NYT's Douthat strains to defend Palin
July 06, 2009 10:24 am ET by Jamison Foser
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat seems to think that if only Sarah Palin had declined the opportunity to run for Vice President last year, she'd be a widely popular and problem-free governor:
Had she refused John McCain, Palin would still be a popular female governor in a Republican Party starved for future stars. Her scandals would be the stuff of local politics, her daughter's pregnancy a minor story in the Lower 48, her son Trig's parentage a nonissue even for conspiracy theorists. There would still be plenty of time to ease into the national spotlight, to bone up on the issues, and to craft a persona more appealing than the Mrs. Spiro Agnew role the McCain campaign assigned to her.
This is absurdly generous.
It seems quite clear that Sarah Palin's problem isn't that she didn't have time to "bone up on the issues," it's that she has a shocking disregard for the truth. Surely she didn't need to "bone up on" whether she had actually rejected funding for the "Bridge to Nowhere"? That isn't some obscure federal program no governor could be expected to be familiar with; that's her own action. And what Sarah Palin repeatedly said about it was very, very false. That wasn't the result of insufficient time to study, that was a result of insufficient appreciation for the truth, and it extends to many of the other comments that got her in trouble.
Her inability to name a newspaper that she read wasn't a result of a lack of cramming time, either. And by now, it is quite clear that Palin's problem was less that she lacked the time to prepare than that she has a George W. Bush-esque overly simplistic approach to policy.
As for the Mrs. Spiro Agnew role, Ross Douthat appears to be the last person in America who doesn't realize that Palin embraces that role.
More Douthat:
And now, seemingly, it's over. Oh, maybe not forever: she's only 45, young enough (and, yes, talented enough) to have a second act. But last Friday's bizarre, rambling resignation speech should take her off the political map for the duration of the Obama era.
What, exactly, does it mean to say that Palin is "talented enough," particularly coming so soon after her bizarre, rambling, shaky, incoherent, internally inconsistent speech in which she quit the governorship with 18 months to go for unspecified reasons? Is that what a "talented" politician does?
Douthat:
Palin's popularity has as much to do with class as it does with ideology. ... Sarah Palin represents the democratic ideal - that anyone can grow up to be a great success story without graduating from Columbia and Harvard.
This ideal has had a tough 10 months. It's been tarnished by Palin herself, obviously. With her missteps, scandals, dreadful interviews and self-pitying monologues, she's botched an essential democratic role - the ordinary citizen who takes on the elites, the up-by-your-bootstraps role embodied by politicians from Andrew Jackson down to Harry Truman.
Let's keep in mind that the way Sarah Palin represents the democratic ideal and takes on the elites is by offering the elites massive tax cuts at the expense of those trying to lift themselves up by their bootstraps, shall we?
Douthat then offers up a selective appraisal of Palin's record for the purposes of portraying it as more moderate than it is. Douthat denies that she "inject[ed] creationism into public schools," but omits that she supports doing so (actual Palin quote: "Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both.") Douthat writes, "Palin did not insist on abstinence-only sex education," but forgets to mention that she initially supported such programs. Maybe her ability to take both sides of issues like creationism and abstinence-only education is what Douthat meant by "talented enough"?
Left unmentioned: Palin's belief that the Iraq war is a "task from God."
The other right-wing media mogul you should worry about
Palin's book and Obama's bow: a media week to forget
Media Matters: The Palin chronicles
(My proofreading offer still stands...)
If she quit because of the criticism thrown in her direction for her actions as governor, wait until she sees what gets flung in her direction as a free-lance talking head, where anything is fair game.
Palin is absolutely adored by the media. They love it when she prattles on about the mainstream media.
Plus, and this her ace-in-the-hole: she knows where the terrorists are! Hell, she can see right over there! This is a huge advantage to her on national security.
Democrats would be advised not to take her lightly.
She quit in the middle of her term.
Yup. Precisely. The only thing that she has completed on her resume is mayor of a tiny remote city. Big deal....hardly presidential material.
Audra BTW is the vice chair of the young republicans. She currently is the most likely to be elected to the head chair of the group. Any bets she will still get the nod?
Eric sounds exactly like our teabagging trolls that frequent us on a daily basis.
"lol"
Idiots.
I wonder if she could see the Obama-Medvedev meetings from her house?
(And wouldn't Glenn and Bill and Sean be thrilled to have that kind of competition.)
That would be the funniest half hour on Cable.
The Palin report! Don't you know...
She could interview Putin
Palin v. Putin
Wait- Palin represents the American dream, that anyone can become President, but Obama DOESN'T?
Succeeding in America as a fatherless, mixed race kid with a foreign sounding name somehow isn't a representaion of the "democratic ideal" because he was smart enough to get into the Ivy League?
According to Douthat, if you succeed, AND you're an idiot, that is now the real American story. So the right is now openly championing the average rather than the exceptional.
First, let me point out that Douthat is a partisan Republican who writes a column for the New York Times. Not that there's anything wrong with that, except that it gives the lie to the conservative meme about the "liberal New York Times" being totally arrayed against Republicans and conservatives.
Second, let me say how far off base this guy is.
He thinks Palin's kids went through "the tabloid wringer?" Well, when conservatives apologize for
Palin's political record was distorted? When conservatives acknowledge the wrongness of this and this and this, I'll consider the possibility that Palin wasn't treated fairly.
Palin's faith was parodied? When Dotuhat and others of his political stripe admit that they were wrong to do this and this and this, I'll rethink my position on whether Palin got a fair shake.
He thinks Palin was mocked for her appearance and femininity? I'll remind him of this and this and this. Take these back, and I'll review my thoughts on how Palin was dealt with.
Bottom line -- you can't accuse someone of "palling around with domestic terrorists" and then claim that you've been victimized.
Time to let her fade away.
She is "The Anti-Christ".
No more, no less, and this is just the next step in her plans for world domination.
So, the next time one of your friends mentions that we are in the "End Times", you can nod your head knowingly because we have seen the first of the signs.
"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God. That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan."
She wasn't declaring that the war was a task from God. She was saying that people should pray THAT it is a task from God as part of His plan. It's the difference between praying you pass a test or that passing your test is in accordance with God's will.
Also, the idea that she once supported abstinence-only sex education to the exclusion of all others is also tenuous, at best.
Let's review. To the question,
"Q: Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?"
She answered,
"SP: Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support."
So, we know she supported abstinence education and opposed school-based clinics and the DISTRIBUTION of contraceptives under the umbrella of "explict" sex-ed.
Weeks after answering the aforementioned issues survey, however, Palin said:
“Explicit means explicit,” she said. “No, I’m pro-contraception, and I think kids who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues. So I am not anti-contraception. But, yeah, abstinence is another alternative that should be discussed with kids. I don’t have a problem with that. That doesn’t scare me, so it’s something I would support also.”
In fact, she called called discussions of condoms “relatively benign.”
http://www.dailysource.org/special/palin/199
She is now entering into a situation where she can actually make the money she needs to pay her attorneys. She's saving Alaska a great amount of resources while maintaining integrity.
Sure - the stigma of being a "quitter" will haunt her. Not because of the truth behind it, but because of the reporting of it.
Apparently, governing is "hard work", and since she has the attention span of a gnat (not unlike Dubya), she wanted to do something else to maintain her fleeting fame.
I predict her "higher calling" will be a sleezy, slef-pitying, Oprah type show for wingnuts - that's where God is telling her to go... this month, anyway.