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AGW: Caribou Barbie is Tweeting

I hardly find the net slang, poor spelling and mashed-up syntax as disturbing as I do that fact that that blithering lunatic actually believes the crap she does.

And I get a bit impatient with rightwingers getting their panties in a bunch over the way we talk about poor little MILFy Mooseburger. If she has become a political punch line it is her own fault, having set out on a political career with such vast ambition with only half-vast plans, knowledge, vivsison, class or what have you.

It is not belittling women to speak of her as Caribou Barbie. She is trying to be a role model for women, but falls far short of understanding what most women in America really need. Being glamorous and politically conservative is hardly on the cutting edge of feminism. I do not think she will ever livedown letting her idiot police chief charge women for forensic rape kits. Until we get a grovelling apology from her for that obscenity, stop whining about how we refer to the vapid twit.

Does she scare liberals? Yeah. Sort of like a cobra crawling into your fighting position would.
 
That is my point too, GTC -- I don't like Palin, but I am amazed at the virulent hatred at her, and at the accusations ("dumb broad", "hick", "barbie", "bimbo", "airhead", etc.) that would be considered beyond the pale as deeply sexist and insulting against anybody else.

It is the usual case, alas, of vitriolic, insensate hatred (there is no other word) that seizes some on the left at the very mention of certain politicians. Suddenly, the "sophisticated" folks who do not wish to "demonize the enemy" have no problem at all with unsophisticated demonization.

Naturally, with this demonization, comes the believe that anybody who notes that it is irrational and unfair must be one of them, the bad guys who support those politicians in everything with fanatical loyalty.
 
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Skeptic said:
That is my point too, GTC -- I don't like Palin, but I am amazed at the virulent hatred at her, and at the accusations ("dumb broad", "hick", "barbie", "bimbo", "airhead", etc.) that would be considered beyond the pale as deeply sexist and insulting against anybody else.
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The daily show had a funny clip showing people defending Sara from attacks on her as a woman, then older clips of them making those same type of attacks on Hillary.

She is a total idiot and at best is a talking points machine.
 
Skeptic said:
That is my point too, GTC -- I don't like Palin, but I am amazed at the virulent hatred at her, and at the accusations ("dumb broad", "hick", "barbie", "bimbo", "airhead", etc.) that would be considered beyond the pale as deeply sexist and insulting against anybody else.

It is the usual case, alas, of vitriolic, insensate hatred (there is no other word) that seizes some on the left at the very mention of certain politicians. Suddenly, the "sophisticated" folks who do not wish to "demonize the enemy" have no problem at all with unsophisticated demonization.

Naturally, with this demonization, comes the believe that anybody who notes that it is irrational and unfair must be one of them, the bad guys who support those politicians in everything with fanatical loyalty.
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What you call hatred and GTC calls foaming at the mouth is mostly just people laughing at her ignorance of science, the English language etc. It speaks well to your fear of dealing with issues as you (and others like GTC) would rather create strawmen instead.
 
Cleon said:
Regarding the spelling "errors," Twitter limits a tweet to 140 characters; it's not uncommon to shorten words in order to fit them in. Some clients (like tweetdeck) actually have functions that will do it automatically.

In other words...The only real "mistake" is the eon/ion thing, and it's really not a big deal IMO.
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I don't have a twitter or know anything about what it is, but if its only output restricts one to write in l33t gibberish, I'd call it a mistake for any politician, or anyone wanting to get a serious message across, to use twitter as the vehicle.

That "meta-mistake" goes for anyone, not just Palin.
 
Dragoonster said:
I don't have a twitter or know anything about what it is, but if its only output restricts one to write in l33t gibberish, I'd call it a mistake for any politician, or anyone wanting to get a serious message across, to use twitter as the vehicle.

That "meta-mistake" goes for anyone, not just Palin.
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As much as I loath reading l33t sp33k, I don't automatically call it a political mistake. It essentially amounts to speaking the vernacular for a given audience. If done correctly* and it is accepted by the audience, it isn't a mistake. It is effective communication.

However, unless she's trying to convince hard-core gammers that AGW is a load of garbage, this was dumb. And if she is trying to convince hard-core gammers that AGW is a load of garbage, she's a moron.





* for whatever "correct" means as it applies to l33t
 
Cleon said:
Regarding the spelling "errors," Twitter limits a tweet to 140 characters; it's not uncommon to shorten words in order to fit them in. Some clients (like tweetdeck) actually have functions that will do it automatically.

In other words...The only real "mistake" is the eon/ion thing, and it's really not a big deal IMO.
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Unless you count the decision to address global warming in a tweet as an error.
 
