It’s an axiom of American politics that everything that happens is good news for conservatives. Therefore, since the Palin book tour is happening, the Palin book tour is good news for conservatives.
And yet, aside from the Weekly Standard whackjobs, I haven’t hear anyone say that Palinpalooza is good news for conservatives. Not Halperin. Not Ambinder. Not the Politico. And the Weekly Standard’s line is more just “she pisses liberals off, and that is good” than any kind of argument that she represents good news for conservatives.
Can anyone think of any argument that prolonged exposure to Sarah Palin is good for conservativism? I can’t think of any. There’s got to be some, given that, it is in fact good news for conservatives since it is happening.
Update. I have to admit, Rich Lowry has come up with the most convincing argument I’ve heard yet that Republicans can use her to keep the teabaggers from forming a third party. It’s still not that convincing because I don’t believe the teabaggers will from a real third party (though they may run challenges in states with third-party infrastructure).
Her supporters identify with her populist, unaffected vibe and tend to be disaffected with politics as usual — they’re Palin Perotistas. A drastic image makeover would only drive them away.
Republicans need these voters more than ever given the roiling grassroots revolt against Obama’s governance. Without them, they can’t get a majority; they’d be doomed if they were ever to slide into a splinter party. If Palin is their voice and channels their energy productively, she’s part of the Republican answer to Obama, no matter what presidential politics ultimately holds for her. There’s an upside to rogue.
MikeJ
She makes everybody else look less stupid by comparison?
valdivia
MikeJ this was exactly Massie’s argument (quotes at TNR) that this is great news for Romney and guarantees him the election or something like that.
Demo Woman
We are now all Sully. She is a f**king idiot and as much as I would like to leave her alone, she decided to be on my tv 24/7.
valdivia
sort of on topic–Sulli has been silent since 4 pm reading the book. Has he been rogued to death? Is this is why it is good news for conservatives cause it caused Andrew’s head to ‘splode?
Molly
Her negative outweighs her positive, but I know a few women who have “come out” as conservatives because of her. Some of them identify with her and consider her a wonderful representative for what they stand for.
She’s drawn conservative women into affiliating with her and becoming politically active as a result. But, her negatives to the conservative movement far outweigh that positive.
L. Ron Obama
I think this would be a good post to christen the “Iatropic Excitement” tag.
DougJ
I think this would be a good post to christen the “Iatropic Excitement” tag.
I really should be using that expression more. I’ve been lagging.
Morbo
Helps them get it up again? Aside from that, I’m stumped.
—
Banner ad for Grassroots Nation:
1. Search
-Tea Parties
-912 Project
-Campaign for Liberty
-Libertarians
-Joh Birch Society
-And Many More
2. Get in spaceship
3. Visit Sun
If only… if only…
Dave
It’s good for the handful of actual conservatives left b/c Palin’s idiocy exposes the GOP for the backwash it has become.
Max
Can we have Palin-free Wednesday?
TR
That’s pretty much their reasoning for everything, right?
beltane
Yes, Sarah Palin pisses me off. Mosquitoes also piss me off. So do slugs and Japanese beetles. Maybe the Republicans should nominate one of those giant, yucky cockroaches in 2012; that would really piss people off.
Brick Oven Bill
Sexists. All of you.
Left Coast Tom
@Max: I’d like a Palin-free 2010. 2011. 2012. 2013. And so on. Also.
AngusTheGodOfMeat
Well, I’m a liberal, and I am not pissed off. The more Palin there is out there, the better for my side, that’s the way I figure it.
When she was picked to be McCain’s running mate, I said that the election was sealed for Obama. As far as I am concerned, nothing has changed to alter that dynamic.
NutellaonToast
Aw, does BoB have sand in his vagina?
Mark S.
I like this new short and sweet BoB. Less scrolling.
beltane
@valdivia: He’s either checking out the Levi pictures or analyzing the Schmidt emails that were leaked out today. But, yes, whenever he goes silent like this I always worry that a Palinista has offed him.
Corner Stone
@Brick Oven Bill:
Why, *thank you* my good man!
Corner Stone
@NutellaonToast: God I hate it when that happens.
Petra
Little Johnny Ziegler believes that if every Republican were to read this book, then Palin would win the 2012 primary in a landslide!
Whoa, down boy!
valdivia
@beltane:
LOL, offed by a Palinista.
I was thinking more that his brain overloaded on Palin and roguisms. I don’t know how anyone can read that, I has a brain hurt just reading second hand accounts of the book.
Alex S.
@valdivia:
Unfortunately, she makes Mike Huckabee look like a sane alternative. And he had the best poll numbers against Obama already. This will make it even harder for the republican establishment to push their own candidate (Romney) at the expense of Huckabee.
Corner Stone
@AngusTheGodOfMeat:
Maybe not really equivalent, but when Gore picked Lieberman I told one and all that he had just lost the election.
Church Lady
Why are you fixating on Sarah Palin? Her claim to fame is that the was the Vice Presidential candidate on a losing campaign. Seriously, who cares whether she is good news or bad news for conservatives? Do you think that the average voter, worried about so much, gives a shit about what Sarah Palin, ex-Governor of Alaska and ex-Vice Presidential candidate, thinks about anything?
The only people who care about what Sarah Palin has to say are those that make a livng talking about it. The rest of us just don’t care.
jcricket
@Molly : This is basically true of everything the GOP does these days. A bunch of formerly apathetic groups are now really excited to vote GOP.
Combined with how “excited” they are and our media dynamic (24/7 news shows, horse races, Villager-bias) and it appears the GOP has tapped into all this new-found voter angst about the Democrats. Throw in the undemocratic nature of the Senate and Democrats own bias for being weak-willed losers, and everyone gets all a flutter about Sarah Palin winning a few converts.
As you said, the negatives to the Palin/Teabagger/Republican Purge approach far outweigh the positives.
