The American Spectator

Appleby| 11.19.09 @ 6:43AM

No one is laughing for the same reason nobody laughted at the Muslim Cartoons: because they are afraid to laugh.

I have actually had people ask me if I think it could be possible that only Believers can actually hear what Obama is saying...everyone else, they speculate, is hypnotized.

Its interesting times indeed when people make this kind of speculation with deadly seriousness.

Ken (Old Texican)| 11.19.09 @ 10:59AM

HEADS UP, GUYS!
For you Sarah fans, National review Online has some delightful film clips of Sarah's first book signings. In their blog section.

Kitty| 11.19.09 @ 7:02AM

Obama is not a great orator. He's not even a great teleprompter reader; he may be a decent one, but he's not great. Nor is he charismatic. The media keep assigning these qualities to him like they're the boobie prizes for being black.

What Obama is is bloodless.
...

Paul| 11.19.09 @ 9:18AM

Nor do I think he's as smart as we're always being told he is. His lack of understanding in financial and economic matters is appalling, and he is woefully naive when it come to foreign policy. Or is the 10.2% unemployment rate and contempt with which he is held by foreign leaders just a mirage? He's what we call in the investment business "All sizzle, no steak."

Frank| 11.19.09 @ 5:32PM

I agree completely, I don't find him charismatic at all, I cringe at the arrogance he projects and the pompous attitude. I wonder how people can believe anything he says. Actually the only President I could listen to fully was Ronald Reagan

Jim O'Brien| 11.19.09 @ 8:31PM

Reagan was a powerful intellect who often pretended to be just an easy going, average guy -- sort of a big-hearted Irishman type. All the while, he was 10 steps ahead of his opponents and his aides. In contrast, Obama is a mental lightweight pretending to be an intellectual. So, how did Obama get through Columbia and Harvard law? Because he had the right (I mean left) "profile". It is abundantly clear that Obama is ignorant of economics and history, which reminds me of a Reagan quote, which goes something like this: "It isn't that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so much which isn't true."

BackToBasics| 11.21.09 @ 7:09PM

Yes, Ob is verry overrated as an orator. His voice has little inflection, about 2 notes worth. His emotional tone is flat and hard-sounding; no lilt whatsoever.

It's like there's this big WOW out there about his supposed gifts simply because he can read a teleprompter.

The very few times I have heard him give original or off-the-cuff answers or speaking it was filled with hesitations and gaffes.

Granny jan| 11.19.09 @ 7:38AM

The Obamas give me plenty to laugh about. That's what a do on almost a daily basis on You Tube. I'm having more fun with the Obamas than I did with the Clintons. The link on my name should work.

Ken in People's Republic of MD| 11.19.09 @ 11:07AM

Clinton was a buffoon and his bite was blunted in 1994; there after, his was a deadlocked presidency, at best. I had fun in the Clinton years.

Obama, on the other hand, is dangerous. Nothing about him is funny; indeed, it is quite sad. As great a politician Bill Clinton was to get elected, as charming as he is, as the media referred to him as a communicator in the Ronald Reagan mold, Clinton didn't reach audiences the way Obama does, and I think that says more about the audiences than it does about Obama.

This guy promised a transparent administration, well, anyone with any sense can see right thru him, he is a nothing who depends on the gullibility of his followers to get his point across. The sad truth of the matter is, in today's America, in like no other time period in history, many people are willing to be led around by their short hairs and are not troubled about giving up their independence. Thank the Lord that some of them are beginning to see the error of their ways and that the rest of us are ready to stand up to this clod take back America.

Remember, the revolution starts here and it starts now.

Sivam Kisk| 11.19.09 @ 9:21PM

I actually thought George W. Bush was a whole lot funnier, and I'm a conservative. Go figure.

megapotamus| 11.19.09 @ 7:40AM

Bob, you jumped the gun on this one. If you had waited one more day you could have had the Presidential Declaration that accounting "is an inexact science".... As is revealed by public records that assign REAL billions to UNREAL districts. It is little surprise that the O crowd has never heard the expression "balanced to the penny". But I guess if you are always waiting for the next, greater offense you could never get anything out there.

Louis Jenkins| 11.19.09 @ 8:21AM

I am not an accountant, but had a few accounting courses in my younger days. Accounting is an exact sience, just come up with the wrong sum answer at the end of a question on an accounting test, and see if its counted correct or wrong. What a poor excuse for the Messiah and chief.

Sir| 11.19.09 @ 8:59AM

I'm an accountant, and you, Mr. Jenkins, are correct. Just calculate taxable income incorrectly and see what the IRS has to say about it.

May Jesus Christ, the Savior of all mankind, save us from this administration.

Bob| 11.19.09 @ 10:04AM

I doubt that you are a well trained accountant. How much work have you done in cost allocation? That's an "exact science"? Have you ever worked for a large corporation? What about utilizing management accounting versus tax accounting for corporate decisions? That's an "exact science"?

This just shows the lack of knowledge here at AmSpec. Yes, even I think many of the things that Obama says is dumb. But then again, Palin has no content -- just diatribes and talking points that fool the uneducated. Romney was the competent guy to run the country at this juncture but you fools would rather play the social conservative card than the competence card.

Ray| 11.19.09 @ 10:22AM

Cost allocations? hat are you talking about? The Obama Administration released figures of EXPENSES, not allocations. EXPENSES are known, hence they are (or should be ) exact. Any competent accountant should be able to accurately track and report expenses.

Bob| 11.19.09 @ 10:40AM

Really???? You guys don't know what you're talking about. For example, let's say you are trying to find out the cost of Program "A". How do you ALLOCATE utilities, administrative expenses, management expenses, purchasing, etc. Do you do it on the basis of time, or sales, or some other measure. This is not like doing your home budgeting. Yes, you have receipts for all of these items, but then they are categorized so know departmental and program expenses. This is NOT an "exact science".

Rob| 11.19.09 @ 1:55PM

That's budgeting, which is finance. Accounting has nothing to do w/ creating cost allocations, except reconciling costs w/ a budget developed by a finance dept.

Ran| 11.19.09 @ 3:12PM

Why, it's "Bob"! Awesome condescension, pal! To bad it comes from you. Still playing the "moderate", huh? So... how are those Aramaic lessons coming along?

Since 'knowing what we're talking 'about seems to be so very important to you, "Bob", why don't we link a few examples of your, um, expertise for the good people here, shall we? Hey... I'll be happy to provide the translations from Aramaic: I know you're a bit rusty.

SoCon| 11.19.09 @ 10:29PM

Ran! Where have you been? Your name always comes up when we talk about the BS spewing, boorish prig, Bob.

You and Nick have laid the best smackdowns on good old HuffPo Bob the 'RINO'.

JimE| 11.19.09 @ 5:51PM

Bob, you are like obama, not just an idiot but a motivated idiot.

Truth to Power| 11.19.09 @ 10:53AM

"Yes, even I think many of the things that Obama says is dumb."

Not as dumb as the morons who voted for him. BTW the "even I" has a nice touch. 3/5 Bob should give his autobiography again. He pretends that he is very intelligent if you didn't know.

"But then again, Palin has no content ... "

This very funny when one thinks that 3/5 Bob supported Biden instead. The reality is that 3/5 Bob is content free.

What a troll. 3/5 Bob makes the mentally handicapped Defeated Pig look like a genius. He just spews the "diatribes and talking points that fool the uneducated."

"Romney was the competent guy ..."

Unfortunately for him he doesn't come off that way. He helped make a mess in Massachusetts. 3/5 Bob apparently doesn't care about that really. 3/5 Bob is right that on the social conservative front; Romney was a nothing. It is obvious what 3/5 Bob likes about him. He is gay friendly. This is the issue that 3/5 Bob really cares about. The rest is smoke.

Tim| 11.19.09 @ 11:20AM

Accounting sounds like a pure discipline, yet I see that while mathmatics has proven that 5+5=10, an accountant working for a politician may conclude that 5+5=8.
The Press will report that 8, spread over ten years as a very affordable number.
The Chinese will call it 8 publicly but privately charge us 16 to borrow the 10.
Presidential appointees will be found to have owed ten and paid 0. Under duress they will pay back the 10, thus demonstrating their fitness for supervising accountants.

Sir| 11.19.09 @ 12:54PM

Mr. Tim, I love this word journey you've created here. Well done.

