RAGGED THOTS

Sorry to beat a dead horse here, but Gawker runs some excerpts from Sarah Palin's latest book, "America By Heart":


One of the more eye-opening bits (follow link for enlarged image):


"Later, Palin posits that her chaste reality star daughter is a better role model than the fictitious Murphy Brown, a single mother who was a total slut."







But Dan Quayle's actual speech made a more interesting point to which Sarah Palin might like to pay attention:

It doesn't help matters when prime time TV has Murphy Brown - a character who supposedly epitomizes today's intelligent, highly paid, professional woman - mocking the importance of fathers, by bearing a child alone, and calling it just another "lifestyle choice."

Murphy Brown might not have actually called her shark-jumping kid a "lifestyle choice," but the example made -- that an "intelligent, highly paid, professional woman" could have it all with little complication -- is, of course, a problematic one in the real world.


How is this different from what Bristol Palin is doing?  Indeed, the Bristol example is even worse:  Brown was a fictional character that had, yes, become professional by working for many years to become a network anchorwoman.  Palin has achieved celebrityhood by doing nothing more than being born into an ambitious political family, getting pregnant and then getting swept into the fake-reality culture that rewards those who fit certain profiles and "narrative storylines" on talent shows.  Who's more likely to seduce a young woman into the "I can do it all" sensibility?  The fake Murphy character -- or the "real Bristol"? But, Sarah Palin, of course sees her daughter as the better role model for young girls! 


And, of course, that same Mrs. Palin is upset about excerpts of the book being leaked, tweeting Thursday afternoon, "The publishing world is LEAKINg out-of-context excerpts of my book w/out my permission? Isn't that illegal?"  


Um, not exactly.  But, then again, it works for reasons both political and pedestrian for the Palins to be cast as victims/underdogs. 


Yeah,  some really great role models there.  

Labels: sarah palin

Labels: Bristol Palin, Dancing With The Stars, sarah palin

The best thing about Sarah Palin is that, as time unfolds, she manages to say and do things that slowly but surely invalidate her as a credible GOP presidential nominee in 2012.  Which means that Democrats and the media can find someone else to obsess over in the next couple of years -- and Republicans can start looking at the serious '12 contenders.  


Palin's latest absurdity?  Ticking off the few black Republicans there are out there by rushing to Dr. Laura Schlessinger "defense" after radio host announced she was quitting her talk-show host following an outburst of the "N-word" in a conversation with a caller.  "Don't retreat...reload" the former governor urged Dr. Laura. "Reload" what? Put more N-bullets in her barrel? 


Tim Johnson of the Frederick Douglass Foundation was not amused:  

“If she chooses to run for president in 2012, she is going to have to answer to black Republicans,” Johnson says of Palin. 

He says he is particularly concerned that Palin’s support of Schlessinger will only further the perception that the Tea Party is racist. 

“It doesn’t help the cause,” he says. 

“This is an unwise endorsement,” Johnson says. “It wasn’t appropriate. Just because you have the First Amendment right doesn’t give you the right to hurt somebody.”  

Wow.  You mean, just because the First Amendment gives individuals certain rights, it doesn't relieve them of the responsibility to try to act right?  You'd almost think that Palin understood that -- given her comments on a certain other volatile First-Amendment-related issue.  Now, in terms of a reality check, Palin -- or any GOP contender -- having "to answer to black Republicans" is a bit amusing.  Not exactly a major swing constituency among Republicans.  However, Johnson's point about the problems that this episode brings up vis a vis perceptions that the Tea Party/GOP allows racist sentiments is a completely reasonable one.  It's not exactly the first time that accusation has been made.   


Now, as Keli Goff points out in The Huffington Post, Schlessinger's actual show was beneficial in highlighting the absurdity behind N-word usage -- and why there should be more of a an intra-black community movement to eliminate it.  


But, of course, Sarah Palin doesn't do nuance. She is essentially the mirror image of the liberal monsters that she seeks to slay. She plays the identity politics as well (which is to say, as horriblly) as her critics.  Hence, her big creation/support of "Mama Grizzlies."  She rushes to Dr. Laura's side, because she sees the media beating up another woman -- even though that woman was part of the media that was bashing her parenting skills back in '08.


