JMart on the two speeches yesterday:
In the span of a single news cycle, Republicans got a jarring reminder of two forces that could prevent them from retaking the presidency next year.
At sunrise in the east on Wednesday, Sarah Palin demonstrated that she has little interest—or capacity—in moving beyond her brand of grievance-based politics. And at sundown in the west, Barack Obama reminded even his critics of his ability to rally disparate Americans around a message of reconciliation.
Palin was defiant, making the case in a taped speech she posted online why the nation’s heated political debate should continue unabated even after Saturday’s tragedy in Tucson. And, seeming to follow her own advice, she swung back at her opponents, deeming the inflammatory notion that she was in any way responsible for the shootings a “blood libel.”
Obama, speaking at a memorial service at the University of Arizona, summoned the country to honor the victims, and especially nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green, by treating one another with more respect. “I want America to be as good as Christina imaged it,” he said.
It’s difficult to imagine a starker contrast.
Well, the two speeches had starkly different goals. Obama’s speech was intended to heal the nation and bring us together. Palin’s was to heal her reputation and to continue to divide the nation for her own political benefit. The speeches were completely accurate reflections of the character and aims of the respective orator.
joe from Lowell
That contrast seems to be an integral part of today’s coverage of Obama’s speech and the Giffords story in general. They’re doing it on MSNBC right now.
Edit: Mark Truscott from the Washington Examiner is getting his ass handed to him. He’s now called Sarah Palin a victim, and said she’s been attacked. I’m sure that will go over well.
TR
Palin’s focus was on herself. Obama’s focus was on us. Simple as that.
MoonBatista
But, as Martin noted, it was clear that the juxtaposition showed just how much better – many McMegans of magnitude – Obama is as a (fill in the blank: speaker/politician/leader). Palin may have made her base happy, but she indeed made Obama’s speech even bigger.
Bulworth
This all sounds like blood libel to me.
c u n d gulag
“The Whore of Babblin’ On”: Me, me, me!
President Obama: We, us.
Let’s hope after her tactless display we can finally bid so long to Sarah, “Say Goodnight Graceless.” *
*Yeah, this dates me. ..
Villago Delenda Est
Here’s the thing.
EVERYTHING IS ABOUT SARAH.
That’s what we’re hearing from her.
EVERYTHING IS ABOUT SARAH.
mistermix
That video was Palin trying her very hardest – she knew she was in trouble and yet she just couldn’t help herself.
WyldPirate
There. All fixed for you, John.
Villago Delenda Est
@mistermix:
Her narcissism is her undoing.
cleek
oh, i hope Queen Sarah gets the nomination. Sully’s fears aside, seeing Obama’s cool selflessness up against Palin’s brash narcissism would make for an awesome race.
TheMightyTrowel
@Villago Delenda Est: Careful. Only great heros and villains get to have tragic flaws. I’d prefer we not elevate her to that level.
Aside from narcissism she’s also a well of greed, avarice and pettiness.
Violet
@mistermix:
Yep. She just can’t help herself. The teleprompter reflecting off her glasses was such an excellent touch. She read it very poorly, as well. The excerpt I keep seeing on the news looks and sounds like a high school student trying to read their first speech in front of a large audience. She’s rattled.
@Villago Delenda Est:
Always has been, always will be.
TheMightyTrowel
@Villago Delenda Est: Careful. Only great heros and villains get to have tragic flaws. I’d prefer we not elevate her to that level.
Aside from narcissism she’s also a well of greed, jealousy, wilful ignorance and pettiness.
The Moar You Know
Screaming “stop blaming me” when no one of any consequence is, in fact, blaming you is a good way to get people to start asking “is there some reason I should be blaming you?”
Citizen_X
But, but…that almost suggests that Sarah, Queen of the Arctic Wilderness, is now a creature of the…east coast media elite! UNPOSSIBLE!
db
I was watching the ceremony that Anne Laurie mentioned is on C-SPAN. What these guys said.
I was watching Brewer’s remarks. Given those of us who have watched her performances, this is maybe one of her better public speaking performances. But I just noticed that she thanked Justice Kennedy. Was Kennedy there? I saw O’Connor. Did she have another boo-boo brain-fart?
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/01/12/20110112giffords-tucson-memorial-gov-brewer-remarks12-ON.html
Villago Delenda Est
I mentioned this last night, but I think that Sarah has, at long last, stumbled into her “Linda Tripp moment”.
That is, she’s made a public utterance that causes people to retch in disgust at the sheer cluelessness of the utterance.
MattF
Obama’s adversaries are infuriated by his good luck– and it’s true, the political gods have handed Obama a windfall. It’s hard to conceive of a starker and more revealing contrast than Palin vs. Obama. In particular, anyone out there who doesn’t see that a McCain/Palin administration would have been a catastrophe is not paying attention. But it’s important to note that repeated good luck just can’t be the whole story, and that believing it’s ‘just luck’ betrays a bias.
The Moar You Know
Morning radio in Los Angeles played a Tea Party lunatic who had watched Obama’s speech and “just couldn’t understand why the crowd were cheering – it was more like a pep rally than a service – very disturbing”.
It was dogwhistle for “I don’t understand why the crowd cheers for the nigger”, that much was sadly obvious.