L. Ross| 11.19.09 @ 11:40AM

"I think many of the things that Obama says is dumb."

Bob, I believe you meant to say "I think many of the things that Obama says ARE dumb."

Hard to sound as smart as you are if your grammar is poor.

Saint James| 11.19.09 @ 4:11PM

L. Ross, don't you know that Bob is a Right-Wing plant falsely trying to show how dumb the Left are/is.

victor| 11.19.09 @ 11:54PM

Falsehood?
How Dumb are Liberals?
All you have to do is watch any of Obama's press conferences or photo shoots.
More slip ups you couldn't get if you had a thousand banana peels.

Bydand76| 11.19.09 @ 12:27PM

Bob,
Shut up!

You are the one who voted for him. You voted for the obamanation! You are no less than a traitor in my eyes and you deserve every insult and more that you get in here! Pissant!

You have no legs to stand on here much less preach about the lack of knowledge in regards to anything! So shut your stupid mouth!

Ignorant jackass!

You are about the worst hypocrite moron on here. Worse than defeated Pigs and Liberal Reader put together.

You are directly to blame for everything that is happening to our country and yet you prattle on as though your vapid little meanderings mean something. You are a chickenhawk!

Piss off you silly wanker!

Sir| 11.19.09 @ 12:52PM

Mr. Bob, slow your roll, sir.

My work as an accountant is almost exclusively managerial. I'm a the Controller (which - almost by definition - makes me a Cost Accountant) for a Division of an American subsidiary of a Japanese company. We just completed a project in Canada, and I've had some experience in international tax, as well, thanks to the nature of the company and the work we do.

Now, why so aggressive? Are you genuinely trying to defend your President, or were you just unaware of my personal history?

To borrow your verbiage: "This just goes to show..." the knee-jerk response of leftists in their efforts to support and defend their usurper-in-chief.

Be careful: Your elitism is showing.

You may apologize to me some other time. I'm a very patient man.

Bydand76| 11.19.09 @ 1:19PM

Sir,
with all due respect you are wasting your time.

Bob is a maggot troll who says he espouses fiscal Conservatism but he voted for Obama because of Sarah Palin.

he is a cheap 2 bit hack monkey watermelon liberal who likes to think he is smart and some kind of psuedo-intellectual.

Ignore him.

Sir| 11.19.09 @ 1:28PM

Mr. 76, thank you for the briefing. Duly noted.

Sir.

victor| 11.19.09 @ 11:51PM

Fiscal Conservatives who vote for Social Liberals are called "Libertarians".
Some are libertines, some are anarchists, some are nihilists, but the all eschew moral restraints.

Ammo Guy| 11.19.09 @ 4:48PM

Sir, all you’ve got to do is tell Bob that you went to an Ivy League school which gave you a sophisticated, nuanced view of the world and you’ll be good to go! Trust me on this one.

Ole Sarge| 11.19.09 @ 8:22PM

I agree with our accounting views, but God expects us to handle the job, so we need to get after it.

Sivam | 11.19.09 @ 9:28PM

He will not only save you from this administation, but He will save you from yourself as well.

Mattled| 11.19.09 @ 7:45AM

Mr. Tyrrell,

The last line you wrote, I had just said the same thing to my "moderate" spouse this a.m.. All I hear is how {still] dumb Sarah Palin sounds, but I always ask to name one interview that was difficult for Obama. Name one for Biden. They can't.

Prove he's smart. No one can.

I guess if saying "he (KSM) will get the death penalty" thereby poisoning the trial and assuring an acquittal for KSM, then I guess he is smarter than I thought. A true America Hater nonetheless.

Mattled| 11.19.09 @ 7:49AM

One more thing Mr. Tyrrell;

We know the media won the election for the Dems in 2006 and 2008. My estimates put the PR at around 5 Billion for Obama in '08.

There will be nothing less in 2010 to keep Dems in office (including the slush fund known as the "stimulus" and ACORN will not go away)

How do we defeat the media? Once the media is defeated, so goes Obama.

Sandra| 11.19.09 @ 7:50AM

Imagine, for a moment, if GEORGE BUSH has said this while visiting China....He would have been excoriates....never mind if Palin had said it.
Obama needs to be impeached on the issue that he swore to keep us safe...he is not...and the fact that we thought he was at least a bit familiart with the Constitution and the freedoms it guarantees us...he has no clue.
IMPEACH this muslim sympathizer NOW!

bluecollarbytes| 11.19.09 @ 7:54AM

I believe at least some of Obama's silly-human thoughts, the kind all humans have in secret but generally know better than spouting in public, are important to Obama's unparalleled view of hiself. He's been spouting off these thots (not rising to the level of Thought) most of his adult life. The number 1 requirement is that they distance hiself from any good thing this country is responsible for. He's incapable of acknowledging American excellence, all derived from our unique freedoms and Judaic-Christian moral base. His idea of greatness focuses on all the work done by those who disdain our U.S, including hiself. Obama ran on the premise that we've sinned, and he was the one who was uniquely qualified to save us from ourselves. Are we redeemed?

When I first heard Palin's Actual statement (not an SNL skit) with Lady Couric about Russia the neighbor, it was obvious she was implying a range of awareness of the Immediacy of a volatile Russia. Seeing Russia from within the borders of an American state would likely cause many folks to have profound thoughts about how dangerous this world is, and Russia in particular. After hearing recent clips of Palin on her book tour, it's clear she is advancing her abilities to spar with and/or stand her ground with the media that's still out to get her. And there was never a problem with her political ideology in my opinion. I expected this from any balanced account I've read of her life. She's no media-creation, but a flesh&blood; individual who has worked to achieve her whole life. She brings common sense, and an uncompromising respect for the work of those who went before us- building this country that the rest of us were born into. Media will continue to try to caricature her. So maybe the 'white trash' or "uneducated" theories didn't root except among Obamaphiles. 'Let's set her up as a media creation by embracing her'. The news side of PopMedia is still frantically looking for the silver stake. If Palin Was a naive self-inflated pompous radical such as the president, media could have already taken her down. Palin is currently the biggest flesh&blood; threat to a second Obama term.

ketchikan| 11.23.09 @ 12:17AM

Well said. Palin still gets a drubbing for the Alaska-Russia statement. I would venture to say the majority of Americans (including many "intellectuals" and media types) still don't realize that there is only about 2 1/2 miles between the two at the Diamedes. You really can see Russia from Alaska.

And while Alaska is small in population it is approx 1/5 the size of ALL the lower 48. Superimposed on the lower 48 Alaska would stretch almost from coast to coast.

Due to Alaska's unique location adjacent to Russia and Canada, enormous size and small population governing this state is quite different than most others.

Sean| 11.19.09 @ 7:56AM

Tried to come up with an accomplishment that put China's economic development in the shade, and couldn't. Someone want to enlighten me?

Ken (Old Texican)| 11.19.09 @ 9:06AM

Uh Yeah, Sean. I can come up with several.
I will begin by congratulating The US as a country free enough and self confident enough to endure and nurture the dead weight dummies such as yourself. heh!

In China you would have already starved or been shot, and your momma would have had to pay for the bullet.

Sean| 11.19.09 @ 9:47AM

China is building a Pittsburg every few months. Top that.

Old Texican, all hat no cattle. Examples?

Sean| 11.19.09 @ 9:57AM

Left the "h" off Pittsburgh. My bad.

Paul| 11.19.09 @ 9:22AM

Are you kidding? Italy and Japan after WWII. Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution after 1750. The US during the "Gilded Age" between the Civil War and WWI.

Sean| 11.19.09 @ 10:29AM

Italy? Rome was an open city, hardly touched by war. Japan? Certainly impressive, but dwarfed by China. Same for Great Britain. The US? You're talking more than three generations there; one could argue that China has two in hand.

L. Ross| 11.19.09 @ 11:47AM

Sean, Sean, Sean:

You are forgetting that our entire world stands on the shoulders of giants. Things that have been learned and developed over the past century have made the Chinese development possible. That doesn't really make them any more extraordinary than the examples listed.

Let's look at it another way. The army of Alexander the Great conquered most of the known world in just a few years. A few Somali pirates could kick their collective asses. That does not mean that a few Somali pirates are a greater army than that of Alexander. Removing historical perspective leads to stupid conclusions. Like BHO's. Like yours.