The national and overall polls tell a different story. With the exception of the few red states that are getting redder, people are fleeing the GOP. They may not (do not) like the Democrats, but Republican party “identification” and party approval are at all-time lows (like 30-40 year lows).
So it’s basically up to Democrats to take advantage of this, or lose.
dfd
I think she lowers expectations across the board when you look at prospective 2012 candidates. Whoever the eventual nominee is, they’ll appear infinitely more qualified than they would have been otherwise.
valdivia
@Alex S.:
Yeah Huckabee scares me but if he and her have to go to war with each other in a primary watch out GOP, one will emerge the loser (Palin) and the other one will be seen as mean and vicious.
I think Larison made a good case that 2012 would have the GOP nominating their own Kerry (he thinks is Romney) and losing.
Splitting Image
The Republicans are currently split into several factions (evangelicals, Mormons, libertarians, neocons, plutocrats, etc.) jockeying for position. Their only hope of winning back the White House is to unite those factions behind a single person.
So far they have made no progress in finding such a person, and if they fail to do so, whoever does win the nomination in 2012 will go down to defeat and bring his faction with him. Worse, if health care goes through and the economy starts to really recover, Obama will crush the Republican nominee even if he or she can unite the party.
In either of those situations, the Republicans will need a sacrificial lamb. Someone whose Landon-slide defeat will not be a loss to any of the Republicans’ major factions.
Any ideas who that sacrificial lamb is going to be?
gf120581
Someone should check up on Rich Lowry. I still want to know if he’s seeing “starbursts” from Palin, or if the crush is over.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
Sarah induces an iatropic excitement in Republicans, especially those who survive on a daily regimen of nitroglycerin tablets and boner pills.
But will the insurance companies cover this?
scarshapedstar
Bad news for conservatives: good news for conservatives?
DougJ
The only people who care about what Sarah Palin has to say are those that make a livng talking about it. The rest of us just don’t care.
I’m not sure that’s true. There are people out there who really like her. They’re just a small proportion of the population, that’s all.
DougJ
I am not pissed off.
That’s a first.
Bubblegum Tate
She fires up the base?
Yeah, I got nuthin’.
valdivia
I had no clue Gawker does excellent political analysis!
valdivia
@gf120581:
Ask and you shall receive!
And btw just linking to that made me want to throw up.
Keith G
It does hurt the GOP in at least one real way though and I imagine they know it.
Lately the approved storyline is that the Dems are just too incompetent to get HCR reform done right, if at all. One step forward is followed by two back. The noise machine, industry and the villagers all perform their parts and a negative feedback vortex is formed and fed.
Palin is this week’s news cycle and next week will feature Levi dropping trou. The Dem leadership have a chance now to quietly get their act together and hammer out the details of a plan that might work.
Will they?
Alex S.
@valdivia:
True. A primary battle between Palin and Huckabee would be a conservative catastrophe. In fact, they’re so similar on policy issues they have to attack each other on personal issues… It seems that Huckabee, if Palin actually runs for president, will have to destroy her before the primary season.
I wonder if Pawlenty will be able to steal any votes from Romney, but I guess not. However Romney’s chances would sink if the Republicans decided to make a repeal of the democratic health-care reform their core message in 2012…. Jesus, it looks like total disarray…
Skepticat
She doesn’t piss me off, I think she’s extremely entertaining in a Three Stooges kind of way.
Jason
Her insane ramblings will drive liberals nuts, and by the time 2012 comes around all the all be in rooms with walls made of Sealy Posturepedics and white canvas “hug-me” jackets mumbling about “We are all Mayans now”.
So…the voters in the 2012 election will be people that don’t pay attention to politics and conservatives (since we’ll all be locked up). GOOD NEWS FOR CONSERVATIVES!
Shygetz
Sarah Palin is making a national ass out of herself three years ahead of the next Presidential election, ensuring that she will not be able to mount a serious campaign in 2012.
This is truly good news for conservatives.
valdivia
@Alex S.:
well Pawlenty is getting Romney’s flippping on all issues disedase so who knows what they would be competing for? If Palin and Huckabee are at each other’s throats the argument seems to be that Romney can be himself and look competent but you are very right that with healthcare being the issue that is a killer for him.
Did any of you catch the Chuck Todd comment about Huntsman in China? He asked him what he thought of Republicans at home and he said he was happy to be in China serving the country, that it was not a good time to be a Republican and thought the Palinpalooza is insanity. Heh. Obama is a genius for sending this guy away. At least that guarantees one sane republican will survive the Sarahgeddon.
Matt
People seem to forget about W. He was as least as incompetent as Palin. He had run every company he owned into the ground even when he was fronted by his family or Bandar. I was in Texas when he was running the show. Everyone knew he was being prepped for the White House and the big money players were behind it. They like easy fools, they are so much easier to control. I told everyone I knew in 1998 that Shrub was going to be President, and everyone laughed.
I would not be suprised at all if Palin runs in 2012, and if the economy doesn’t improve, we are still stuck in two wars, and anything else goes bad, she could easily end up with her as president.
charles johnson
“The case for good news
by DougJ
It’s an axiom of American politics that everything that happens is good news for conservatives. Therefore, since the Palin book tour is happening, the Palin book tour is good news for conservatives.”
That may be an axiom at Balloon Juice, but not out in the reality-based community.