But logic and consistency don't really matter to Sarah Palin -- a fact that a majority of Republicans will realize well before 2012.  

Labels: Dr. Laura Schlessinger, sarah palin

Have to agree with the Palins on this. Introducing a Downs Syndrome character on a cartoon just to make a cheap shot at Sarah Palin is cruel, stupid and, worst of all for a supposedly comedic venture, NOT FUNNY. Shame on Seth McFarlane.

However, Palin has to be careful about how she deals with these "special needs" issues.  This statement would have had an even more profound impact had she not gone on the attack against Rahm Emmanuel's use of the word "retarded" in a private conversation. When she then gave Rush a pass on using it (to attack liberals on his radio show), she made it seem that her outrage was politically selective.

In short, it was looking like she wanted to play the "special needs" card the way some black Democrats play the race card.  

Labels: Family Guy, sarah palin, special needs

Labels: Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, sarah palin

Oprah and Sarah sitting down for a chat? Really? One an uber-famous talk-show host, black liberal Democrat. The other an instant media lighting rod, white conservative Republican. They have hardly anything in common (well,except for both having had famous feuds with David Letterman -- Oprah's was a few years back; Palin's was earlier this year. Won't they have fun at Dave's current troubles?).

Actually, it makes perfect sense -- and shows how smart each woman is in thinking outside of the box.

Over the last presidential election cycle, America met these two public women for the "first" time -- even though one already had a world-famous "brand" name. Still, even as the country learned much more about these women than it did before, the overall experience hasn't necessarily perfect for either women.

This year -- next month, to be exact -- both women hope their shared experience in 2008 can become a mutually rewarding business experience in 2009.

The 2008 presidential campaign saw Oprah Winfrey plunge into the world of partisan politics for the first time. It was something of a risk for her to endorse Barack Obama. She had become the most successful daytime talk show host -- and arguably the wealthiest female entertainer -- by attracting a loyal following of women interested in building their self-esteem.

However, Oprah scrupulously stayed away from explicitly political issues over her two-decade career. While she was vaguely liberal, she kept her personal politics under wraps. In 2000, she had both Al Gore and George W. Bush as guests (separate shows). That all changed two years ago. Oprah publicly announce that she was supporting Obama in spring of 2007 (the two Chicago residents had been friends for years). Even so, she generally stayed out of the political spotlight until December of that year when she made an unprecedented appearance on the Iowa campaign trail with Obama.

The other woman making a debut on the national political scene in the 2008 presidential cycle was the previously little-known governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. In office barely two years at the time, she became a political and cultural phenomenon when tapped by John McCain as his vice presidential running mate in August 2008. While becoming an instant hit at the GOP Convention in September 2008, as the campaign went on, she was the controversial figure -- beloved by most conservatives while scorned by liberals and much of the media. Notably, Oprah appeared not to want Palin on her show during the campaign.

Both women may have paid a price for their historic 2008 presidential campaign involvement: One year, after her initial Obama endorsement, Oprah Winfrey saw her ratings down. That hangover seems to have continued. As a result, she's kick-started her 24th season with big-name guest stars and taking the show on the road to places like New York's Central Park and a Texas state fair.

Palin, meanwhile, apparently found the intense media spotlight too much for either her, her family, or both: She resigned as governor, immediately began cashing in on a lucrative speaking career -- and signed a big book deal.

And now, more than a year after Palin's debut, she'll finally appear on Oprah's show, the week her "Going Rogue" hits the stands. It's a masterstroke for both women. explicitlys a ready made huge audience of (primarily) women. She'll be able to talk about balancing work, family -- and politics. Oprah will, arguably, get an even larger audience than normal; it will come from conservative-leaning women who either never watched her show -- or got turned off her when she came out explictly for Obama.