Sean| 11.19.09 @ 7:15PM

Adding historical perspective is your idea, not mine..or Obama's. His statement stands on its merits.

Jackson| 11.19.09 @ 10:33PM

...And those merits are?

Sean| 11.19.09 @ 10:39PM

That the kernel of his statement is true. We on the left value that.

Jackson| 11.19.09 @ 11:15PM

Liberals value truth--funniest thing I've heard in a long while. Tell that to the 'truth seekers' of ACORN.

Sean| 11.19.09 @ 11:31PM

I'd rather rub Hannity's lying face in it.

Jackson| 11.20.09 @ 12:34AM

You couldn't find truth if it bit you on the azz, libtard. Liberals and truth are absolute strangers to each other.

victor| 11.19.09 @ 11:47PM

And how many kernels does an ear of corn have, eh?
That's how many times Obama is right.
One out of a thousand?
And when is hannity ever wrong?
The Left values "victory" at all costs.
As in "the end justifies the means"

Sean| 11.20.09 @ 7:47AM

When's Hannity wrong? Latest example..caught using Beck's 9/12 crowd scenes in place of Bachnam crowd scenes, in order to inflate her hatefest attendance. When called out, lied again.

Jackson| 11.21.09 @ 2:32AM

Ha ha ha! I knew you were going to whine about Hannity's photo mix-up. Weak, very weak; pales in comparison to ACORN's many disgusting displays aiding and abetting child prostitution and child slavery.

Only a soulless liberal moron would spit bullets over Hannity's peccadillo and ignore the amoral, monstrous behavior of ACORN employees.

Shame on you, liberal clown.

Sean| 11.21.09 @ 7:30AM

Repubs favor child slavery, that's why they resent unions so. They pine for the days when 10-year-olds worked 70 hour weeks for a pittance.

Jackson| 11.21.09 @ 3:40PM

Liar. Unlike you liberals, we object to Union corruption, including the unconscionable forced use of young girls as underage prostitutes.

You liberals are human garbage, that's why you have to lie and cheat to win elections. Absolutely NOTHING recommends you losers and your loser policies.

Sean| 11.21.09 @ 5:31PM

You're OK with young boy prostitution, as long as the john is Rush, and the boy is DR. Take a wide stance, Jackboot.

Jackson| 11.21.09 @ 5:46PM

All you've got is Hannity's photo mix-up, nothing else. You're good at lying, like all liberals.

Photographic proof of you fascist liberals engaging in forced sex-slavery for young girls indicts all of you loser perverts

Liberalism is a mental illness not a political ideology--you're proof of that, Nazi boy.

Sean| 11.21.09 @ 6:52PM

I tire of swatting you around. I've already stretched my self-imposed tenet; I don't usually pick on the lame.

Jackson| 11.21.09 @ 7:18PM

You got your ass kicked, delusional liberal loser; I'm sure you're used to it. Go back to your fellow freaks and perverts at HuffPo--it's where you belong.

It's starting to smell better already.

Sean| 11.21.09 @ 8:21PM

Funny how you're the angry one, inbred. I picture you as that banjo picker from Deliverance, except you have no redeeming talent.

Sean| 11.21.09 @ 8:41PM

Good news for you, Jackboot. Looks like Healthcare is over another hurdle. Look down that tunnel, Jackboot..someday you may be able to take that helmet off, despite yourself.

Jackson| 11.21.09 @ 8:42PM

Why 'ya here, nitwit? HuffPo more moronic than usual (tough task to be sure!)? I thought you said you'd already stretched your self-imposed limit. Go back to the usual perverted stuff you liberals do. You don't belong here.

Numbnuts.

Jackson| 11.21.09 @ 8:46PM

You would mention Deliverance. Like all liberal weenie boys, I'm sure you like it from behind. That perverted thing again you liberal guys like so much.

Sean| 11.21.09 @ 10:10PM

Craig, "diapers" Vitter, Haggard, Duke Cunningham..and in a refteshing change to women, Sanford. Limbaugh's sex junkets to sample little Dominican boys. I would mention them too. Har Har.

Jackson| 11.21.09 @ 10:47PM

Fool. LOL!

Bill "Weatherman terrorist buddy of O'bow'ma" Ayers, America hater and close O'bow'ma spiritual adviser, Reverend "G-Damn, America!" Wright, Bwarnie "congressional pimp for young men" Fwank the liberal social engineer whose disastrous CRA policies destroyed our economy; tax cheats, Chris Dodd, Tim Geithner, Sebilius, William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson, Charlie Rangel and most of Obama's cabinet. Democrat commie, Van Jones and Maoist, Anita "lizard tongue flick" Dunn.

The violent and corrupt thugs of SEIU and the election thieves of ACORN.

Don't forget your democrat horndog Governors; "big spender" Spitzer and gay boytoy, McGreevey.

Last, but not least, the biggest saint in the democrat party, your hero, Teddy Kennedy--the "Lion of the Democrat party" who left a young woman to die a slow, agonizing and ugly death alone in the dark, cold water of Chappaquiddick.

Sean, that's YOUR democrat party; I'm sure you feel proud that you worship at the political altar of freaks, perverts, cheats and killers. I'm sure you do, amoral moron.

Sean| 11.22.09 @ 8:00AM

I could double down on your list with ease, but there's so much error in yours that I can't get motivated. You're the one taking it up the bum, Jackboot, except thatwith you it's a case of "please, sir. I want some more!"

Jackson| 11.22.09 @ 5:17PM

Double down? Do it, moron. Errors? Refute them, worthless troll. You've got nothing because liberalism is a mental illness not an ideology.

Brain-dead fool. I tire of your non-arguments.

Ray| 11.19.09 @ 10:35AM

Here ya go, Sean: The US after WWII where urban communities who's populations numbered in the tens millions were designed, built, and inhabited in just 10 years; Where manufacturing quadrupled in just 10 years; Where the average wages increased more rapidly, and more extensively, than in any other time in history, ANYONE'S history.

Just think about the economic expansion that occurred due to the US Highway construction that occurred under the Eisenhower administration. That, alone, was greater than the expansion that occurred after the Transcontinental Railroad was created.

So, yes, China's expansion does have historical equivalences, and the greatest was right here in America, within your father's lifetime. China, they're just catching up!

Sean| 11.19.09 @ 11:41AM

China is catching up, but you have a point. I don't know if China's expansion is greater..but you haven't convinced me it isn't. Point is, "no one's laughing" because the statement isn't ridiculous on it's face.

JIMMAH| 11.20.09 @ 12:57AM

this is similar to what I said when North Korea launched their pseudo-nuke ... welcome to the 21st century.

Rich Berger| 11.19.09 @ 10:58AM

From CIA factbook - GDP per capita 2008

China- $6,000
Taiwan - $31,100

Other powerhouses eclipsing China

El Salvador - $6,200
Hungary - $19,800
Slovakia - $22,000

China looks good if you compare it economic basketcases. Another memorable quote from our brilliant leader.

You might also note that the quote was -"an accomplishment unparalleled in human history".

Uncle Miltie| 11.19.09 @ 7:57AM

Not to defend Obama or anything, but what good would've it made to insult the Chinese host?

The suckers are buying our debt, so why not stroke their egos and claim that their economic growth is "an accomplishment unparalleled in human history?"

Richard Baker| 11.19.09 @ 8:03AM

Pulchritudinous was used twice. Aye, and she is a looker. But what people are noting is her normal American-ness, her everday personality. Folks are tired of slick and massaged political types. Her next door neighbor persona is who she really seems to be and that resonates. She'd be a hoot out hunting/fishing. Her Dad says she's re-loading. Underestimate her at your peril.

L. Ross| 11.19.09 @ 11:50AM

Speak for yourself, Richard. You can note her middle America normality and charming personality. I chose to note her off-the-scale hotness.

Nobama| 11.19.09 @ 10:37PM

She'd make one hell of a good looking POTUS.

Greg| 11.19.09 @ 2:35PM

Why would a writer use "pulchritudinous" twice in the same, short column?

To sound smart?

Jackson| 11.19.09 @ 10:36PM

RET is a wordsmith, Greg; he doesn't need to use fancy words to prove he's smart--he is.

Besides, I'm tired of 'hot'.

