Sam Stein reports on Sarah Palin’s latest dig against Michelle Obama, and has this bit of analysis:
That the former Alaska Governor thinks the president’s family members are fair game is now obvious. But the apparent glee she takes in attacking the first lady remains surprising, at least politically. Among the deficits in public opinion that Palin suffers are pretty harsh favorability ratings among female voters. Going after the first lady (who remains relatively beloved by voters) doesn’t help that matter. Doing it over something as benign as trying to help children fight obesity seems confused.
This is a standard beltway political analysis, and it reflects a basic misunderstanding of Palin’s strategy in general, and specifically why Palin doesn’t give a shit about Michelle Obama’s gender or popularity.
Palin’s goal is to mobilize a base of Fox-watching, resentment-driven primary voters. These people are mainly white and male, and they do not like Michelle Obama. Palin’s characterization of Michelle Obama as an elite black woman who thinks she knows better just stirs the pot of resentment that Palin thinks will drive her primary victories. In the eyes of the typical Palin primary voter, Mrs. Obama’s anti-obesity program is in no way “benign” — it’s another example of that uppity Princeton-educated black ballbuster thinking she knows better than real Americans.
Second, if Palin does get the nomination, she’ll be a weak candidate with little or no positive agenda. So, she’ll have to attack Michelle and Barack Obama, Sasha, Malia and Bo, repeatedly and without regard to their poll numbers. She will run a constant Twitter and Facebook attack machine with the goal of making Obama look weak if he doesn’t respond, but also making him look like he’s picking on her and her family if he does. Her strategy for attracting women voters will be to make Obama look like he isn’t tough enough to defend his wife and family, and then to make him look like a jerk for attacking poor defenseless Sarah.
Palin will be able to pursue this strategy in large part because she won’t be subject to the same media rules as her primary or general opponents. The mainstream media dutifully reports her every tweet but is unable to question her directly on the horseshit that she spews. My guess is that she won’t travel with any press but Fox and associated friendly outlets. She’s shown a basic capability of participating in a debate and not making a complete ass of herself, if she’s prepped correctly, so she’ll probably outperform the low expectations that will accompany that little ritual.
My point isn’t that she’s unstoppable, just that the campaign analysis in the mold of Teddy White and Jack Germond isn’t the way to understand the Palin project. She isn’t part of that system, and she doesn’t play by its rules.
jwb
I worry about a Palin presidency about as much as I worry about an asteroid hitting the earth, as I think the likelihood of each is about the same.
Lysana
The saving grace is she won’t take a VP slot offer again.
c u n d gulag
Teddy White?
HA! The “Whore of Babblin’ On” will confuse him with Barry White.
Maybe, just for shits and giggles, someone could edit her word salads onto Barry’s music.
“Oh, oh, I look at
All of them.
Yes, all of them.”
or,
“Ooh, ooh, Iove ya!
People of the Heartland.
I can see Russia
From my house!”
Keith
The funny thing is, I know red-state moms who act *just* like this. They come off as really nice, apple-pie ladies, but when you start talking to them, the meanest, most petty stuff starts coming out of their mouths – they question the motives of who is on TV (Palin vs. American Idol(!), or in my case, my friend’s mother would do something like go off on Bear Grylls for being a show-off). What it boils down to is that they are little girls who were taught that they are little queens, and when you let them go off on their own, they start to revert to that little girl.
Wag
—it’s another example of that uppity Princeton-educated black ballbuster thinking she knows better than real FAT Americans.
Fixed
c u n d gulag
You know, now that I think about it, we should look at
“The Whore of Babblin’ On” as the greatest ‘Performance Artist” of ALL TIME!
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Wag:
fixxored sum moar.
Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)
why do people use the word “resentment” instead of racist?
I mean, they don’t resent that she went to the lvy league, after all bush went to TWO ivy league schools and they loved him. And you know if palin was a Harvard grad, they would never stop brandishing her pedigree. No, what they recent is someone of color went to an ivy league school. it bums them out when someone they consider inferior passes them by on the highway of life.
Brick Oven Bill
For the first time in her adult lifetime, Michelle should eat more salads.
This, of course, does not disqualify her from righteously telling us what to eat. This is because Michelle went to Princeton.
David
Someone tell Palin that it’s akin to a public awareness campaign and gets high returns on a meager investment.
Sarah, Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl don’t actually hate you.
Mustang Bobby
And to top it all off, Sarah Palin goes all mama grizzly when people attack her husband or her children, claiming they’re off limits.
If you spot it, you got it.
BDeevDad
I’ll be worried about Palin as soon as she figures out which Korea is our ally.
AhabTRuler
@c u n d gulag:
Thanks for the set up: Just another reminder that you can obtain BJ rotating tagline coffee mugs, along with other fine products at the Balloon Juice store! As always, all proceeds go to
reinforcing the foundation of John’s house, so as to support Tunch’s weightCharlie’s Angels Pet RescueLinda Featheringill
@Wag:
One of the problems is that Michelle is better than a lot of people, certainly better than Sarah.
Another thing is that Michelle is sexy as hell, one of the few public figures that can give Sarah a run for her money on that score. Sarah want to be the center of attention and wants to be queen. Of course, she would have to try to tear Michelle apart.
honus
@Brick Oven Bill: Good point Bill. You just keep on eating all the fat and corn syrup you want, don’t let any uppity liberal elites tell you what to eat.
MattF
I agree with the sub-thread here that Palin is stoking resentment among the fat, white and red voters. No, really. The pretty girl is on their side this time, and, no, she won’t betray you again, ever. Really, really, really.