But while politics might create the backdrop for their chat, the fact is that this is strictly business. They are now savvy business women who see that both their brands (and respective book sales, ratings, bank accounts, etc) getting huge spikes in a mutual broadcast appearance.

Must-see TV?

You betcha!

Labels: Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, sarah palin

Sarah Palin must live a blessed life -- and not just because her new book is already #1 on the bestseller list, before it's even been released.

Thursday evening, her erstwhile nemesis David Letterman confesses that he's been the Horndog King of Late Night all these years: "I have had sex with women who worked for me on this show."

Dave? Our Dave with the toothy boyish grin? The guy who always joked about never getting girls? The one who -- when announcing that he was going to be a father with his long-time girlfriend -- said that, "I know what you're thinking -- Dave's had sex?" To make things sound even creepier, he used almost the exact same joke on Thursday: "I know what you're saying. I'll be darned, Dave had sex."

Well, after Thursday's show, all of Dave's viewers know that, not only has he had sex -- the 60-something guy has had a lot of sex and with not just one woman who works for him. How many? We don't know yet, but anything more than one or two opens Letterman up to accusations that he was taking advantage of his job as the Big Boss to prey on his female employees.

Right now, Letterman has presented himself as the victim: He was allegedly being extorted by a CBS employee who threatened to publicize all these activities if Letterman didn't pay him $2 million. He may well be the victim. But if even one of these other women suggests that she felt pressured to enter a relationship with Letterman because he was her boss, well, it's all over. He will look like a serial harasser -- even if he only "harassed" one woman.

But, now let's bring it back to Sarah Palin. The two engaged in a heated war of words this summer when he made jokes about Eliot Spitzer "hitting" on a Palin daughter, during a visit to New York. He followed that up with another joke about Alex Rodriguez "knocking up" a Palin daughter. As it happened, Letterman ended up having to apologize twice because he first tried to pass it off as if Palin was just confused as to what the joke was about. Then, it became very clear that there was real ambiguity as to which daughter he was referring to. The one who got pregnant was Bristol; the one who had accompanied her on a New York trip was the 14-year old Willow.

In fact, after Letterman gave his initial apology, we addressed a troubling underlying issue:

It's understandable that they could think he was making a joke about the daughter who did make the trip to New York or that Willow would think Letterman was talking about her. And Sarah Palin could be excused for feeling Letterman had it in for her, after Monday's "Top Ten" segment on the "Highlights of Sarah Palin's trip to New York City" included this line: "Bought make-up at Bloomingdale's to update her slutty flight attendant look."
Out of context, Letterman's "slutty flight attendant" look was, at the very least, tacky. Added to the other jokes at the Palins' expense and it begins to look like Letterman -- or his writers -- have some issues when it comes to women in general.

Labels: David Letterman, sarah palin

Except for a short post last weekend, I've tried to keep the Sarah Palin drama at arm's length.

Regular readers of this blog know that, from the announcement last summer of Palin as McCain's running mate, I've been rather skeptical of the soon-to-be-former governor of Alaska. My initial doubts had more to do with what I saw as a disconnect between the GOP's "family values" brand and the seeming acceptance of familial dysfunction represented by the welcoming of pregnant teen Bristol and "baby daddy" Levi Johnston at the GOP convention.

Since the end of the campaign, my doubts on Palin have intensified, even as the broader family soap-opera has expanded. The end of the Bristol-Levi relationship was about as surprising as the idea of snow in Alaska -- "engagement of convenience," if ever there was one.

What bothered me even more was that Palin constantly gave mixed signals. On the one hand, she indicated frustration over her family coming in for unfair scrutiny from the media. On the other, she seemed to have no problem with letting Bristol become a celebrity herself: She stood by as her 18-year old daughter first became a national spokeswoman against teen pregnancy (which included a trip to a national convention in New York City -- 2,900 miles away) and then sat for a People magazine cover-shoot. Sorry, but this girl has a six-month baby that she's supposedly taking care of!

