the call to the president of the United States asking permission to shoot down commercial airliners (as Cheney had to do months after being elected) the next time the country is under attack?
Oh, and before you answer, remember that there are 10 weeks left before the election and the McCain campaign won't even let her sit down for an interview or field a question.
Come to think of it, that would be the exact same advice I would give my neighbor. Duh.
By 
TigerHawk, at
Sat Sep 06, 08:40:00 AM:
Well, I have two answers. First, I would be at least as comfortable with Sarah Palin making that call than, say, John Edwards. We just did not hear these questions about Edwards when he ran for VP for one reason and one reason only, and that was because he is a man. Although he may share Sarah Palin's hairdresser.
The second obvious answer is that Dick Cheney was not doing the traditional job of the vice president when he made that call. Bush and Cheney together altered the role dramatically, a point that liberals have complained about mightily until, well, one week ago.
By , at
Sat Sep 06, 08:41:00 AM:
Anon ... replace 'her' with Obama. Just what has he done to prepare him? the man is a celebrity, that's for certain, but he's a lightweight.
The idea of the elite becoming our leader is an old one. You go to the best colleges, pal up to the right people, and garner the influence to raise the capital to put your face on every place a person might see it. Craft a good story, and sell the image.
When I look in the mirror, I don't see a mixed race boy of privilege, who turned his back on his other half of family that gave him the opportunity. I don't see a man who got to college on a preference, or pals with criminals and terrorist. I don't see a man who listened while venom and hatred toward other people for twenty years, or called that type of person my spiritual leader.
I see an American that worked for everything he has. And I see that in Sarah Palin. And I see that same toughness in McCain. Do I agree with the entire platform? hell no. But do I agree and identify with more of theirs than a terrorist and plagarist? You betcha.
JT
By Purple Avenger, at
Sat Sep 06, 09:07:00 AM:
Is she ready to make the call to the president of the United States asking permission to shoot down commercial airliners
More ready than Obama I suspect.
By Simon Kenton, at
Sat Sep 06, 10:14:00 AM:
Anonymous 8:32
Google images Palin and Caribou. She knows where food comes from - you kill it, split it open, reach up in through pools of blood to free up the guts, rip them out, peel off the skin, and butcher it. She is far more likely to be ready visit destruction on a rogued airliner in midair than Obama or Edwards are. More to the point, she is far more likely to bring real moral weight to the choice -- as is McCain.
By Miss Ladybug, at
Sat Sep 06, 11:34:00 AM:
And as I noted over at Grim's Hall last night, if he can't even deal with lil' ol' Sarah Palin without calling for help, how on earth is he going to deal with Putin, the Norks, or Iran?
By Dawnfire82, at
Sat Sep 06, 12:19:00 PM:
"She's running for the second highest office in the country."
That's not really accurate, though I imagine a lot of people think that. The Speaker of the House wields far more power when it comes to running the country than the Vice President. So does the Majority Leader of the Senate. So does the Secretary of Treasury.
The Vice President has no Constitutional executive authority. At all. He(she?) cannot give anyone orders; at best, the President can delineate certain duties for the Vice President to perform and have underlings follow their instructions, but those underlings only do that because the President tells them to.
What's more, as the nation has grown the actual responsibilities of the Vice President have *shrunk*. When Sam Adams made fun of the office he held as useless, there were only 26 senators; far more likely to end up in a tie which the VP would need to break than the current 100 senators. Talk about useless.
By , at
Sat Sep 06, 12:43:00 PM:
if he can't even deal with lil' ol' Sarah Palin without calling for help...
And if Rick Davis who heads up the Mccain campaign thinks she has to be "protected" from the press how can we even determine if she's "ready to lead from day one," the standard McCain himself set for his VP pick. What? We're suppose to take his word? I thought he was tring to distinquish himself from Bush??
SCARBOROUGH: Yesterday Nicolle Wallace suggested that she was sitting right there and told Jay Carney of Time magazine ‘Sarah Palin doesn’t have to talk to you, she doesn’t’ have to talk to the press.’ … Can we expect Sarah Palin on Meet the Press and other one on one interviews throughout the course of this campaign?
DAVIS: We’re going to do whatever we think is the best to win. We have 60 days left and if we think it’s a good idea to go out there and do those shows, we’ll do them.
SCARBOROUGH: Can you avoid it? Meet the Press?
DAVIS: We can afford anything we want to do. … We’re going to do what we think is in our best interest. If that means access to the press, we’ll give it to you.
Extraordinary. What would you be saying if McCain chose Tim Pawlenty and kept him behind a cone of silence (outside of scripted speeches) because of the big bad press?
What some of you men folk are forgetting is that setting a different standard for Ms. Palin to be vetted (or any woman to be promoted) is just as sexist as asking her who will take care of the youngins'.