I think this incident may finally be getting some Americans to use that most underdeveloped of their muscles, their brains. I’ve noticed in the last few days that a lot of folks are backing away from the TeaTards as fast as they can, not because of the assassination, but because of the continued hyper-defensive, totally insensitive, wholly politicized and frankly insane reaction that the far-righties/teatards/Palinites are having to this whole affair.
G. Nelson Buttnergle (formerly Mumphrey (formerly Renfrew Squeevil (formerly Mumphrey Oddison Yamm (formerly Mumphrey O. Yamm (formerly Mumphrey)))))
@Violet:
That’s a blood libel if ever I heard one. Only Obama uses teleprompters. Everybody knows that. Why Palin herself has mocked Obama’s use of teleprompters. Surely she couldn’t be so inept or unselfaware to use a…
Ah, nevermind.
Ana Gama
@joe from Lowell:
Palin the Victim made herself unelectable. She did that to herself.
The Grand Panjandrum
I understand the fascination with the train wreck that is the former half-term governor of Alaska, but the most interesting story, and probably the most politically damaging story out of this news cycle is that John Boehner, the new Speaker of the House, decided to attend a DC cocktail party instead of flying with the President to attend this service:
So the person who leads the entire House of Representative was busy doing what?
Palin holds no elected political office. Boehner is the sitting Speaker and one of the members of that body narrowly survived an assassination and he can’t break away from a fundraiser? The man has no decency. What a fucking phony. But, you knew that already.
artem1s
It seems that Palin’s narcissism has finally been her downfall. It occurred to me last night that her speech yesterday was an attempt to be included in an event that she was never, ever going to get invited to. I think she may actually have been confused about why she wasn’t going to get to share the spotlight with the other ‘celebrity’ politicians and this is really the basis of her pouting (temper tantrum). She may have even anticipated that McCain would get invited (as an AZ Senator) and that she had a natural ‘right’ to tag along as his running mate.
I’m beginning to think she waited 4 days because she seriously believed that the MSM was going to seek her out for commentary. She had to manufacture a media moment to get on stage because the meanies in the media were unjustly shunning her. It never occurred to her or her handlers that the only reason she was any part of the discussion was the website and that outside of that bit of bad timing no one would be talking about her at all. Most of the ‘serious’ punditry on the Sunday morning shows was centered more around the media/radio figures and their long history of ramping up the hate language. Sarah, in the end, will just be a footnote to this whole bizarre tragedy. And that’s exactly what irks her the most.
RSR
Jay Rosen specifically cites this same article in this tweet:
Second graph indicates why I think Palin lost the Church of the Savvy this week http://jr.ly/6kbw They were starting to think: hey, maybe…
@jayrosen_nyu
I guess we’ll see, but it could be a bit of a “if I’ve lost Cronkite” moment.
horatius
John G. Cole wins the internet today for managing to use the word orator while talking about Sarah Palin.
BGK
@db:
Yes, he was just to Justice O’Connor’s right. I thought the same thing at first, but when the camera panned down the line during the handshakes afterward, I saw him there. Of course, there’s the question as to why Brewer ignored O’Connor. She was, if anything, in a better seat than Kennedy, so she was considered similarly-VIP.
kc
As I watched Obama’s speech conclude, my better angel was thinking, “How moving. I must strive to be a better person.” And my not-so-good angel was thinking, “Bwahaha! Take THAT, Palin!”
RSR
follow up: I’m not saying Palin’s video wasn’t exactly what she/her people intended it to be. But it may have been a step too far for ‘the village.’
Ash Can
@MattF: I think they’re more infuriated by his sheer ability, the fact that he’s not presenting any weaknesses that they can exploit to any substantial degree (and I do think this is what you were implying as well). All the GOP has to do is to make a concerted effort to put forward an effective counterpart to Obama. But they can’t — not only do they not have anyone of his caliber in their leadership ranks, they wouldn’t believe in his/her vision even if they did.
It’s times like this that I think of people (some of whom have trolled here) who insist that Obama is an empty suit and an empty head, and that Sarah Palin is so much greater a leader than he is. It makes my head hurt to think of the mental gymnastics believing something like that must require.
WyldPirate
@TheMightyTrowel:
Narcissism is the new normal. Psychiatry is taking it out of the next version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Evidently this is causing some controversy in the world of psychiatry, but if there were ever a textbook example of narcissistic personality disorder, I think Sarah Palin would be the poster child.
RalfW
Palin’s timidity and fearfulness in choosing a canned video with no audience, on Facebook, further amplifies her lack of any sense of how to lead people, much less a nation. Had she had the courage to wait a couple of days and given a speech, even to a very sympathetic audience with not chance of press “hounding” she might have had a chance.
She’s a shill for herself and herself only. And her instincts will not serve her well, as this stark contrast indicates.
Violet
@artem1s:
Her daughter Bristol has bought a house in Arizona. Her long-time lawyer has taken a job working as deputy chief of staff and legislative director for an AZ Congressman, and rumor has it the Palins have bought another house in Scottsdale. Palin may be thinking longer term about some sort of Senate run (McCain’s seat?) in Arizona, or somesuch. Who knows with that crazy woman.
Rick Massimo
There’s your one mistake, John. Sarah Palin isn’t out to heal anything. That would imply that something has been damaged. Yesterday’s Osama Bin Laden-style video was about “I didn’t do nothing, and fuck all y’all.” It was intended to draw her followers closer to her and I’m sure it did. And that’s all.
Villago Delenda Est
@TheMightyTrowel:
I think that arrogance has to be tossed into the mix as well.
