tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119943.post140601732604942278..comments2023-09-29T06:57:06.991-07:00Comments on Anglachel's Journal: Imaginary Friends and Political MonstersAnglachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110546252851760414noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119943.post-56378491243990846732010-11-24T20:08:51.050-08:002010-11-24T20:08:51.050-08:00Hi Anglachel:
Point taken about the comment about...Hi Anglachel:<br /><br />Point taken about the comment about a 'good' school triggering off elitism alarm bells. What I had in mind is that Palin come off as a person who has never had to seriously defend her own ideas. Autodidacts have this problem. People who are more talkative than those around them may have this problem -- people do not contest their ideas because not worth the trouble to keep up with what the faster talker is saying. She comes across as offended, wounded and helpless when she is challenged. Apparently by the time Katie Couric got around to asking her what she read Palin was too offended to answer. Couric says that they used the portion of the interview that was most favorable to Palin. Palin seems to lack the most elementary of self-defense skills when confronted. She is very skilled at making things sound good but she does not seem to be accustomed to having to tie things back to reality. At the point that she was chosen as McCain's VP nominee she had something like an 80% popularity rating in AK (IIRC) but as AK listened to her distortions on the campaign trail and saw more of how she governed this plummeted.<br />For most people, Palin's appeal fades when they realize how prone she is to distortion. And once you see the distortions it is hard to keep in mind how appealing her apparent positions are to those who have not cottoned on. Who could be for 'death panels?' And who could listen to politician who turned an option for patients to ask for help sorting their options when dying into such a thing. Who could be for "a bridge to nowhere." And who could support a politician who claimed to have opposed that bridge when they had in fact supported it. Her political strategy goes for short term popularity at the expense of long term trust. It may be a character defect or choice, or it could be simply never having been required to defend her own ideas and connect them to reality except when she was under personal attack. There is an impersonal quality to intellectual debate that helps most people become less defensive over time. Though of course, ass holes are found in every setting.<br /><br />Some of the hostility towards 'elitism' is rejection of the idea that facts count. And to the extent that this is true, our country has lost something precious.Annahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06688383312843029052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119943.post-3086727759860422512010-11-24T16:12:28.098-08:002010-11-24T16:12:28.098-08:00I wish everyone would stop pissing on Palin's ...I wish everyone would stop pissing on Palin's education. Of the 20 or so Ivy League phds I've known and worked with, 17 were very good to excellent. Three were complete and utter morons. Both Skippy the Bush Pus and O'Precious were products of "good schools"-- so are we going to condemn schools to the "bad" category based on the performance of those two? Don't blame "bad schools" for a graduate's sloppy critical thinking skills-- blame an intellect devoid of academic curiosity. Blame a moral center calcified by religion.<br /><br />You get out of school what you put in. The key part of education is always "me."Bob Harrisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05242937151007030508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119943.post-61699002647728646482010-11-23T21:33:41.368-08:002010-11-23T21:33:41.368-08:00There is an old saying that applies to Sarah Palin...There is an old saying that applies to Sarah Palin:<br /><br />"Dumb like a fox."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119943.post-91404201544009204382010-11-23T21:07:27.167-08:002010-11-23T21:07:27.167-08:00Hi Anna,
No, I don't underestimate Plain as a...Hi Anna,<br /><br />No, I don't underestimate Plain as an opponent. The minute she was announced as VP, I said she was a game changer because I had actually read up on her prior to that time.<br /><br />She has one of the most savvy online political operations around, making the Obama stuff look like child's play. She is a money machine for the Right. Her supporters love her because they can identify so closely with her. <br /><br />The problem here is that the cultural elite (and not just on the Left) simultaneously dismisses her as low-brow trash and also allows itself to be played, overreacting to her performances, and giving her far too much fuel for her fires.<br /><br />One of my consistent arguments over the years has been that the left is not going to win the culture wars because that *is* the political terrain of the right. Look for and read my post "Violated Symbols" on why Palin is perfectly positioned to take advantage of this.<br /><br />I also warn you against statements like if only she'd gone to a good school, she'd know fact from fiction. Uh, no. I know too many morons from the Ivy League, and I have too many little-educated and very sharp relatives to buy that. She went to school the way many Americans do - catch as catch-can. When you want to draw a connection between right thinking and attending a really good school, you're engaging in exactly the kind of off-hand elitism that gives her and her side strength.