David Frum is a bit of a nut, but his analysis of the Republican party is often very smart. Here he argues that Republicans should learn from the disaster that Sarah Palin has become for them:
Had John McCain won in 2008, we would have put an incompetent, deceitful, and vengeful person second in line to the presidency.
The people who promoted and celebrated the Palin pick have disavowed — or at least abandoned — their former enthusiasm. They no longer accuse those who objected to the pick of “elitism” or “snobbishness” or “misogyny.” It’s now considered very bad form among Republicans even to remember what the people said and wrote about Palin three years ago.Before Palin vanishes into her hard-earned obscurity, Republicans need an assessment and an accounting. But before the episode is consigned to forgetfulness, there are some lessons to be learned of urgent value for 2012 and beyond.
His basic point is that Republicans should stop supporting idiots, that once the starbursts have faded, you’re left with unpopularity and unelectability. That seems like an obvious point, but I myself was genuinely concerned, for about a week in early September 2008, that Palin would end up helping McCain a lot. McCain took a small lead in the polls and we were treated to silliness like this:
Still absorbing her speech last night, I’m trying to understand how Sarah Palin could be so apparently unfazed by her current situation: She’s in charge of a state government, just gave birth to a Down syndrome baby, has a pregnant teenage daughter and now it’s “Gotta run, John McCain wants me to be vice president.” But she’s not only coping with the slings and arrows; she has fired back with gusto. It must be more than just religious faith, ambition or ideology.
She reminds me of another prominent Republican woman from the West: former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. O’Connor was much more moderate ideologically than Palin. With two degrees from Stanford, she had high-level intellectual training, which Palin lacks. But in personal terms, there are a lot of parallels.
[….]Maybe there’s something about growing up in a challenging, male-dominated physical environment (desert, tundra), in a family where everyone’s expected to get his or her job done (and there’s no time for drama, fuss or introspection), that turns certain girls into very confident women — women who love to play against the big boys, and love to win.
Heh.
Elizabelle
Charles Lane. Of the estimable WaPost.
Excellent catch, DougJ.
Warren Terra
Not terribly topical, but it’s a great image, and it’s about Perry, who I would argue might be considered Palin Two: Cowboy Boogaloo:
Rick Perry On The Back Of A Pickup Truck.
Jim Pharo
Dan Quayle and Spiro Agnew sure slowed down the GOP with their unelectability, etc.
Look, I want Frum to be a critic of his own team, but he is, well, still a nut. He is in the process of waking up from his years of self-deception and delusion, but he’s still got a long way to go.
Promoting idiots is a core element of their marketing program. Hell, Ronald Reagan? Really?
Bulworth
Ah, the PostPartisan section of the WashPost.
Charles Lane wrote a really good book about the Reconstruction-era killing of African Americans in Louisiana, i.e. the Colfax Massacre. Hard to believe they’re the same person.
Big Baby DougJ
@Jim Pharo:
I think they would be smart to stop promoting idiots. I hope that they don’t. I am afraid that whey won’t. Rick Perry could get us back the House and help us keep the Senate.
Culture of Truth
About a person who turned her life into a reality tv show.
Frankensteinbeck
Honeymoon, DJ Dougie Doug. You know well that any candidate people don’t know yet is at first vastly popular. ‘Generic candidate’ always beats known candidate. It takes time for people to get to see their flaws. If anything, it’s stunning that Palin was SO stupid, angry, incoherent, and whiny that the public turned on her that fast. The Tea Party still loves her because they say ‘Hey, I’M stupid, angry, incoherent, and whiny! She’s speaking for me!’ and the media gave up loving her slowly because they don’t see what any of those things have to do with the politics.
Incidentally, I blame Palin for the Tea Party. For the first time the 27%ers got it into their heads that they didn’t have to be content with mere corrupt GOP assholes. They could have candidates just as batshit insane and petty as they are.
A Mom Anon
@Warren Terra: Tee.To.The.Hee. Awesome.
eemom
I wonder if the Sandra Day O’Connor ref was a sly touch of irony on Mr. Lane’s part.
ha ha. Just kidding.