#
More BAD NEWS For The REPUBLICANS – Politics and Other …
The economy is starting to pick up and the future looks bright! And we have not even spent half the stimulus money that the Republicans said would not.
http://www.city-data.com/…/808814-more-bad-news-republicans.html – Cached –
#
Bad news for Kentucky Republicans – The Scorecard – POLITICO.com
Jul 7, 2009 … Bad news for Kentucky Republicans. This double-dose of breaking news – Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) doesn’t expect to post strong fundraising …
http://www.politico.com/…/Bad_news_for_Kentucky_Republicans.html – Cached – Similar –
#
Sanford Confession Is More Bad News for Republicans – NYTimes.com
Jun 25, 2009 … The confession of an affair by Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina was the second in little more than a week from a Republican presidential …
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/us/25repubs.html – Similar –
#
SFGate: Politics Blog : New registration numbers are bad news for …
Mar 19, 2009 … The newest voter registration numbers contain more bad news for California Republicans, who find their membership slipping even as the …
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?blogid... – Cached –
#
Bad News for Republicans | Utah Policy
Oct 20, 2009 … Bad News for Republicans. By Bryan Schott. A new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that the number of Americans who identify themselves as …
utahpolicy.com/featured_article/bad-news-republicans – Cached –
#
The Rothenberg Political Report: Bad News Comes Early for Senate …
Jan 20, 2009 … Bad News Comes Early for Senate Republicans. By Nathan L. Gonzales The 2010 election cycle is just a couple months old, and Senate …
rothenbergpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/…/bad-news-comes-early-for-senate.html – Cached – Similar –
#
SFGate: Politics Blog : New registration numbers are bad news for …
New registration numbers are bad news for Republicans … The newest voter registration numbers contain more bad news for California Republicans, …
http://www.sfchron.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?blogid... – Cached –
valdivia
DougJ on the update–the problem with the Lowry assessment is that it assumes that Palin will play the game the Party wants her to play. If you read her ‘interview’ with Erick son of Erick at RedState it is clear she wants what she wants in terms of political power damn the party. She does not want to be the toll by which the Republicans control the teabaggers. They will control the party, which is bad news for them all around.
gbear
The teabaggers will just start shooting people before they even consider forming a third party.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@valdivia: That was good.
Wile E. Quixote
@DougJ
Chicks dig the “Iatropic Excitement” tag. Just remember, “Iatropic Excitement: It gets the bitchez!”
soonergrunt
@Molly:
How very sad. Do these women have any self esteem?
ellaesther
Re: the update, this makes me think of Israel/Palestine.
Because everything makes me think of Israel/Palestine, but hear me out.
What Israel thinks is good for it (read: “What the GOP thinks is good for it”) will actually prove very BAD for it, in the end.
Israel wants to be as fucking bellicose and rejectionist as it wants to be, and have the American government lie down and take it. This is what we have long given them (though let’s see what Obama does in the face of the latest blatant provocation… fingers crossed…) — BUT IT IS BAD FOR ISRAEL. It will lead to Israel’s ruination.
Similarly (no, really!), the GOP wants to hold on to the teabaggers by any means necessary, and maybe Palin helps them with that — BUT IT IS BAD FOR THE GOP. Because the teabaggers will gut that party and leave the entire right wing of the country bloodied and voiceless. And the Democrats will be overcome with hubris and shit will prevail, the end.
Fucking hell I hate the GOP.
DougJ
DougJ on the update—the problem with the Lowry assessment is that it assumes that Palin will play the game the Party wants her to play. If you read her ‘interview’ with Erick son of Erick at RedState it is clear she wants what she wants in terms of political power damn the party. She does not want to be the toll by which the Republicans control the teabaggers. They will control the party, which is bad news for them all around.
True. But if they can keep her in the party, then maybe that is better news than the formation of a third party.
I’m not saying he’s right, just that it might possibly make sense if you look at it the right way.
Brian J
So now Palin is playing something of a kingmaker role in the party? That makes sense, I guess. But does realize where her power lies, or will she try to be the king instead of the one who makes someone else the king? Barring some sort of complete meltdown from the Democrats, I don’t think she can win a presidential campaign. But she can, I think, rally her troops towards working for someone else. A relative moderate in the party who kisses her ass enough could find success in a primary and then a general election, if earning her support doesn’t require him to throw away any potential appeal to anyone outside of the base of the party. But this would mean that they need to work with a moderate, instead of chasing him out of the party.
valdivia
@DougJ:
yep I see the point I guess I just think the problem with making a fetish of going rogue as she has is that it never ends and she will never subsume her will to sacrifice her ambitions for those of the party. But I could be wrong.
Steerpike
Palin benefits the GOP the same way the Westboro Baptist Church benefits “mainstream” evangelical Christians. By planting the flag of extremism so incredibly far out, it makes the rest of them look “moderate” by comparison. She has the effect of ramming the Overton Window farther and farther to the right, which is undeniably good news for the GOP.
kommrade reproductive vigor
Sure, in the same way amputation is good for someone with gas gangrene.
Left Coast Tom
@charles johnson:
You’re not from around here, are you?
beltane
@valdivia: If you look the entirety of her career, it is obvious that she is in this for herself and herself only. Palin has a track record of backstabbing the Alaska GOP. Her trashing of the McCain campaign shows that she has not changed her treacherous ways one bit.
jrosen
I’m still mystified why anyone thinks this empty pants-suit is a “conservative” ; or any of the rest of the wingnuttery. They are at best radicals whose whole program is simply resentment.
AngusTheGodOfMeat
@Corner Stone:
Heh. I detest Lieberman so much, I am almost glad that Gore lost.
Okay, not quite, but almost.
Wile E. Quixote
@Splitting Image
I want a full on talibangical v. Mormon holy war in the GOP. I want Romney to make a run in 2012 so we can all help sabotage him by sending copies of The Mormon Murders and Under the Banner of Heaven to every wingnut south of the Mason Dixon line. Dial up the crazy and the hate to 11 and get Mike Huckabee to go on national TV and say that Mormons aren’t really Christians but instead are followers of a cult that worships Ba’al.
The Huckabee campaign literature will be drawn by Jack Chick and will explain that Catholics aren’t Christians either.
Martin
Well, this really is good news for Republicans if Palin can take herself out of the running for 2012. The sane folks in the party probably think this is the greatest thing ever.
The problem they have is that they can’t ignore Palin’s appeal with their strongest base, and the GOP has nobody that I can see who can pull the pieces together.
AngusTheGodOfMeat
@DougJ:
Only on your threads.
:)
valdivia
@beltane:
yep. Because I trust Mudflats I have been reading her summary of each chapter of the book (2 so far) and you can see this exact dynamic in her narrative of her career. she really thinks she can win on her own against everyone. And that when she fails it is only because of others.
