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Final Thoughts on the Coinciding Speeches

By on 1.14.11 @ 3:59PM

On Thursday morning, a friend of mine spoke with a U.S. senator who shall remain unnamed. The senator said that the rumor inside the Beltway is that President Obama and his speechwriters substantially changed Obama’s planned speech after seeing Sarah Palin’s video release earlier Wednesday morning.

This makes sense to me, with Sarah Palin showing how “flat” a high-minded, philosophical, and perhaps overly political speech would be. After all, those (or at least the appearance of those) traits have usually characterized Barack Obama’s speeches — which is why so much of the American electorate (including me) have generally tuned him out, feeling quite confident that we can predict what he’ll say and how he’ll say it.

Many readers of my reaction to Palin’s speech on these pages and elsewhere have responded with “She’s a private citizen. She didn’t need to sound presidential.”

I threw the flag on that one.

Palin’s video statement, released the morning of the same day as Obama’s address in Tucson, was almost certainly timed to boost her presidential credentials. As a political veteran recently told me when I said I don’t think Palin will run for president, “if she doesn’t run, she risks becoming irrelevant.” Even if Palin hasn’t decided to run, she certainly wants to keep that option open; I find it disingenuous of her supporters to claim that putting out a 7-minute video that she knows millions of people will see — days after one of the worst mass-murders in America in recent years — had no more significance for Palin than it would for any other citizen, or that she should not be held to a higher standard than any other citizen.

Of course, Palin had been on the receiving end of some of the most vile, hateful, disgusting rhetoric and accusations by the left. And of course she wanted to defend herself. But this is a very high-stakes game she’s playing, and she faced a stronger poker player than herself on Wednesday.

I’m not going to spend more time on the content of her speech except to say that when I saw it — and I wanted to like it — I thought that she utterly missed any human connection, an area where she is usually head-and-shoulders above our icy president.

By releasing her statement when she did, Palin made it implausible for her or her supporters to claim that she was not intending a quasi-presidential address. Indeed, the high-minded tone of her address made her come across as too eager to create presidential bona fides, as if some speechwriter thought that sounding “above it all” would check some currently unchecked box on her range-of-expression resume.

Putting her message out there in the morning was like showing the opposing team your playbook.  Obama had no flexibility regarding when he gave his speech. After Palin’s morning release, he and his team had all day to re-work his words to make sure not to fall into the trap(s) Palin fell into, and also to make sure not to appear to respond to Palin.

As my friend noted above says, “It’s mind over matter. We don’t mind because she doesn’t matter.” Obama avoided biting any bait offered by Palin, using her talk as a map of a minefield and thus avoiding the mines which some (including me) think Palin stepped on to her political detriment (at least to her detriment outside of her already-committed base).

Palin would have been wiser to wait, watch, and listen to Obama, and to let him brave the minefield first. She should have released a statement on Thursday instead of Wednesday if she felt compelled to say anything, with modifications based on lessons learned. Alternatively, she should have said something Tuesday and not seemed to be so slow to react — if you assume she had to react; given that one criticism Palin’s detractors make is that she seems to feel a need to react to every criticism, sitting back this time might have been the better part of valor. The blogosphere was doing quite a good job reacting for her — pointing out the viciousness and hypocrisy of the left and their media lackeys — and she might have been better served by nothing more than a 30-second statement empathizing with the Tucscon victims and their families.

At the end of the day, however, it is a long time until the next election.  To the extent that Palin hurt herself or Obama helped himself, there will be plenty of time for those impacts to be forgotten — or magnified.

In the meantime, Governor Palin is scheduled to be on the Hannity program on Fox News on Monday evening. I’ll be most interested to see how she and Hannity analyze the dueling speeches.

View all comments (115) |

Interested Conservative| 1.14.11 @ 4:14PM

Let me get this straight. Your metaphor is that she braved the minefield, took some hits, and he watched closely, learned from her mistakes and followed her with a revised and excellent performance.

And who's the leader in this scenario?

Wayne | 1.14.11 @ 6:17PM

Good point. Excellent point in fact. She has more influence on the President than anyone else in the country.

Personally I thought her video was honest and to the point while his speech was rather dull and lost in the Campaign atmosphere of what should have been a solemn event. He had a chance to trump Sarah, by apologizing for statement he made. Now that would have been the act of a leader.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.15.11 @ 6:59AM

Let me do something Ross Kaminsky hasn't done. Here's the text from the Palin response. The Reagan quote was brilliant, but you won't find it highlighted by the state run media. In fact, it was the speech that Obama should have given. Instead, what Obama did was further the rumors that he knew not be true. It had nothing to do with political rhetoric, so his speech and his presentation were a lie. But there are those whose mission is to destroy the truth and built memorials to big government, even when the facts don't support their arguments. Here's the Palin text. Make up your own minds.

Palin text:

Like millions of Americans I learned of the tragic events in Arizona on Saturday, and my heart broke for the innocent victims. No words can fill the hole left by the death of an innocent, but we do mourn for the victims’ families as we express our sympathy.

I agree with the sentiments shared yesterday at the beautiful Catholic mass held in honor of the victims. The mass will hopefully help begin a healing process for the families touched by this tragedy and for our country.

Our exceptional nation, so vibrant with ideas and the passionate exchange and debate of ideas, is a light to the rest of the world. Congresswoman Giffords and her constituents were exercising their right to exchange ideas that day, to celebrate our Republic’s core values and peacefully assemble to petition our government. It’s inexcusable and incomprehensible why a single evil man took the lives of peaceful citizens that day.