I remember Palin’s godawful “honeymoon” — and since I never pass up an opportunity to mention what a disingenuous twat Jane Hamsher is, I will note that she made an utter fool of herself talking about what a smart pick it was.
wenchacha
No time for introspection?
I believe there’s just no appetite for it.
MattF
What is this ‘thinking’ thing that Frum is doing? If he did that in Texas it would get ugly, if you know what I mean.
Keith
She had the kind of shoulderpads that you could land a 737 on…
SiubhanDuinne
I read of few of the comments to the Frum piece. This one is not untypical:
Obvioulsy.
eemom
@efgoldman:
too damn bad. The woman deserves to rot in hell for giving us GWB.
joeyess
I was really hoping for that last link to lead to a past David Frum piece. That would have been the very picture a complete lack of self-awareness.
I guess Lane gets the flunky award. Not that it isn’t deserved.
jl
@Warren Terra:
thanks for that truly awesome Perry bumper sticker. If it comes to it, I may have to use that, though I have not done bumper stickers for a long time.
Bachmann would be a better bet than Perry. Bachmann can come across as not a total a hole, and can string together words in a way that resembles a coherent argument better than Palin or Perry. Only problem is that all of Bachmann’s facts are wrong, and if a person bothers to think about her argument for a moment, all the crucial steps are filled in with non sequiturs. But Bachmann knows there is supposed to be a premise, argument and a conclusion, their usual sequence, and remembers to plug some factoid or statement in the blank spaces.
If only her staffers can figure out how to avoid shoving reporters around.
I find today that one of Perry’s techniques for avoiding difficult questions is to stuff his mouth full of food, mumble that he is busy chewing and blow off the reporter. The crazies probably love it. Will Perry demand that corn dogs popcorn and soft serve be available at the lecterns at debates?
What a crew they have. I cannot imagine any of them wearing well with the general population.
eemom
@Warren Terra:
that’s hilarious. I want one!
Big Baby DougJ
@SiubhanDuinne:
That is the best comment I have read in a while.
Elizabelle
@efgoldman:
Yeah, I was thinking Justice O’Connor was pretty irritated once Sarah’s star qualities became more apparent. Would love to know if she ever got back to Mr. Lane on his column.
PS: good catch, wenchacha re “no appetite” for introspection.
What do you have but time, out there on that lone range, clearing that brush and riding those fields?
forked tongue
Frum did vote for the McCain/Palin ticket, let it be remembered.
Hunter Gathers
Considering that they have, apparently, decided that the non-white, non-male segment of the population can go fuck itself, it’s Idiots, Ho! from now into the foreseeable future. Christ, when even the so-called ‘sane’ members of the GOP are complaining about not being able to pack heat on the Senate floor and wanting to trade chickens for checkups, it won’t matter even if Mitt Romney lifts up Rush’s gut and blows him on national television, they won’t go for so-called moderate GOPers. White males don’t want candidates who aren’t complete assholes. They want someone who will give voice to their racial and gender anxiety. And it will stay that way for the next twenty years.
Jeffro
@efgoldman: I know, it’s like OTHER than being tremendously far apart intellectually and politically, they sure do got a lot in common.
Well sure. When you ignore politics, economics, education, hairline, weight, and ability to raise money from right-wing kooks, Karl Rove and I aren’t all that different at all…
jl
To be slightly fair, more than they deserve, Palin was masquerading as a moderate GOPper as the AK gubernator.
Problem is that the fan club kept slinging the propaganda and airing their crushes long after Palin went word salad crazy and proto teabagger mean (which was when she gave her speech at the convention).
Edit: and I think Frum is off base. Palin, Bachmann and Perry are not total idiots. They are in the in terms of doing useful stuff in the world. But they are shrewd at manipulating and intimidating people, Bachmann and Perry more so over the long haul than Palin.
Perry is GW Bush minus all of GW’s good qualities.
gocart mozart
I have been reading Frum lately and to his credit, he was critical of Palin right out of the gate: Sept 08. He can make a great point one day and the be glaringly obtuse the next. He is still stuck in his Sully stage and has not yet gone full John Cole. Perhaps in time he will.