Mnemosyne
Mostly on the same topic, in one of the threads below, geg6 posted a link to TPM’s coverage of an interview that Gillibrand and Wasserman did describing what that moment was like when Giffords opened her eyes.
And here, to me, is the difference between Pelosi and Boehner: Pelosi went on this trip and made this visit to the hospital and memorial service even though Giffords voted against her as Minority Leader. That’s class.
Boehner couldn’t be bothered to cancel his fundraiser when a member of the House that he’s supposed to be the leader of is gravely wounded in an assassination attempt.
To paraphrase Steve Jobs, the problem with Republicans is that they have no taste. And I don’t mean that in a small way.
WyldPirate
@Villago Delenda Est:
The list of descriptors is getting too long. Perhaps just a single catch-all insult like fuckwit or poopy-head would do.
JAHILL10
I wept like a baby at Obama’s speech last night and I think after all it was because it was a truly moving tribute to those people lost in this stupid senseless violence. I would have given a limb if the pastors who spoke at my parents’ funerals had shown half the compassion and understanding that the president showed. But that kind of caring doesn’t come from political calculation, it comes from a better place or it doesn’t ring true at all.
It just so happens that in this case Obama showing his expensive, compassionate nature ALSO happened to make Palin’s attention grab look like the petty narcissistic exercise that it was. Yay for serendipity!
@c u n d gulag: And I am officially stealing the whore of babblin’ on tag!
PS
@Villago Delenda Est: Agreed, but of all these, the first is Greed. That video was designed to shore up her (shrinking) base, and keep the checks and money orders and Visa numbers coming. I think she made a calculation to double down, knowing that this would further alienate those who dislike her and hoping to consolidate her position with her fans, the 28%ers. The trouble is that even her fans demand (ahem) Hope for (cough) Change — they want to see her as electable. So this gamble may have failed. Not that I think this will stop her, but the figure that now comes to mind is Giuliani, remember him? Front-runner for the nomination? Right … but even Rudy is still on-screen.
Tom
Palin will continue to cash in on her martyrdom for the next 30 or so years. Whether she can do that without holding office again is yet to be seen. She may be forced at some point to run for a house seat at some point to stay relevant.
RalfW
@The Moar You Know: As someone traumatized by how the right wing was able to turn the Wellstone memorial into a turning point that elected Norm Waffle Grovel Coleman as Senator, I was and am worried about the cheers.
So I’d not dismiss this as a dogwhistle about Obama being black.
Those of us in the reality based community can see that Obama gave an excellent, healing, encouraging speech to a hurting nation. And that most likely, being in the venue it was, that there were a lot of young people in the audience. They responded, they cheered.
As I watched, I was a tad uncomfortable. There was also much to cheer about: every-day heroes. Gabby opening her eyes. So I dunno. But I’d say tread this carefully, for the right learned much at the Wellstone memorial about using “what’s appropriate at a memorial” as a cudgel.
PurpleGirl
A minor point, but in trying to look presidential and having the flag in the video scene, they incorrectly displayed the flag. The flag should have been to its own right, which means behind her right shoulder. You’d think for people who fetishize the flag as a holy symbol they would know this. I learned it mumble mumble years ago as a Girl Scout.
Poopyman
@G. Nelson Buttnergle (formerly Mumphrey (formerly Renfrew Squeevil (formerly Mumphrey Oddison Yamm (formerly Mumphrey O. Yamm (formerly Mumphrey))))):
I’m waiting for the point where your name leaves no room for an actual comment.
Also, I got nothin’ to say about Palin.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Moar You Know:
Please. We are genteel around here.
“the crowd cheers for the near guy” is the appropriate way to characterize the dogwhistle.
CLANG!
Tom
I got a little Boehnered-up too.
Villago Delenda Est
@PurpleGirl:
Flag etiquette is one of those things the idiot wingtards just don’t have time to worry about, they’re far too busy shopping for 30 round magazines online to give a rat’s ass about that sort of detail.
Villago Delenda Est
@PurpleGirl:
Flag etiquette is one of those things the idiot wingtards just don’t have time to worry about, they’re far too busy shopping for 30 round magazines online to give a rat’s ass about that sort of detail.
Villago Delenda Est
@PS:
Yup, very good point.
She’s about the benjamins, first and foremost.
Sasha
I think Obama is the beneficiary of Voltaire’s prayer:
Omnes Omnibus
@Tom: Ew. And I think I speak for many when I say that.
MikeJ
@The Grand Panjandrum:
I was hoping for a moment of Newt with that plane ride. Make him ride in the back with the press and other undesirables. Then let him get pissed off that they don’t play Hail to the Chief for him. Then let his hubris guide him to petty revenge.
Kryptik
While Obama calls for civility and coming together, Louie Gohmert (Mr. ‘All Congressmen need to be armed and dangerous’) publicly wonders why the FBI is hiding the fact that Loughner is a psycho liberal leftist Obama idolizer.
It never ends.
PS
@Villago Delenda Est: Of course, in this she makes an instructive comparison with Boehner, who doubtless siphons off plenty for himself but actually uses the money he grubs to advance his political agenda. That being, to funnel even more money to the people he collects tips from.
kay
I just thought it was very Obama. Good speech.
Whoever described him as “President Grown Up” hit the nail on the head.
What amazes me about the people who see the Presidency as akin to a “national father” is this: they only accept one narrow flavor of “father”.