There is a bittersweet irony that the strength of the American spirit shines brightest in times of tragedy. We saw that in Arizona. We saw the tenacity of those clinging to life, the compassion of those who kept the victims alive, and the heroism of those who overpowered a deranged gunman.

Like many, I’ve spent the past few days reflecting on what happened and praying for guidance. After this shocking tragedy, I listened at first puzzled, then with concern, and now with sadness, to the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event.

President Reagan said, “We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election.

The last election was all about taking responsibility for our country’s future. President Obama and I may not agree on everything, but I know he would join me in affirming the health of our democratic process. Two years ago his party was victorious. Last November, the other party won. In both elections the will of the American people was heard, and the peaceful transition of power proved yet again the enduring strength of our Republic.

Vigorous and spirited public debates during elections are among our most cherished traditions. And after the election, we shake hands and get back to work, and often both sides find common ground back in D.C. and elsewhere. If you don’t like a person’s vision for the country, you’re free to debate that vision. If you don’t like their ideas, you’re free to propose better ideas. But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.

There are those who claim political rhetoric is to blame for the despicable act of this deranged, apparently apolitical criminal. And they claim political debate has somehow gotten more heated just recently. But when was it less heated? Back in those “calm days” when political figures literally settled their differences with dueling pistols? In an ideal world all discourse would be civil and all disagreements cordial. But our Founding Fathers knew they weren’t designing a system for perfect men and women. If men and women were angels, there would be no need for government. Our Founders’ genius was to design a system that helped settle the inevitable conflicts caused by our imperfect passions in civil ways. So, we must condemn violence if our Republic is to endure.

As I said while campaigning for others last March in Arizona during a very heated primary race, “We know violence isn’t the answer. When we ‘take up our arms’, we’re talking about our vote.” Yes, our debates are full of passion, but we settle our political differences respectfully at the ballot box – as we did just two months ago, and as our Republic enables us to do again in the next election, and the next. That’s who we are as Americans and how we were meant to be. Public discourse and debate isn’t a sign of crisis, but of our enduring strength. It is part of why America is exceptional.

No one should be deterred from speaking up and speaking out in peaceful dissent, and we certainly must not be deterred by those who embrace evil and call it good. And we will not be stopped from celebrating the greatness of our country and our foundational freedoms by those who mock its greatness by being intolerant of differing opinion and seeking to muzzle dissent with shrill cries of imagined insults.

Just days before she was shot, Congresswoman Giffords read the First Amendment on the floor of the House. It was a beautiful moment and more than simply “symbolic,” as some claim, to have the Constitution read by our Congress. I am confident she knew that reading our sacred charter of liberty was more than just “symbolic.” But less than a week after Congresswoman Giffords reaffirmed our protected freedoms, another member of Congress announced that he would propose a law that would criminalize speech he found offensive.

It is in the hour when our values are challenged that we must remain resolved to protect those values. Recall how the events of 9-11 challenged our values and we had to fight the tendency to trade our freedoms for perceived security. And so it is today.

Let us honor those precious lives cut short in Tucson by praying for them and their families and by cherishing their memories. Let us pray for the full recovery of the wounded. And let us pray for our country. In times like this we need God’s guidance and the peace He provides. We need strength to not let the random acts of a criminal turn us against ourselves, or weaken our solid foundation, or provide a pretext to stifle debate.

America must be stronger than the evil we saw displayed last week. We are better than the mindless finger-pointing we endured in the wake of the tragedy. We will come out of this stronger and more united in our desire to peacefully engage in the great debates of our time, to respectfully embrace our differences in a positive manner, and to unite in the knowledge that, though our ideas may be different, we must all strive for a better future for our country. May God bless America.

Ross Kaminsky| 1.14.11 @ 4:23PM

Leadership is one thing, but at the end of the day who got blown up?

There's a reason that generals aren't usually the ones going first through a minefield.

Interested Conservative| 1.14.11 @ 4:32PM

A year from now, who will remember Gov. Palin's speech? Heck, even a month from now?

In November 2012, what will the POTUS have done impressively other than give a speech?

He's on defense, she's on offense. For the good of the country I wish he weren't, but I don't see any evidence of him, or the circumstances, changing.

For the good of the country, there will be other GOP choices for the Gov. to contend with. She may still win though.

Wayne | 1.14.11 @ 6:19PM

No, and those generals are in dangers of getting plugged from behind.

Interested Conservative| 1.14.11 @ 4:33PM

And sometimes the best generals got that way by going through minefields when they were corporals or sergeants or 2nd lts.

icarustraveler| 1.14.11 @ 4:35PM

You could see the teleprompter reflected in her glasses...

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 1:07AM

So? I thought you liberals loved teleprompters. Obama does.

Pundits = Pinheads| 1.14.11 @ 4:37PM

My final thoughts on Mr. Kaminsky's endless bloviating on this subject will be quick & to the point. Enough! I feel like I just read a Michael Smerconish column and that is not a compliment Mr. Kaminsky. You're not going to convince Sarah Palin's supporters to buy your argument & if you were looking for more traffic ala Allahpundit at Hot Air.com by focusing on Palin's faults you've got it. It's time to move on to another subject. You're also not convincing me you are not a RINO. Have a nice day & GOD bless!

Ross Kaminsky| 1.14.11 @ 4:48PM

It's too bad that Palin supporters like you can't respond with one substantive, factual point. You don't like even the slightest criticism of Gov. Palin so you look for malign motives and resort to juvenile name-calling.

Again, show me where I'm a RINO or any evidence that I write stuff primarily "for more traffic." (That's not to say that I wouldn't like more traffic, as all bloggers would.) I write what I find interesting...such as my blog note this morning about trading in precious metals.