SiubhanDuinne
Spot-on analysis except for this bit:
I’m too lazy to dig up a transcript or YouTube of the event, but my strong recollection is that in her “say-it-ain’t-so-Joe” debate, she did indeed make a complete ass of herself by flat out telling moderator Gwen Ifill she wasn’t going to answer any questions she didn’t feel like answering.
Of course, she didn’t trip on her Naughty Monkeys, and she didn’t drool, and she *did* wink quite a lot, so I guess some viewers (lookin’ at you, Rich Lowry) probably concluded that she exceeded the don’t-make-ass-of-self threshhold.
Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)
“The mainstream media dutifully reports her every tweet but is unable to question her directly on the horseshit that she spews. “
That the corporate media won’t attack her for being outrageous has nothing to do with lack of “direct” access.
The Village has always been soft or in bed with the republicans. Can you imagine how the Village, led by Sally Quinn and Broder, would go nuclear if a Dem attacked a republican spouse, like cindy mccain.
Ash Can
I don’t disagree with this analysis, but there’s something here that strikes me as overthinking her motives behind attacking Michelle. I think she harbors a lot of resentment against Michelle herself. It may be a legitimate strategy vis-a-vis the base (“base” in more ways than one), but I also think this is how she honestly feels.
The Ithacan
Palin is pure crystalline resentment. She knows how to find a vein and can shift the media’s attention away from even the pretense of politics onto the epic trivialities of her own life at will. The corporate media enables her because they have a parallel need to avoid substantive politics and policy (foreclosure fraud/ banksters/ endless war/ destruction of privacy). She exists to channel her fans’ anger and petty hatreds into a nonsensical and disabling cacophony. It’s not just FOX that needs the fix either, the whole corporate media ecosystem is addicted to Palin.
JPL
Elizabelle had a comment on the previous thread and linked to a FoxNews Article.
Fox Link
Read the comments, if you dare.
Teri
As a republican woman I deeply resent and despise Sarah Palin. She makes a mockery of our political process. She has little “managerial” or “executive” experience. Her family dynamics show that she can not even manager her home and family. I resent how every meeting I attend with other moderate, intelligent republicans we have to plan on how to deal with the “Palinbots” and “Tea Partiers” as well as the Christianists. The current republican party is a mess. My choices are to vote for the lesser of two weasels is not the best that we could be doing. We don’t any idea on what to do about her. It boils down to the fact we have a snide nasty minded paranoid woman who is mentally stuck in mindset of high school “queen bee” trying to be the leader of our party and our nation. I will fight against her (and other medicore offerings) as a candidate in any forum she goes into. Her lying and paranoia will eventually implode upon her but until that time we have to counter with calm reasoning. Such as how you parent an out of control child.
marcopolo
@Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century): Ah but you are overlooking the importance of Bush being a legacy admission and graduating with a “gentleman’s C”. His academic performance is something that they could maybe emulate (except the legacy part :) so the resentment folks don’t hold nearly so much of a grudge against him as opposed to a person working hard to get into a good school (and in Michelle’s case maybe with some scholarship funding or financial support maybe?). Of course in their book she attended Princeton because she was an affirmative action student which is really hard for them to aspire to. So I guess that does make you right as well.
The Ithacan
Palin is a symptom not a disease.
The disease is plutocracy.
Linda Featheringill
@Teri:
Bless your heart, dear.
You write like an intelligent adult. [that’s a compliment]
It would be nice to have your input on many of the questions we kick around here, if you can put up with us. You don’t have to agree with us, just speak clearly and supply sources for your arguments if you are asked for them. :-)
Jeffro
@JPL:
Those comments are pretty unbelievable, I mean, WOW.
Blue Neponset
@BDeevDad:
We shouldn’t underestimate the stupidity of the American voter. If the economy still sucks in Nov. 2012 Palin has a good chance of being our next President. This is especially true now that Citizens United has allowed practically unlimited spending in political campaigns.
I caution all my fellow socialist, hippy, america-hating friends not to underestimate Sarah Palin. As much as I can’t stand the woman, she went from being the mayor of a small town in a small state to being a national political figure in six years. She is obviously doing something right to have that much success in politics. We shouldn’t discount her abilities simply because she is a stupid, vindictive, ignorant asshole. Those qualities seem to work well for her.
Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)
@The Ithacan: they’re addicted because she’s a freak and tee vee has turned into a freak show (high speed car chases, bear chases, avian flue, missing white girls, lady gaga, scary muslims, lindsey lohan’s latest arrest, balloon boy, etc). She’s willing to set her on hair on fire and run around say, “we must support north korea”, so they love her. She’s the new Lucile Ball.
amk
Wonder what turdblossom and his corprorate cohorts have got planned for this twit from tundras. mittens and huckster better get moving their fat asses.
David
The RNC needs to launch a serious Palin smear soon or the base won’t settle for anyone else. It might already be too late.
Svensker
@Ash Can:
The base hates Michelle — she isn’t proud of Murka! So attacking Michelle is a good thing, cuz it reinforces the Real Murkans = Good, but Black Racist Michelle = Bad thing they have going on.
vtr
Is there really any such thing as “Palin’s strategy”, or it is just some ignoramus shooting her mouth off? And, for some reason, other people paying attention to her.
Allan
By 2012, Fox News will be a 24/7/365 loop of a buxom blonde with an unbuttoned blouse leaning into the camera and licking her lips while crooning “lynch the n****r.”
Svensker
@JPL:
OMG.
Some things were better pre-internet, like not knowing what parts of the populace keep inside their heads.