I think the order of progression is:
Enlightenment
DougJ
John Cole
Charles Johnson
Andrew Sullivan/David Frum
dmsilev
@SiubhanDuinne: I wonder what is special about September 3rd. It’s, umm, the first Saturday in September?
Zifnab
@Jim Pharo:
They kinda did. People don’t like electing idiots.
Even the know-nothings don’t like to think they’re actually stupid. They want to believe that they know something secret and profound that all those stuffed shirt, Ivory Tower elitist liberals don’t.
When someone is exposed as a real grade A moron, support for that person tends to diminish. By contrast, when someone develops a powerful cult following – like Palin or Beck – their followers tend to assume their idols are much brighter than everyone gives them credit for.
Dan Quayle didn’t do Bush Sr any favors.
Davis X. Machina
@SiubhanDuinne: If that’s not a Rumproaster trolling, I’m an Adélie penguin.
jibeaux
if they stopped supporting idiots, then they wouldn’t be Republicans any more.
JCT
That’s a pretty sophisticated comment for one of Sarah’s supporters. Snark?
Derf
LOL…flaming asshole Chicken Little Cole is back to deleting my posts again. The mouth breather can’t even stay consistent.
NonyNony
So David “Axis of Evil” Frum thinks that the GOP should stop promoting idiots?
The guy whose claim to fame is that he wrote a speech for George W Bush where he lumped Iraq, Iran and North Korea together as if they were the Axis Powers from WWII says the GOP should stop promoting idiots.
I mean, I’m not even going to go into the fact that the guy who worked directly for George W. Fucking Bush thinks its bad for the GOP to be promoting idiots…
(Fucking introspection – how does THAT work?)
Violet
@Davis X. Machina:
Agreed. It’s definitely someone trolling. The typo notwithstanding, the rest of the comment is far too grammatically correct and uses too many large words (“cognitive disorder”, “discourse”) to have come from a Palin supporter. Lurk for awhile at Conservatives4Palin. You’ll see what I mean.
Constance
@Warren Terra:
Palin Two. I’m stealing that one right now and repeating it every chance I get. I may even write a letter to the editor of the newspaper in this gawdforsaken republican territory. They love Perry here.
Jim Pharo
@Big Baby DougJ: If they don’t promote idiots and lie about their program, they will never win an election. They lie and dissemble for a reason…
NonyNony
@Warren Terra:
Holy crap that picture is awesome.
freelancer
I loathe Chuck Lane. As if coming of age in the 60s and 70s in White America was anything akin to what Bear Whathisname does when he goes off into the wild with only a cameraman. No, Charles, it pretty much looked like E. T. and Stand by Me you freaking dope, not Woman vs. Wild.
forked tongue
Well, if the Republicans are going to forget all about Palin, I hope they do it in time to take Bill Kristol’s word again. He wants Paul Ryan to run.
Villago Delenda Est
Frum has yet to have the full scale realization of what an utter imbecile he is, in the mode of say David Brock, Michael Lind, or, closer to home, John Cole, who all had traumatic moments that caused them to grasp what utter idiots they’d been and brought them back over to the Light Side.
Charles Lane, OTOH, seems to be irredeemable scum.
Sko Hayes
I think Frum got very bent out of shape with Palin a couple of days ago, when she attacked a reporter for a headline he didn’t even write. Frum and a few others were fairly outraged about it on Twitter. Here’s the story from Media Matters:
Then, when the Palin team found out that the reporter had not written the headline, they called to tell him that they had found out it was Fox Nation who put up the headline, but they didn’t apologize.
gocart mozart
@Derf:
Derf, what’s your obsession with Cole (pro-tip: He didn’t even write this post) Stop pulling his pigtails. Do you like him or do you like-like him?
ericblair
Frum’s mom (Barbara Frum) was the very respected anchorwoman on Canada’s main news analysis show for years. I think every once and a while good ol’ David remembers what journalism is supposed to be like and has a what-the-fuck-am-I-doing public existential angst moment. Then he has some time to look at his paystubs and rationalize it all away for another couple of months.