Interested Conservative| 1.14.11 @ 5:02PM

I'm with you on this one Ross. Gov. Palin has plenty of faults, and it does her well to have the GOP point them out.

My concern is the delusion on the other side - just when BDS seemed to fade we learn it only intensified in the transfer to the Gov..

Still, how the POTUS does anything to recover is beyond me. Sure he is still favored to win, simply because it's built in, but Gov. Carter showed how to lose regardless of that, and Pres. Clinton showed that even a low plurality may be enough. I don't see a Perot coming from the Tea Party though, so this POTUS is on his own.

JPM| 1.14.11 @ 5:32PM

People look for malign motives because you don't provide any rational basis for your opinions. Obama's speech was stupid. He couldn't articulate any connection between the occasion and all the gaseous nonsense about being nice to one another. The writing was incompetent. His sentences ran on. He was maudlin. He turned a moment of horror into a campaign rally. And you loved it. Why? You don't tell us; you just gush. Palin by contrast gave a good speech. She hit back hard against a vicious libel (driving the left still crazier in the process). She also hit all the right grace notes about he horrifying events of last Saturday. She did all this without committing any serious crimes against the language. And you tell us she fell flat. What response can you expect to the criticism that someone failed to make "human connection." The cricism is to0 amorphous to refute. My guess is that, in combination with a lot of other appearances, yesterday's speech will help Palin in the long run by demonstrating the vast gulf between her and the caricature leftists have painted. My guess is that Obama hurt himself badly yesterday by spouting nonsense (again) and by crassly planting a campaign sign in a pile of dead bodies. Time will tell. For now, stop complaining that people don't respect your opinions when you can't be bothered support them. Acting as if your reaction to events is self-evidently the right one doesn't win arguments or friends.

Wayne | 1.14.11 @ 6:24PM

Good to see someone with the same impressions I had, but it is stated much better than I could.

What I also found a bit creepy was his statement about his coming in and Giffords being able to see. It is part of his delusion about being able to make the oceans rise.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 3:02PM

The clown's got a Messiah complex and it makes me ill.

Christopher| 1.14.11 @ 5:37PM

Mr. Kaminsky, you asked for a response with at least one substantive factual point? Your entire column is you opinion or perception of her speech and obama's speech. There is nothing factual about your opinion or my opinion, it is merely an opinion based on what we saw and heard. You obviously were taken by obama's speech, did not like sara's, and you stated your reasons. Each of us will have a different reaction. It seems though you are going out of your way to criticize Palin not once, but twice. You are acting like Karl Rove when he kept criticizing Christine O'Donnell and would not drop the matter. And he kept repeating and repeating her "faults" so that her "faults" became the story. I am not suggesting she did not have faults, but enough is enough. There are plenty of left wing writers constantly critizing conservatives such as Palin, do we need you to join them? Aren't there enough stories regarding Holder, Napolitano, Biden, Geithner,et.cet./
I had responded to your first article:
Obama's speech was helped because of the crowd constantly cheering and clapping, the presence of the victims and family, and it was a live performance. Palin gave a talk with no audience there to give a human reaction.
You are impressed with the theater and not with the substance. Obama's words, if given without the theater, would sound like a lecture.
Obama had the intern stir up the crowd, and Bible readings, even if staged were effective.
Can't believe you fell for this theater, did you like the fake columns during his nomination

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.15.11 @ 7:05AM

Actually go look at the other comments Mr. Kaminsky made previously and I know for a fact I gave him many good points.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.15.11 @ 7:04AM

To: Pundits You're right.

kevin| 1.14.11 @ 4:39PM

This goes much deeper. Palin believes she is the shadow President of this country. By challenging just about everything this President says, challenging his wife on common sense curtailment of this countries obesity, and by scheduling her video to be released the same day she knew Obama would speak, and to have the setting of her video mimic a Presidential office, with the fireplace going and the American Flag behind her...I believe these details indicate a much deeper pathology in her that people are willing to admit. She has a reputation as being a very sore loser. When I see that everything this President does draws a reaction from her, when I see her present herself in a video with the background we associate with a President, I have to wonder if this narcissistic pathology has been properly diagnosed in her.

Interested Conservative| 1.14.11 @ 4:57PM

Whatever.

Wayne | 1.14.11 @ 6:26PM

Did she claim to make the oceans rise?

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 1:11AM

Care to provide proof that Palin's a sore loser, jughead?

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 1:14PM

Her reputation precedes her in Alaska. Sore loser, vindictive person, never forgets a slight. You can do your own research, this kind of stuff is found in the local papers of Alaska. Also, no need to call me jughead that is just an ad hominem attack which has no merit.

I am serious when i say she has Narcisistic Personality Disorder, go google that one and look at the symptom list used to make that diagnosis. They do have medicine to treat that condition by the way, but Palin is obviously not on it.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 2:52PM

You made the claim, offer proof to back it up, troll. I know, you can't because it's a lie, just another stupid lie from the Leftist witch hunt against Sarah Palin. Jughead.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 5:27PM

Well Patriot, folks that cannot backup their comments resort to name calling. Like yourself? I told you where to research. Go do it.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 8:28PM

LOL .
That was weak even for a mediocre troll like you. You made the accusation, you just couldn't back it up because you're lying.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 8:41PM

LMAO...now you call me a liar?

Am I your research secretary?