Ash Can
@Teri: I honestly felt sorry for the women in the Republican party — and those such as Olympia Snowe and Kay Bailey Hutchinson in particular — when McCain named Sarah Palin as his running mate. The first words out of my mouth were “Oh, he’s asking for trouble!” because I knew about all her legal and ethical entanglements back in Alaska. (Humorously enough, my more conservative husband replied with “I’m sure they vetted her thoroughly and determined that none of that will matter.”) But the fact is, the GOP leadership chose a pretty face over political competence — and what kind of a message is that to the other women in the party, as well as to America at large?
I resent it, and I’m not even associated with the GOP (quite the opposite, in fact). I can only imagine how you and other women like you feel.
Wag
I have to reiterate that this all comes down to fat vs. thin. Think about it. Who ballooned the defici/became morbidly obese by gorging on junk food tax cuts/empty calories? Who spouts pernicious snake oil promises of painless deficit reduction/weight loss? If you answered The GOP/Red America you win the prize!
Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)
@vtr: this is true. the populist-anti-science vein of the right has always screamed about food guidelines. they freak when someone tries to remove trans-fat from fries or pies even though they don’t know anything about trans-fat.
John Cole
I don’t. Leave the party.
Anyone who is still in the GOP, actively working to support GOP candidates, deserves every piece of internal discomfort they experience. You’re working to elect idiots who want to destroy the country. I’m glad it bothers you to aid and abet that.
AhabTRuler
@Jeffro:
NEVER get out of the boat.
General Stuck
@amk:
Tundra Twit – I like it
Ash Can
@Linda Featheringill: People get their heads cut off at the shoelaces around here for saying next to nothing. I wouldn’t blame Teri if she didn’t want to deal with that crap.
debit
@General Stuck:
Off by one letter.
General Stuck
@debit:
Our BJ feminists have me well trained to not go there.
edit- Tundra Trollop is kind a catchy though
The Ithacan
People talk about “regulatory capture” and that is pretty easy to see and understand.
This is about “narrative capture” the corporate megaphone needs to distract the populace and the Palin is well suited to the task.
Her popularity is not substantive and she could be demoted at a moment’s notice by those who are using her.
No “tin foil” here, I’m just saying that she’s a useful tool but if the media’s needs change she will be shuffled off to the “B” list.
The media’s urgent need for mass distraction is an elemental feature of the contemporary American culture.
Missing blond toddlers. Also. Too.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
Geez!! Does it really take this long for someone to say this sarcastically. Doesn’t Palin realize she’s talking smack about the female Malcolm X? Remember that stupid New Yorker cover?
demkat620
And you just know this will make the Beltway clowns so happy.
I can just see Mike Allen breathlessly bouncing in his seat like a junior high gossip repeating what Snowbilly said today.
Every outrageous slander will be predicted as bad news for Barack Obama by Mark Halperin and David Broder will intone that all of this incivility would be unnecessary if Barack Obama would just let Sarah win.
Gah, John McCain deserves to roast in hell for this.
Ash Can
@John Cole: The Republican party isn’t a monolith, no matter how many Republicans, especially in the leadership, wish it was and pretend it is. The sociopaths have been in the ascendancy for over 30 years, but they haven’t succeeded in obliterating all of the moderates. Maybe it’s because I’m an old-school liberal Catholic, but I’m sympathetic to the plight of moderate, sensible Republicans who aspire to change the party from the inside — who want their party back, so to speak.
Linda Featheringill
@John Cole:
John, of course, did leave the Republicans.
And for his punishment, he has to put up with us. :-)
General Stuck
Sarah Palin is the Milli Vanilli of current pol pop culture. When they figure out she is lip sinking, the media will drop her down the drain of haz beens like Joe the Plumber.
Linda Featheringill
@Ash Can:
You have a point. It is surprising that I have survived. I am basically a timid person who is burdened with obnoxiously radical ideas.
mistermix
@The Ithacan: You make a lot of good points, but I disagree that Palin can be cast aside by the media. To some extent, she’s beyond them now. Bristol’s DWTS appearance and her TLC reality show are two examples of how she can build her own media presence without relying on non-Fox media to promote her.
Dennis SGMM
After eight years of “W” I wouldn’t dismiss any Republican’s chances to win the presidency. Palin’s Twitter and Facebook shtick only works because the media dutifully trumpets (Without challenge) her every utterance. Without the assistance of the emmessem she’d just be another right-wing loony with a Twitter account and a Facebook page. Remember the favorable media treatment given John McCain during the first half of his 2008 run? Think of that, cubed.
Ash Can
@Linda Featheringill:
LOL!
Svensker
@General Stuck:
I don’t even wanna think about what that means.
Xenos
@honus: Corn syrup! I just went out to Belgian grocery and bought some mixers for thanksgiving party I am giving this weekend. All of them, including the Coke, are made with cane sugar. My American guests should be psyched.
In the four months since I moved out of the states I have lost more than 25 pounds, eating pretty much the same lowfat diet as before I moved. I wonder if cutting out the corn syrup had something to do with it.
lamh34
I am not a violent person by nature, and a rarely cuss like a sailor, but Fuck that bitch with a rusty nail. Sarah Palin just better be lucky she stays away from black people other than mc Steele and other black repubs, cause if she wants to bring the fight to Michelle Obama she’s gonna get slapped by random AfrAm females wherever she goes!!! He’ll, you’d be hard pressed to find many AfrAm repubs not willing to cut that bitch over Michelle O. Just like barb bush was supposedly “america’s grandmother” michelle O is our sisters, our daughters, our mothers, etc, and AfrAm women hold a special place in our hearts for Michelle & the weeMichelles. The quitta should seriously not want any of the shit storm she will create,
General Stuck
@General Stuck:
I don’t really think at this point the media can simply discard Sarah Palin, she has, like it or not, become a political force, albeit driven by the idiot constituency of the right wing, to wit their is no shortage in this country. Until, and if, she runs and wins the GOP POTUS nomination, and I think she can accomplish that. Then she will have to answer questions and know stuff, that is when the wheels will come off.
srv
@Blue Neponset:
If? You can take that premise to the bank.