Howard| 11.19.09 @ 8:14AM

I voted for Bush twice, and for McCain/Palin. However the Palin/Couric interview was a disaster for Palin. If she knocked the snot out of Couric and the media still criticized her, there would be more reason for alarm. But she looked weak and over her head. The sad part is that The Great Leader is way over his head as well, but the Moran Media keeps him afloat. Thank goodness for talk radio and Fox News.

S.L. Toddard| 11.19.09 @ 8:20AM

"After reading some of the things Palinites have been writing this week, I am tempted to say that they are “objectively” pro-Obama inasmuch as they are doing their very best to make Obama’s re-election secure. It’s tempting, but it wouldn’t be entirely fair. What is a bit sad is simply how out of it Palinites are. R.S. McCain imagines that Palin is extremely popular. This is true only among a shrinking number of Republicans. Douglas thinks that Palin is powerful because she has become a favorite pinata of the left. In fact, she has very little power outside the conservative cocoon where she receives so much praise and deference. As her favorability ratings show, the intense and concentrated opposition to her has helped turn most of the public against her; Palin has managed to do the rest all by herself. That is evidence of her political weakness. She certainly generates a remarkable degree of irrational loathing, but then she also generates irrational and excessive admiration that makes her supporters believe absurd things about her and her political potential.

What McCain misses in his article is that liberal journalists actually take great delight in the Palin phenomenon. Yes, of course, they don’t want to see her in power, but I think they do want to see her prosper and thrive as the face of the Republican Party. An American right led by or identified with Palin is one that they can very easily ridicule and discredit, and at the same time they can be confident that a Palinized GOP poses no threat to anything they value. Palin is not going to bring the party out of the minority, and were she to lead the party it would more or less guarantee continued Democratic ascendancy for many years to come. Her content-free pseudo-populism ensures that the legitimate political concerns of her constituency remain irrelevant to real policy debates. Media outlets also thrive on controversy and conflict, both real and manufactured, and Palin continues to give them plenty of opportunities for both.

One of the lessons we were supposed to have learned from the off-year elections, and one that I think is correct, is that the public craves competent leadership and that it penalizes any party that fails to deliver it. 2006 and 2008 were repudiations of the GOP because of the war in Iraq and the financial crisis, but more broadly these elections were the public’s demands that the government be ably and competently administered. If McCain ever had a chance of winning, his erratic and confused response to the financial crisis destroyed it, and between his selection of Palin and his insane response to the war in Georgia he drove away many others who simply could not trust someone with such poor judgment with such great power. The elections earlier this month were much the same in that they were protests against Democratic failure to govern well. The Palinites propose to rally behind someone who has no particularly impressive record of accomplishments, who abandoned the highest executive office she has held before completing one term, and who seems to have no great expertise behind her. In other words, Palinites are telling the public that they have no interest in providing competent leadership, and they expect the public to respond favorably to this. Following one of the worst Presidencies in postwar history, one that was marked by incompetence and ideological demagoguery, the Palinites believe that the country is desperately seeking to relive that experience under an even less-experienced, less well-informed, more malleable Western governor."

adventuryes| 11.19.09 @ 10:22AM

s.l toddard......you spend alot of time and energy critiquing mccain,palin, republicans.....it's obvious that you are on the other side....now, do you think you could actually write as many words pointing out the positive accomplishments of obama, the democratic congress. Up to the challenge? convince me....i believe the polls that show an unparalled downward trend in approval of an empty suit president and a totally disconnected congress from the electorate.

factis| 11.19.09 @ 10:59AM

SLT wrote:
"...they can be confident that a Palinized GOP poses no threat to anything they value."

factis says:
When it's all said and done, things esteemed valuable in the socialist hive-mind will vanish like smoke. People of goodwill immediately recognize the goodness of Sarah Palin. That is why the others hate her so much.

A Proverb: "Where there is no vision the people perish." The vision of today's tyrant-socialist is short-sighted, extending only so far as current threats to power (Hugo Chavez) or the next election (Barack Obama).

People like Sarah Palin on the other hand look upon timeless, priceless things which are unseen: loyalty, honor, courage, trust, love, inspiration, enlightenment. Spiritual things. Sarah Palin is a disciple of Christ.

Global socialism managed by shriveling Souls whose only hope is in this present world will be cruel and inconvenient but thank God, it won't last forever.

The Women's Suffrage Movement has produced a wonderfully gifted specimen of American womanhood in Sarah Palin. The uberfemmies (male and female) absolutely despise everything Mrs. Palin is, and everything that Mrs. Palin stands for. Amazing.

Please know this S.L.Toddard: Sarah Palin versus The Heart of Darkness is one more intriguing battle in The Great War between Good and Evil. Children of light, of which Sarah Palin is most certainly one, already know how that war will end.

I wonder what C.S. Lewis would have said about the present status of things spiritual and temporal?

"Whenever God closes one door, He always opens another but it's Hell in the hallway."

Daisy| 11.22.09 @ 12:45AM

factis--beautiful post, inspirational, too. Thank you.

C.S. Lewis wasn't kidding about that hallway.

Rmm| 11.19.09 @ 11:52AM

Whatever happened to the motive of the 'best and brightest' being drawn into the arena? Forgive the cynicism but I suspect the really smart and talented shy away from public service for good reason. It is a poisonous environment, where con artists , egotists, and all kinds of axe grinders go to ply their trade.
On the other hand, what we have now is your typical,ideological driven, front man, posturing as our POTUS.
We are in bad need of some REAL talent.

Dai Alanye| 11.19.09 @ 11:59AM

Is S L Studmuffin quoting himself here or is he simply unfamiliar with the proper use of quote marks?

I can't be sure Palin would make an effective President on the level of Reagan, but we can all be sure of this—she'd have made far fewer mistakes than Blessed Handsome (Barack Hussein) Obama.

She wouldn't be offering terrorists Constitutional protections and a propaganda platform, nor showing faith in a peaceful Islam.

She wouldn't have approved the "Stimulus" nor even TARP, had she been in office then. She certainly wouldn't support Cap and Trade, while she *would* be encouraging exploitation of all energy sources. And a big one: She wouldn't be pushing Health Deform.

She wouldn't have snubbed our close allies, nor patronized the Queen of England. She wouldn't be curtseying to foreign potentates, nor apologizing to degenerate third world cesspits, nor let herself be bluffed by Russia. She wouldn't agonize for months over the question of whether to follow recommendations from her military leaders.

She wouldn't be allowing her personal expenditures to go through the roof in a flurry of ostentatious display, nor be showing a record-level narcissism, nor consider the team of herself and her teleprompter to be uttering the greatest orations since Pericles.

Best of all, the First Lad wouldn't be making a spectacle of himself the way our present First Lady is prone to do, and conservatives could once more be proud of the nation's standing in the world.

victor| 11.19.09 @ 3:59PM

Saint Louis Toddard must be enraptured again of Daniel Larison or he must be epitomizing the old saying:
"Gee, I wish I had said that!"
Either that or this is Daniel Larison come down from Mount Olympus in the mortal form of S L Toddard.

Borhred| 11.19.09 @ 4:33PM

SL you talk too much.

GW| 11.20.09 @ 1:10AM

I actually agree with some of SL Retarded here. Although I personally think Mrs. Palin is a genuinely good person, she isn't repeat is NOT even near the best candidate the Republicans can put out for president.

This nation, now more than ever, need a man's man who can shut the d*ckfaced press up at the first sign of personal criticism. Palin gets all weepy on Bill O'Reilly if a magazine cover isn't to her approval. (BTW, I didn't know Palin was on Newsweek until she b*tched about it)...

But Tarded is an idiot when he says the Georgia situation lost McCain the election. Actually it was McCain's support for TARP and an unwillingness to go at Obama. Not his pastor, not his associations with Ayers, not his comments about hardworking Americans (gun clingers with antipathy)...

I'm afraid too many people are vociferiously defending Palin merely because she is getting attacked. Palin should have stayed as governor in Alaska, not released a book (at least so soon anyways), and governed responsibly for the remainder of her term.

With Russian relations remaining cold, with China continuing to grow, with North Korea and Iran possibly going nuclear, and with radical islam seemingly not ceasing, we need a ballsy president who doesn't put up with the 3rd world's sh*t. I'm afraid Palin would get too bogged down on being named "Worse Person" of Keith Olberdouche's show than being able to focus on the critical issues of this day in age.

GW| 11.20.09 @ 1:12AM

For the sake of clarity, I would recommend Duncan Hunter, Rick Perry, Pawlenty, hell even Guiliani before Palin. Women aren't as good of leaders as men, normally.