Mark Down
Is this the same David Frum who wrote speeches for an incompetent, deceitful, and vengeful person who lived in the White House?
freelancer
@dmsilev:
That would be awesome to have her announce on the 3rd (she’s not going to), only to be drowned completely out of the news cycle because the entire country is watching Week 1 of NCAA football.
SiubhanDuinne
@dmsilev:
Mr. Googles tells me that Sarah gave her acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention on September 3, 2008.
Ah. Mr. Googles also informs me that there will be a Tea Party of America rally “Restoring America” event in Iowa (where else?) and Sarah is the keynote speaker on September 3, 2011.
Apart from that, I got nuthin.
Donald G
Back when I was a fellow-traveller of the wingnuts, I remember the rightwing blogosphere championing Sarah Palin as the most desirable VP pick many months before she sprung from obscurity to be John McCain’s prom queen.
At the time, I was following Instapundit, Roger L Simon, Ed Morrissey, and dipping in to read the rage-aholic Malkinites at Hot Air. IIRC, Captain “Special” Ed and his commentariat were really big on her, and in what few media appearances she made – like on Glen Beck’s CNN HLN show – she didn’t seem to be the petty, vindictive disaster she turned out to be.
For the record, I got sick of Glen and Roger’s glib, kneejerk anti-Obamaism by late February 2009. I had started to write Ed off when he decided to take Michelle Malkin’s shilling and join the Hot Air crew sometime earlier.
Yes, I voted for the wrong team (and I was a real pain in the ass to my Obmanaut wife during the campaign) but felt a great weight lift off my shoulders when Obama won.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
“second in line”? he hasn’t paid much attention to McCain, has he?
schrodinger's cat
When the Palin pick was announced in 2008 I was watching MSNBC and I remember Mark Halperin gushing over her choice by McCain. What is wrong with these punditubbies they get so excited about any GOPer who is somewhat good looking. See for example the recent fuss over Perry.
kindness
Did you read the comments there? OMG the ratfukking teabaggers were out in force. Makes me wonder, why in the world do those people read Frum? He’s more cerebral than they are (usually) and much more moderate (lately). Kind of makes me want to not hate his guts any more (which I thankfully don’t, what a waste of energy). But the Teabaggers….they love them some anger.
Anarchaeologist
lol
Don
Who would have come before McCain?
Poopyman
@Warren Terra: I believe I first saw this back in the spring on a truck in Wisconsin.
Ah yes ….
central texas
“Had John McCain won in 2008, we would have put an incompetent, deceitful, and vengeful person xxxxxx in the presidency.
Fixed it for him.
Stefan
Had John McCain won in 2008, we would have put an incompetent, deceitful, and vengeful person second in line to the presidency.
Umm…I see why this is a problem, but Frum is sort of eliding the fact that from 2001 to 2009, we already had an incompetent, deceitful and vengeful person actually in the presidency, not just second in line to it.
And an incompetent, deceitful and vengeful person that Frum directly worked for, I might add.
Elliecat
@Donald G:
Obamanauts….I like it.
gocart mozart
@Villago Delenda Est:
I forgot about David Brock. I highly recommend his book “Blinded by the Right.” It works as memoir, history of 90’s right wing politics and no holds barred gossip.
The anecdote about Matt Drudge misconstruing the statement “Next time you’re in the area give me a call, we’ll get together” (paraphrase)and Drudge showing up at his house with a bottle of wine and flowers is priceless.
The Populist
David Frum has his infuriating positions but he debates them with some class. I don’t support him but when I see him on Rachel’s or Maher’s shows, I know he will at least sound and act sane and thought out.
I can’t believe I am saying this about him but I respect his even handedness. Too bad the GOP can’t see that you can have a fair debate and even agree with each other from time to time without it turning into a question of loyalty or devolving into a shouting match where the S word is trotted out.