Anne Laurie
@Church Lady:
So, now we have the official NSA position on Sarah Palin, FWIW.
valdivia
I am palined out! (is this thing contagious? I blame Sulli) and will go to bed with a good book.
night y’all.
Joel
@DougJ: i agree with this; palin is immensely popular with her sect. i think this – not her policy positions – is something to keep in mind. populism is a treacherous foe.
ellaesther
@jrosen: You’re absolutely right, of course.
We should start just calling them the Resentment Movement.
jl
The real delusion in the Weekly Standard drivel is here:
“given the roiling grassroots revolt against Obama’s governance.”
There is severe grassroots dissatisfaction with Obama, but the wingnuts are mistaken when they think all the dissatisfaction is from the conservative end.
Let’s look at the ‘roiling grassroots revolt’:
I see a poll that 66% of population still support public option, and think it is most important part of health reform. Most people do not want a big escalation in Afghanistan. 53% still support Obama in the midst of the worst post-war recession.
So Palin will babble, Romney will sell out and start dumping big fresh ones on his own health care reform that has almost 80% support in MA, Thune and Huckabee will audition for Palin’s fake husband for a really sexy pair in 2012 (Huckabee will have to lose weight, and Thune will have to up the tan and decrease the chap). Not sure what Pawlenty will do, commenters above say he is the pace car for the race to the right.
The Democrats will have to really mush to the middle in a confused and cowardly display of a lack of leadership. They would blow it in any normal time. I think the GOP will loon out faster than the Democrats will stick their hands up their asses. It will be close though.
wag
David Frum quoting a group of ignorant young conservatives that he was debating-
I don’t agree with Frum very often, but I generally respect him for his honesty and his ability to see the fault on both sides of the political spectrum.
geg6
I cannot take this woman seriously. She lies about everything, even things that don’t really matter until we find out she’s lied about them. She is an obvious grifter and only wants “titles” (as she so charmingly calls political offices) but none of the responsibility that come with them. She knows nothing and cares less than nothing about policy. She is deeply hypocritical and blatantly attention whoring at every turn. She is shallow, vain, and deeply flawed in character. She is like W’s slower but more mercenary younger sister. I hope she’s around a good long time and that she keeps up her efforts to build her power base in the GOP. Those fuckers need another 40 years in the wilderness to contemplate their crimes against humanity and Sarah could be just the ticket for that.
kommrade reproductive vigor
@jrosen: This.
And that’s what sucks for any old-school conservatives who are still lurking around the edges of their party, hoping to survive the next purity purge. (“You! The red in the stripes of your flag lapel pin aren’t of the approved color of red! UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN!)
But it’s not like old school cons went to bed one night and woke up to find conservative had become a watch word for pitching fits about behavior that harms no one while defending behavior that harms tons of people.
So. Too fucking bad.
But the nice thing about radicals is they’re happiest when they’re fighting with fellow radicals about who is the most radical, leaving the rest of us to get on with things.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Brick Oven Bill:
Fuck off – speaking as a female of course.
geg6
Litlebritdifrnt@71: All I saw was BOB lovin’ him some pie, but I saw your comment and said to myself, well hell, I can get behind that. Speaking as a woman, of course. LOL
Corner Stone
I’ve never really liked Joe Biden but he’s pretty damn good on Daily Show tonight.
Thomas
I don’t know. People will always look hard at the alternative if things are shitty enough, but Palin hasn’t yet figured out how to come across as even mildly competent. I could see the GOP getting Pawlenty or even Mittens in there but if Palin is the nominee and she still sounds as if she has no clue what she is talking about, I can’t see people wanting to go with her if the country is in a crisis mentality.
Litlebritdifrnt
@geg6:
Ditto – she is when you boil it down a grifter, she is out for the money, and that is it, nothing else, money, she will do anything and everything for it, when her 15 minutes on the political stage are up look for a spread in Playboy, money people, money, that is all she is about.
Bubblegum Tate
@beltane:
Oh, come come now. That’s just her bein’ all mavericky and takin’ on her own party. You know, like a maverick.
demimondian
@geg6: All the facts you state are true, I think.
But they’re irrelevant. Face it, other than being far more attractive than I am, there’s no way in which Gov. Palin can threaten me. She is my inferior in every way that matters.
That means I can identify with her! To Hell with Obama, that prissy, overbearing, posing, to-good-to-be-true moralizing punk! I’m going for the real thing, starbursts and all!
Corner Stone
If you could be any male medium-strength celebrity, could you pick anyone better than Hank Azaria?
All that Helen Hunt mess to the side, wouldn’t it be pretty fucking strong to be Hank?
What a damn resume for a non-A lister.
Liberty60
@wag:
I read and commented on that thread- which is precisely why the Republicans are still brain-dead.
Unllike Reagan or Goldwater, they don’t want to limit government- they reflexively want to eliminate it.
Which makes it impossible to govern- they want a tiny limited government, with a Trillion dollar per year military, that somehow leads a superpower nation in a globalized interconnected economy.
Sarah Palin is not an anomaly- she is filling the intellectual leadership vacuum with personality and ethnic resentment.
gbear
The beauty of the situation is that even if Pawlenty or Mittens get the nod, Sarah is going to be mouthing off in the media and her followers will be frothing. Her perky and vindictive whackiness is going to make it very clear that neither Pawlenty or Mittens have an original or creative though in his head.
gbear
I miss edit.
geg6
gbear@80: Yes. This. Which is why I love her. ;-)
Litlebritdifrnt
The way the republican party is going right now I would say that Huckabee is a shoe in for the repub nom come 2012. And if he runs on the “fair tax” platform I might even consider supporting him.
Litlebritdifrnt
Bible Spice was sent from the FSM to help democrats. There can be no other explanation.