What sort of "role model" is being created here? If Sarah Palin wants her family out of the media spotlight, don't toss them into it! Let Bristol work within the parameters of being a "normal" teen mother: Help her with college if necessary or help get her a "normal" job in Alaska. As obnoxious as David Letterman's initial comments were, if Palin lets her daughter become a more prominent teen mom, the family becomes fair game for "knocked up" jokes.

However, if Sarah Palin actually has presidential plans for 2012, the smartest thing that she can do is get rid of her spokeswoman. Meg Stapleton doesn't seem to know the first rule of dealing with the press or political incoming fire: You never engage an attack from below. By that I mean, a chief executive doesn't get into a personal fight with someone of unequal stature. During a campaign, a presidential candidate doesn't get into a political fight with a staffer from the other campaign: The candidate just engages the other candidate.

While the dynamic is slightly different when family is involved, the principle isn't completely thrown out the window. Stapleton doesn't understand this. On Thursday, Johnston reappeared to give his opinion that Palin decided to quit the governorship because of monetary reasons:

Levi Johnston, 19, whose wedding to Bristol Palin was called off earlier this year, said Thursday he lived with the Palin family from early December to the second week in January. He claimed he heard the governor several times say how nice it would be to take advantage of the lucrative deals that were being offered, including a reality show and a book.

"She had talked about how nice it would be to take some of this money people had been offering us and you know just run with it, say 'forget everything else,'" he said.

He said he thinks book deals were really what appealed to Palin.

"I think the big deal was the book. That was millions of dollars," said Johnston, who has had a strained relationship with the family but now says things have improved.

Johnston is a 19-year-old kid. The only way he's a threat to the Palins is if they let him become one. The smart response to this is to either (preferably) just ignore the comments or, alternately, just play them down. She can say, "The governor has made the reasons for her decision known. It's been more than six months since Levi lived with the Palins. He's not in a position to know what's transpired since then." Palin and Co. remain above the fray.

Instead, Stapleton can't resist personalizing exchanges with Johnston: "It is interesting to learn Levi is working on a piece of fiction while honing his acting skills." By engaging him, Stapleton elevates Johnston (and diminishes her supposed bosses, the Palin family).

And it's not the first time she's lashed out at him. After Levi's appearance on the Tyra Banks show in April (when he surmised that Sarah Palin probably knew that he and Bristol were having sex before the pregnancy became known), Stapleton said:

"Bristol did not even know Levi was going on the show. We're disappointed that Levi and his family, in a quest for fame, attention, and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies, gross exaggeration, and even distortion of their relationship," says the statement from the Palin family rep, Meghan Stapleton.

"Bristol's focus will remain on raising Tripp, completing her education, and advocating abstinence," the statement continues. "It is unfortunate that Levi finds it more appealing to exploit his previous relationship with Bristol than to contribute to the well being of the child."

The statement ends, saying, "Bristol realizes now that she made a mistake in her relationship and is the one taking responsibility for their actions."

Even though Bristol and Levi are no longer romantically involved, they still have a child together. Having the spokeswoman trade barbs with the father of Gov. Palin's grandson isn't just dumb politically, it's stupid personally.

Furthermore, Johnston (or his attorney) seem to have better political instincts than Stapleton (or Palin herself, considering she keeps her spokeswoman around): His explanation for Palin's quitting seems to be more honest and straight-forward than hers. In short, he's sounding more "plain-talking common-sense" than Sarah Palin herself.

But, again, Stapleton is failing the basics of PR: A story only gets bigger when a statement is returned with major fire. Forget about political press secretaries, spokespersons for celebrity clients know this.

Stapleton doesn't. Which creates a big question: Who is Sarah Palin's worst enemy: Her non-son-in-law, her spokeswoman -- or herself?

Labels: Levi Johnston, Meg Stapleton, sarah palin

My hunch is that if we hear about Sarah Palin in terms of national office again, it will most likely be in 2016, rather than 2012.

Labels: sarah palin

Two truths: 1) Politicians will always be appropriate targets of comedians.  2) Politicians will always try to end up portraying themselves as victims of the media. This past week, a good, professional comedian made inappropriate jokes about a politician's family. The politician was right to call him on it. 