PanAmerican
@vtr:
I’ve read she has no use for anyone outside her inner circle for political, media and marketing strategy. Generally speaking, a candidate (or any celebrity for that matter) is best off leaving this to professionals.
As bad as the results of her half-assed approach present in the public sphere, I can only imagine the hilarity when she’s dealing behind the scenes with GOP money and power.
ciotog
I will never forgive John McCain. Never.
Bob In Pacifica
@Brick Oven Bill: Brick Oven, did you resent it when Laura Bush told us not to drink and drive?
Linda Featheringill
@Svensker:
lip sinking:
“Loose lips sink ships”?
Edited for punctuation.
brantl
@Teri: I ask this in all seriousness, since you must have a somewhat open mind to come to this blog, but who do you “moderate” Republicans look to run for office, that aren’t weasels, from any moral outlook. Unfortunately for you, your party jumped the shark at least 10 years ago.
You’d be a lot better off with the Democrats. We, at least, really give a shit about most of the values that Republicans used to hold dear. We don’t believe in big government just for the sake of it being big, we don’t believe in wasting money, we don’t want the government to have power that it doesn’t need. What more do you want?
If you’ve watched carefully, you will see that Republican policies (up until recently, say the last 10 years) are just Democratic Party ideas that were first floated 30 years prior to the Republicans catching on to them. (Remember Governor Engler of Michigan’s “workfare” programs? They were just Bobby Kennedy’s ideas, watered down.)
My biggest argument against being a Republican is that at their best moments, they’re just Special Olympics Democrats.
Linda Featheringill
@lamh34:
Tell us what you really think.
[not that I disagree]
dan
A lot of people are saying they are not concerned because Sarah will never become president.
Not withstanding that probability, the problem is that we will have to be drenched in her shit for the next several years as she rallies her army of Orcs and the media either ignores or amplifies her spewings.
The Ithacan
@mistermix As a recent de-lurker, I appreciate your encouragement.
About Palin being cast aside, she has no asset other than media exposure, she is not a blue-blood, she is not wired into Wall Street or the defense establishment, she is barely nouveaux riche. Without a steady supply of media oxygen she is nothing.
She needs that oxygen to survive but it can be taken away. Whether it will be taken away is another question.
The Ithacan
@mistermix As a recent de-lurker, I appreciate your encouragement.
About Palin being cast aside, she has no asset other than media exposure, she is not a blue-blood, she is not wired into Wall Street or the defense establishment, she is barely nouveaux riche. Without a steady supply of media oxygen she is nothing.
She needs that oxygen to survive but it can be taken away. Whether it will be taken away is another question.
jcricket
I would worry about Sarah Palin except for one thing, insta-polls. The channels that are not Fox decided to use the “words of the people” and it prevented them from saying “Sarah Palin gave me a funny feeling in my no-no area, so she won the debate”.
Palin has strong, strong favorables amongst her core constituency, which is a sadly large part of the population – but a majority it’s not. It’s 30% of the population at best. Another 10% will vote for any Republican no matter what (assuming they vote).
But she’s no Reagan or Bush the elder or even Bush the younger. Everyone who doesn’t love her, hates her with a passion and thinks she will (or is) destroying the country. This is even true within Alaska.
I think the fear of a Palin presidency would be one of the deciding factors in getting recalcitrant Dems out to vote in the next election. It’s sad that it takes fear of a Republican-wingnut takeover of the whole country to get Dems out to vote, but as we’ve seen from this election, Dems are unwilling to run on their own record of accomplishments, so it’s the best we can hope for in the short run.
Honestly, what I fear more is a shitty economy and a “normal” Republican getting in charge, combined with Dems rolling over in the Senate (or just losing it). It won’t look like the farce that is Sarah Palin, but the lasting damage to the economy (esp. for the poor and middle class) will probably take a lifetime to unfuck. Austerity for thee, but not for me, is where we will go (and the “public” will sign up for it b/c trickle-down is working so well)
GregB
How DARE you claim Mrs. Palin foments resentment. Look to the her well reared daughter Bristol who wanted to win Dancing with the Stars because it would be a big middle finger to those who hate her and her mother.
What resentment?
Admiral_Komack
@Linda Featheringill:
And Michelle Obama would kick her miserable grifter ass.
Bob In Pacifica
It’s all part of the dog-whistle campaign.
When I was in the army (almost forty years ago!) I became what they called a race relations instructor. And it was all explained nicely to me by a son of the South in one class: “Ah may be po’ white trash, but at least Ah ain’t a n!gg@h. ”
And this is the frame many white Americans see the world through. They accept their lesser status. No resentment to those white folks that are at the top of the heap. Hey, maybe one day they’ll get to share a bbq in Bush’s backyard or Meg Whitman will stop by to shake hands. But the world they know requires the coloreds to be below them on the status pole. They have no claim on the what’s above them but they worry about people below them passing them.
Any government program that aids “lesser” people below them is a threat. The resentful class are like the guy who speeds up and passes you in a 25 mph zone so that he can be the one stopped at the red light in front of you.
That’s why there is so much resentment against Obama. The reason why Obama had to have been a Kenyan plant with a phony birth certificate in the eyes of these people is because a black man can’t really succeed in getting elected to such an office. Oh, a black man can be elected in a district with lots of other blacks, but not to the Presidency.