When i look at your posts, and cross out the name calling and the threats....there is nothing left.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 8:58PM

Where have you offered proof for your stupid allegations? You failed trolling 101. You shouldn't get paid this week.

fletch| 1.15.11 @ 1:02PM

After all the uproar, in the end what the nation saw on Palin's video was a woman on the edge of losing her mind. It is like, after she lost the election she went home and set up an oval office in her living room, and has been pretending to be the president ever since. But this is important. We need a good Republican candidate to go up against Obama, and she has the power, through her base, to deliver us a Miller, or an Tancrido. When will some sane Republican hopeful come out and condemn this air head, before it is too late.

Kevin| 1.15.11 @ 1:21PM

Yes indeed, and these little details are what back up the diagnosis i cite above. Again, study what NPD is, the symptom list, this is available to everyone online. She fits more than the 5 that are needed to make the diagnosis.

Nobody talks about this in her, everybody is too busy making money off of her, it is why she dominates webhits and headlines. I guess like everyone else, you really don't want to stop and rubberneck at the car crash on the side of the road but everyone cannot help themselves including me.

Back to the NPD though. Yes she has a little oval office up there now, and nothing obama or his wife says, too big or small, will not have some kind of opposing comment from her. I view this as part of the symptom list also. Is McCain, the other guy who lost to Obama, out there every day opposing every thing big or small that comes out of his mouth? She is, she has been, since she lost in 2008. It doesn't make sense unless you look at the NPD symptom list and then it makes perfect sense.

Finally, I condemn both the liberal and conservative media for making money off of what is obviously a sick woman. That is what this all comes down to, making money off of her. '

Doubt me? Then close your eyes and picture this: Madeline Albrights head on Sarah Palin. Would we have given her the time of day? Not a chance.

fletch| 1.15.11 @ 1:52PM

You can't blame the news for talking about her all the time, as it produces tremendous numbers of hits. The media follows the lead of the public's desires, and so , now even articles which support her, are headed with a partial quote that seems to be against her. People want to read as much trash about her as possible. On radio today someone said, 'She is like everyone's x girlfriend!"
When Barbara Bush said something bad about her, she should have said, "I think your view is wrong, why not visit me in Alaska and see what i am really like." But no, she has to reply with an insult.
Think about this, can you name an woman in American history more hated that Sarah Palin? Should this most hated woman be in charge of the Republican party?

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 2:55PM

You're part of the Leftist witch hunt against Sarah Palin, and you'd better pray that nothing happens to her, dirtbag.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 5:28PM

People unable to back up their opinions with cogent argument often resort to name calling. Are you able to back up your comments? Or are you looking up more names?

fletch| 1.15.11 @ 7:00PM

From recent posts on discussions of Ms Palin I have discovered that iIam a "libtard", and a "drinker of the coolaid" Also that I am thought to be on drugs, on welfare, and should go out and get a job. I find this very entertaining. A few negative comments and I receive what looks like a treat to me. Makes me look forward to an America where the followers of Sarah Palin roam the streets with their "surveyer's tools"

fletch| 1.15.11 @ 7:11PM

I mean Sarah no harm, and do not want to tear her down at all. I think she is her own worst enemy. I am an old person, and I have had the opportunity to see many people come to, and experience mental breakdowns. I see this signs of this happening to Sarah, because she has been thrust into a situation so over her head she cant cope, and she is spinning her tires all of the time. I make this prediction , I think she will need to be hospitalized for a mental problem, and the question is only if it will happen before, or after the next election. This has not been said before, but only since this latest speech, when she was so awkward, biting her lips, and her eyes flashing around like a hunted rabbit.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 7:34PM

I absolutely agree with this fletch. I am the only one out there screaming that she needs treatment for this NPD she has. All that money she made and she is living in a mental hell. She thinks she should be sitting where Obama sits and it is driving her nuts that she is not. It is why there is nothing he can say or do that will not draw an opposing comment from her.

Money does not relieve this kind of mental torture, only medicine does. The crazy thing is, if she were properly diagnosed and medicated, she would actually be a much more formidable politician. She has the raw skills and you cannot teach that, but this NPD is sabatoging her at every turn.

So she will never get treated for it, will appeal to these folks who can only name call and threaten others but present no rational persuasive arguments on their own, and continue to live in a mental hell. That NPD is not a picnic at all, it is a mental condition that must torture the crap out of her.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 7:29PM

Yeah, me too. I actually voted for more GOP Presidents in my time than Democrats. GOP is just now what it used to be under Reagan.

What really happenned is that the GOP sold their base down the river and that is why everybody is so pissed off. Bush took a country that was running a surplus and in 8 years bankrupted it. I can always remember voting for Bush when he said this country was not in the business of nation building.

He then commenced the biggest nation building operation since WWII and bankrupted us 8 years later.

Folks that use labels like "libtard" or whatever simply are not able to present a rational argument to back up their position. Resorting to name calling is the oldest trick in the book, when you have nothing else.

fletch| 1.15.11 @ 7:49PM

I have never been interested in politics. I did not like Obama at all. I said when he first came on the scene, that it was like Elvis, with a lot of young people screaming to him, and telling him they loved him, and it made me feel sick to my stomach, it made me think of Little Richard years ago, with girls throwing their panties up on the stage. But, I liked Little Richard, because he was a singer.
I would have voted for McCain, although i would have kept it to myself, because i live in a very liberal area, but as soon as I heard Sarah Palin speak, I changed my mind. I watched her, for several months, link Obama's name to the word "terrorist", in every thing she said. I began to think she would get him killed, and him and his wife and children also. I felt very sad for his daughters, to see the danger they were in. But in the end I formed my judgment of him, from the candid pictures of him with his daughters, when I saw what a loving father he was, and is. Don't you realize that his beautiful speech was so heartfelt because he knows it could be his daughters, for real, he is so hated.
And I do not like Sarah's daughters, I feel ashamed to watch that older daughter dry humping strangers on national tv, on dancing with the stars.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 8:34PM

Kevin, why do you and "Fletch" always show up at the same time? Is Fletch your evil twin or vice versa? Perhaps he's just one of the many discordant voices whispering in your head. Someone's off his meds. LOL

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 8:38PM

You're obvious mentally challenged. You claimed Sarah Palin has a mental disorder and I just asked for a little proof. Perhaps if I type more slowly you will understand my comments. But judging from you previous spastic posts, probably not.

