Things you like about Sarah Palin

Whiplash said:
I admit my defending her is about a defensive reaction based on partisanship more than anything else. I don't really want to defend her that much, honestly. I just get my hackles up when people get too over the line about it. Calling her nasty names and all that. It's uncalled for, for anyone.

I really don't like her much, and I cringe when she speaks now. I don't want her to get the nomination. I don't believe she will win either. I actually think that many are correct in the assumption that her winning the nomination is a win for Obama. I don't think this country is likely to elect her.

The only point I have tried to make is that it's irrational that people are so hateful of her if they really think she is no threat whatsoever. It doesn't matter how people spin it, that makes zero sense to me.

But I'm rapidly loosing interest in the subject, and any desire to defend her.
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That's about what I was thinking. I didn't see anyone really defending Palin as a serious and desirable candidate for national political office (or even as being a good journalist or any such), but merely nibbling about the edges of the criticism--especially the irrelevant remarks about her.

Mostly what I see is them trying to explain away her worst excesses. This is similar to how I see reasonable conservatives trying to make the Tea Party sound like a reasonable movement that reflects their own thinking rather than "a right-wing reactionary movement, one whose themes (jingoism, militarism and a cult of victimhood at the hands of sundry nefarious betrayers) are as old as the John Birch Society." [That was such a nice turn of phrase by a writer from The Nation I had to borrow it. Credit Peter Rothberg.]
 
KingMerv00 said:
Just to be clear, I didn't mean to imply defending her is a priori bad.



I don't understand your confusion. People don't like her so they make fun of her. What's not to get?
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The rate at which new threads come up about her, and the overall vitriol that they usually contain.

It's not like people just kick at her once in a while. It's practically non-stop here. New threads virtually daily. And some of the most nasty comments imaginable. There is no reason to be calling anyone a slut.

That strikes me as being obsessed with her on some level. That's not just disliking her and making fun of her. That's trying to discredit and hold her down as much as possible. Some clearly wish to destroy her.
 
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KingMerv00 said:
I don't understand your confusion. People don't like her so they make fun of her. What's not to get?
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She also makes it easy. People don't like her and she says dumb things in public and at least appears to be incredibly uninformed, so they poke fun at her.

People poke fun at Biden when he misspeaks also. Though am not sure he gives them quite the ammo that she does.
 
joobz said:
I dislike her greatly, but I do think-if she were to get the nom- she would stand a chance. Such is politics, and with an effective campaign and good image control, she could win.
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I don't think so. I think she lost the election for McCain.

I think if she ran as a third party candidate, she would control enough votes to hurt the Republicans. However, if she ran as a Republican, she would scare off more votes than she would bring in.

Especially now that she quit the governorship. As someone pointed out, the population of Alaska is less than that of a medium-sized metropolitan area (like St. Louis), and she couldn't even manage to serve a full term at that. Not such a good resume for higher office.

ETA: However, my reason for hating her is that her first introduction to the national stage was a pack of lies. She was presented as an anti-pork, small government, maverick who said "no thanks" to the Bridge to Nowhere. Turns out none of that was true.
 
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Whiplash said:
The rate at which new threads come up about her, and the overall vitriol that they usually contain.

It's not like people just kick at her once in a while. It's practically non-stop here. New threads virtually daily. And some of the most nasty comments imaginable. There is no reason to be calling anyone a slut.

That strikes me as being obsessed with her on some level. That's not just disliking her and making fun of her. That's trying to discredit and hold her down as much as possible. Some clearly wish to destroy her.
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I think it is a reaction to her efforts to say in the spotlight. If she had not quit her job and was still govenor you wouldn't see anywhere near the focus. She seems to be very interested on being a national player, and is doing a good job at staying in the national spotlight.

I would like her to disappear from public discourse, but she seems willing to do what it takes to keep her name out there and people talking about her. And if many of the people here are talking about her they will say negative things.
 
ponderingturtle said:
I think it is a reaction to her efforts to say in the spotlight. If she had not quit her job and was still govenor you wouldn't see anywhere near the focus. She seems to be very interested on being a national player, and is doing a good job at staying in the national spotlight.

I would like her to disappear from public discourse, but she seems willing to do what it takes to keep her name out there and people talking about her. And if many of the people here are talking about her they will say negative things.
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I want to disagree, but I know that I can't. The more this has gone on, the more I have questioned whether I'm actually just having a defensive hissy fit because she's on the same side as me. I can't deny she has done what she can to stay in the spotlight.

I just don't like the really nasty stuff. I don't like it being said about Obama either. Despite how hard it may be to believe, I would like to try to find a way to unite people. I think the hateful rhetoric, from both sides, is a cycle that we must find a way to break free of. I can't see how things can continue, the way they are, without things getting very ugly. Perhaps even violent. That doesn't help anyone. And it's ridiculous to get to that level when neither side is actually so evil or corrupt as the other would have you believe. Both sides are far better than what many nations get to choose from. I think it's sad the way we have gotten so incredibly desperate and irrational with regards to our politics. I think we are a great country, and that people on both sides are mostly good people who are trying to do what they think is best. But others prefer it to be a huge melodrama.
 