The comedian should take a second shot at an apology. 

Over the last week, David Letterman and Sarah Palin have exchanged words over Palin's visit to New York last weekend -- and Letterman's Monday and Tuesday night monologues and "Top Ten" list responding to said visit.  Palin had been completing a New York trip that included an upstate visit to the National Women's Museum in Seneca Falls, proceeded to a fundraising parade for autism in Westchester County and concluded with a trip to Yankee Stadium, where she was a guest of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.  Key fact: Palin's middle daughter, Willow, the 14-year old accompanied her on the trip. Palin's more famous older daughter, Bristol (of the Levi and Bristol soap-opera) was nowhere around. 

On Monday, during his "Late Show" monologue, Letterman referred twice to certain New York figures "having their way" with Palin's "daughter." 

The first joke was relatively mild: "She went to Yankee Stadium with Rudy Giuliani..."the toughest part of her visit was keeping Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter."  Clearly, the target of the joke is Spitzer, New York's disgraced former governor.  The next night, Letterman followed that up with a similarly-themed even rougher comment: "One awkward moment the Yankee game for Sarah Palin; during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez." 

Now here, obviously, part of the joke alludes to Rodriguez' love life, including his recent divorce from his wife -- initiated partly by reports of his philandering with women such as Madonna. But the "knocked up" also refers to the Bristol saga from last year.  

Now, added to this is one line in Monday's "Top Ten" segment. No. 2 on the "Highlights of Sarah Palin's trip to New York City":  "Bought make-up at Bloomingdale's to update her slutty flight attendant look."  

Obviously, comedy is about taking elements of reality and stretching them to absurdity. But the real elements matter. To people just watching the show or reading these jokes on the page, the immediate allusion is probably going to be to Bristol Palin who has been so much in the news over the last few months. Bristol has also become a celebrity in her own right -- with appearances on People magazine and becoming a spokeswoman against teen pregnancy.  But the fact remains that Palin brought her 14-year old daughter with her to New York -- Willow, not Bristol.  Responding to statements of outrage from both Sarah and Todd Palin, Letterman had an extensive bit on Wednesday, where he offered a sort-of apology, admitting that a few jokes were in "poor taste."  But, he says:

"These were not jokes made about her 14-year old daughter;. I would never never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year old child. Look at my record; it's never happened...Here's where you draw the line: So, maybe these are questionable because the girl, who actually was, excuse me, knocked up, is now 18 years old. So the difference there is 14 years old and of legal age...I can't really defend the joke, OK. I agree, ugly and unpleasant, but I would never never think it was funny to use a 14 year old girl as a joke like this, for God's sake:" 

Letterman's defense is fair, but it's not that clear that he knows how many daughters the Palins have. It's also not clear that he knows that who -- or if either -- was at the Yankee game. In fact, Willow was there. While politicians often take faux offense at shots from the media, the Palins have a case here. It's understandable that they could think he was making a joke about the daughter who did make the trip to New York -- or that she might think Letterman was talking about her. 

Finally, out of context, Letterman's "slutty flight attendant" look was, at the very least, tacky. But, added to everything else it does make Letterman -- or his writers -- look like they have some issues when it comes to women in general. 

Friday morning, Palin kept the pressure up, appearing on "The Today Show" to call Letterman's response a "convenient excuse." She also underscored the point, again, that it was Willow who was at the game, as opposed to "any other daughter." 

David Letterman can't win this fight. Nor should he. These were a series of jokes that went awry. His Wednesday statements actually made him look factually ignorant -- not knowing that Palin's actual 14 year old daughter was at the game. 

He would be wise to offer a full, legitimate apology -- not as part of comedic shtick -- and just move on. 

Labels: David Letterman, sarah palin

Labels: corruption, Eric Holder, sarah palin, Ted Stevens

Never thought I would say this, but Sarah Palin has a point. The attacks she's getting from erstwhile members of the McCain campaign are unprofessional -- and the work of "jerks." Look, as said early on, I wasn't a fan of this pick: Policywise, I thought she undermined McCain's strongest argument -- experience, particularly in national security. What she brought to the ticket -- executive experience, fluency with energy matters, solid social conservative credentials and, uh, a not-so-hidden "a-gender"-- didn't offset what was, the thing the average voter thought of when they thought of John McCain.