Tom Q
Three things:
1) Chuck Lane is frighteningly stupid, and doesn’t deserve the honor of having been played onscreen by an actor as good as Peter Sarsgaard
2) There’s very little evidence of voters being much swayed by the VP candidate on any ticket. 1960, being so close, is the only time you can truly make the case it mattered. Quayle and Palin were pretty much equally disparaged and disliked by voters, but one was on a ticket that won by 7%, the other on a ticket that lost by that much, based on the situation in the country and the presidential candidate
3) We can save ourselves alot of angst next summer if we remember that the ultimate losing ticket in any presidential election will probably look stronger than expected in the immediate aftermath of their convention. Jimmy Carter led Reagan by 7-9 points after his ’80 convention; Mondale got within a few points of Reagan in ’84; same all the way down the line. McCain’s brief lead came not because Palin joined the ticket, but because polls after conventions always show an artificial boost for the party involved. (The exception was McGovern ’72, because the run-all-night convention was a PR disaster) So, please, everyone: don’t freak out next year when for a few days polls show Obama losing to whoever the GOP nominates. This too shall pass.
The Populist
OH YES, I also respect ANY GOP’er who can call out their own. Frum has done this so many times that it’s pretty awesome to see. Still wouldn’t vote for a candidate he loved simply because their party always finds ways to sign promises and pledges with idiots like Grover N.
The Populist
@Derf:
I bet you aren’t making it out of moderation, tardo. Get a clue.
JM
The comments on Frum’s article are worth savoring. Palin is like meth to these hicks.
The Populist
@Sko Hayes:
Of course they won’t apologize. THIS is the face of the village…a group of people who see common courtesy as a weakness.
The Populist
@JM:
Hence my point about guys like Frum on the right. I can listen to opposing viewpoints. I can’t listen when people are making shit up or talking like a fucking dipshit (the way Palin does).
If you run for office, stop acting like it’s not important to be articulate and smart. I don’t want to elect my idiot neighbor. I want somebody who is better, smarter and more experienced at leading than I AM to represent me.
Villago Delenda Est
@Sko Hayes:
I’m waiting for Piper’s tell all book on her mom. Ought to be hilarity cubed.
Violet
@Donald G:
The lesson here is to check in with the people in the candidate’s home state. Pretty much any Alaska blogger could have told you all about the petty, vindictive disaster that was Sarah Palin — well before she set foot on the national stage.
And for the record, heed the advice regarding Rick Perry.
gocart mozart
@Tom Q:
True, and Dukakis had about a 15 point lead after his convention.
driftglass
Frum will cook up justifying arguments for whichever bunch is paying him this week, and the rationalizations he dreams up for his own cowardice and hypocrisy are always the most hilarious.
This is why none of these Ivory Tower public conservative intellectuals will ever seriously debate these issues in public. The would be eviscerated.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Populist:
I think Derf is Rosie’s nom de blog. Would explain a lot of the drooling.
Violet
@Villago Delenda Est:
Willow’s the one I’d be wary of if I were Sarah Palin. Willow is the wild child and she’s old enough to be ticked off that both Bristol and Piper are getting the reality show gigs and the good press. Watch out for Willow.
pluege
the current crop of vile republican idiots including palin, bachmann, king, coburn, boehner, mitchell, etc. are a natural result of bush II, who was a natural result of gingrich, delay, and king moron himself: reagan. Idiots beget idiots – THAT is how it works; it is the only possible outcome.
Celebrate/worship ignorance, arrogance, and egomania and you’ll get idiots. Its not very complicated.
Cat Lady
Frum is to the Republicans like Peter Daou is to the Democrats. Charles Lane is a fucking idiot to compare the proudly ignorant Palin to the first woman Justice, but remember this little gem from Daou:
He behooved us not to mock poor, poor set upon Palin. Behooved Us! Cuz they were both little girls once, or something. What an embarrassing condescending emowanker that loser is. Also too.
The Populist
@Cat Lady: Funny, if we didn’t mock her or point out her idiocy, she’d still find ways to call out liberals as evil or whatever her modus operandi of the moment is.
gocart mozart
The comments at Frum Forum are pretty good. Its about 75% rational con/mod/lib and 25%lunatic wingnut. Better than most and he uses the ban hammer sparingly.