Even if I accept that notion, President As Father, (I don’t) I recognize that not all fathers are the same.
Obama’s “daddy” model, while different than Bill Clinton or George W Bush, is very good.
Jeez. Can we broaden things a bit? He’s a different person.
Greg
Over at Redstate, Sarah’s video was masterful and showed that she is one bazillion times better than mooslim Barry whose talk was a disgrace. They are so effing crazy over there.
aimai
@RalfW:
I agree with you RalfW, and if anyone here is too young to understand the Wellstone reference Al Franken has a great chapter on it in one of his books. However–and this is a big however–I think that these dogwhistles get less and less powerful as time goes on. That’s one reason why they have to keep ratcheting up the invective: because the audience that hears this stuff gets bored and acclimatized and the rest of the people stop listening. I well remember the horror of watching the press spin, 24/7, how “awful” it was that a memorial service was a celebration of Wellstone’s life and politics when, as far as I know, that’s what a memorial service is supposed to be.
But I think that Palin’s self inflicted wound is going to put a stopper on that for this event–the same people will say the same shit but Obama’s speech itself is such a rebuke to that.
Also, I wanted to say that whoever talked about their better and worse angels way upthread: I couldn’t agree more. I, too, resolved to be a better person after reading Obama’s speech. Better for me and better for my country. But anger keeps coming sneaking around the backdoor. I’m trying to grasp the Buddhist element to Obama’s remarks which is that by constant return to anger and to vengeance and to grievance we don’t achieve as much as we like to think. It is, instead, by working harder to deserve these beautiful children and this democracy that we get to where we are going.
In light of that I went out this morning to join with a number of women who are planning a HUGE Martin Luther King Day of Service for Monday. And it felt good. Better than anger.
aimai
Davis X. Machina
Our own Dave C had it nailed yesterday.
She’s trolling, not just a bulletin board, or a blog comments section, but a whole country. And a troll’s a troll.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Poopyman: I keep wondering what lisp would do with it.
JAHILL10
Also, I don’t know why no one has mentioned this possibility yet, but in all the speculation about the cheering in that auditorium last night like “People mourn in their own way,” “Maybe it was like an Irish wake.” I am just trying to imagine what it must be like to be a reasonable, liberal to moderate or even old fashioned conservative living in Arizona even BEFORE this horrible shooting happened.
I mean it has been Ground Zero for crazy lately. When you have REPUBLICAN political operatives who supported McCain ferchrissake in the last election feeling like they need to step down from their party positions for fear of getting shot, we’re talking about a seriously toxic atmosphere.
So to me the tone for the entire service was set with the Native American professor who went up to the podium proudly proclaiming his Mexican and Yaqui heritage to the cheers of the audience. It was like a big F___ You! I’m an American too!” to the Tea Party crazies and their implicit violent threats. Think a lot of people in that blue area of the state feel besieged and last night gave them a clear, open and safe space to raise their voices in grief and in celebration. And they took it.
artem1s
@WyldPirate:
Psychiatry is taking it out of the next version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
I’m betting that they have decided that they don’t want to include it because they have no idea how to treat it.
My whole life was dramatically changed when my therapist diagnosed my ex-boyfriend as NPD. She told me ten years ago that treatment mostly consisted of making sure significant others had proper coping mechanisms for living with NPDs.
Once I could recognize the symptoms a whole world of insanity was lifted off my shoulders. Pretty much NPDs don’t bother me anymore cause I know exactly how to divert their attention getting behaviors. The stubborn ones drive themselves batshit trying to get me to pay attention. It is infinitely entertaining.
god bless any therapists who fight this decision.
Davis X. Machina
Boehner is screwed either way. He rides in front, he’s accepting favors from the devil incarnate. He rides in back, and doesn’t throw a hissy-fit, and fails to shut down the government, he invites a comparison with Newt that is not to his advantage.
The cocktail party in DC was in fact his least-harmful option.
Boehner isn’t stupid. There’s a certain low cunning on display there.
tPirate
On the discussion thread to the related article on Politico, most of the posters are making jokes about the shock of Giffords opening up her eyes to see allegedly ugly Pelosi’s face. They lack the empathy (or something) to realize that Giffords will be living the rest of her life with facial disfigurement.
TaMara (BHF)
@Greg: This is what worries me in all of this. That alternate reality. Is there any hope there, any way to flip that switch?
Davis X. Machina
@PS: First Guiliani, then Palin. That would spell the end of Nixon’s Law: Ceteris paribus, the GOP nomination goes to the best hater.
MattF
Boehner, your basic high-level party hack, has had greatness thrust upon him. To be civil, I’m not saying he’s stupid or that he can’t change his behavioral repertoire. I’m just sayin’.
debit
@RalfW: As someone who watched the Wellstone memorial as it happened, what turned me off were the boos when Republican politicians, some of whom were in attendance, were mentioned or announced. They were there to pay their respects and booing them was boorish.
suzanne
@Violet:
God help me.
db
@BGK: Thanks. Wow – I did not recognize Kennedy until you pointed him out; he’s aged a lot more in the last few years.
Villago Delenda Est
@kay:
Yes. Yes he is.
He’s near.
(proceeding to go sit in the corner now…)
Davis X. Machina
@db: I’d like to think Bush v. Gore is weighing on his conscience.
SFAW
I guess that’s what sucking up to Scalia will do to you.