Martin
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Well, I’m not entirely sure about that. Right now, I think that’s definitely the case as it sounds as though they’re in deep financial trouble what with the various lawsuits and such. I always suspected that she resigned in order to clear that debt and not incur any more, which is why the book showed up so quickly.
But before all of this, I don’t think grifter describes her. She’s a narcissist, and if money is what she needs, she’ll screw anyone over for money, if power is what she needs, she’ll screw anyone over for power. That’s not terribly exceptional in DC, nor is it limited to one party or another, but politicians are usually pretty good at hiding it on their way up. That is what’s exceptional about Palin – she’s terrible at hiding it.
gizmo
Palin is good for conservatives because she makes people like Newt Gingrich look sane and sober.
demimondian
@Litlebritdifrnt: Please, God, don’t say that!
Look, I lived in Arkansas for a long time, and my wife’s roots there go back generations. I know my Southern fried pols, and Huckabee scares me. It’s my opinion that the only significant difference between him and Palin in religious issues is that he’s sincere and tries to actually live by what he believes, unlike her. A Huckabee presidency would be everything the Bush presidency would have been if Dubya hadn’t surrounded himself with enablers — massively effective at achieving the goals he set out for himself.
Lavocat
Palin hails from the Reagan School of Windbaggery, where everything looks and sounds so great and so easy (until put into practice, at which point it can be blamed on the Democrats) and where it’s always morning in America. And, like Reagan, she believes in an ends-justifies-the-means kind of fascism-lite, backed up by an empty, cornball rhetoric. Don’t let pesky things like laws get in the way of encouraging the people to bask in the glow of feel-good jingoism and faux-Rockwell sentimentality.
She is just the latest pretty face of an otherwise ugly (in every respect) nativism that likes to rear its head whenever progressivism (Democrats) is ascendant or when there is a real chance to use fear (xenophobia or warmongering or financial chaos anyone?) to bludgeon the populace into line.
As much as I dislike her and think that most people will see her for the all-around lightweight that she obviously is, one underestimates one’s adversary at one’s peril, especially in erratic and anxious times like these. These are the kinds of times in which fascism always finds fertile soil.
Palin is simply mindless nativism that is easy on the eyes.
And the traditional media is consolidated and controlled by the elites that love the status quo. They see Palin for the convenient pawn that she is, through whom they can advance their agenda.
I think the only way to combat Palin and all of the Palin wannabees waiting in the wings is 1) take her deadly seriously, 2) confront her with cold, hard facts, and 3) call her out on each and every one of her lies. Once she gets caught up in her endless litany of lies, it’s all over.
jl
GOPer Rep from Utah thinks Carrie Prejean (the solo video sexytime lady, erstwhile beauty queen and wingnut star who has ‘issues’ with various kinds of legal equity regarding sexual-preference)…
…would make a good candidate for political office.
Srsly.
[Carrie] ” has the ability to draw crowds and if she has a strong message to go with that, who knows what she can do? She has star power which can open doors.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/17/chaffetz-prejean/
This must be a spoof. I have to believe there is a good chance Thinkprogress is being pnkd.
Please please please keep it up GOP. The sane among us are counting on your help. If Prejean running for office would be ‘good for Republicans’ I want lots of good news.
Maybe next they will suggest a reality show so Palin and Prejean could duke it out to be pres candidates. And some manly tanned GOP loons in orange-face would duke it out to be their fake political husbands. Prejean and Thune in 2012! Good news for Republicans.
Martin
@Litlebritdifrnt:
You’d support the Fair Tax? Are you mad?
Midnight Marauder
@DougJ:
Well…?
Corner Stone
The rebuttal-non-rebuttal by Nicolle Wallace as quoted by the Maddow show – really not very strong and not believable.
Those were some of the worst responses I’ve ever seen.
kay
@Corner Stone:
I believe John McCain has instituted a gag order. It’s circle the wagons time.
Violet
@Martin:
She’s not a grifter. She’s a celebrity. She’s famous for being famous. She just wants to show up and be paid to do so. She wants nothing to do with work. She’d be happy to accept some title, but don’t ask her to stick around when things get tough. She’ll be on to the next place that will pay her.
inkadu
Good try, Lowry.
He’d be right if the biggest threat from teabaggers was a third party. It’s not. It’s making the Republican party look like clowns. If Sarah Palin can be the first clown out of the Republican Party car, it’s not a plus.
arguingwithsignposts
@NutellaonToast: Okay, that made me laugh out loud in a dark apt. I’m sure my neighbors think me strange.
Otherwise, Rich Lowry is an idiot. When your main argument for someone is “well, she’s crazy in the party, so she keeps our 27 percent together,” you got nuthin’.
Midnight Marauder
In all seriousness, my favorite moment (if you will) of the Sarah Palin Era is the “of course, it wouldn’t have worked any other way” element of her book being 5 chapters. I laugh to myself every time I think about that. 5 chapters? I am laughing right now. As I type this, I am LOLlerskating all over the place.
A vice presidential candidate and aspiring presidential candidate wrote a book that was 5 chapters long.
The helicopters are indeed laughing tonight.
arguingwithsignposts
@Matt:
so was I. And what people forget is that he was at least semi-competent as governor (i.e., he didn’t blow anything up) and served a full term. W. is nowhere near as much of an idiot as Palin. I’m sorry, but that dog won’t hunt, to borrow a phrase from Jack Brooks, D-TX.
Robert Waldmann
Lowry has a semi hemi demi quasi convincing argument, but “Palin Perotistas” is an offence against language and history. It suspect that Lowry doesn’t know that Perot enthusiasts were called Perotistas as a reference to Juan Peron enthusiasts who were called and called themselves Peronistas.
“Palinista” already implies populism, nationalism, resentment and other than complete devotion to Democracy (Peron was removed by a coup after winning an election, but he first came to power through a coup).
Oh and he doesn’t want to compare Palin to either Eva or Isabel Peron.
Corner Stone
@kay: I disagree. McCain is done running for nationwide elected office. he doesn’t have the snap to pull anyone’s horns in.