Villago Delenda Est
@Anarchaeologist:
Oh, that’s good.
The Populist
@Violet: Willow is the one who goes after anybody who says word one about her mom in public forums like Facebook.
Willow is the one who clicked her tongue with indignance when finding out the lady protesting them in Alaska (and caught on tape) was a teacher, as if that was such a bad fucking thing.
God, Willow will be to Sarah Palin that Michael Reagan is to Ronald. Evil, mean and lacking empathy for those around her.
Villago Delenda Est
@Violet:
I thought Piper was the one giving Sarah the evil eye on the great bus tour, or was that Willow?
The Populist
@Violet: Willow is the one that told the press that THEY ruined the family vacation (aka Sarah’s bus tour) when it was clear to any clear thinker that it was mommy’s fault.
birthmarker
@Donald G: Your comment reminds us all that the candidate must grab the independents. They actually determine who is elected.
This seems like as good a time as any to tout the Frank Bailey book about Sarah Palin.
Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years Frank Bailey, Ken Morris, Jeanne Devon
It is such a devastatingly unflattering portrait of the woman, from one who had previously admired and served her, to the detriment of his own family and faith. The pettiness, the vindictiveness..jeez, so ill suited for high public office. Well worth the read, even though the writing style is a bit bumpy.
The Populist
@Villago Delenda Est: Willow told off the press, right?
jeff
@efgoldman:
“he was the successful two-term governor of our most important state.”
If, by “successful” you mean absolute crap, you are entirely correct, sir.
The Populist
Okay, Piper is the one who said the press ruined their “vacation”.
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/piper-palin-accuses-press-of-ruining-vacation_1223086
The Populist
Willow Palin, the 16-year-old daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, wrote multiple Facebook posts containing homophobic slurs such as “faggot” on Sunday night, according to TMZ.
The web site reports that Palin’s teenage daughter wrote the comments on Sunday night, when her mother’s television show “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” premiered on TLC. According to TMZ, a classmate of one of Palin’s children published a Facebook update claiming that the show “is failing so hard right now.”
Willow Palin reportedly unloaded on the student, calling him “so gay” and “such a faggot.” She later demanded that the student “quit talkin shit about my family.” According to screenshots obtained by TMZ, the 16-year-old called another commenter on the Facebook thread a “low life loser” and lashed out at multiple others, writing, “Sorry that all you guys are jealous of my families success and you guys aren’t goin to go anywhere with your lives.”
For more information, check out TMZ’s full report and scroll down for the screenshots of the Facebook conversation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/16/willow-palin-facebook-posts_n_784585.html
Caz
Incompetent, deceitful, and vengeful?? Didn’t your mother ever teach you that if you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, don’t say anything at all?
She’s competent. She ran the state of Alaska very competently.
She’s not deceitful. I don’t know of any glaring lies or scandals she’s been involved with. I hope you’re not pinning you deceitful label on a Paul Revere statement that turned out to be arguably true.
I’m not aware of any vengeance she’s sought against anyone. Perhaps you know something the rest of us don’t.
I understand you hate her and wish she would die a painful death, but insulting her just for the sake of putting her down is really childish. It doesn’t surprise me though – as a blogger, you’re one of the most incompetent, deceitful, and vengeful in all of cyberspace!
J
Charles Lane wrote that and is still employed as a political analyst and writer? The mind boggles.
I fear our country and our major institutions are beyond redemption. Our Galtian Overlords are truly militantly ignorant and noxious fools.
Lolis
@Warren Terra:
I live in Austin. I just IM’d that photo to a girl I work with with annoying Tea Party bumper stickers and views. She hates Rick Perry and is promising to recreate that homemade bumper sticker on her SUV this weekend. I told her I’d buy her a beer for doing so. A lot of Tea Party types in Texas hate Rick Perry.
The Populist
@Caz:
Nobody here wants her to die. Keep digging there buddy.