SFAW
Isn’t it pretty to think so?
Pretty, but wrong.
Mnemosyne
@debit:
IIRC, the booing was really what the Republicans latched onto with the Wellstone memorial. It’s going to be difficult for them to make the case that cheering is just as disrespectful as booing. They’re gonna try, but I don’t know how well they’re going to succeed.
PS
@Davis X. Machina: I hope you are correct. Even Nixon (“who never let me down” — H.S. Thompson) may have become out of date. But every time I think I see bottom, it turns out to be an illusion, so I ain’t holding my breath.
Nellcote
LaPalin couldn’t handle for 5 days what Prez Obama has had to put up with for 2 years.
You Don't Say
I wonder if it’s part of the reason (or *the* reason) so many conservatives are praising Obama’s speech today. It’s an opportunity to take Palin down with an indirect blow. They must be beside themselves with glee.
kc
@tPirate:
Try not to read the comment threads at Politico. It will make you lose all hope for humanity.
cursorial
@Greg: Have to agree. I saw the tagline for Marc Thiessen’s column in the Post this morning “Brilliant, courageous” and thought, wow, maybe the speech did build a bridge. Clicked on the link (I should know better) to find Marc praising Obama’s courage in calling out the left for it’s outrageous behavior.
I’m going to assume he’s just trying to be provocative, because I don’t see how anyone remotely rational could interpret the speech that way.
Trinity
@Davis X. Machina: Check out what I just read over at Slog!
gbear
@debit: The thing I remember about the Wellstone memorial was that all of the speakers were trying (and succeeding) at keeping the event apolitical until one of Wellstone’s aides went over the top in trying to convince everyone to get on board with everything on Wellstone’s agenda in order to honor his memory. He was calling out names of republicans in the crowd asking them to do this in Wellstone’s name. I was listening to the event on the radio and wishing that this guy would just shut up.
MattF
@cursorial
Well, as Terry Pratchett likes to put it, the leopard is not going to change his shorts.
Calouste
@BGK:
Probably Brewer mentioned Kennedy because he was there as a representative of the Supreme Court (for the murdered judge) while O’Connor was there as a private citizen.
How they are seated is determined by the order of precedence, and retired Justices come right after current Justices in precedence.
Mark S.
For those of you unfortunate enough to not have a family member or co-worker who gets all their news from Rush and Fox and regurgitates it for you every time you talk to them, the Kaplan Daily Fishwrap is looking out for you.
Mnemosyne
@Mark S.:
It’s by Jennifer Rubin. What a shock. She aspires to be the next Michelle Malkin, but she’s not even smart enough to reach that level.
Phoebe
@Mnemosyne:
“Taste” is the word that has been leaping to my mind with these people since George W. Bush [“Bring it on” was when I lost all hope for that guy], and again especially with this whole gun-sight/surveyor symbol brouhaha. It sounds superficial, but it’s not. And I can’t think of any other word.
catclub
@Davis X. Machina:
Never heard that before. Tom Tancredo lost. More proof that the top hater is not the nominee.
Pat Buchanan lost. McCain lost in 2000.
tomvox1
Martin:
Fail. How is it lefty overreach to say that avoiding violent, eliminationist political rhetoric is better for the country as a whole, regardless of the gunman’s motivations? Only a masturbating pundit could see it otherwise…
Man, I fucking hate Politico.
Barb (formerly Gex)
@MattF: You can only take advantage of good luck opportunities if you have done the work to do so. Obama did all the work to make himself a steady, reasonable leader. The increasing childishness of the right seems so much worse (if possible) next to a real adult.
Mark S.
@Mnemosyne:
She aspires to be the next
Michelle MalkinDan Riehl, but she’s not even smart enough to reach that level.She is absolutely horrible. I’ve only read her three or four times, and she never has even a glimmer of an original thought. It’s all just triumphalist Republican talking points.
Phoebe
The rats are leaving the sinking Palin ship if Ari Fleischer is dissing her. The end.
Sometimes I think the non-idiot GOP was just hanging back waiting for her to hang herself with all that rope. They would never say anything bad about her [on the air] because lots of people still liked her, but they knew it was just a matter of time. They just got the green light to purge her ass.
Davis X. Machina
@catclub: McCain turned out to be apretty good hater, as recent events have shown…
Omnes Omnibus
@Phoebe: Why am I put in mind of “I, Claudius?” The members of the Senatorial and Imperial families waiting and biding their time for an opportunity to make a move, perhaps?
Davis X. Machina
@Trinity: Not mine — I always give credit to Dave C’s post from here.
Barb (formerly Gex)
@catclub: A nit here. McCain isn’t a bonafide hater. He only hates when it is politically expedient. I think in 2000 he wasn’t so hate-y.
ETA: Maybe not. Just saw your post below.
catclub
@Davis X. Machina:
But as I pointed out, he was clearly the superior hater in 2000.
gwangung
I keep on thinking, “It’s THEIR fucking event. It’s THEIR fucking event.”
Aren’t we getting to be arrogant busybodies telling other people how to run their lives?
Bubblegum Tate
@Ash Can:
I don’t think it requires much mental gymnastics on their part. It’s just something that they assume is true; it’s a baseline assumption from which an argument proceeds, not the conclusion of an argument.
MikeJ
@Phoebe: Taste is more than just an eye for design. It’s what tells maths and physics people when something is right or wrong. I’ve read over and over again of people who knew they had the right solution (or were on the right track anyway) because of the elegance and beauty of the answer.