You need to re-read your troll instructional booklet a few more times.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 8:44PM

are you capable of writing anything that does not include name calling? Do you have nothing of content to write?

I pointed you in the direction to look for this information. Not about to sit here and run google for you.

You post no content other than name calling and threats.

And you have just cemented your caricature of yourself with fletch.

fletch| 1.15.11 @ 8:54PM

I would never ever attempt to explain anything to you, Mr. Patriotic, or to make an argument to convince you of something. First of all, I could very well be wrong, and secondly , people like you will never change their minds, regardless of what happens, or gets said. This is why I predicted that she will have a "nervous breakdown", to use an old term. If it turns out I am wrong, I will see that I am wrong, if I am right, I will have the pleasure of seeing I am right. Tomorrow , on Hannity, you will see it again, and people will begin to talk about it in the media, and not just from me, and, credit where credit is due, Mr. Kevin

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 8:56PM

Schzoid troll.

fletch| 1.15.11 @ 9:25PM

Thanks for your comments Kevin, and I do think your view is worth studying, and I think you will get the satisfaction of seeing your comments and observations fleshed out in the real world in terms of happenings. I did look up the google listings for NPD and read the material. I had never read about it, or heard of it before, but it is very clearly on target with her.
I have known people who have had manic episodes, and they take many months to come on, and involve very brilliant charming behavior. But gradually it becomes really extreme and delusional. Brilliant people, when this happens to them seem to be at the top of their game, and yet it is somehow discordant and out of tune. I was more inclined to call her a pi polar, entering a manic episode, but your diag. i think is more accurate. Look to see how she does on Hannity. Regardless of the soft ball envorment, I think it will show up. But, I say again, I could very well be wrong.

W| 1.15.11 @ 9:11PM

Kevin and Fletch are the same person pretending to have a conversation. They want the focus on Palin, instead of the theater of Obama, with Holder and Napolitano reading Biblical verses. That was as phony as you can get. Those two, with Obama, want to try the Muslim terrorists in civilian courts, close Gitmo, and are not protecting the borders. So they go stage a theater like a pep rally with some crazy Indian . And you liberals think that is great, but a somber speech by Palin you criticize. You need the cheering, clapping, Indian blessings, and feel good psychobabble that makes you libs feel satisfied but does not honor the dead and wounded.

fletch| 1.15.11 @ 9:36PM

No, you are wrong. I am not Kevin, but I happen to agree with the things he said. As for the Obama speech, honestly, I did not listen to it, and those speeches, for me, are like fingernails on a blackboard. As for the Indian with the feathers, which I saw on some blog after, I thought it was terrible and phony, and depressing. As I said, in an earlier post, I have never liked Obama, but I certainly don't hate him. I am not interested in politics, not interested in economic policy or any of that. At this point I judge Obama on his family, and I like the relationship he has with his kids. I think he is a moral and upright man, and a good father, and that is all i care about. The opposite is true of the Palins. Their family values, and family behavior I find very distasteful.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 10:17PM

Admit it, fletch the wretch, you find family values in general distasteful. Leftists don't have any morals or decent values.

W| 1.16.11 @ 8:37AM

Sorry, dont believe you fletch. Did you take the name fromt the Macdonald book? dont believe that you dont like obama, you are saying that to attempt to give some credence and weight to your opinion. as for family values, what parent would take his children to sermons by that racist, anti-semite wright?
what is distasteful about Palin, that she did not abort her child, or her daughter did not abort her child, or that she worked her way throught school. or that she has been married to the same man, and there have been no affairs? she just doesnt act like a democrat, in other words?

chris87654| 1.14.11 @ 4:47PM

"traits have usually characterized Barack Obama's speeches -- which is why so much of the American electorate (including me) have generally tuned him out, feeling quite confident that we can predict what he'll say and how he'll say it."

Excellent point. And traits have usually characterized Sarah Palin's speeches -- which is why so much of the American electorate (including me) have generally tuned her out, feeling quite confident that we can predict what she'll say and how she'll say it.

It's gotten old and boring - voters want to know details of solutions, not empty lock'n'load rhetoric.

chris87654| 1.14.11 @ 4:58PM

Kevin wrote: "I have to wonder if this narcissistic pathology has been properly diagnosed in her."

And this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect
"a cognitive bias in which unskilled people make poor decisions and reach erroneous conclusions, but their incompetence denies them the metacognitive ability to realize their mistakes"

As well as whatever causes someone to make a lot of noise when they go on the defensive like a little yappy dog ("Pekingese Syndrome"?), and blindly hipshoot without considering collateral damage (the shot at the obesity prevention issue hit a lot of people and crossed a LOT of party lines). It has to originate from low-self esteem - most intelligent people make a point/show themselves more qualified by using facts and numbers instead of with cutdowns, name-calling, and finger-pointing.