Warren Harding got this ball rolling. Regan sealed our indifference. Bush II drove the point home. Sarah Palin rides on the shoulders of giants of dumb.
 
It means she has teenage daughters... it means she tweets. Reading anything else into it is simply an expression of the unreasoning hatred of her detractors.
 
Cleon said:
Well, yes, I was just addressing the "l33t-speak," which makes perfect sense in Twitter-land.

The actual content of what she's tweeting is baloney.
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No I understand that. But isn't the question of how appropriate her choice of medium is to the message something one can criticize?

I wouldn't publish a dissertation in skywriting, or propose a piece of legislation on a Lite-Brite or etch-a-sketch either. :)
 
DavidJames said:
What you call hatred and GTC calls foaming at the mouth is mostly just people laughing at her ignorance of science, the English language etc. It speaks well to your fear of dealing with issues as you (and others like GTC) would rather create strawmen instead.
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Dealing with issues? Get off the grass. There are no substantive issues being dealt with here.
 
JoeTheJuggler said:
No I understand that. But isn't the question of how appropriate her choice of medium is to the message something one can criticize?

I wouldn't publish a dissertation in skywriting, or propose a piece of legislation on a Lite-Brite or etch-a-sketch either. :)
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Well, it's not meant to be a dissertation. Honestly, whether she's trying to just sell a book or build a political movement, I'd consider her a fool if she wasn't using Twitter to get her message out.
 
JoeTheJuggler said:
No I understand that. But isn't the question of how appropriate her choice of medium is to the message something one can criticize?

I wouldn't publish a dissertation in skywriting, or propose a piece of legislation on a Lite-Brite or etch-a-sketch either. :)
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I think tweets like that are more preaching to the choir.
 
quarky said:
Sarah and Dan Quayle would be a dream team.

You don't hear much about Quayle these days.
I may have to google him.
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Maybe not, but he’s left a pretty significant legacy for today’s political debate. He’s the one who really started the modern notion among republicans that the media was somehow out to get them when it reported on their blunders or didn’t blindly regurgitate their talking points.

In this I think Palin and indeed the modern republican party truly is Quayle’s successor in that every blunder isn’t their own fault it’s just the media, scientists, academics out to discredit them.
 
quarky said:
Warren Harding got this ball rolling. Regan sealed our indifference. Bush II drove the point home. Sarah Palin rides on the shoulders of giants of dumb.
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Well, Bush II showed that you can become president without appearing as a great intellectual light.
I suspect that the Palin backers have mistaken "in spite off" with "because off".

It would bee too sad to believe that people would vote for a candidate to such an important job, just because that candidate make them feel smart.
 
Is It Twitter's Fault?

One common device used by Palin's defenders in this thread is that her incoherent rambling just goes with the territory of Twitter. Well, is this true?

I don't know how to evaluate this objectively, but just to whet your appetite, I submit the following: One of the most popular figures on Twitter is the actor Ashton Kutcher. His academic record is unremarkable, and his profession requires neither technical acumen, legislative insight, or historical knowledge. (Hey, give the guy a break, he's an actor, not a would-be Vice Presidential candidate commenting on an international summit on climate change.) A random sampling of his latest posts on Twitter is as follows:

Ashton Kutcher said:
trailer for my new flick Valentines day http://bit.ly/4uf2Ae

@CameronHerold: http://bit.ly/6B6MSv AWESOME drawing of a child who wants to 'be like mommy'

thnks for the update RT @blatantdoomtrip: @aplusk his sentence was changed to 2yr jail / 2 yr probation. http://bit.ly/90DvMV

this is effing ridiculous. 8 years in prison for graffiti? http://bit.ly/85TXKZ

@Dynamomagician thanks for coming brother. hope you had a great Birthday!

in reply to Dynamomagician wow RT @jmclifton: RT @MikeMullenUK Pretty amazing - bet YOU can't do this with a soccer ball! - SE BUSCA http://bit.ly/7E6e4r
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Source

I see a missed apostrophe and poor capitalization, but compared to Ms. Palin, this is quite readable. Elegant, even. Better sourced. And he even throws in a bit of relevant social commentary.

Next excuse?
 
The Painter said:
Why do all the Liberals get their panties in a bunch about Sara Palin? I seriously see her as nothing more than a sideshow. I will give her one thing, she scares the crap of you and that's good for a laugh.
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Greg Stillson. It's not so much that she is scarey, its the supporters who are scarier.

That she is such an igoramus, and people still rush to defend her, is even more laughable than her views or her credibility (or spelling).
 
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