Of course there still exist people who think Fermat’s Last hasn’t been “properly” solved because it had an ugly answer. Taste is importance but æsthetics can’t get in the way of what works.
Mnemosyne
@MattF:
Agreed. When someone is that consistently lucky, over and over and over again, in one race after another, you can no longer assign everything to just good luck.
What’s the phrase? “Chance favors the prepared”? I think that’s what we’re getting a good look at.
jTh
Phoebe, that other word you’re looking for is CLASS.
Mnemosyne
@gwangung:
You only just noticed this about Republicans? ;-)
I don’t think there was anything that the right wing can really grab onto with this memorial. They were able to make the Wellstone memorial look bad because you had people in the crowd booing Republicans who had come to the memorial, and they were able to play that over and over and over again.
What are they going to complain about with this one? People were too happy? Having a non-JudeoChristian invocation? Free t-shirts? Every one of those complaints makes them look like nitpicking assholes, so no one outside of the bunker is going to pay attention.
Mnemosyne
@jTh:
It’s funny — that Jobs quote is from the “Triumph of the Nerds” miniseries on PBS and I always remembered it as “class,” but when I saw it again, I discovered that he actually says “taste.”
(Ah, YouTube. You come through for me again.)
Maude
@Phoebe:
You’ve got it right.
I don’t know how anyone could call the past two years lucky for Obama. It has been one thing after another and almost overwhelming.
The thing we see with Obama is something not seen in a president for so long and that is competence.
Obama’s speeches come from him. His heart and his mind are what’s involved.
Trinity
@Davis X. Machina: I just hope it becomes a meme. Sarah Palin: Troll of a nation.
Omnes Omnibus
@jTh: I have an issue with using the word class over taste in this circumstance. Class carries with it certain connotations of, how shall I phrase it, class, as in social class.
c u n d gulag
@JAHILL10:
Feel free. Glad you like it!
licensed to kill time
This Palin video showed so clearly that Sarah! is only out for Sarah! and, somewhat peripherally, the narrow slice of “Real America” she has carved out of the body politic.
She speaks only to the adoring. She filters out those who have not fallen at her feet. I’ve said it before but she’d make a great little fascist dictator in her own little fiefdom.
Heckuva job, Saree.
tesslibrarian
@artem1s: Similar thing happened to me, when my therapist diagnosed my father as NPD and gave me a book to read at our first session. Few things are as reassuring as that understanding.
LanceThruster
She probably wrote “Money Train” on her palm so she wouldn’t forget what was important.
That being said, I think there are some important aspects of this not being covered in the blame- and compassion-porn fest. One side talks of ballots or bullets to ensure their vision of uh’merka remains preeminent. One talks of the need for working within the system to assert or gain power and stresses the newfound urgency to legislate some dramatic gun prohibition (“guns are bad, umkay?”) that would seem like a new rallying point for the “they’re trying to take away our guns!” crowd.
Our country was founded on violence stirred by those mad as hell and not going to take it anymore as they asserted their power over those also with reason to be mad as hell but with less power to resist as they were painted as bloodthirsty savages for having the nerve to even think they had a right to.
For some time culminating with the 2000 stolen elections (though acknowledging Kennedy/Johnson chicanery after the fact – I was five), I’ve felt the lack of effective action to go with the outrage similar to the scenario of the battered wife telling the molested child that the father is a good though flawed man and that they needed to pick their time and tactic and maybe stop pissing him off so much.
Contrast the hand-wringing over the relatively small scale violence by a deluded individual who somehow felt justified over the carnage he was wreaking with the large scale violence a nation state wreaks against anyone of its choosing, justifying its own actions even when clearly delusional, and openly mapping out the aggression it threatens its own citizenry with, as it deprives them of yet more liberty in the name of safety, more rights in the name of freedom, provides and inflicts more violence in the name of peace, and more lies in the name of integrity.
I agreed with the 14 points of fascism comparisons to Bush as leaders from both sides acquiesced to further indignities to the Constitution and us. Later revelations absolutely establishing the unconstitutional actions; wire-taps, war crimes, due process, civil liberties, etc, also established how impotent treaties and amendments are in the face of those viewing such as just “a goddamned piece of paper!”
Where are the “good Germans?” Where is the point that allowing ourselves to be further marginalized as the powerful and their accomplices murder, rape, and pillage (notice no “scare quotes” around MURDER, RAPE, and PILLAGE) means that what was lost will never be recovered because we sat frozen as it was happening all around us?
Will we be so incapacitated by the economic violence being done to us in plain sight as those committing it and profiting from it further reward themselves that jumping out of the pot seems both impossible and futile?
Catch-22 means people have the right to do to you anything that you cannot prevent them from doing to you ~ Joseph Heller.
What happened to these people was horrific. Compassionate people are horrified and traumatized. But don’t ignore the big picture when focusing on the small scale. Wonderfully decent people are also dying and being brutalized in shockingly violent ways as those bringing the violence, and cheering the violence, and demanding the violence, get all weepy if someone calls them mean. The most examination our own victims will get is if we make some attempt to deal with the damage caused.