BTW, she is deceitful. When you say shit about somebody and it’s proven to be untrue, THAT IS DECEITFUL if you can’t even bring yourself to apologize.
Remember when the reporter moved in next door? She told people he was spying on her daughters as they changed or some crazy ass crap. Sorry, she is incompetent and ask anybody in Alaska and they will agree. WHO QUITS after being re-elected if they were “competent”?
Nice try.
The Populist
@Lolis:
If that’s true, props to them. Perry is the very definition of a snake oil salesman.
forked tongue
I know feeding the trolls is frowned upon, but I want to thank Caz for the best laugh I’ve had all day.
birthmarker
@Caz: Read my comment at #79 then read the book. The writer liked her, admired her, til he got to know her well. You can hear in his tone how wounded he was by being involved with her.
If you don’t agree with the book after you’ve read it, craft a rebuttal.
Villago Delenda Est
@Caz:
No, fucktard.
We want the dizzy broad to go away, and never hear from her again.
One does not need to die in order for that to happen. Just retire to one of her fabulous homes, raise her kids and dote on her grandkids, but never, ever show her face in front of a camera for any media organization ever again.
Anya
@eemom: I will never forgive you for making me defend Jane Hamsher, but she actually attacked Sarah Palin on the same grounds that all real liberals did — on her right wing views and record, specially when it came to women’s issues.
birthmarker
@Caz:
Well, Troopergate would be an example. Read the book and get an insider’s view of it.
Accusing Obama of palling around with terrorists would be an example of a lie. Even McCain had to walk it back.
catclub
@Stefan: But from 2001-2009 the vice president was competent, vengeful and deceitful.
Big Difference.
forked tongue
Look, this piecemeal approach to feeding Caz his lunch is inefficient. Let’s just link to Sully’s valuable work on the subject: http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2009/11/the-odd-lies-of-sarah-palin-a-summary-before-the-next-round/194027/ (and that was before the book came out.)
But I don’t know that Caz’s post deserves a reply at all. He seems to think it’s directed at someone here, while actually his beef is with Frum.
danimal
@Anarchaeologist: …and it was Saturday night, I guess that makes it alright…
Kudos to DougJ for the Prince reference.
Julia Grey
Honey, there is ALWAYS time for drama.
danimal
@forked tongue: This is a different kind of blog. Troll-hunting is encouraged as a sport around here.
Kathy in St. Louis
One of the things that I am hoping for is that people will eventually realize that idiots come in two sexes. Bachmann seems to be smarter than Palin, but not by much. She is also a huge exaggerator of her own record and a distorter of the truth. In that vein, she is no different that Romney, Perry, Pawlenty, or (shudder) Santorum. We have a few on our side of the aisle, too. I’ve got to say that Nelson doesn’t strike me as a real brain trust, either. Just as long as we all remember that dumbshittedness knows no gender, I will be happy.
Mike G
Yeah, and vampires need sunlight. If there’s one thing that Repuke ideology absolutely requires for perpetuation of its poison, it’s avoiding assessment, accountability, reflection and introspection of any kind. It’s the dogma of bull-headed emotional manipulation, pig-stupid narrow tribalism, moral cowardice and hypocrisy, and the celebration of the ‘authenticity’ of ignorance.
Thought has a liberal bias.
birthmarker
@forked tongue: Great link. The Bailey book covers much of the same time frame as these lies.
eemom
@Anya:
She did that later — when it became screamingly obvious to the entire world what a disaster Palin was. However. At the very beginning, during the republican convention, she dove into the Palin pick like a ravenous tigress with a fresh kill to avenge her fury that Obama didn’t pick Hillary for his veep:
Six months or so later I pointed this out to her slathering cultbots when she launched her attack on Caroline Kennndy. Of course, none of them believed me. They didn’t even believe me when I linked the goddamn post.
Frankensteinbeck
@The Populist: and @birthmarker: and @Villago Delenda Est: and @birthmarker:
Caz’s ENTIRE SCHTICK is to tell you in a reasonable tone something that’s blatantly untrue. I am well reminded of his explanation that birtherism is a fringe belief unconnected to the Tea Party and he’s never met anyone who believes it. A couple of days later a poll came out measuring that 51% of Tea Partiers think Obama wasn’t born in the US.