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MattusMaximus said:
Let's not paint with too broad a brush here. Fyi, I know plenty of Republicans who would engage in a major *facepalm* if Palin were to get the GOP nod. These people would likely sit 2012 out on the Republican side, which would in all probability hand the GOP a defeat in the general election.
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Where were all those Republicans during the GOP convention in 2008?

Seriously, their presidential candidate said that Palin knows more about energy than anyone.

There may be plenty of Republicans disgusted by her nomination, but apparently there aren't enough to control the party.
 
Whiplash said:
I want to disagree, but I know that I can't. The more this has gone on, the more I have questioned whether I'm actually just having a defensive hissy fit because she's on the same side as me.
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You don't see admissions like this very often in the politics forum. Good for you.

Despite how hard it may be to believe, I would like to try to find a way to unite people.
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I suggest we pick on Ron Paul. :)
 
Whiplash said:
I just don't like the really nasty stuff. I don't like it being said about Obama either. Despite how hard it may be to believe, I would like to try to find a way to unite people. I think the hateful rhetoric, from both sides, is a cycle that we must find a way to break free of. I can't see how things can continue, the way they are, without things getting very ugly.
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But don't you see Palin's rallies (especially during the campaign) as contributing to the really nasty stuff?

Obama rallies didn't have people shouting about how bad Palin was. They were mostly excited at the prospect of the first black president. (ETA: And, of course, the hope and change stuff that comes from someone who is not Bush or even close to him.)

Palin, on the other hand, was fueling the fires of hate, racism and class division. (Remember the whole Joe the Plumber nonsense?) People were shouting out racial epithets against Obama at her rallies. At best, she failed to discourage that sort of thing.

And back to the personal stuff: I still remember when the rumor that the Down Syndrome baby was her daughter's rather than hers. My first reaction was to dismiss it as just baseless rumor. Then it turned out to have been a distortion of an actual story that went to the heart of her position on sex education--and it was a story she was trying to keep under wraps (possibly even from the GOP?)

And of course the bigger story about her Down Syndrome baby was that here is a political candidate who wants abortion to be criminalized, and in her speech announcing her decision to bear the baby, she used the words "choice" and "choose" over and over again. She seemed proud of her choice, but she's still willing to deny other women that choice. There are indeed points where it's fair game to comment on her personal life--especially when she's already politicized aspects of her personal life.
 
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KingMerv00 said:
You don't see admissions like this very often in the politics forum. Good for you.
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Ditto.

And that's partly why I said I didn't see anyone really defending Palin (as a serious political candidate or someone they'd like to see in any kind of position of power or even someone whose political opinion they think highly of). At best, they're just defending her from the most unfair and unreasonable attacks--pointing out that those attacks are wrong, rather than anything about her being right.
 
She redefines words to mean their opposite. I love that.Staying on as Alaska governor is quitting. Quitting is staying the course. Ignorance is intelligence. Intelligence is ignorance.

Other people's stuff is just an extension of her opinion or knowledge. The best way for her to serve America is to go work for a private corporation.

I love all that, because it amuses me. Vote for her? Never. Voting for her is a bridge to nowhere.
 
ponderingturtle said:
Then she should leave her family out of her sales pitch. Either family matters and attacking it is fine, or it does not matter and she shouldn't try to pitch herself as the perfect mother as a reason to vote for her.
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I might argue that attacking Someone's family is just plain bad tactics. It backfires.It makes you look bad.
 
T.A.M. said:
Agreed, but I think there is a large enough support group within the GOP, and the rest split so many ways, that she could squeak in as the nominee.

TAM:)
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Of this I have little doubt. In fact, I'll be surprised if she's not on the presidential ticket (as Prez or VP) for the GOP in 2012.
 
dudalb said:
I might argue that attacking Someone's family is just plain bad tactics. It backfires.It makes you look bad.
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So how do you counter the position that because Palin is a great parent she deserves public offices more than people with more troubles at home, like say some infidelity?
 
118 posts in this thread and Sarah's only received a handful of weak compliments.

Can we at least get the conversatives to admit she isn't frontline material?
 
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It seemed like a good idea at the time?

I must say, I don't know what to think about it anymore. When she first came on the stage, I was excited about having a strong female conservative on the scene. As time went on, and she would make gaffes and mistakes, I held onto the belief that she was actually probably just ignorant and inexperienced. I hoped that she would use the opportunity she had been given, and time she had before 2012, to really educate herself and get some more experience and so forth.. and come back as a strong, solid candidate. I believed her capable of this.

But I've got to be honest at this point. I no longer believe her capable of that. I think she is actually rather dim. And I stress that I do not want her as a candidate.

But I still feel sorry for her for the treatment she has received.
 
Whiplash said:
I must say, I don't know what to think about it anymore. When she first came on the stage, I was excited about having a strong female conservative on the scene. As time went on, and she would make gaffes and mistakes, I held onto the belief that she was actually probably just ignorant and inexperienced. I hoped that she would use the opportunity she had been given, and time she had before 2012, to really educate herself and get some more experience and so forth.. and come back as a strong, solid candidate. I believed her capable of this.
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Yeah, and then she went and quit as governor of Alaska because it got "too tough" for her.

Oops.
 
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