<br /><br />AnglachelAnglachelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01110546252851760414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119943.post-47460246873775449122010-11-23T17:58:38.209-08:002010-11-23T17:58:38.209-08:00Sure, the right loves to love the people the left ...Sure, the right loves to love the people the left hates but you are giving Palin too little credit for what she does well -- she has a phenomenal grasp for the emotional overtones of communication. I first saw her when she was discussing the difficulties that Hillary was facing dealing with the attacks while trying to avoid the stereotype of the whining woman. Palin was dead on. Palin plays brilliantly with the emotions of her followers but the content she feeds them is crazed. You have to wonder what would have happened if Palin had been forced to attend a really good school so that she learned to separate fact from fiction. The difference between the brilliant performances and the content is continually stunning. And since she appears unconstrained by facts -- death panels, anyone? --- terrifying.Annahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06688383312843029052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119943.post-18179516049953465332010-11-23T10:11:04.500-08:002010-11-23T10:11:04.500-08:00Somerby is making the same point today, but I doub...Somerby is making the same point today, but I doubt the Smart Progressive Boys will get their brains around the simple logic of what you're saying. The right has been feeding on the resentment of elites for the last 50-60 years and counting. Laughing at Palin and ganging up on her kids (who cares?) just adds fuel to the fire. Show, don't tell. Engage her on the issues directly but without acrimony, show how threadbare her answers are, and let people draw their own conclusions about how empty it all is without browbeating them with ad hominem stuff about how awful and low-rent she is. But since cultural and status signifiers are all that really matter to the Boyz, rather than delivering tangible economic benefits to a large cross-section of the population, it's going to be Sarah Palin straw-man or straw-woman stuff for the next two years. Good luck with that!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119943.post-23596290441575871982010-11-23T08:55:57.654-08:002010-11-23T08:55:57.654-08:00I thought of the same thing, ---the head exploding...I thought of the same thing, ---the head exploding analogy. I was trying to connect it to that David Chappelle skit about the black-white-supremacist but could not muster up enough energy to lay out the irony and explain why it would be ironic while also avoiding how it is not an opposite example of what Chappelle did. Nevertheless, the head exploding part is on point. When/If Palin wins DWTS heads will explode. It is as if the Left cannot comprehend, or refuse to take charge of the monster they have created. Well, if not created, fueled. Although misguided and even juvenile, there is something admirable in how the people for Palin stick together. If not admirable, noteworthy. It reveals what the Left is lacking. Community binding.The Fabulous Kitty Glendowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12259506108044329136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119943.post-15195248624939283002010-11-23T05:47:59.187-08:002010-11-23T05:47:59.187-08:00Very insightful post. I know I will quote it when ...Very insightful post. I know I will quote it when I post about SP's Alaska show later.Voter Momhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01823732567481372587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119943.post-47589715678732390442010-11-23T05:28:20.298-08:002010-11-23T05:28:20.298-08:00I know the answer to your trivia question without ...I know the answer to your trivia question without having to think about it...but then again, I'm from Texas. Lloyd Bentsen was Dukakis' running mate.<br /><br />I also turned 18 just before the 1988 election and may have been the only person in the entire country (including the candidates) who was actually excited about the election that year.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01531740327865309483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119943.post-45500200392257000732010-11-23T03:58:09.098-08:002010-11-23T03:58:09.098-08:00Lloyd Bensen of "Senator, you're no Jack ...Lloyd Bensen of "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" fame was Dukakis' VP running mate. <br />He was also Bill Clinton's Secretary of Treasury in the first two years of Clinton's first term:<br /><br />"Bentsen resigned from the Senate in January 1993 to serve as the 69th Secretary of the Treasury under Clinton from 1993 to 1994. Clinton's selection of Bentsen for his Cabinet was criticized by some Democrats, when a Republican, Kay Bailey Hutchison, won the special election in June 1993, for the year and a half left in Bentsen's term. As Secretary of the Treasury, Bentsen helped to shepherd Clinton's first budget through Congress.<br />After resignation of Les Aspin in early 1994, Bentsen was seriously considered to be moved from position of Secretary of the Treasury to Secretary of Defense.[6] These plans, however, did not materialize and William Perry, then Defense Deputy Secretary, was chosen to replace Aspin instead.<br />In early December 1994, Bentsen announced his resignation from his position as Secretary of the Treasury. Before election day he had discussed with President Clinton that he was not prepared to stay in office until 1996. He was succeeded in the position by Robert Rubin.[7]"<br /><br />I think the fact that some of us have forgotten who Dukakis' running mate was is less important than we have forgotten that running mate was around when Clinton raised taxes on the rich.portia.vzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04995219514582869927noreply@blogger.com