SoCon| 11.21.09 @ 3:24PM

Tell that to Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir and Queen Elizabeth I, tool. It takes more than testosterone to make a good leader. Case in point; Barack Obama.

What an oinker you are.

SoCon| 11.21.09 @ 3:30PM

You really are an idiot. How well did your "man's man" George W. "..shut the d*ckfaced press up.." when they repeated attacked him, his policies and US? You guys don't get to call the shots on everything anymore--your track record stinks.

Palin's the only republican who has any b@lls; stop patronizing her.

SoCon| 11.21.09 @ 3:31PM

repeated = repeatedly.

Louis Jenkins| 11.19.09 @ 8:29AM

"an accomplishment unparalleled in human history?"

Their unparalleled accomplishnent is all the US debt they have bought. There's more than one way to fight a war.

Uncle Miltie| 11.19.09 @ 10:57AM

If you owe China $10 billion, China owns you.
If you owe China $10 trillion, you own China.

I just know there's a Yakov Smirnoff "In Soviet Russia.." joke in there. ..

Tim| 11.19.09 @ 11:25AM

I think it was William F Buckley: " If you owe the banl one million dollars you have a problem, if you owe one hundred million, the bank has a problem...

Uncle Miltie| 11.19.09 @ 11:46AM

And China's the bank with the problem right now!

Tim| 11.19.09 @ 4:34PM

I think you are on to something.

victor| 11.19.09 @ 4:22PM

In America you go to bank to get your money,
In China they come to America to get our money.

Nobama| 11.19.09 @ 10:40PM

Uh, Victor, I think you meant, "their money."

Uncle Miltie| 11.20.09 @ 7:29AM

Until the Chinese build a nuclear weapons proof repo man I'm not too worried about the Chinese reclaiming their money any time soon.

Jackson| 11.21.09 @ 2:36AM

Hell, nationalize everything! That's what the commies do.

Ran / Si Vis Pacem| 11.19.09 @ 8:34AM

Thanks Mr Tyrrell for the article.

Our friend Michael Ledeen reminds us of Machiavelli's caution to leaders... that a leader must not earn the contempt and ridicule of those he leads. It's one thing to make gaffes and errors. It's another to repeatedly make make the same mellifluous mis-pronouncements or pull a groveling protocol stunt over and over. It would have a wry humor to it if the nation wasn't also in a battle to limit damage from blatant legislative and administrative malfeasance. We also have Reid and Pelosi and Holder to contain.

Where Obama and Biden have the respect of their sycophants in the old media, that's about as far as it goes. Their present disposition is a vast overstatement of their real power.

It's conservative gals such as Sarah Palin and Michel Bachmann who are earning the trust of the electorate, including many "independents." There is genuine roll-back in the works.

These can't be days of joy for the likes of poor Katie. One year on, so little accomplished, and the future looks dimmer with each Tea party...

Appleby| 11.20.09 @ 7:38AM

Preach it, brother!

Oh, and to *GW* -- your Men Rule Girls Drool mantra is sooooo Seventies!

Mike M| 11.19.09 @ 8:40AM

The laughing stopped when Obama placed his hand on the Koran and said "I do."
What one hears now is only crying...crying from the thousands who gave their lives building this (once) great republic.

personal trainer austin tx| 11.19.09 @ 8:45AM

"an accomplishment unparalleled in human history" - and the prelude to their recent economic growth included 70 million murdered or starved to death.

hunter| 11.19.09 @ 9:04AM

I had wondered for some time why the WH had such a spokesman as Robert Gibbs. He stuttered, stammered, hemhawyed, took deep breaths, adn burned off time. (time, like to wear everyone down). Lately it came to me. If I had to sit in the oval office and other meeting rooms all day and listen to Barry the muslim speak (attempt to) I would be stuttering and stammering too. Now as far as Palin, she is being given a bad rap. Its has the signature of chicago desing, a warning, if you will. Don't ever even think about running against us, we'll send you a dead fish. I belive they already have. Katie Couric. After the way she lay in wait for and attempted to damage Palin, I never watch Couric and never will. Anyone that would sabatoge a canidate to boost ratings don't deserve to be in that position. Obama administration is in dire straights, he himself is at the helm. This position is one he has got this country into. The healthcare manifesto is being crammed down our throats. Soom immigration and/or cap and trade will be shoved up the other end. I am so pissed!

victor| 11.19.09 @ 4:23PM

That's because Gibbs makes Obama look like Reagan.

Melvin| 11.19.09 @ 9:06AM

Well, let me tell ya pilgrims, any woman who can take disassemble and reassemble a weed whacker in 30 minutes is definitely a keeper.
Sara Palin is an American woman period. No Ms. no hyphenation, no using her maiden name once married, being married for many years to the same man, and unlike a certain Sec. of State Sara bakes cookies.
Sara Palin is what every American Woman was admired for. Confidence, strength, and femininity.
This fallacy has been fabricated by the Liberal
feminist left, that American women were subservient to the males is as far from the truth as it can be.
American women have long been at the forefront of the development of this country since the
revolutionary war, and they didn't burn their bras or champion abortion rights to do it either.
Just because a woman likes to hunt, fish, reload own her ammunition and this somehow depicts her as being a illiterate, subservient slave to her husband.?
The hardest thing that, "Little Miss Perky Couric" has ever done was break her nail getting out of her limousine.
Many Elite Liberal women think they are so smart that they are actually stupid. Barbra WaWa wouldn't know the end of a reloading die to a hole in the ground. On second thought does Ms. WaWa even know what actual dirt looks like?

Alec| 11.19.09 @ 9:17AM

Ms. Palin is indeed pulchritudinous; she appeals by coming across as "one of us;" and she has managed to make the right enemies; but alas, she also seems to have drunk of the neoconservative koolaid that drove the Republican party off the cliff and into the abyss in which we presently find ourselves.

hunter| 11.19.09 @ 9:22AM

Well said Melvin.

Ken (Old Texican)| 11.19.09 @ 9:27AM

In all seriousness now...
There may be some vets reading this comment and I shall to defer to you in the particulars...
But!
One of the biggest laughs the media got on Sarah was when she commented on Alaska's geographic "keystone" location regarding Russia.

Many of you younger readers may not know, or have forgotten, that any Soviet attack on America would come right over Alaska. Missiles over the pole, bombers on the "great circle routes" ...over Alaska, and even plans to "restore that huge storehouse of natural resources to mother Russia" with a land invasion.

The Governors of Alaska have always been in very tight relationships with our forward deployed defenses and military brass. It is a serious tradition for those folks, Sarah included.

Alaska has always had a splendid National Guard, ready to lock and load on a moment's notice, on the ground and in the air. Uh...Sarah commanded that Guard.
So, in fact, "Perkie" literally shouted her own ignorance...and then got the parody on Saturday night Live to nail her ignorance to the wall forever.

I wish some editor here...or somewhere...would seek out the military brass she coordinated with up there and get their take on the lady.

Bydand76| 11.19.09 @ 1:09PM

Ken,

If I am not mistaken I think the 175th Infantry division (airborne)is based out of Alaska as well.
To counter the former Soviet threat.

I think they work with the Alaska NG as well.

I know a lot of people from Alaska and they have made comments like that before. About Russia being a stones throw away and so close that you can see them. If you look at it on a map it IS really close.

Just my 2 cents though.

Pro Libertate!
As usual though the liberal media never reported on this and of course Sarah was pilloried in the pop culture of today.

Eric Damon| 11.19.09 @ 9:30AM

Just one minor correction: that should be Mrs. Palin, not Ms. Palin. Let's all remember that she is, in the words of the elders, spoken for!

Ken (Old Texican)| 11.19.09 @ 10:00AM

Eric
Heh, we Texans pronounce both the same so we usually get away with it. Both terms sorta' come out:
"Mizz."

Kent Lyon| 11.19.09 @ 9:43AM

Bob, you forgot, she also ran a business and met payroll with her own money. She actually created real jobs, not government ones. More than FDR, infact. Obama has lost millions of jobs.....Never created one with his own money, and never met a payroll...