“It’s a way we had over here for living with ourselves. We cut ’em in half with a machine gun and give ’em a Band-Aid. It was a lie. And the more I saw them, the more I hated lies.” – Capt. Willard “Apocalypse Now”
Sociopaths look for opportunities. Powerful sociopaths capitalize on opportunities. Remember that a crazy person with money is instead called “eccentric.” When the game is rigged to the point that changing the system within the system is merely diversionary because all the other aspects providing for a free and informed populace are so heavily corrupted, controlled, and squandered, does anyone believe for a moment that this power will be relinquished freely?
I might even have hope if consistent rules were applied so that those acting criminally felt the least amount of concern over consequences from their actions but instead they act in confidence that it is their power alone that can protect them from reaping what they have sown.
So many of those involved in this senseless and delusional violence and carnage have shown remarkable courage, decency, and compassion. What I fear is that it takes so few acting in the opposite manner to continue to subject others to this daily horror on a scale almost unimaginable.
Fearing that the streets may run with blood is mostly based on what street you’re currently on. For many, they’re already neck deep in it. http://aberdeenpublishing.com/page2.html
SFAW
Mnemosyne –
A similar line, that I always liked: Luck is the residue of design.
[Which I just Googled, turns out it was Milton. Who knew?]
(Yes, I’m sure some of you already knew.)
xian
@artem1s: you said
That’s perceptive. Remember her poutrage at not being able to give her own concession speech?
Michael Carpet
A small point, but it appears Palin used a Teleprompter; Obama spoke from notes only. Just sayin.
Lorna
Palin is not in political office……..Obama, what is his job again? I know such a small difference.
Mnemosyne
@Lorna:
No one forced Palin to make the statement that she did. If she made herself look bad to the public — and I think she did — she has no one to blame but herself.
Chyron HR
@Lorna:
I thought Palin was the world’s greatest political leader, with vastly more experience than “Barry”? Try to keep your stories straight, okay?
Lorna
What were the goals……Did Sarah give out T-shirts? A memorial service to mourn those lost, to encourage those wounded and the community…….yea, I can see how a T-shirt would be appropriate.
Tony J
@Lorna:
I know. One is a failed half-term Governor of a state that doesn’t want her back trying to appeal to a small sliver of the extreme Right that eats up faux-victimisation, while one is the President of the United States.
OTOH, “Small”? I don’t think that word means what you think it means.
But go on, you were about to troll something before I rudely interrupted you.
licensed to kill time
Could Lorna be the reincarnation of Michael Gass? She’s got the ellipses and the concern down pat.
The t-shirts aren’t crying!
SFAW
Lorna is one of the (thankfully) few people I’ve encountered who not only does her damnedest to show people how stupid she is, but is actually proud of her stupidity and ignorance.
She’s a Cyril Kornbluth story writ large. Except they only need one of her to make the point.
Brisbane Belff (formerly G. Nelson Buttnergle (formerly Mumphrey (formerly Renfrew Squeevil (formerly Mumphrey Oddison Yamm (formerly Mumphrey O. Yamm (formerly Mumphrey))))))
@Poopyman:
Glad to help out! It might take a while, but never let it be said that I didn’t do my best!
SFAW
Michael Gass or Floyd Alvis Cooper. Or maybe Kaye Grogan?
Lorna
ahhh, the insults. I forgot. I agree whatever you said. Did the pass out bumper stickers too?
licensed to kill time
I don’t think the bumper stickers passed out, but it’s hard to tell ’cause they’re stuck to the bumper.
Brisbane Belff (formerly G. Nelson Buttnergle (formerly Mumphrey (formerly Renfrew Squeevil (formerly Mumphrey Oddison Yamm (formerly Mumphrey O. Yamm (formerly Mumphrey))))))
@Lorna:
Fuck off.
SFAW
Ah, but is it really an insult if someone points out that you’re an imbecile, when you obviously are? Intelligent people would classify it as “Speaking truth to stupid”.
It’s on a par with calling a five-foot-tall, 400-lb person “a few pounds overweight”. Feelings may be hurt, but it’s not as if the statement is inaccurate or insulting.
But if calling it an insult helps you maintain your vanity and delusional state, who are we to argue?
Lorna
@SFAW: How short are you?…….it always seems that you are trying to compensate for something.
Mnemosyne
@Lorna:
At the last memorial service I went to, I was given a t-shirt with the deceased’s picture and dates. It’s not nearly as uncommon as you seem to think, especially in the Southwest.
Lorna
@Mnemosyne: I did not notice, were the names of the deceased on these tshirts? They must have been on the back?
SFAW
Yes, I’m trying to compensate for the seemingly-endless amount of stupid that you have brought to this blog, and – dare I say it – to this planet. Unfortunately, no matter how much smarter ANY of us here is than you are, we don’t have an infinite supply of intelligence to compensate for the infinite supply of stupid you bring.
Lorna
@SFAW: Nah, that’s not it. I am flattered since you find me so stupid, that you have to comment on every single post I make…….I think you like me:-P
Mnemosyne
@Lorna:
So you’re all outraged without knowing the facts? Yeah, that sounds like you.
You guys are going to have to come up with a better talking point, because complaining about how the University of Arizona conducted their memorial service just makes you look petty.
Lorna
@Mnemosyne: Did the t-shirts have the names of those lost on the back or not?
SFAW
Damn, you found out my secret. I find you really, really hot.
Anyone as intellectually dishonest as you must have it all together, which is enticing in its own way.
Where do you want to meet?