Interested Conservative| 1.14.11 @ 5:03PM

That gets a clinical whatever!

chris87654| 1.14.11 @ 5:13PM

yeah, I know I'm no pshrink, but there is a lot of info out there. At least Sarah has cut down on the name-calling - after alienating those who consider themselves or like establishment, elite, RINO, or blue-blood Republicans - never heard a politician hit at so many members of their own party.

"The process of name-calling is typically based upon feeling not OK, and name-callers are trying to make themselves feel more powerful by using the process. If I call you a name and get you upset, then I temporarily feel more powerful because I had a powerful effect upon you. My self-esteem rises at your expense."
http://www.psychologyhelp.com/thnk86.htm

Interested Conservative| 1.14.11 @ 5:16PM

I've not read the links, but the excerpted portions sure sound like an accurate description of a prominent politician who is not Gov. Palin.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 1:29PM

I understand that viewpoint, but the big distinction here between those two is Obama does not respond to every insult hurled his way. That is one of the hallmark symptoms of NPD. Palin will respond....except when so many people make them at once she can't facebook or twitter a response to each individual one. This last video she put out she is able to deal with them as an entire group. But go back earlier, before everyone in the liberal media hopped on her case....there we have her publicly fighting with teenagers....literally teenagers.....Levi Johnston and his sister Mercede. These are 18 and 19 year old kids, you would not expect these kids to have their heads screwed on straight...yet here is grown up 40 year old Palin publicly fighting with them. This is NPD symptomatic. It is unseemly for an adult to publicly fight with children. Makes no sense unless you have an NPD diagnosis then it makes perfect sense.

Look, Narcissism in itself is not especially bad and I do believe our leaders need a dose of it to want to pursue that kind of job anyway, where everyday you have people publicly attacking you. Its just when it goes over the top that you have to have the proper diagnosis and medicine for it. People with NPD can be a danger to themselves and others because of the skewing of reality in their own heads.

She has it, she fits the definition, and it is disgusting to me that both liberal and conservative media use this sick woman to line their pockets with profits. That is what is going on here.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 3:01PM

Mass murderers Stalin and Hitler often called their political adversaries insane, too. You're in good company .

You have to try to destroy Palin because she busts your chops in the arena of ideas every. damn. time. Get used to it because she's not going away.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 5:30PM

I understand Palin is not going away, there will always be a segment of this population that buys into her simplistic notions.

Obviously you did not do any research on NPD. She has it. Name calling will not make it go away.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 8:44PM

And unfortunately for our country there will always be those haters like you who detest their own people. Doesn't matter though, the American people saw through your Leftist ugliness and you got your chops busted in 2010--and we're just getting started! Cheers, mediocre troll; see you in 2012 for another butt whipping!

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 8:47PM

Once again, no content. Name calling, labels, ugly threats. Cross it all out and there is nothing left to read.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 8:55PM

Do you worship at a skull altar, too?

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 9:08PM

Those aren't threats they're promises.

W| 1.15.11 @ 9:16PM

Obama does not have to respond because he has themedia,ABC,NBC,CBS,MSNBC,NPT,NYTIMESand an assortment of liberal fools who troll the websites to copy and paste the same old nonsense.
Why don't you use the names you used before, you have been here before,using different names. Are you a coward or ashamed of your silly views?

chris87654| 1.14.11 @ 5:01PM

Hopefully Republicans will present a good alternative to Obama - a FISCAL conservative who can show results after implementing their policy - someone like Mitch Daniels (not a "sideshow" politician but very sane and effective).

Wayne | 1.14.11 @ 6:31PM

Many people will get to duke it out, but the GOP must be careful not to pick another dull, stodgy male who makes Obama look charismatic.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 3:06PM

And Sarah Palin is the only one who isn't a dull, stodgy male. That's why the Left is working overtime to discredit her. It's so obvious it's ridiculous.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 5:33PM

Sarah Palin discredits herself by her own contradicting statements. In her latest video, she makes the argument that words hurled against her recently were damaging....while the words she hurls have no effect on our crazies.

Thats interesting. Words effect people, and words do not effect people, all within a paragraph of eachother.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 5:37PM

What should not be lost in this debate is Palin's NPD illness. This is where contradictions do not matter to them either. Things are never logical with NPD victims. She should be diagnosed and treated. I imagine she might be a better politician if she were treated for this disease.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 8:45PM

Kevin you seem to know a lot about NPD--obviously you've been diagnosed.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 8:49PM

Name calling yet again.

Did you do the research on NPD? Plenty of it out there.

Spend less time attacking people who you don't agree with, and more time researching, that is my advice.

Name calling, attacks. They prove nothing except you are not capable of addressing the point being made.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 8:54PM

You seem to know a lot about the mental disorder, why don't you share?

Thom| 1.14.11 @ 6:03PM

The fawning praise heaped upon a meaningless speech at the first King Obama Political pep rally for the 2012 election surely indicates he hit a “home run” with Ross, Philip and Quin in the symbolism over substance department. From day one of his presidency he has been saying one thing and doing the opposite and apparently you just can’t accept that as his MO. I’m grateful he didn’t recite the Gettysburg Address in all this. The Lincoln worshipers in the crowd would have fainted out right had he done so.

News flash for those looking for goodness where evil lurks, you can find numerous passages in the Bible about evil masquerading behind the face of good and history is full of this if that seems over the top here. On the same day 6 people died in Tucson another 50 were murdered nationwide and every day of the year on average. The number of “citizens” murdered in Tucson makes about an average weekend in South Side Chicago and I don’t remember any Presidential memorial/pep rally for any of those people. Simply put, his visit and all the other “government types” in attendance at taxpayer expense to the tune of millions we don’t have was both unnecessary and irrelevant to the matter at hand, which is nothing more than another mentally ill nutcase wanting to get his 15 minutes of fame and share his pain with the world. Based on my take, Palin was the entire story right from the beginning and the nutcase probably got robbed of some of his fame and fortune in the process. Eating our own is a not so classy way to help out the left which owns more than 80% of media content now thanks to those that can’t see a set up with it printed right in front of them.