So the resentment that Palin is generating over Michelle Obama is just an extension of the same theme. Michelle is uppity, you know. Doesn’t know her place. And there’s 25% or so of this country that knows everyone’s place. This is Nixon’s Southern Strategy on steroids. There probably would have already been an Amerikan Kristallnacht if teabaggers didn’t fear getting their asses kicked going into black neighborhoods.
gelfling545
@Ash Can: A lot of people, especially the women among my family and acquaintances were Hilary supporters and, when Obama got the nomination, were willing to vote for him but kind of lost interest in the election…until McCain picked Palin. Then they seemed to collectively shout “Oh HELL no! and launched into action, traveling to neighboring states to campaign for Obama (since here in NY it was preaching to the choir), making calls, sending money, whatever. ( I always felt that the President should have sent Palin a thank you card after the election.)
It had to be hell for republican women who had to pretend to LIKE her.
JAHILL10
@General Stuck: I think on the whole we give Palin way too much credit in the “political force” department. She’s such a political force that every Senate candidate she endorsed lost. Even the Republicans realize that though she is quite capable of exciting the base enough to win the primaries, there is no way in hell she is winning the general. I don’t care how bad the economy is. Palin is somewhere between a force and a celebrity who is about to wear out her welcome. If there’s one thing you can count on with the dimmer members of the American populace its their short attention spans. After DWTS and TLC I think Palin will have reached the level of overexposure she seems to crave and people will move on to something/someone else. BTW, what’s Britney Spears doing lately, anyone have any idea? Me either.
Hal
@jcricket
My mothers pscho friend who never met a “Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ” email she didn’t immediately forward to 200 people can’t stand Sarah Palin and thinks she’s the biggest idiot who ever lived.
I have never heard anyone who didn’t like her do anything but retch at her name, and that’s just something no amount of mama grizzly bullshit can overcome.
And yes, I know folks, the country voted for Reagan and Bush. But Reagan had two terms as Governor of CA under his belt, a sense of humor, and an amiableness people seemed to like. He also could discuss policy on a level Palin is incapable of doing. For Bush II, I still contend his first term was a fluke, and a setup, and his second term could have been avoided if Kerry had fought harder from the beginning.
Fstop
I’m askeered to read the comments at the Fox link. Though with a bit more caffeine, I might. I will shill for my new place, openly, here. Please visit my stop Sarah blog and forum, opened just in time for the holidays. Cafe press store coming soon, heh. It’s intended as a place for intelligent discussion, including that from the right, should any of them show up, of why she’s a bad idea.
I’m really concerned. Of course, I live in Ohio, which has a county where more people voted for Bush in 2004 than were registered to vote in some precincts within it. So I’m sort of predisposed to be askeered of such things.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
jcricket
@Hal: As much as I hate him for his politics and lying and what he did to this country, Reagan had high favorables (esp. in the beginning) and was a likeable guy with 2 terms under his belt as you said.
But times are different, and Palin will get a lot farther than some pseudo-celebrity would have in the past. Although if you look at the stats there’s a wing-nut ceiling for people like Coulter, Limbaugh, Savage and Palin. They quickly sop up all the hateful assholes on the right, but then don’t expand their audience after that. In fact, it’s all the same hateful assholes circle-jerking around between those right wing commentators/personalities.
On the other hand,based on the way celebrity and the media works, President Kardashian, here we come.
amk
@JAHILL10: Exactly. turd blossom and his moneyed cohorts realize that this twit is dangerous to their ‘goals’ and I am sure they, along with the establishment types, will “fix” her soon enough .
lamh34
OT, but
Happy turkey day everyone
Obama pardons 2 turkeys
Those kids are just sprouting up aren’t they! Michelle O is the mother of these 2 adorable girls malia who is her splitting image. Sarah plain really don’t want none of the shit that would come her way.
Nick
I’m really quite sick of this nasty no-talent piece of shit.
cermet
Don’t you remember? In this country and especially for its heart-land racist – being black means all rules that apply to whites are null and void – get with the program!
Bella Q
Happy Thanksgiving to all American Juicers. Happy Thursday to everyone else!
I would be really thankful if the Tundra Trollop would find a new hobby. Since I know that she won’t, I’m hoping for overexposure by mid – 2011. Please hope with me.
Comrade Mary
@lamh34: Feature, not bug. If even one black woman gently frowns in her direction, she’ll spin that into yet another saga of heroine as victim.
That said, if she did get her come-uppance and the video got on YouTube, I’d be playing that over and over all day long, you betcha!
WarMunchkin
I dispute the notion that she actually thinks that far ahead.
Admiral_Komack
@General Stuck:
I like “Quittah from Wasilla”, myself.
cermet
@Hal: Don’t forget – fact: bush II lost the first time to Al Glore. An illegal Cou-de-tah by the Fuer rehnquist and his shit eating liars (may they all die of cancer like that pig did) changed the outcome.
Stillwater
@Ash Can: but I’m sympathetic to the plight of moderate, sensible Republicans who aspire to change the party from the inside—who want their party back, so to speak.
But here’s the thing – sensible moderate policy is the provenance Democrats, and has been for a long time. So if you self-identify as a Republican and are unwilling to change how you think of yourself, you’re stick with immoderate radicals from the top to the bottom.
I’m also interested to know what policies sensible conservatives would advocate. Conor F., ED Kain, Douthat, Sully, – hell, even Sarah herself – all seem to think they’re sensible conservatives, but the policies they advance are mostly laughable.
Linda Featheringill
@The Ithacan:
[#66]
I am hoping for Sarah to decide that she is too good for the First Dude and go off without him.
I think that he holds her together and without him she would decompensate [technical term] or zusammen gefallen [lay term].