Anthony| 11.19.09 @ 9:56AM

What comedic straight men/woman the MSM have become. Couric, Gibson, Dowd, Krugman, Rich and the rest of the Prozac addicted leftist elites, all playing the part of stuffy Margaret Dumont, untethered from REALITY, their bubble world about to be burst.
Add to the mix paranoid Evan Thomas, (the military is targeting journalists) Joe (Anonymous) Klein, along with tingly leg Matthews and the spittle prone Olberman and we would have great fodder for the Marx Brothers had they been around to mock these fools. "Turkey Shoot" would have been an apropos title for this epic comedy mocking these fools.
But not to worry; speaking of turkey shoot, Gov. Palin is about to take aim on these gobblers, it ain't gonna be pretty and it sure as hell is going to hurt, big time. P.S. I bought 2 copies of Going Rogue. Choke on that Katie.

Klabautermann| 11.19.09 @ 10:16AM

Joe Biden is the smartest man in all these 58 states. He is a self proclaimed student of history and that is why Couric believed everything he said. Problem is he did not tell her whether he was an A student or an F student. Couric and her team televised Biden's comments about Roosevelt being on TV in 1929 because they trusted him. It was not done to discredit him. They are that gullible and that ignorant of American history and even the history of their own industry. Where were the 11 AP fact checkers.

Toddard spends 600 words to show how sad it is that "Palinites" are out of touch. Save your sympathy Toddard. You will need it. I am a "Palinite." I will only vote for someone else if they are more right wing than Palin. Dismiss me, I am only one vote. However, think of this. The Democrat could have nominated a complete fool and would have won in 2008 because of the incompetence of the Bush Administration. In 2012 the Republicans can nominate Glenn Beck and win because of the disaster the Democrats will create.

audax| 11.21.09 @ 2:12PM

that's 60 States! He said he had visited 57 states with one to go AND that his staff wouldn't let him go to Alaska or Hawaii (2). So 57+1+2=60

somnolence| 11.19.09 @ 10:39AM

Toddard, the fact remains that no one else in the GOP has the drawing power of Palin . Not Huckabee, not Fred Thompson, not Mitt Romney. If she runs and is not the nominee in 2012 she will surely be in a power broker position similar to Clinton in that she becomes Secretary Of State or Secretary Of Energy. Contrary to your fictional stance she is in a similar position to where Colin Powell was in 1994. Why is she currently winning? Just look at the reactionary, rabid response of AP. I rest my case.

Louis Jenkins| 11.19.09 @ 10:40AM

Of all the candidates, pundits, critics, and nay sayers, if anyone comes close to seeing Russia from their house it would be her. As previously posted, if Russia launched the big one Alaska would be first in the line of fire so to speak, even if the missles carried over the state to strike the lower 48. The Backfire bombers would be lower. Alaska would be a toehold on the continent if it came down to a shooting war. Alaska's government leaders certainly can see Russia. Proximetry to a threat can make you see things that others can't.

Northern Rebel| 11.19.09 @ 10:46AM

I just spent a couple grand, and my wife asked me where the money went. I told her I used it to winterize the SUV, and buy school supplies for the oldest boy.

She looked at me strange, and told me we don't have an SUV, and our kids are grown, and both are female!

I guess I'm not as smooth as "Pesident" Anti-Christ.

Don't try this at home, kids!

cindy graham| 11.19.09 @ 10:55AM

Obama is constantly and highly praised for his oratorical skills, but never, ever is he criticized for something I regularly notice when he speaks-he doesn't seem to know the difference between "a" and "an" or "is" and "are".

Cervantes| 11.19.09 @ 1:24PM

Does anyone else notice that Mr Obama stutters alot when he answers questions?

Look at the interview on FOX news and for a better part of the interview Mr Obama goes through it going ummmmmm well ummmmm it, is its it ummmmmmm

Or is it just me?

Django| 11.19.09 @ 5:39PM

Yep... because GWB was So Articulate!

Cervantes| 11.19.09 @ 9:07PM

I am not comparing O to G

I am just saying something that I observed pendajo!

I was wondering if it was the teleprompter.

I find it annoying.

Kind of like your mom.

Jackson| 11.19.09 @ 10:46PM

Cervantes, didn't you know that Obama's blunders are George W's fault? W was behind Obama's stupid bow, too.

owyheewine| 11.19.09 @ 11:08AM

It's an unquestionable fact of current American life, whether talking about the attitude of the MSM or the outrage generated by the recent revised recommendations on mammograms, you don't mess with the boobies.

Tim| 11.19.09 @ 11:29AM

Obama's reputation exists due to his many influential rump swabs in the media. The Nobel Peace Prize only highlights this Obama effect.

ARealist| 11.19.09 @ 12:16PM

When Walter Mondale ran for president he selected the liberal democrat Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate.
She became the first women in US history to be selected by a major political party as a vice presidential candidate.
Her level of experience was on par with that of Obama; basically ZERO.
The press jumped through their anuses describing and explaining how this totally inexperienced woman had the smarts and credentials to be PRESIDENT in the event Mondale kicked over even though she had ZERO experience.

This illustrates better than anything the bias, dishonesty, hubris, arrogance and hypocrisy of the media.

If somebody - even a donkey (i.e., an ass) is a liberal, well then, that person is qualified and must be taken seriously.
If somebody is a conservative or merely not a liberal , that person, according to media, is a dunce.

Welcome to the world of Stalin's Izvestia and Pravda.

Margie| 11.19.09 @ 1:42PM

I've noticed that the latest in the Left's attempt to try and smear Sarah Palin is to call her a "fiscal Socialist." These mentally disordered people say this while the Marxist-in-Chief President they helped to elect proceeds to turn our beloved free country into one huge slave labor camp by destroying the free market economy, causing mass unemployment, and massive amounts of people to be dependent on gov. And with Socialized Medicine of course there is so much to look forward to, don't we? This will DESTROY us, yet these idiots look the other way and still praise him.
But Sarah Palin is a Socialist "fiscally?" Another case of Saul Alinsky tactics~~accuse your opponent of doing the exact thing you are really doing! Sarah Palin is a conservative through and through, and we all know it.
BTW~ Here's the truth about Sarah's doings in Alaska concerning the Oil industry. She rooted out corruption. Someone recently tried to smear her concerning this issue. This link tells the truth:
http://carywesberry.blogtownha.....tion.thtml

Richard Baker| 11.19.09 @ 2:08PM

Ross:
Agreed. What's amazing is that it's of no real consequence to her. I think she'd be like this even if she looked like Hillary Clinton or Eleanor Roosevelt. Now that's a revolting thought, isn't it?

Liberal Reader| 11.19.09 @ 7:35PM

Richard --

That's a nasty way to talk. Talking about people's looks: didn't you get over that in like the eighth grade?

SoCon| 11.19.09 @ 10:50PM

LibReader is our resident school marm, our conscience in chief. Thanks, LibReader the liar, for all you do. Dope.

I bet you're ugly as hell.

Oldefarte| 11.19.09 @ 2:10PM

Whether or not the MSM and Hollywood morons acknowledge, critisize or lampoon Palin, the American taxpayer-voters KNOW who and what she is [which is one of them]. The incredable stupidity know as the election of Obama on 11/4/08 is now becoming reversed [recent polls and elections], and the full force of this reversal will be thoroughly observed beginning with next year's elections!!!!!!!!!!

Ken (Old Texican)| 11.19.09 @ 2:24PM

This one will make you LYAO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BgDdiZfek0

Margie| 11.19.09 @ 2:29PM

Ha! I don't think Barbra Wawa could even follow what Sarah was saying. She only understands Marxist-Speak.

somnolence| 11.19.09 @ 2:32PM

I've always said "back-ass-ack-ward" when using this colorful term. Must be my own stamp of identity at times.

Spratico| 11.19.09 @ 3:23PM

If there's one thing I've always loved about your average American, and I've lived and traveled overseas a lot, is that Americans can smell a bull$*it artist a mile away. This is very evident in Palin's rising popularity and Obama's falling numbers. The same goes for the majority of the Congress, especially the Senate. People are really getting pissed off and are fed up with the usual Washington suspects. The game is up.

Mrs. BHO | 11.19.09 @ 3:39PM

Wow, I guess for the first time in his adult life, Obama is proud of,,, oh never mind. (forgive me if someone already made that point.)

Liberal Reader| 11.19.09 @ 3:53PM

Mr. Tyrrell,

As usual, your critique and analysis of Obama is fair and, I think, often persuasive to me. Sometimes Obama sounds like he's being more eloquent than he is, and he does have a tendency to talk in vague generalities that can be maddening.