By Miss Ladybug, at
Sat Sep 06, 01:32:00 PM:
If you think any candidate for office can maintain a "cone of silence" and not speak with the press in this day and age, you're out of your mind. She will be getting questions, I have no doubt about it. But, I don't think the press has an exclusive right to question. She will be speaking to ordinary people who will be asking questions about what is important to them. And cameras will be rolling, I'm sure. She'll have as much of a chance to screw up and say something stupid as any other candidate. But, I think she's too smart to find herself in that position - I think she will perform famously over the next 2 months. I may end up being proven wrong, but I doubt it.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Sat Sep 06, 01:36:00 PM:
"different standard for Ms. Palin"
Tell Oprah to interview Sarah. Oprah won't.
New York Post:
"Oprah Winfrey is giving Sarah Palin the cold shoulder.
"The GOP vice-presidential nominee may have wowed delegates in Minnesota, but Winfrey decided yesterday to freeze her out - saying she had no interest in sharing her TV couch with the first-term Alaska governor."
Link:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09062008/news/nationalnews/palin_clubbed_by_oprah_snub_127736.htm
By Miss Ladybug, at
Sat Sep 06, 02:52:00 PM:
Oh, and one more thing about that "cone of silence" BS. I do think that a certain amount of time needs to be taken to brief Mrs. Palin on the McCain's position on a whole laundry list of issues, so she and McCain can present a complimentary message when they each speak and/or respond to people's questions... Everything I've heard says she's a very quick study.
By , at
Sat Sep 06, 06:25:00 PM:
How long did Kerry refuse to do interviews after the Swiftboat ads came out? How long did Obama avoid appearing on Fox News?
By , at
Sat Sep 06, 06:42:00 PM:
Jacques Fraud Kerrie still hasn't released his military records, or answered to the escalation of his 'heroism' that garnered the silver star he tossed, but didn't really (probably one is his first flip/flops).
Obama still hasn't answered (honesty) to Ayers or Rezco, and O'Reilly hasn't been tough on him. Clearly the lefty media has swept it away as lies, innuendo and baloney. Don't expect any deep probes into it.
I'm waiting for McCain, but not holding my breath, to rip him a new ass and drill him one on one about his associations with such as they... on camera, during a debate, relentlessly and needling until he goes 'black' and calls him a muthafu**a, or something along those lines. He's not been forthright.
With 60 days to go, and a media that's saying nasty stuff about Palin, they don't deserve an interview (they'll say whatever they want anyway), and her time is at a premium. They can wait until she's VP, and then work it out with her press people. If they've behaved, maybe she'll grant access.
Or at least, that'd be my plan...
JT
By , at
Sat Sep 06, 07:19:00 PM:
I''m sure the facts will do little to improve your ignorance JT but do try at least to stick the truth when you smear someone. Senator Kerry released his military records in May 2005:
On May 20, Kerry signed a document called Standard Form 180, authorizing the Navy to send an ''undeleted" copy of his ''complete military service record and medical record" to the Globe.
The lack of any substantive new material about Kerry's military career in the documents raises the question of why Kerry refused for so long to waive privacy restrictions. An earlier release of the full record might have helped his campaign because it contains a number of reports lauding his service. Indeed, one of the first actions of the group that came to be known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was to call on Kerry to sign a privacy waiver and release all of his military and medical records.
But Kerry refused, even though it turned out that the records included commendations from some of the same veterans who were criticizing him.
Next.
By TigerHawk, at
Sat Sep 06, 11:46:00 PM:
I recall that there was some argument floating around that Kerry had authorized only a partial release of his military records. Never mind. The excerpt you quote is hilarious ignorant of the most likely reason why Kerry did not release them -- they included his Yale transcript, in which it was reported that his grades were actually a tad lower than George W. Bush's. That would have been devestating, because it would have cut the guts out of the Democrats' claim that Bush is stupid (of course, he might be, but then so would Kerry be).
By , at
Sun Sep 07, 01:09:00 AM:
It has been interesting watching the flying monkeys spamming comment threads all over the place with their anti-palin talking points.
What is entertaining is the substantial frequency with which two things happen.
1. The anti-palin is proven to be wrong
2. The anti-palin talking point emphasizes an area where palin has performed better than obama.
On this thread we had the two comments below.
Oh, and before you answer, remember that there are 10 weeks left before the election and the McCain campaign won't even let her sit down for an interview or field a question.
Extraordinary. What would you be saying if McCain chose Tim Pawlenty and kept him behind a cone of silence (outside of scripted speeches) because of the big bad press?
I'd say she is doing exactly what obama has done
Obama's Waffle Controversy
Obama just doesn't give the press much access, sometimes shutting them down for weeks at a time.
TJIT
By , at
Sun Sep 07, 09:08:00 AM:
Is it not ironic that Obama, who would be incapable of receiving a top-security clearance were he serving in the military, can become President of the United States?
By JPMcT, at
Tue Sep 09, 11:48:00 PM:
Palin not giving interviews???
Which recent interview should we not tell "Anonymous" about...The CNBC, the people, The upcoming ABC Gibson interview...
Perhaps they are doing well enough just allowing the mainstream media to dig Obama's grave for them...theat they really don't NEED to do interviews every day...but there are SEVERAL recent interviews out there (assuming you can use Google)...and they are all pretty remarkable. Palin has more of substance to say about Energy Policy in the 20 minute CNBC interview from Aug 30th than I have heard from the entire Democrat Congress AND Obama/Biden put together!!!