In addition, of course, I thought the baggage she brought along with her with respect to her daughter's pregnancy and the seeming validation of that fact by the Republican Party also undermined a key part of the GOP message.

That all said, the after-the-fact piling on and leaking from within the campaign is, in my view, both unprecedented and most unseemly. As I recall, there was a little bit of irritation that leaked out between Kerry and Edwards after '04, and perhaps some between Gore and Lieberman (albeit after a 30-day recount). But what's coming out of the McCain side is going well beyond that. But ultimately, I repeat: Those attacking Sarah Palin anonymously now are part of the group who vetted (or didn't) the candidate. If she is lacking in intelligence or political skills, they they are guilty of major malpractice by dumping a woefully inappropriate candidate on the country. They, in a sense, endangered the country by giving a 72 year-old man a running mate who was (by the standards these people are now cititing) embarrassingly unprepared to become president were something to happen to John McCain.

Now, it appears that there was an obvious split within the McCain camp over Palin -- which she may have encouraged.

However, that doesn't change the fact that the constant leaking aginst her is remarkably inappropriate. It's also stupid -- and likey to backfire: We haven't seen the last of Palin. If she is better than she appeared in the last two months, she will have the opportunity to prove it. One of two things will happen: If Sen. Ted Stevens wins his re-election (they may be counting votes for another two weeks), he will be expelled from the Senate because of his recent conviction. Palin can appoint herself to fill the seat and then run for the full term in a special election. A senator Palin would be able to bring herself up to speed on foreign policy issues rather quickly.

If Stevens' Democratic opponent Mark Bebich emerges victorious, Palin can stay as governor, run for re-election in 2010 -- and educate herself on a whole host of issues. Either way, she will be a much-in-demand guest for a sizeable segment of the Republican base. She will be invited to GOPAC next year and other conservative get-togethers.

This was likely to be the case after the election anyway: The VP candidate often leaps to the top of the field after a losing campaign. The anti-Palin McCain faction, could have let Palin disappear back Nome into semi-obscurity. Instead, by piling on her, they keep her in the news. The Today Show will have her on Tuesday morning. She is now empowered, either as a perceived victim of unfair attacks -- or as the person certain people in the GOP feels the need to "stop."

Labels: John McCain, Presidential politics, sarah palin

Two "tribe" friends of mine battle over Sarah Palin.

Schlub To Stud author Max Gross calls the VP candidate a schlemile.

Alarming News "Queen Bee" Karol Sheinin calls Palin her homegirl.

Um, jewcy indeed!!

UPDATE: A non-conservative journalist takes a rather admiring take on latter-day Sarah Palin.

Labels: Karol Sheinin, Max Gross, sarah palin

Republicans, here is how your contributions to your party are being spent:

The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September. The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

Four thousand bucks on hair and make-up!!! Who the hell does the campaign think this woman is -- John Edwards?!?!?

Most amusing was the reaction of the campaign to this story's development:

Spokeswoman Maria Comella declined to answer specific questions about the expenditures, including whether it was necessary to spend that much and whether it amounted to one early investment in Palin or if shopping for the vice presidential nominee was ongoing.

“The campaign does not comment on strategic decisions regarding how financial resources available to the campaign are spent," she said.

But hours after the story was posted on Politico's website and legal issues were raised, the campaign issued a new statement:
"With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it’s remarkable that we’re spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses. It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign," said McCain-Palin spokesperson Tracey Schmitt

So, trips to Saks and "NeedlessMark-up" (as we used to call it back in the day) are "strategic decisions" now! Excellent.

And the shock that "we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses..." Who the hell does the campaign think this woman is -- Hillary Clinton?!!?!?

And this is a campaign that, in the closing days, is desperately trying to figure out where to run ads given its limited resources.