However, I don't follow you when you compare Sarah Palin favorably to Obama.

Palin actually does have a way with words. Her interviews this week, to say nothing of her convention speech, demonstrate her ability to articulate ideas in a clear, compelling way.

Yet I still don't hear her moving away from a narrative of victimhood and incessant whining about "the media" -- the same media that is responsible for her 5 million dollar book deal.

If I were a Palin supporter, I'd want her to be shifting gears. Talking about her daughter's former boyfriend (who, admittedly, is a cad), talking about Katie Couric for heaven's sake -- this is just bad form if she wants to be taken seriously as a national political leader or thinker of any kind.

I know many will say that I'm just a liberal who "hates" Palin, but this is just not true. I see the attraction; she seems like a decent person. She has a fantastic political instinct. But in a policy debate with Obama, I don't see how she could hope to prevail.

Liberal Reader| 11.19.09 @ 3:59PM

One other point:

So many Palin supporters insist she was treated unfairly by "the media" that I'm inclined to concede the point. I don't see it, but I also don't see how so many people could be seeing something not there.

But remember: Palin came from out of the BLUE two months before the election last year. No one had heard of her. There had been major news coverage of Obama for two years by that point; the NY Times, for example, over that summer did an in-depth and sharply critical expose of Obama's time at the U of Chicago. He'd done dozens of press conferences, interviews, and so on. And sure: the press loved him, but they didn't love him that much, and anyway there was a substantial body of reporting done on him. Weeks were spent with nonstop coverage of sermons given in his church. And so on.

We had nothing like this with Palin, and she was getting ready to be elected vice president to a man 74 years old!

I also think that Palin relished the back-and-forth with the "enlighted elitists" in the media, so I'm not so sure it was a one-sided deal.

Just my opinion. I do appreciate this article though. Food for thought.

Interested Conservative| 11.19.09 @ 4:18PM

"Sharply critical expose"?

Are you serious? This is Chicago we're talking about.

Do you know who John Kass is?

Mayor Daley is still awaiting the effects of the sharply critical exposes into his administration, which started about the time BO arrived here.

The Wright/Ayres/Rezko exposes are barely the surface of the surface of the scratch on the surface.

Heck - ask RET for his families role in Illinois politics (hint - it's just after Lincoln's time).

It's the city that works, in spite of the deadening weight of generations of corruption.

Any expose of BO would probably be a coda to the multi-volume work required just to cover the decade of the 90's.

Liberal Reader| 11.19.09 @ 6:57PM

Interested --

The interesting thing about the NY Times expose is that it investigated Obama's life at the University of Chicago. It didn't go into the Wright, Ayers stuff, which was constantly on Sean Hannity and so on for weeks and weeks.

And in general, the Times was favorable to Obama (it did initially endorse Clinton, however). But this story was very critical of him.

My point, though, was simply that no such stories existed at ALL about Palin. None. She hadn't been in national politics. It wasn't her fault, or even the press's fault. She hadn't been a governor for a single term yet!

SoCon| 11.19.09 @ 10:59PM

Obama had been a community organizer, State senator and a U.S. Senator only 15 months into his first term when he started his Presidential campaign. He had absolutely NO executive experience when he was elected President last year and it's become painfully obvious that he wasn't/isn't qualified for the job.

Sarah knows how to run a city and a state, and has done both well--she was much more qualified to run for president than O'bow'ma. He is a disaster.

Interested Conservative| 11.19.09 @ 4:10PM

"Yet I still don't hear her moving away from a narrative of victimhood and incessant whining about "the media" -- the same media that is responsible for her 5 million dollar book deal."

Don't confuse this year's task with next years task.

From all reports I've seen - from both extremes of midless fawning to mindless hysteria and all in between - this is a retrospective book.

It has the enormous benefit to her of essentially inoculating all future press coverage about her. Consider that any future critical reports about her will also bring with them suspicions of press bias. She will have succeeded in planting that inference in all stories - both pro and con, and the press has only itself to thank for that. It's the old standby of going directly to the people, both for and against.

Meanwhile - starting with the '10 campaigns, she'll easily shift into the endorsement/appearence/speaking/broadcasting role - and again she's a past master a that.

What I expect to see is a very carefully crafted setting where she will confer with "experts" across the political and policy spectrum. It will likely be an interview show, but she could surprise with some other format, though it will largely consist of showing her "intellectual" growth and increasing "gravitas".

Most of the right wing press will follow along (Brooks/Frum etc) since they can do so easily, and much of the center will largely concede the more obvious effects.

The problem then becomes simply choosing her opportunities, which at this point seem almost inexhaustible. I don't see how the democrats counter this aside from the traditional power of incumbency - there's only so many ways Oprah can endorse BO, and he can only remain the most "eloquent" politician of his time. What else will add to his accomplishments?

Liberal Reader| 11.19.09 @ 7:32PM

The retrospective aspect of the book is obviously its main theme or point. And by the way, I happened to be listening to the talk shows on NPR all day Tuesday, and everyone reviewed it.

The results were not what her supporters are claiming: the reviews were thoughtful and respectful. And while people tended to criticize some of the soap opera business, people -- very liberal, "enlightened elitists" types -- said that they really enjoyed the truly autobiographical episodes of the books: the reflections on Alaska, stories from her childhood, stories about meeting her husband, etc.

In other words, the liberal media types that I heard -- I'm sure there were different responses elsewhere -- were fairly positive.

Yet I still catch this whiff of resentment and complaining in almost everything she says. Everything is McCain's fault, or Couric's fault, or the evil "englighted elitists'" fault. Nothing's ever Sarah Palin's fault. And that's a fault. Compare that to Dreams of my Father and I think you'll see a difference that makes a difference.

As for the Ayers, Wright business: here's a general rule: if Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity are obsessed with a topic, it probably isn't all that interesting or important, or they wouldn't be interested at all.

Big J| 11.19.09 @ 7:48PM

Liberal Reader says:

" Yet I still catch this whiff of resentment and complaining in almost everything she says. Everything is McCain's fault, or Couric's fault, or the evil "englighted elitists'" fault. Nothing's ever Sarah Palin's fault. And that's a fault. Compare that to Dreams of my Father and I think you'll see a difference that makes a difference."

L.R., in every interview I have seen (3 already this week, in spite of a busy schedule - nice to be busy for a change this year), Sarah has blamed herself for the Couric interview. Watch one - I think you'll agree. Also, I haven't heard her toss blame on John McCain one time. Not one, but if you have a youtube link or something of the sort, please post it, and I will stand corrected.

Kinda sounds like you haven't seen any of the interviews, but I might be mistaken.

"As for the Ayers, Wright business: here's a general rule: if Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity are obsessed with a topic, it probably isn't all that interesting or important, or they wouldn't be interested at all."

If you don't see the relevance or importance of Barack Hussein Obama (Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm) sitting in Reverend Jeremiah God**mn America Wright's church pews for 20 years, you are a lot less intelligent than your posts suggest. As for his domestic terrorist buddy Bill Ayers, well, you might be beyond hope.

I guess a more substantive and relevant issue would be the amount of money that the NRC spent on Sarah Palin's clothes?

Maybe what publications she reads?

How about whether Trig is really Sarah Palin's grandson?

I have a recommendation for you regarding the next election cycle: apply the same words you posted above to YOUR news sources.

If Chris Matthews or Kieth Olberman is obsessed with a topic, it's probably not interesting or all that important.

You might save us all a whole lot of heartache (and money, judging by the current path we are on).

Liberal Reader| 11.19.09 @ 7:58PM

I think Chris Matthews covers interesting topics. On Olbermann, I agree with you. Comparing Matthews to Beck or Hannity is ridiculous; Olbermann is in their company though.

About Palin: you could be right; I could be wrong. Listen: I don't STUDY Sarah Palin, and despite what you probably think, I don't hate her or think about her all that much at all.

I saw clips from the Oprah thing; she didn't come right out and say that she was not well prepared for the Couric interview. She made excuses; she said it was supposed to be a "light hearted" interview. Light hearted? The woman was running for vice president! Her days of light hearted interviews were -- rightfully -- over.

And she is still stuck on Levi, and the McCain staff, and so on.

Imagine Ronald Reagan attacking the errant boyfriend or girlfriend of one of his children or blaming a reporter because he came off sounding foolish in an interview!