SFAW
And, yes, Lorna, I realize you’re actually a guy who’s trolling as a pretend-female. But I figure if you want to play the
cockettecoquette, I should humor you.Lorna
@Mnemosyne: I didn’t say anything about how the University conducted the memorial service….you must be confused. I do think the t-shirts were tacky. If they did not have the names of the victims on them, they were tacky. This was not a pep rally, it was a memorial service.
SFAW
Mnemosyne –
She thinks it was the blackity black Mooslim who ran the show. Don’t disabuse her of that “knowledge”.
Lorna
@SFAW:
Lorna
@SFAW: Your reading comprehension sucks today.
SFAW
No, it’s because you’re intellectually dishonest. Which is SOP for wingnuts.
Honesty, on the other hand, is a liberal ethic. So I wouldn’t expect you to know about that, Larry. (I don’t know if your name really is Larry, of course. It might be Fred, or Karl, or Erick. But Larry’s close enough to Lorna, so I’ll stick with that.)
SFAW
Ah, yes, the old wingnut Plan B – projection! Boo-yah!
Try to stay calm, Larry.
Lorna
@SFAW: Strike two….wrong again. Okay, almost peed my pants……..that line about honesty being a liberal ethic. Oh man! Good one.
Mark S.
@Lorna:
Yeah, I don’t know how anyone could be confused by your comment at 115.
Shove off, troll.
SFAW
Larry –
Keep telling yourself that. It’s all you have left.
Lorna
Yea, t-shirts were inappropriate. You know it, I know it. That’s why it pisses you off. Wait, let’s take a line from SFAW…..let’s be intellectually honest.
SFAW
What, are you now trying to learn a foreign language?
Keep projecting, Larry.
Lorna
@SFAW:
Mark S.
@Lorna:
Jesus, nobody gives a shit about the t-shirts besides you and Malkin.
SFAW
Ah, back to the old Larry standby – “I know you are but what am I?”
Keep it up, Larry, because it’s a really good tactic. Especially if it makes you feel smarter.
SFAW
Mark S. –
Larry knows that. He’s just trying to impress the object of his affection (Sarah!) with his ability to troll and say stupid stuff.
Starbursts! Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me if Larry were actually Lowry.
agrippa
Palin should be enroute to well earned obscurity. But, owing to the fact that american politics has been, quite effectively, ‘seinfelded’, she may now be queen.
Lorna
@Mark S.: Mark, you are wrong. Lots of people thought it was tacky. Lots of people thought it had the feeling of a “pep rally” I don’t care what most people thought…….I was trying to place myself in Christina’s mothers shoes……some of it to me was weird. The shirts should have commemorated the lost loved ones and since they obviously did not, I personally think it was distasteful.
Lorna
@SFAW: I got to go, got to make dinner for my pretend husband. I’ll try to get back later. Until then hugs and kisses.
licensed to kill time
@Lorna:
I saw Christina’s parents and brother interviewed on CNN immediately after the service, and they all said it was wonderful, moving, sad but uplifting. They described a completely different tone than the one you are hearing from “lots of people”. The brother of Christina was wearing one of those t-shirts you are criticizing.
The crowd at the memorial reacted spontaneously. I think some people wanted to feel optimistic and hopeful after all the sadness and shock. It wasn’t some orchestrated reaction.
I’d go with the opinion of those directly affected and actually there rather than some faux outrage from pundits and bloggers of any stripe.
kay
@licensed to kill time:
Oh, God. Bawling, again. He was the older boy holding his mother’s hand, right?
I was fine through the whole speech until Christina’s mother put her hands above her head and clapped when Obama said we had to try to be as good as Christina imagined us to be.
SFAW
Larry –
No need to pretend, if you live in HI or MA or ME or VT (I think).
licensed to kill time
@kay:
Yes, he’s 13. His mother said he actually stayed awake and didn’t fidget through the whole speech by Obama which she thought was pretty impressive. It was a lovely service and again all the people who were THERE and interviewed had a totally different take than all the talking heads CNN lined up to bloviate. I liked that.
Mark S.
@licensed to kill time: @kay:
Wrong and wrong. This memorial wasn’t for those people or the people of Tucson. It was for Sarah Palin and Lorna.
licensed to kill time
@Mark S.:
Well, apparently those two dim bulbs think so. It’s irritating as hell.
The Other Chuck
@MikeJ:
Maybe the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo will remember her solution and enlighten us all.
LanceThruster
Different thoughts on death, violence, and war found here: http://www.gdargaud.net/Humor/QuotesDeath.html
Mnemosyne
@Lorna:
So you’re not saying anything about the memorial service conducted by the University except that you think that the t-shirts distributed by the University were tacky. Isn’t that a criticism of the memorial service? Or have you somehow managed to divide one university into two schools, one called “The University of Arizona — memorial service” and the other called “The University of Arizona — tacky t-shirt distributors,” just so you can hang on to your faux outrage?
Phoebe
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, and I keep thinking of Frank Sinatra saying that Gene Tierney in an ermine bolero jacket — now that’s class! As with “taste” there are a lot of connotations and baggage with it that can give the wrong impression even when the context should make it clear.
I have the weird feeling that saying something is “in bad taste” in the sense that Palin’s continuous display of meanspiritedness is, is a sort of archaic expression, a la “well bred”, that passed out of favor along with ideas of propriety and manners, when those kinds of things were seen as divisive and elitist. It’s too bad, because they are things you can get without money. And things I wish we all agreed were good. But you say something like that and people think you’re Diane Chambers.