If any of the above mentioned at TAS had been the target of a vicious national media campaign all week and Palin and her supporters had come to your defense I suspect some of you would have been offended for reasons you might want to explore on your own. The Republican establishment and many so called “conservatives” have a well earned reputation for eating their own. Ross, Philip and Quin have extended that reputation this week and become part of the problem rather than focus on the prize here which is not symbolism over substance BS put out by King Obama. A broken clock is right twice a day but in this case the clock doesn’t do anything without a political calculation and from all that I’ve heard from you three all week, King Obama certainly gained your favor where none was required.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 1:14AM

Quin and Philip are both big squishes, but Ross is King Squish.

Clint| 1.14.11 @ 7:01PM

Apparently, The Palinvs.Obama Speech discussions seem to express & expose as much about The Discussifiers as The Speechifiers.

We got the hidden agendas, the not so hidden agendas, the down right up in your grill verbal smackdowns, the verbal bouquets, the policy wonkers, the wordsmith groupies, the who gives a rat's assers,etc.........

Carry on men.

Interested Conservative| 1.14.11 @ 7:07PM

Don't forget the Clints! Got those too.

Clint| 1.14.11 @ 7:16PM

I'm a not so hidden agendist.

Obama is The Black Mussolini.

Michael L. Hauschild| 1.14.11 @ 7:29PM

What few fail to realize is the incredible sense of political timing exicuted by Palin. Not being in office (yet) she has (and exhibited) the gravitas to seize the moment, the argument, and the high ground. Obama had his blank knocked in the dirt. His base is once again abandoned and disillusioned; his message is no more than the dying echo of a pep rally cheer, and all his followers got was a lousy t-shirt.

Candy | 1.14.11 @ 9:40PM

Yea, she was presidential all right....she had the United States flag on the wrong side. Anyone who doesn't know the flag should be on the left will never sit in the oval office. It's clear, she's her own adviser and a very dumb one.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 1:18AM

Yeah, Obama treated the country to the disgusting display of a raucus campaign rally instead of a solemn memorial, and you say Sarah's not presidential. I think we both know who the stupid one is here, and it's not Palin, bozo.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 5:45PM

My goodness Patriot, do ever run out of names to call other people? It is a sign of weakness you know. If you cannot persuade people with rational ideas...just start screaming names at them. Is it all that you do?

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 8:46PM

Kevin, I think it's time for your meds again. Perhaps Candy will share.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 8:50PM

More name calling. No content.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 8:53PM

You sound paranoid like Jared Loughner. Better get that checked out.

Josh Painter | 1.15.11 @ 3:49AM

Sorry Mr. Kaminsky... "A new national study among 1,437 self-reported Democrats, Republicans and Independents revealed that Americans indicated that Sarah Palin was more sincere and believable after viewing her speech in response to the shootings in Tucson."

http://bit.ly/e89lKK

After viewing the video, her likeability rating also increased among independents. Isn't that the demographic with which everyone say she needs to improve her standing?

Sounds to me like the video speech did exactly what she needed it to do.

- JP

inge| 1.15.11 @ 7:30AM

It's becoming extremely irratable, that men feel they can constantly attack Sarah Palin with whatever feels good to them.

I find Michelle Obamas voice, and speeches a lot more false, untruthful, than anything Paling has ever said.
What is really the reason for uour dislike of Sarah Palin?
I like her honest, and humble approach, maybe too much for you guys to appreciate; after all it appears arrogantly dismissing anyone without having 'elite' education. Actually, take a good look at Obama, and tell me how truthful, humble, and 'prsidential' his speeches really are?

I FOR ONE DON'T FALL FOR SNAKESOIL SALESMEN!

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 2:09PM

One thing I don't like about her is she is not encouraging any of her kids to go get a college education. She seems to be anti-education which fits in with her christian fundamentalism which is always suspect of education.

In the meantime, we are getting our pants whipped by college educated indians, chinese, and russians who can now do our jobs and we watch our jobs get sent overseas.

We had better pay alot more attention to how crappy we educate our kids these days. Want an example? Go into a library and find a high school textbook from the 1950's....those books are alot harder than what we teach our kids with today.

Palin is willfully ignorant, she makes it a virtue. She has plenty of money to educate her kids. Why aren't they in college or heading there soon? Why does she never speak about how are getting our butts handed to us by better educated indians and chinese?

We used to lead the world in education, now we suck at it, we are producing dumb citizens, and we will all be working for the indians and chinese soon if we do not turn it around.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 3:08PM

Obama is owned by the unions and Leftist unions have destroyed our public school education system. Unfortunately, you're too poorly educated and unintelligent to connect the dots.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 5:38PM

Patriot, you seem unable to respond to anyone without calling them names. Why is that?

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 8:48PM

In know the truth hurts, Kevin!

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 8:52PM

No content. Name calling.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 9:00PM

No content, just more paranoid whining.

Interested Conservative| 1.15.11 @ 5:16PM

I'm no Christian fundamentalist, but can you name an American University not founded or essentially created by them? Off the top of my head I get Hampshire college.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 5:42PM

Well most of the state Universities. Also there are a string of Jesuit universities in this country. Jesuits are hardly fundamentalists.