Omnes Omnibus
@lamh34: Barb Bush was America’s grandmother? Oh, hell no! The rest of your rant was great though.
grandpajohn
Read somewhere a report on some poll that claimed head to head, Obama lead 48 to 40 and my reaction was “my God, we are doomed as a nation if 40 percent of the people would actually vote for an idiotic twit white trash illiterate.
Admiral_Komack
SC veteran arrested for threatening to kill Obama
Posted: Nov 24, 2010 5:01 PM EST
Updated: Nov 24, 2010 5:01 PM EST
Michael Stephen Bowden (Source: Spartanburg Detention Center)
GREENVILLE, SC (RNN) – Secret Service agents arrested a 77-year-old South Carolina man after he told a VA nurse that he wanted to shoot the president, according to an affidavit.
U.S. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan confirmed Wednesday that Michael Stephen Bowden of Woodruff was arrested Nov. 18 for the threats against President Barack Obama.
According to the affidavit, a nurse at the Veterans Administration clinic in Spartanburg, told authorities that Bowden “had made threatening statements” directed at Obama during a routine check-up. During the exam, the nurse reported she asked him if he had had any suicidal thoughts, and he responded, “Yes, I would like to shoot the President, then myself.”
[Click here to read the affidavit (PDF)]
Bowden allegedly told another nurse he was “thinking of traveling to Washington, DC, to shoot President Obama because he is not doing enough to help African-Americans.”
A day later, Secret Service agents responded to Bowden’s home, where he admitted to the allegations, and said in a sworn written statement, “If I had the opportunity to put Obama against the wall and shoot him, I would. I would kill, if possible, the president for what he has done to this country.”
During a search of his home, agents found three semi-automatic handguns and a semi-automatic rifle near Bowden’s bed, all of which were fully loaded and ready to fire. In another bedroom, agents found nine rifles, two shotguns and a handgun, as well as a loaded shotgun near the front door.
Bowden was arrested and charged with threatening to take the life of, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States. On Nov. 18, he appeared before a judge, who ordered him to undergo a psychological evaluation.
If released pending the psych evaluation, Bowden would not be allowed to leave South Carolina without permission, and must refrain from possessing a firearm.
Copyright 2010 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13565262
grandpajohn
Heh. living in SC and knowing Woodruff well, I can believe it. Woodruff is one of the areas in the running for Red Neck capitol of SC and probably the south and has been as long as I lcan remember, and I am 73 so thats a long memory.
burnspbesq
mistermix:
They mostly don’t like her because she’s got better biceps than they do. God help us all if Serena Williams ever runs for office.
Davis X. Machina
Unfavorables of +50% two years out, although wildly popular with partisans.
Name recognition of 100%.
Before any primaries. Before any negative ads. Because she’s not running unopposed in the primaries.
There’s no upside potential there — no large number of don’t-knows and not sures to turn. And no amount of campaigning can turn an unfavorable into a favorable.
Short her. Bet the field.
This is exactly the same situation Al Gore found himself in 2004, by the way.
Richard Fox
The one thing I find hard to get used to is the sheer unadulterated hatred of this President and anyone connected to him. It becomes painful to watch the news and listen to commentators as they struggle with the endless back and forth bile filled diatribes. I like to think there are reasonable Republicans ( and the commentator Teri sure sounds like one) and over time this awful cycle will move into a more reasoned fact based discourse. I won’t hold my breath as Fox News looms in the equation, but hey I can always hope. On that note, happy Thanksgiving, all.
burnspbesq
@lamh34:
Malia must get her size from Uncle Craig’s branch of the family. If she also has her dad’s love of the game, she might turn out to be a baller. Can you imagine being a college coach going to the White House for a recruiting visit?
Erikthe Red
@grandpajohn:
I’m guessing the old man decided “What the hell, I’m going soon anyway. Might as well as I say it how I feel it”.
I’d be interested in hearing his explantion of what Pres. Obama has “done to this country” that he deserves to be killed for.
Erikthe Red
@Richard Fox:
Remember “BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome)”? These guys got it majorly beat.
xian
I’d love to believe in some silent minority of sensible Republicans lurking out there but what I’d really like to see is them make an effort to reform their damn party instead of backing whatever crypto/wacko is nominated every time around.
Amir_Khalid
The only Palin the world needs to hear from is the one who does those great travel documentaries and The Lumberjack Song. Not the one who can’t tell North Korea from South Korea.
As for the latter Palin, I seem to remember that it was Barack Obama who told the media to leave her unwed pregnant daughter alone. And how does she repay him for this act of simple decency? By slagging off his wife — regularly, and for saying things like “Eat your vegetables”.
I don’t seriously expect Sarah Palin to become the Republican nominee in 2012. But if she does, or even if her presidential run is at all credible, America’s good name and its credibility as a leader of nations will suffer (some more).
And if the unthinkable actually happens, imagine a President dumber than Dan Quayle and with a mean streak a mile wide.
Citizen_X
@Admiral_Komack:
So he IS taking our guns!
/crazy people
Nellcote
@lamh34:
I’m surprised LaPalin hasn’t flipped out over comparing the sparing the turkeys to winning DWTS.
menckenjr
You can’t fight narrative with facts; you have to find a counter-narrative to interrupt and subvert her narrative, and you have to do it in their language. For example, dig up some evidence that she and Todd cheated on each other and play that up for all its worth, and ask how on earth you can trust her to keep her promises to you when she can’t keep her promises to her husband and children. Make up fake tabloid newspapers and scatter them around grocery stores for people to pick up, or put them on car windshields outside of churches.