Given that the thesis of Ross Douthat and Riehan Salam's Grand New Party is rebuilding the Republican brand with social conservatives and "Sam's Club" members as its foundation, I'm curious what such potential voters might think of Sarah Palin as an, ahem, "Sak's Club" member. Over to you, Ross!

Yeah, this is very funny. But in another, it is profoundly sad: John McCain, who focused so much on the use and abuses of money in politics is now overseeing an operation that is spending $150K on his VP candidate's wardrobe. No wonder Palin has emerged as McCain's biggest obstacle to voters.

Labels: sarah palin

The Manhattan Institute's Heather Mac Donald articulates her difficulty with Gov. Palin's syntax -- and the right's happy tolerance:

I know, it’s elitist to expect a candidate for president or vice president to speak like an adult. Sure, there are parents out there battling the “like” epidemic who might not appreciate having someone in the White House validating their 15-year-olds’ speech habits. But, hey: “Total role reversal here.” (Palin, of course, can sound adolescent even when she uses the right verbs, as when she disingenuously denied her snarky put-down of Joe Biden’s age while lauding herself as “you know, . . . the new energy, the new face, the new ideas.”) It’s even more elitist to expect a vice president to put together sentences that cohere into a minimally logical progression of thought. There was a time, however, when conservatives upheld adult standards—such as clarity of speech and thought—without apology, even in the face of the relentless downward pull of adolescent culture. But now, when a vice-presidential candidate talks like a teenager, mugs like an American Idol contestant, and traffics in syntactical dead-ends and non sequiturs, we are supposed to find her charming and authentic.

Apparently, the multigenerational Bush family war on the English language has inured many on the right to proper speech.

Mac Donald also addresses the central point I raised in "The GOP's Palin Problem -- and Mine":

Conservatives will also have a hard time backpedaling from the hypocrisy they displayed regarding Palin’s family situation. Pundits and talk radio hosts rushed to explain why the pregnancy of Governor Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was a wonderful thing. Answer: because the baby would not be aborted. But every born baby of a teen parent has not been aborted, by definition. While from a pro-life perspective, the decision to carry any child to term is laudable, the celebration of Bristol's decision became difficult to distinguish from a celebration of teen motherhood itself. In the past, conservatives have not flinched from pointing out the social and economic costs of teen pregnancy; taking up that theme again, after the happy family-values face put on Bristol’s imminent motherhood, is going to be awkward, to say the least.

And to further underscore Heather's point, Bristol's baby daddy Levi gave an interview this week where he revealed that, yes, he still plans to marry Bristol, but, well, he's dropping out of high school to take a job as an apprentice electrician. Now, if that doesn't perfectly summarize the "problem" with teen pregnancy -- along with the baby comes along things such as interruptions in education.

Forgive me for being old school, but you'd think that somebody could explain to this young man that it might be smarter to at least stick around to get the high school diploma before getting the apprenticeship.

But, hey, like Heather Mac Donald, I'm just one of those Northeast elitists.

Labels: black conservatives, Presidential politics, sarah palin

The left-leaning FiveThirtyEight and the right-leaning Real Clear Politics have similar projections on the electoral landscape.

FiveThirtyEight puts Obama at 348 electoral votes, McCain at 189; RCP has it Obama 277, McCain 158 (with 103 "toss-ups").

Even Fox News' poll gives Obama a 46-39 edge. Thirty-nine!! How can John McCain be polling at 39 percent in any poll!??! (Though, if memory serves, George H.W. Bush lost in '92 with 38 percent -- albeit in a three-way contest).

And, finally, it's a Friday evening and you know what that means -- time for bad political news to break. Unfortuntely (for the GOP), I don't think this story that will be "buried" over the weekend. There will be lots of back-and-forth on this development in the coming days, but one thing can't be argued: The Sarah Palin pick violated the first rule of vice-presidential selections: "First do no harm." Phrases like "abuse of power" don't sit too well a month out from an election.