Villago Delenda Est
@Caz:
You.are.an.idiot.
There’s the SCREAMING, in 72 point type, lie of the troopergate report, in which she claimed it “exonerated her” when the first finding, the very first finding, said she violated a statute.
Now, she COULD have said, “the author of the report is mistaken about this”…she could have disputed the finding. But she did not. She stated that the finding “exonerated” her. There’s no way in Hell that this is true. Because right there in black and white the report says she violated a statute. That is not an “exoneration” by any stretch of the imagination.
She is a pathological liar, as Sullivan has documented extensively.
Frankensteinbeck
@Villago Delenda Est:
I’m in Moderation above, so I’ll say this briefly. Caz’s whole thing is to tell you that black is white. Calmly saying something that’s obviously and verifiably not true is what Caz DOES.
Dr. Loveless
@freelancer:
Almost as awesome as releasing your self-flattering biopic the same weekend as the final Harry Potter movie.
NonyNony
@Villago Delenda Est:
Villago –
Ignore Caz if you don’t want to play with him/her. Caz is trying to make you angry and when you respond like that it makes Caz happy (or whatever approximation of happiness a troll feels when it trolls).
If you want to taunt Caz or mock Caz or whatever go for it, but if Caz is making you lose your cool remember – making you lose your cool is what makes it fun for the troll. When the troll pokes you enough to make you upset, the troll wins. The troll doesn’t have to win the argument to win at the game it plays – the troll just has to make you more angry than you were before you read the trolls comments. If it manages that, then it wins.
rea
@Caz:
I don’t know of any glaring lies or scandals she’s been involved with. I hope you’re not pinning you deceitful label on a Paul Revere statement that turned out to be arguably true.
I’m not aware of any vengeance she’s sought against anyone. Perhaps you know something the rest of us don’t.
Jeez, you haven’t paid much attention to her, have you?
birthmarker
@Frankensteinbeck: Point taken.
priscianusjr
@Violet:
Villago Delenda Est
@NonyNony:
Yeah, but in the case of Palin, it’s so obvious that she’s such a pathological liar that she doesn’t even realize how obvious she is.
As Homer Simpson once pointed out to Marge, it takes two to lie: one to lie, and one to listen.
Caz is pretty obviously filling in the Marge role in Homer’s scenario, the problem is that Marge instantly called bullshit on Homer’s scenario. Caz is not as clever (or honest) as Marge.
I’m doing this for the benefit of the lurkers.
jeff
Any bet’s that “Caz” is a Poe?
Villago Delenda Est
@jeff:
It’s so fucking hard to tell, which of course is the entire point :)
bk
Let’s not forgot Frum’s recent idiotic meltdown during last month’s Women’s World Cup, when he wrote a column about how he thought a picture of the Obama family watching the USA-Japan final, with Michelle barefoot, was “classless” (i.e., they’re black).
Farnsworth Bargle
@Caz: Who the fuck are you talking about?
William Hurley
Are you suggesting that if the GOP realized that William F. Buckley was right in leading the purge of proto-TeaTards being Birchers, and radicalized evangelicals from that party and returned to such internal Rorschach-based cleaning that they’d be more likable, reasonable and worth compromising with?
Frankly, if the right-wing wants to institutionalize crazy as a political litmus test, I say go for it! I’d be delighted to witness the disintegration of a “coherent” right-wing, flying apart from its core like 17th century New England Puritans whose doctrinal and tribal impulses often collided causing irreconcilable and hostile differences within congregations ending in schisms that fractured their political heft.
Besides, listening to Frum wax “poetic” about right-wing internals always strikes me as a lonely, bitter man pining for the good old days when he was so important that he didn’t need to write essay for the MSM’s grist mill to make a living.
AxelFoley
Ok, quoting Little Red Corvette officially puts Doug Douggie Doug in the Cool Kids Club to me.