They may or may not be circling the wagons but IMO there’s going to be a lot of CYA and CYA-bustin’ going on moving forward.
And that can only be good for Republicans.
*And no matter what the real deal here is – someone needs to tell Nicolle to either bring it, or stay the F home cause that was some damn weak sauce.
mclaren
@geg6:
Which makes her a perfect fit for Washington D.C. politics! Senator Palin, your limousine is ready…
arguingwithsignposts
Listening to Rachel Maddow right now. I agree with Frank Schaeffer. This biblical language (Psalm 109:8) is frightening, and, quite frankly, sad. Jesus wept. And I don’t know how you can stop these crazy ass fuckers. Homegrown terrorists are what they are.
eyelessgame
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There is nothing about Sarah Palin that disqualifies her from the presidency, any more than Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Dan Quayle, or George W. Bush. Republicans have run an unbroken stream of Chauncey Gardiners for the White House (or veep) for thirty years, treating every dribbled bit of babble as if it were profoundly nuanced, and got media to go along with it.
There is nothing dumber about Sarah Palin than there was about either Ronald Reagan or Dubya. I am serious. This woman could easily be our next president.
Yutsano
This biblical language (Psalm 109:8) is frightening, and, quite frankly, sad.
Didn’t we cover this like a few posts back?
RandomChick
I wonder what Levi really has up his sleeve.
Entertainment Tonight watched the Oprah interview with him to get his first-hand reactions.
AND
arguingwithsignposts
@Yutsano:
I must have missed that. there have been so many threads to keep up with. if so, my apologies.
gwangung
@RandomChick: Meh. Sounds like whistlin’ past the graveyard. It’s likely his bark is worse than his bite.
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: It was an observation, not a criticism. If anything it shows just how monolithic their memes have become.
RandomChick
One more (not even including when he says she is disgusting)
Now granted, ET is not the most reliable news source. However, given our unfortunate MSM, it actually rates about even with most “respectable and serious” (TM) outlets nowadays.
arguingwithsignposts
Where’s the open thread, dammit? I’m tired of palin. :)
Church Lady
@arguingwithsignposts:
As am I.
Martin
@eyelessgame:
It’s not a question of smart but of resolve. Winning the Presidency is really fucking hard – it’s nonstop work, always being on message, always being on camera – always having to create order out of chaos.
Is there anything in Palin’s history that suggests she can do that? The time for her to realize that and demonstrate it was after last November. I still don’t see it. I don’t think she has it in her.
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: Thirded.
jl
I hereby open up this thread with another rehash of a recent riviting B-J debate.
Oats versus oatmeal, from the great slow-cooker oatmeal thread, though I still thinking making oat porridge (see below) in a slow cooker is complicating things and inadvisable.
Some commenters beefed about using ‘oats’ for ‘oatmeal’
The holy Oxford English Dictionary sez that ‘oats’ used in plural is the grain, refering to a singular gran or as a mass noun. ‘Oatmeal’ is the dry ground, rolled, or cut grain used to make ‘porridge’. In England you don’t eat oatmeal unless you like mouth full of dry meal. You eat oat porridge.
Oatmeal is used to refer to oat porridge in the great US of A.
So, that riveting issue is settled.
Are there recipes for pease porridge? I don’t think anyone wants to eat it, so I am doubtful about that.
And. Tunch. Also.
If this does not open up the thread, nothing will.
Yutsano
@jl: I think at this point nothing less than rioting for an open thread will do.
Oh and second on the Tunch. Along with Miss Lily.
Eric U.
@eyelessgame: you are right. I remember laughing about the idea that a goofy know-nothing like Reagan could become president when he entered the Republican convention in 1976. So I’m somewhat worried about the fact that the press takes her seriously and the republicans love her. I respect the fact that Sullivan has seen this too, and is doing his best to skewer her chances.
But I’m heartened by the idea that Americans have finally seemed to wake up to the noise coming from our media, and don’t seem to be as influenced by the bullshit as they were even as late as 2003. There have been a lot of indications of this, not the least of which is the apparently growing support for the public option. Everything people are being fed by the media is designed to get them to go against the PO, but it’s not working.
jl
Where is that edit. Meant to type
‘oats’ used in plural is the grain, refering to individual grains or as a mass noun describing anything made from oats.
At least that is what I get from the quotes. For example:
Bevis of Hampton (Auch.) 1531 Nas mete ne drinke be-fore him leid, Hey ne oten ne water clere.
E. GAYTON Pleasant Notes Don Quixot III. i. 68 He is to be interdicted Oats and all Flatulent and erecting dyet for a Moneth.
2001 Nat. Health Oct. 41 Beta-glucan in oats can have a favourable effect on blood sugar level.
Bottom line is that I can say ‘I like to eat oats for breakfast’ and noboday can **** with me about proper usage.
jl
@Yutsano: Yep. Looks like you were correct.
How about ‘Looks like the Chiefs and Raiders have quite a rvialry going again. Looks like that will be exciting. Will be interesting to see if the Stillers can beat either of them.’
That will be my last try for the night.
Eric U.
actually, we need another thread because there is news about Orly Taitz. Charles Lincoln, her disbarred co-birther conspirator has submitted a court document admitting that they were having an affair. This was first disclosed by her source for the Kenyan birth certificate.
jl
@Eric U.: Frying pan into the fire.
Any scandals brewing on orange soda-pop ‘tans’ and their owners?
Yutsano
@jl: We should be so lucky. I really really would love another Republican sex scandal right about now.
Brachiator
Teabaggers aren’t going anywhere. They are not a coherent movement, and are sustained by the GOP neo-conservative elite and Fox News. Similarly, the Palin Juggernaut is an empty jogging suit that would deflate in a heartbeat without the support of her neocon backers.
The GOP have backed themselves into a neat little corner. They can’t jettison Palin, but at the same time they have no future with her as an avatar.
jl
Avatar:
1. Hindu Myth. The descent of a deity to the earth in an incarnate form.
2. Manifestation in human form; incarnation.
3. Manifestation or presentation to the world as a ruling power or object of worship.
I think that fits. I will remember that.