Christian fundamentalists are always afraid of education because it bleeds off the believers. Now the Catholic church is not a fundamentalist organization, but they are growing in places where the education of people is low, and losing congregants in places where education is high. Look at South America and Africa for where they are growing. Europe and this country they are losing.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 8:49PM

This country's education system is losing because poorly educated and ignorant Leftists like you are running it.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 8:52PM

No content, just name calling.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 9:01PM

No content, just more Leftist whining.

W| 1.15.11 @ 9:19PM

Kevin, you are a good example fo someone with a poor education. And use your prior names, TedR,Purpleguy,etc. What are you afraid of?

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 10:14PM

His wimpy shadow.

SCSoxFan| 1.15.11 @ 10:54AM

Mr. Kaminsky, you deliberately ignore the two polar opposite purposes of the two speeches. You seem to insist on holding Palin to the role of a president in this matter. She is not the president and holds no office of any kind. Her purpose was ONLY to defend herself from the vile accusations of the press, which were not stopping and, as yet, have not stopped (see the Politico story of yesterday). In that respect, she did well. And, given that role, how does one make a "human connection" when defending oneself against a charge of incitement to murder?

BDavid| 1.15.11 @ 7:11PM

I am a reformed American Spectator reader, back to see what's become of the magazine I had once loved and respected. Better not to have come. Just as the earth is not flat, those who believe Sarah Palin should be the President of the United States come in two and only two groups. Those who are honestly unaware of her obvious shortcomings to hold such an office and the other group, who would risk this country's life for the sake of winning an election, an outcome that blessedly ,is becoming more and more remote. The members of first group are genuine in their misguided beliefs. The second are no more than cynical scallywags who discredit the word when they refer to themselves as patriots.

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 7:46PM

Yes, it mimics what has happenned to the GOP. Reagan was able to keep the religious right at Bay but things have gone downhill substantially since then. Now it seems to me the religious right has completely taken over the party and ruined it.

I say disband what is left. Form a new GOP that does not include the religious right as a base. We have plenty of middle of the road people in this country, like myself, that look for good ideas and good compromises between liberal and conservative ideas. That seems to work best for us. The GOP has gone off the deep end and no longer serves middle of the road people. There is nobody we can turn to for fiscal sanity and small government anymore. Bush 1 was the last sane guy they had and I voted for him. Bush 2 simply ran us off the cliff.

Now the extremists control the GOP and it is pretty ugly to me. Certainly not the GOP i have voted for for over 3 decades now. These days I hold my nose and vote for the donkeys because the GOP has gone off the cliff.

I say disband them and form a new party of centrists, idea people who want progress and not a bunch of silly rhetoric.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 8:51PM

40% of Americans self-identify as Conservatives and only 20% self-identify as Liberals. LOL!

I don't know where a mentally deranged Leftist misfit like you fits in. Probably nowhere.

W| 1.15.11 @ 9:22PM

Bdavid/kevin/fletch: you are not smart enough to be an AmSpec reader. Now keving is bdavid is fletch, how do you come up with these names, is it from Trolling for Liberal Dummies?

bdavid| 1.15.11 @ 9:40PM

...watch out W...they may be gaining on you

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 10:13PM

Who? Liberal dummies like you? Actually, your numbers are dwindling thank God.

tatosian| 1.16.11 @ 5:15PM

Arguing against Palin's run for the presidency because of her shortcomings is ridiculous.
Bush was a discordant and treacherous amalgam of shortcomings, as was clinton before him, and il duce nera is the very personification of shortcomings.
(I'm assuming obama's racism and hatred of the American culture and western civilization is a shortcoming even with the establishment types right?)
I've seen nothing in Palin's behavior that would indicate her support of the creeping sharia favored by bush and obama. Amnesty either. Or government intrusion in our private lives and economic decisions.
Establishment (read go along to get along) republicans and conservatives have carved out a respectable and lucrative position for themselves (posing as an ineffectual "loyal opposition") that has cost rank and file Americans dearly.
But a faux loyal opposition is not cynicism, right? That's just righteous political survival for those who've proclaimed themselves to be enlightened and therefore deserving of their position and place?
You missed a third group inclined to view Palin favorably; those who wonder why the "loyal opposition' sputters and rails against her as much as the progressives.
Why? What's this woman done?

kevin| 1.15.11 @ 8:54PM

No content, just name calling. I am one of those 40% who self identify as conservative. You would not know that because you are too busy attacking anyone that you do not agree with.

Name calling with no content, it is all I see. I have posted plenty of content here. All you can do is name call. You, like Palin, seem out of your league. Prove me wrong.

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 9:01PM

What content, Jared?

Patriot| 1.15.11 @ 9:06PM

See you in 2012, troll. We can't wait.

W| 1.16.11 @ 2:39PM

"kevin"
grow up, from reading your posts it is obvious you are not smart enought to be a conservative. you are a lefty trying to pass by saying you are a conservative. but you repeat the trite rants of the left, such as "religious right," and use Reagan's name. do you even know what the term religious right means? or religious left? go back to your lefty websites where your comments may pass as intelligent.

Nick| 1.16.11 @ 3:42PM

When are all of you bleeding heart liberals going to start condemning the violent death speech of your lefty brethren?

Nick| 1.16.11 @ 3:43PM

Oops! Typo. That should've been:

When are all of you bleeding heart liberals going to start condemning the violent death speech of your lefty brethren?

Jeff| 1.16.11 @ 7:54PM

you are really going to compare a live speech at a memorial to a video response to vicious smears ?
Wow ... if this is the state of writing at AmSpec I'll have to make sure and take it off my reading list ...
Apples and oranges you moron ...

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