Liberal Reader| 11.19.09 @ 8:04PM

And about Wright and Ayers:

The bottom line is this: every voter in America saw those clips from the Wright sermons a zillion times on cable news. They were on for WEEKS. The radio, the internet, the newspapers carried that story too. Ayers received less attention, but he clearly had less of a role in Obama's life.

The voters looked at it, and it didn't really move the electorate. For a very small percentage of people those issues seemed to intensify the hatred and the rage against Obama. But it just didn't seem like that big of a deal to tens of millions of people -- and I'm among them on this one. Nor, by the way, did clips of Sarah Palin being excorcized in her church by the witch doctor. In America, we just don't judge a person by what goes on in their church on Sunday morning; it's improper and indecent.

People who understand anything about American history and the role the black church has played in it don't here anything all that shocking in those endlessly looped clips you saw on Fox News.

So -- you clearly think it was a very big deal. Good for you. But not as many people as you think were distressed by it.

JimE| 11.19.09 @ 8:50PM

Your liberal groveling and anus worship of obama is hilarious. I bet you would kill for just one whiff of obama brand original jenkem.

Liberal Reader| 11.19.09 @ 9:23PM

No wonder no one pays attention to you.

SoCon| 11.19.09 @ 11:05PM

Good one, JimE!!

Liberal Reader, talk about whining!! Obama's simpering, sniveling cries of, "It's Bush's fault!" resound across the nation daily and you moan about Palin? Moron.

JimE's right, your slavish obeisance to anything O'bow'ma is nauseating. So are you.

Bend over and assume the position, troll; you do it so well.

William R| 11.19.09 @ 10:52PM

Reverand Wright on the Front Page of the New York Times?? Never made it. Bill Ayers on the Front Page of the New York Times?? Never made it. Cable is still small potatoes compared to the mainstream media! Rest assured if some Republican was good pals with a guy that was a 1960s domestic terrorist the editors of the New York Times would be having a big circle jerk.

Margie| 11.19.09 @ 8:05PM

Way to zing it, big J!

Tim| 11.19.09 @ 4:37PM

Here, with one column he drew fire from Bob, Toddard, Liberal Reader : Mr. Tyrrell achieves the trifecta of scorn porn!

Liberal Reader| 11.19.09 @ 7:38PM

Drew fire? I didn't fire at anyone. I questioned and critiqued what seemed to me an interesting article.

Tim: learn to draw finer distinctions. It will help you think more clearly and make better arguments.

SoCon| 11.19.09 @ 11:07PM

What would you know about better arguments, moron?

Tomas| 11.19.09 @ 5:01PM

"pulchritudinous"?

Twice??

C'mon, Bob. "Attractive, pretty, striking, beautiful, fetching...". Spare us the random big word. It really doesn't make you sound that sophisticated.

Just haughty.

-

Peter McGrath| 11.19.09 @ 5:50PM

The term"pulchritudinous" is probably a bit much. She is a nice looking woman but - to me - her inward character informs her outward appearance.

Her comment about what her husband said when she asked "Why us?" as to her being with a down's syndrome child was quite telling.

Her husband replied: "Why not us?"

Her willingness to accept this child into her family speaks volumes about her selfless character, her resilience, and her spirituality.

Mr. Tyrell may be a tad obdurate as to such qualities; hence, his resort to such an obscure - even weird - adjective to describe her appearance.

Ms. Palin will become a familiar face, a household presence, in every American home. We will all get to know her in the coming weeks and months. Her pulchritude, by then, will be seen as minor.

Her character, wit (yes, wit), and intelligence - not to mention her fearless commitment to exposing the hypocrisy of the Left - will command far more attention.

Don Carlson| 11.19.09 @ 7:01PM

S. L. Toddard, bless his duplicitous heart, did remind us in his backhanded way that Sarah Palin, whatever her shortcomings, would have done better as president this year than did the great genuflector Mr. Obama. This is something to consider when trying to parse the relative abilities of future candidates.

Phil Kearny| 11.19.09 @ 10:57PM

Tyrell's commentary is right on the mark. The 2008 election was probably the most undemocratic election ni our history and the press COMPLETELY failed the nation. The bleeting sheep elected the least capable president our nation has yet endured. Fortunately we need only survive one more year (assuming the nation survives) and we can begin restoring balance and sanity to government. I weep for our nation...

Richard Baker| 11.20.09 @ 2:01AM

Tomas:
When I started to read National Review 30+ years ago, I had to have a dictionary handy to follow William F. Buckley, Jr. Bob Tyrrell was simply engaging in a "flourish."

Richard baker| 11.20.09 @ 2:07AM

LR:
Are you offended? Hope so. How old are you? I believe it was Churchill who said to a woman at a party after she said that he was drunk, "Yes madam, and you are ugly and in the morning I shall be sober." Boo hoo! What a baby you are.

Liberal Reader| 11.20.09 @ 5:30PM

Baker -- That's right. And the difference is Churchill had wit. You're just stupid and obscene.

SoCon| 11.20.09 @ 6:16PM

Typical whiny liberal baby.

Motown Mike| 11.20.09 @ 8:58AM

Interesting that everyone is focusing on the fluff issues regarding things Sarah Palin has said (or comedians claim she has said). What about her solution for things like the Fort Hood fiasco: profiling? Yeah, she actually said that. And I don't see the dinosaur media reporting such a radical statement. Of course not -- because many people agree with her and if they find out what she is actually saying they will support for her.

Richard Baker| 11.20.09 @ 7:30PM

LR:
Ah yes, more sweetness and light from our ranking intellect. Little edgy, are we? As we used to say in the Infantry years ago, "Boy, the best part of you ran down your Daddy's leg."

Liberal Reader| 11.20.09 @ 7:45PM

Richard --

Do you at any point post something with substance? You and your friend SoCo never make anything like a rational argument. You just write foolish taunts. It's boring as hell.

SoCon| 11.21.09 @ 2:45AM

Nah, LibReader/Jeremiah was a test tube baby; best part of him/her was left in the friggin' petrie dish.

Sterile little bastard. Gonna throw a fit and lob some F-bombs at me now, troll?

Richard Baker| 11.20.09 @ 8:10PM

LR:
Well, Sunny Jim. You resort to profanity and obscenities constantly and now your tit is in a wringer and the poor baby's feelings is hurt. If this forum is so distressing then why on God's Green Earth are you here?

Show of hands, please. How many find LR a profane boor and a baby?

Richard Baker| 11.22.09 @ 10:24AM

Friends:
The solution for idiots like Toddard and Liberal Reader is to totally ignore them. These hapless fools absolutely live for anyone responding to them. Don't answer, respond, or dignify their inane thoughts with anything. If someone were shouting obvious nonsense on a street corner that you could hear while passing by, would you go over and listen?

Ron| 11.22.09 @ 10:54PM

Obama is NOT smarter than Palin , as well. As my favorite philosopher Forrest Gump said, "Stupid is as stupid does!" There are just so many examples I hate to start listing them. In the early stage of this difficult recession, Obama came out everyday with no answers (remember waiting for Geitner to lead the way, and the emptiness followed by some useless stress tests) and each day threatened employers with one obstacle after another. Remember when he told us electricity rates will necessarily skyrocket under his plan. How about the wisdom of cash for clunker? His description of an economic stimulus plan was also full of genius. "Its a spending plan, that 's exactly what a stimulus plan is", he said as if wasteful government spending or putting an expensive bottle of champagne on maxed out credit card was the same thing as maybe fast tracking some new nuclear plants or opening up federal land for oil and gas exploration . I could go on and on but I guarantee you Sarah Palin would not be convicted of any of the above crimes against America.

wes| 11.23.09 @ 11:14PM

Hey liberal reader,
I think you'd be quite surprised at Mrs. Palin's competent record as Governor of Alaska if you'd just bother to read her book. I have and I am an even more ardent fan of this great american woman. The fact that she is easy on the eyes is a bonus. Look up the ACES legislation that she got passed in the first 6 months in office. Not only that , but she never forgot she was spending other people's money. The more americans discover the truth about the Palins, the more her base will grow. As for her husband, Todd, he is a man's man and obviously comfortable in his own skin.
PALIN 2012 - CHANGE YOU'LL BE BEGGING FOR

www.us-bapeoutlet.com| 4.2.10 @ 7:24AM

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