Sarah Palin: GOP avatar, aegis, Zeitgeist, frong-woman, or geezer-bait? Discuss.
jl
front-woman
That was not attempt at ‘thong-woman’
Martin
@jl:
The point of the slow-cooker is twofold:
1) The longer cooking time is needed with a cut oat if you are looking for a soft texture and a more complex flavor with what you’ve added in. That’s why Quaker decided to grind the shit up, cook it, roll it, and sell quick oats so that people could get their oatmeal in under 45 minutes.
2) It allows you to eat right when you wake up without any additional work.
Historically, this is how it was cooked also because the stove was usually always on as it was heating the house, so you just dumped the stuff on there and went to bed. You weren’t actually adding a step anywhere – it was just convenient.
arguingwithsignposts
Joe Biden was refreshingly honest in the Daily Show interview: “socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor.”
Not that I like the result, but at least he was honest.
arguingwithsignposts
FYWP,
Joe Biden was refreshingly honest in the Daily Show interview: “so-c-ia-lism for the rich, capitalism for the poor.”
Not that I like the result, but at least he was honest.
Ian
@Splitting Image:
Bobby Jindal. Sacrificial lamb, and brown-skinned. Perfect combination for the GOP blame game
ruemara
@wag:
I find it amusing that no one remembers they were in power for the bailouts.
In the interest of preserving the joy of reading, since this…sue, sally, whatever creature has decided to assault it, I will save my dollars and pick up the last Codex Alera novel instead. Despite a plethora of magic, alien races and noble leaders, it still has more basis in reality than the frozen grifter’s book.
2th&nayle
Late to the tread as usual but I don’t understand all the hoopla about oatmeal. I am not a fan of instant or minute oats. If I’m left to that, I’d just as soon have instant grits. Point is, I go with a 1 part rolled oats to 1-7/8 part water ratio per serving. Bring the water to a boil, add oats, stir slightly, turn off the heat (electric range), put on the lid and leave on the burner. Wait about 10-12 minutes. Oats will be fluffy (not mushy, I hate that) and slightly el dente. If I’m going to add raisins or dried cranberries I add them to the boiling water with the oats. No muss, no fuss, and delicious. Works every time.
harlana pepper
This is a healthcare/unemployment shout-out
I have been working on reducing my psych meds because they are so costly. I was really proud of the progress I had made. But my planning was off, I guess. I did not think 2 1/2 weeks ago, when I began to gradually decrease my dosage, about that fact that I had a 3 hour skills test and 2 interviews coming up. I was extremely nervous during the skills test Monday and began to realize something was wrong. Knowing I had interviews, I sadly began to up my dosage because I felt like my mind was racing ahead of me, my thoughts scattered like crazy autumn leaves. I was downright scared. You can’t do interviews in that state of mind. I was deeply disappointed but it’s Wednesday now and at least my mind is clear and calm enough to go to this job fair thing.
This is why I despair about healthcare. I can’t believe that I hear repubes talk about unemployment as if it is a completely separate issue from healthcare. If your physical and/or mental health is bad, you cannot look for a job! And mental health issues are often chronic, and therefore, not something you can heal from after a couple of weeks as if from a virus.
I don’t really expect anything from repubes anyway, but Dems have let us down on this issue as well. Weak and ineffectual Dems. Don’t get me wrong, I will be scrambling for whatever crumbs will be offered and be grateful for them. But we need to do MUCH better. And quite frankly, in the end, all I can see are health insurance premiums continuing to rise in the face of zero competition.
WereBear
The heart of Tina Fey’s impersonation, and why it was dead-on, is that it portrayed her as a beauty pageant contestant. Still.
And she still operates that way.
Whatever empty suits the Republicans have put up in the past, they were will to go through the motions of appearing to have gravitas. With Palin, no such luck. She is the ultimate of their “style over substance” and with conservatives unable to admit blame or change course, this is the third act.
With singing.
harlana pepper
Actually, I don’t really despair about it. After months of Congressional babblings and watching the healthcare lobbyists take over the entire debate (and legislation), I’m just plain numb. After a while, you just get to feeling so damned helpless, you just give up and let the powers wash over you, knowing they will get what they want in this life, no matter how many people they have to crush along the way.
I thought I’d seen the height of unfettered greed during the Bush admin war profiteering and private contractors running amok and pissing our tax dollars away while raping female employees without retribution.
I’m afraid we are headed for the scrap-heap.
valdivia
You gotta see this. Andrew Halcro from Alasaka reading the chapter where Sarah insults him. Fantastic!
SiubhanDuinne
She truly oozes resentment with every word and every random thought. And I think I’ve possibly discovered a previously unmentioned reason for her resentment of Obama:
According to Maureen Dowd this morning, Sarah went into labor with Willow on the Fourth of July and did everything she could to have the baby born that day because, well, she was just so durned patriotic. But Willow apparently had other plans and didn’t emerge until the (presumably unpatriotic) next day. Such a disappointment for Sarah.
Unmentioned by MoDo is the fact that young Malia Obama *does* have a patriotic Fourth of July birthday. Can you believe it? Is that uppity of those terrorist-pallin’-around-with Obamas, or what? I guess I’d be resentful too, you betcha.
Fulcanelli
@geg6:
You say this like it’s a bad thing, geg6. Palin has perfected and elevated those qualities to an art form and clearly this is good for Republicans as it confirms the fact that she’s ready for national office.
gnomedad
@WereBear:
You’ve made me realize that the Republican playbook, and indeed their very identity, is twist on McLuhan’s “the medium is the message”, namely, “the style is the substance”. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature, rather, THE feature.
valdivia
@SiubhanDuinne:
that is too funny. I aslo see from Mudflats who is reporting every chapter that Sarah really thinks that Obama stole her “change” motto from her run for gov and took it for himself through someone on his staff who has Alaska connections. What that nitwit fails to realize is that obama ran a similar campaign *before* hers when he ran for the Senate in Illinois. Gawd she really thinks she is the center of the universe no?