It won’t do any good to try and remain virtuous if you want to keep these idiots out of power.
feebog
@ Davis X. Machina:
I think you nailed it. Everyone, and I mean everyone in this country has already made up their minds about her. She has nowhere to go but down. I think there was an initial infatuation for a lot of people, but the paint has faded already, and there are quite a few door dings. I base this on conversations with one of my golf buddies, who is 83, hispanic, and thought she was the greatest thing since sliced bread during the election. Now he thinks she is an idiot.
freelancer
@Svensker:
Michelle should say that it’s a good thing for Americans not to impale themselves on spikes. The kneejerk from the right would be hilarious.
daveinboca
“Palin suffers are pretty harsh favorability ratings among female voters. Going after the first lady (who remains relatively beloved by voters) ”
Uhh, Palin is about 4 points behind Obama [Barry Soetero] in the ratings, and she’s got a lot more favorable ratings recently than America-hating nanny Michelle, whose ratings are plummeting every time she stupidly tells Americans their obese just before Thanksgiving. Her tone-deaf tin ear is becoming recognized as being bad as her husband’s in all 57 states.
Teri
@Linda Featheringill: Yeah, I am one of the rare few in my area. A pro-choice catholic republican that actually believes that we are obligated to care for our fellow man. I learned civics in Catholic school where we were taught that our religious beliefs could influence our personal behavior but should not be used to impose our dogma on others.
Svensker
@daveinboca:
Don’t you have some white patent loafers to polish, or something?
Teri
@Ash Can: Yeah, our group is fighting like crazy to get some serious attention paid to sane and reasonable. The primary’s this spring were tough. Six of us refused to circulate petitions for the several canidates. (Often times they “bundle” the petitions so a popular well liked canidate is on top and then the others go underneath and we are asked to have them sign for those too) Needless to say, we didn’t fund raise for the “tea partiers” (Which is why we are tolerated in the party cause we throw great parties) and the State and National committees were sending us requests for funds like crazy. We said no, and told them why.
Citizen Alan
@Ash Can:
There is two types of Republican moderate. There are Republicans who openly espouse moderate positions and act on them. They are exiled from the party and dismissed as closet soshulists. There are other Republicans who openly espouse moderate positions but never act on them, opting instead to fold like a cheap suit every time Mitch McConnell snaps his fingers. They both live in Maine.
rikyrah
her gender gap with women is large, and this tactic will only make it larger.
I don’t disagree with your analysis, but it’s up to folks like us to point it out – what she’s doing.
Teri
@John Cole: I seriously thought about leaving the GOP but I have worked hard to elect my local council people, our town supervisor, the DA the coroner and the Sheriff. The majority of the republicans locally are good decent sane people. We are livid with the state party and national leadership. We are voting with our dollars. Fundraising is down (but they still get corporate bucks). I actively work to change things. Leaving doesn’t allow me to stand up at the meetings and say that this is wrong, unfair or stupid. Unlike Palin some of us Republican woman don’t quit when it gets hard. We push back. There is a strong undercurrent among the younger educated republican women on pushing back against the Palins, Angles etc.
licensed to kill time
Sarah Palin is a media celebrity, a bright shiny object that they can’t resist. A serious politician? Insert a bwahahaha here.
She would make a pretty decent Mrs. America. The word salad she regularly dresses and tosses out of her mouth would do any beauty pageant contestant proud.
I find it awfully funny that one of the McCain campaign criticisms of Obama was that he was a “celebrity”. Now look what McCain hath wrought, god damn him all to hell.
rikyrah
lamh34,
I luv ya.
Teri
@brantl: Part of the reason I became a republican was to piss off my Dad, a democrat, who was active in Philadelphia politics. I have been lucky in that the Republicans I work and associate myself with are pretty normal and we have the same relative values. Yes I do vote for the democratic canidates a lot of the time but unless I work to change the tone and direction of the Republican party who will? Part and parcel of being a stubborn bitch is sometimes chosing a side and sticking with it even when it doesn’t always make sense.
asiangrrlMN
@Teri: Well, I hope your side wins because the crazy is bugging the shit out of me. Take back your party, please. We need a sane, rational opposition party.
As for Palin, if she wants to take on Michelle Obama, she will find out just how many women (of all colors) LOVE the First Lady and loathe her. My instinctive response: Try it, bitch. I will cut you.
@lamh34: Thanks for the link. The girls have grown up so much. They both look so happy and beautiful. And, righteous rant.
rikyrah
Bob In Pacifica
It’s all part of the dog-whistle campaign.
When I was in the army (almost forty years ago!) I became what they called a race relations instructor. And it was all explained nicely to me by a son of the South in one class: “Ah may be po’ white trash, but at least Ah ain’t a n!gg@h. ”
And this is the frame many white Americans see the world through.
Been saying this for awhile.
Wish more of the media would just admit this.
When their CHILDREN see this Black man, his Black wife, and their Black children, in the White House, doing all that you do in the White House……
then what does ‘ at least I’m not a nigger ‘ mean anymore?
I wrote awhile ago why I thought they hated Michelle Obama even more than the President, I’m sticking with that theory.
debbie
@burnspbesq:
Zuzu's Petals
@Teri:
Good luck to you. I hope reason eventually prevails in the GOP and we can return to talking about real issues.
Zuzu's Petals
@General Stuck:
What I don’t get are more mainstream stroking, like the recent fawning piece the NYT ran as its Sunday magazine cover story.
Zuzu's Petals
I just don’t agree that she is thinking this strategy through on some subtle level – nothing indicates she is capable of that sort of complex thinking. I think she just wants to pin the “big governtment/nanny state” tag on Obama and anybody associated with him, no matter how ludicrous the charge.