Well, even though my overarching reason was more personal than political, I'm glad I elected not to be part of the conservative herd that rushed to coronate (or was it "consecrate"?) Sarah Palin as the love child of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

Labels: polls, Presidential politics, sarah palin

One of Andrew Sullivan's readers shares (and her mother's) problem with Sarah Palin.

The reader refers to Palin as,

a female archetype we've had to deal with for years. In modern vernacular, she's a "mean girl," who is ambitious and has no trouble stabbing people in the back to get what she wants. This type of woman is terribly divisive, splitting women between adoring acolytes who want to be "just like them" and women who see clearly what's going on and can't believe that no one else (especially males) can see through it.

(This letter, by the way, follows one from another Sullivan reader who feels that Palin compares very unfavorably to other political women such as Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice or, especially, Margaret Thatcher.)

What is quite amusing is that, of course, there was a movie just a few years back precisely about that modern archetype. It was actually called, Mean Girls and was the first successful film script by (and starring) of course, Tina Fey, whose dead-on comedic cloning of Sarah Palin has launched her already ascendant career even higher into the stratosphere.

In the movie, Lindsay Lohan, is actually the "good" new girl at the school, while Rachel McAdams plays the top "mean girl" Regina George (no relation). Of course, in modern Hollywood, McAdams is seen as a "good girl" while Lohan has had a more problematic "role" in the tabloids.

Labels: sarah palin, Tina Fey

Posted by Isaac Bickerstaff

I am in Washington, DC today. It is a city pulsating with politically anxious members of Congress, polemical lobbyists, peripatetical bureaucrats, and the chattering class. No good deli, but I do enjoy being here.

Labels: financial meltdown, Joe Biden, Phil Gramm, sarah palin

As I said earlier, the Sarah Palin who showed up Thursday night couldn't possibly be as bad as the caricature she had become. Palin came across as a mixture of folksy cheerleader for John McCain and, yes, edgy barracuda going after Obama. Biden controlled his gabbiness, while connecting McCain to the unpopular Bush in a way that Palin wasn't able to decouple.

The governor started out wobbly, gained confidence in the middle -- even when the talk turned to Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel -- but sort of petered out as the debate concluded. Her non-polished approach clearly got under Biden's skin as the debate wore on. However, any annoyance that he may have demonstrated -- which could have turned off voters, he turned around at the very end when asked what he would do if something happened to a President Obama and his very closing comments where he teared up.

It's rather ironic that we live in an age where a male candidate tearing up is a sign of emotional strength -- where it would be weakness in a female candidate. Palin could have done herself much better had she recognized that moment. It would have cemented her role as the more human, less professional politician. Instead, against all odds, Biden had the most human moment. I watched on CNN where they had a people-meter divided by men and women. The women's line rocketed up at that moment (and the men weren't too far behind, actually).

She was strongest on the issue of energy independence and going after Obama-Biden on the "voting against the troops" issue and "your plan is the white flag of surrender." Biden deflected those attacks a couple of times, but Palin was relentless.

Considering how many debates Biden has been over the years -- in 2007-08 alone -- you've got to give Palin credit for holding her own. She wasn't in any way wiped off the floor by Biden. She certainly belonged on the same stage -- something that will undoubtedly be assuring to Republicans demoralized after a full week of Katie Couric interviews.

Palin's performance may not turn around numbers that have been trending in an Obama direction in the last few days, but she did, to use Rich Lowry's phrase, save her "political brand."

Labels: debates, Joe Biden, sarah palin

Considering that there have hardly ever been lower expectations for a vice-presidential debate (not even Dan Quayle was in this territory), I predict that Sarah Palin will actually do "OK" tonight. She won't seem like some blithering idiot and will, instead, come across as a more down-to-earth person next to the polished experienced super-pol, Joe Biden. That doesn't mean that the public might want her more as the next vice-president. It just means that she won't quite fill caricature that she has become (or "has become her").

That said, here's a clip from a movie soon coming to a multiplex/straight-to-video/bootleg store near you:

Labels: debates, Joe Biden, sarah palin, vice-presidential pick