And–I am really worried about Sulli now. No posts for over 16 hours! Maybe she swallowed him through the book…
bemused
I doubt that the R party would get behind Palin as a prez candidate. She’s a white, evangelical Princess. Her ego & religious ideology give her supreme confidence that no matter what she does, she is right & no matter how badly she messes up, it is never her fault. The R party may have considered her as a prez possibility, used her popularity with the 20 percenters, if she hadn’t proved during the McCain campaign that she can’t & won’t follow directions. GW had a team of people schooling & prepping him for his prez run. He had a team surrounding him handling the pr & the media. He was politically much smarter than Sarah. Sarah is utterly incapable of cooperating with an R game plan. I can’t believe the R party would risk working with her on anything important again.
Fulcanelli
There’s no way to quantify how much positive mojo Sarah Palin has garnered with hard right wingnuts from the McCain campaign pissing contest details surfacing in the MSM. She could probably sell her ova for a million bucks per.
Rush is probably buying Jergen’s lotion and Kleenex by the case.
Tim F.
Joyner is insane. To criticize Sarah in any way is to victimize her and become the enemy.
Think for a second how the Palinites will react when she enters a Republican primary and, inevitably, loses to a watered down Republican like Romney.
SiubhanDuinne
@Fulcanelli: EEEWWWW! I *so* didn’t need the image of Rush + Jergens + Kleenex to start my day. EEEEEWWWWW!
valdivia
@Fulcanelli:
bad image. must.get.clorox. :-)
SiubhanDuinne
@Valdivia: Not to mention that neither Palin *nor* Obama are exactly the first political challengers in history to run on a “change” theme. I suppose if they had both been incumbents running for reelection, she would have accused him of stealing a line like “stay the course” from her.
valdivia
@SiubhanDuinne:
yes!
Fulcanelli
@SiubhanDuinne: The words “Palin” and “incumbent” in the same sentence. And I’m accused of revolting imagery? =\
/shudder
sw
Seriously? This sentence eats itself. The only grassroots revolt, per se, is from the teabaggers themselves.
JoJo
How’d that work out for Doug Hoffman? Oh yeah, that district sent a Democrat to Congress for the first time since the Grant Administration.
I’m looking forward to watching the GOP candidates deal with Sarah’s ‘help’.
Bill Rutherford, Princeton Admissions
“It’s still not that convincing because I don’t believe the teabaggers will from a real third party (though they may run challenges in states with third-party infrastructure).”
It’s also not that convincing because it completely ignores her clinical narcissism. She’d backstab the Republican Party and run on a third-party ticket in a heartbeat if it was better for Sarah.
sal
Technically, they’d be ‘Perotistos’, not ‘Perotistas’, unless they were all women.
SiubhanDuinne
@Fulcanelli: But, but, but, it was a hypothetical! I used the word “if” and everything!
LD50
@SiubhanDuinne:
That’s because hubby Todd hates America and wants Alaska to separate from the US. He made sure the baby wasn’t born on the 4th.
Lisa K.
Rich Lowry, the same guy who publicly admitted to jerking off during Palin’s debate performance? I really don’t think he has much to add to the public debate at this point.
matoko_chan
Dr. Cole…..the reason we are getting all this “Second Look at Palin!” crapfest is only partly due to her “book”…….mostly it is due to Petraeus turning them down flat.
It is unequivocably true that a large part of the WEC demographic would vote a satan ticket before they would elect a mormon.
Thus the concerted effort to rehabilitate her.
Tax Analyst
Vbeltane said:
No, they can’t. I believe one was nominated in 2008 and he just didn’t appeal Northern college-educated voters, cross-dressing place-kickers or grumpy old housecats.
I think they’re leaning towards some sort of parasitic leech that feeds off the rectal crust of purple-assed baboons.
Sandra Whiting
After reading the book written by Mitt Romney a few years back about the Olympics held in Utah, I am totally convinced that he is what this country will need come 2012. It is amazing and unbelievable what he did to save the Olympics from disaster and ruin, and actually finish with a huge profit margin, when most Olympics finish in the red. It was nothing short of a miracle. In the book, he is quick to lavish praise on his team of experts and give them credit where credit is due. He had a gift to always look down the road of potential problems and take action to avoid them before they occurred. He had the uncanny ability to surround himself with those who would be best to lead in the different departments and wise enough to take their advice when needed. I challenge anyone to read his book and not come to the conclusion that he has the ability to turn this country around just like he did the Olympics (and any other public or business venture he has been involved in.)
Furthermore, all anyone has to do is listen to any of his public lectures on the economy or when he is being interviewed to know that he has a deep and thorough knowledge of the inner workings of the economy, not to mention the world economy. Others who appear to be potential candidates for the U.S. Presidency may have a surface understanding of the economy and would probably be acceptable candidates at any other time. But we are looking at a time when the country’s future will most probably be in shambles when the next presidential election is held. I hope this country doesn’t completely “blow it” the next election and compromise on someone who will be less qualified than Romney. I am hopeful that this time people can look beyond his religious beliefs and sincerely look at his qualifications of fixing messes. We have to be honest and know that it was his religion that played a huge part in his not being nominated last time, although many will deny this was the real reason they could not support him. Much has been made about the bias against Sarah Palin which was real, but hardly anyone has been forthright about the bias against Romney because of his religion. We have to get it right this time. The future of our country is in peril.
Of note, Romney’s new book scheduled to be published in March has no side issues of setting any record straight or pointing any fingers. is completely about what is ailing the country and how to fix it. No intention of putting Sarah Palin. I’m sure it has much substance to it. I am also referring to other potential candidates who have written their own books that are a good read. But I like the idea that Romney had a goal of setting an agenda to get this country back on the right track with no other subject to confuse the matter. It has a ring of maturity to it.