Actually, I’d like to know exactly what about Michelle’s anti-obesity campaign involves the government forcing anybody to do anything. Anybody know?
Svensker
@Zuzu’s Petals:
SHE said it, which is equal to a thousand Hitlers x thousand Stalins.
burnspbesq
@Teri:
This makes perfect sense to me. It’s essentially why I haven’t bailed from the Catholic Church. Somebody has to work from inside, because the necessary changes cannot be imposed from outside.
Chuck Butcher
I’m pretty convinced SP will run in the Primaries, I don’t see how she can survive with her base if she doesn’t play. They don’t love her as a Beck, they love her as a political personage and that means running. Some here scoff at the idea of Rove, et al, supporting her because they’re scared of her … do what? Scared of what? That she might stab the “red button”? If you could point to a potential candidate the plutocrats could more easily co-opt and otherwise manipulate please name one.
As stupidly wrong as most of the potentials are they have at least some clue of how things work, contrast and compare. The question of whether SP could win a General probably comes down to the economy and some other imponderables like domestic terrorism. Look, Kerry was beaten by being portrayed as a pu**y compared to GWB, so predicting the electorate given some zig-zags unknown now is risky. A lot of populism is driven by things completely divorced from actual policy and toss in the racist/elitist resentment and you start playing with some pretty real numbers that don’t leave real big ones to make up. Keeping that 30% amped up isn’t a real trick so that leaves getting another 20%. Look at Oregon, innocuous Kitzhaber barely squeaked past Dudley and a statewide map shows county wins all Dudley’s except Multnomah (Portland) and Dudley was pathetic.
I think Sarah is laughable, but as a political entity she’s something more serious.
Chuck Butcher
@burnspbesq:
Heh,
that’s why I haven’t left the Democrats…
Michael Bersin
@jwb:
Same effect. Either will end civilization as we know it.
Chuck Butcher
moderation hell
I’m pretty convinced SP will run in the Primaries, I don’t see how she can survive with her base if she doesn’t play. They don’t love her as a Beck, they love her as a political personage and that means running. Some here scoff at the idea of Rove, et al, supporting her because they’re scared of her … do what? Scared of what? That she might stab the “red button”? If you could point to a potential candidate the plutocrats could more easily co-opt and otherwise manipulate please name one.
As stupidly wrong as most of the potentials are they have at least some clue of how things work, contrast and compare. The question of whether SP could win a General probably comes down to the economy and some other imponderables like domestic terrorism. Look, Kerry was beaten by being portrayed as a pu**y compared to GWB, so predicting the electorate given some zig-zags unknown now is risky. A lot of populism is driven by things completely divorced from actual policy and toss in the racist/elitist resentment and you start playing with some pretty real numbers that don’t leave real big ones to make up. Keeping that 30% amped up isn’t a real trick so that leaves getting another 20%. Look at Oregon, innocuous Kitzhaber barely squeaked past Dudley and a statewide map shows county wins all Dudley’s except Multnomah (Portland) and Dudley was pathetic.
I think Sarah is laughable, but as a political entity she’s something more serious.
Teri
@burnspbesq: yup, raised as a catholic democrat but rebelled as teen. I was part of the republican revolution in the ’80’s in college. I was such a prig. It was basically a screw you to my parents. But as I got older and more responsible I stuck with it. I developed friendships and realtionships with people and worked to make changes in my local area. The party in power was republican and to make a difference you had to work the party. I learned from my parents to be an active participant in my government and I am teaching the same to my children. Although their are times I think my older son takes positions just to piss me off (sounds like its genetic!). Hope everyone’s turkey day was good.
Chuck Butcher
@Teri:
I’d smirk as I wished you good luck, except that over 40 years of watching the Democrats turn into Rockefeller Republicans pretty much wipes that off my face.
Chuck Butcher
I don’t find a lot to fault with Reich’s look at Palin.
Older
So all day, I’ve been reading about Sarah Palin, Thanksgiving, and the President pardoning turkeys, and apparently I am the only one who has thought about Palin’s turkey-pardoning video of a few years back. You know, the one where she delivered the pardon at a local poultry farm? And behind her, as she spoke, a farm employee was — slaughtering a turkey?
Older
Oh, and Teri? Please do stay. A lot of us are not so much Democrats as we are sick of all those politicians. We’d like to have your participation in the conversation about what we can do for cryin’ out loud about the political situation.
catclub
@Xenos: “In the four months since I moved out of the states I have lost more than 25 pounds, eating pretty much the same lowfat diet as before I moved. I wonder if cutting out the corn syrup had something to do with it.”
I would guess that moving out of the US means going to a place where you walk more and drive less. I would rate the corn syrup change as a third order correction at best.
RinaX
@Teri:
I’ll be honest, John’s comment made me go “Haha, yeah, tell her”, but I do appreciate your response, and understand stubbornly not wanting to give up on what you’ve built.
Davis X. Machina
@efgoldman: Numbers, sure, but also the attachment of partisans, the meh-or-worse factor with the rest of the country, media forays in the meantime, the pre-existing comedian routines, everything.
Except the brains.
lovable liberal
Everyone who went to high school has to have met a Sarah Palin who sashayed her firm little ass into whatever activity she wanted to dominate and assumed the knowledgeable and hard-working people there would simply hand over the reins to her.
I know I did.
Putting this into people’s heads is the way to smack Palin down. Question is – is smacking Palin down best deferred until after she gets the GOP nomination?
Dr. Psycho
I believe that within a few election cycles, the Republicans will be a minor party and the Democrats will be the party of serious-minded conservatives.
I wish Teri and her fellow future Democrats luck and hope they will take good care of the party. I’ll be moving on to the Greens when that happens.