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She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin

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DorothyBarker
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
These are the Miriam-Webster definitions of 'renegade'; 1 : a deserter from one faith, cause, or allegiance to another 2 : an individual who rejects lawful or conventional behavior. So yeah, maybe Palin's a 'renegade', but it's beyond me how that's a good thing in public service, where dedication and an ability to work with others are both absolutely required to get anything done. Basically, she's the conservative movement taken to a dangerous extreme: someone who hates government so much she doesn't want to work in it even after she's been hired to. If she wants out I say we giver her her wish. No more national attention; moving on.
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MIXED
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
Also. She uses whole "we can't predict the next fish run, yada yada yada" quote in basically EVERY MEDIA STATEMENT she has made in the past week. CNN showed FIVE DIFFERENT interviews where she said the EXACT SAME QUOTE. So not only is she a lying politician hiding behind some kind of authentic "Alaskan" attitude, she can't come up with more than one typically "Alaskan" way to express her political future. SHE'S SO DUMB.
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fuzzylizardkitten
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
"We can't predict the next fish run, much less what's going to happen in 2012."

No, it sounds like YOU CAN'T DO YOUR JOB.

By the by, we are not fish, moose, or other metaphors. We are rational (well, some of us anyways) human beings who need logic and insight and strategic planning for our country and those who govern. I can't understand how any rational creature could see her as a leader.
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anibundel
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
I think it's articles like these that are causing Andrew Sullivan over at the Atlantic to go off the deep end.

There was an article today saying that we all needed to stop talking about her, and she'd just go away, that no one could possibly take such a person seriously. The problem I have with that is they said the same thing about George W Bush back in 1998.
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casi nadie (loves MCC forever)
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
Upon seeing that Time cover, I am reminded of the commercials the McCain campaign ran against Obama - you know, "The One" and "The Biggest Celebrity in the World".

Sounds so familiar, doesn't it?

Also, I thought Renegade was Barack's code name?
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Edited by casi nadie (loves MCC forever) at 07/10/09 2:09 PM

MIXED
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
Quitting is quitting, in Alaska or DC or Oklahoma. She's a politician playing the game, just like every other politician. I don't believe for a second that somehow her "Alaskan" upbringing or lifestyle or POV means she is being honest. Bish PLZ.
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femputer
07/10/09

@MIXED: yup. Anna N; you wrote a killer piece here, gleaning exactly what is SO MIND-NUMBINGLY OBNOXIOUS about the excuses her acolytes make for her lack of professionalism. Alaska isn't the friggin' moon.
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stoprobbers
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
"Palin likes gambles. Her career is filled with firsts."

Like "First person think resigning from office because it's just too hard will HELP a presidential bid"?
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missteenwordpower
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
"...to bring change about" makes me gag a little.

As does the idea that abandoning your job in the middle doesn't de facto disqualify you from presidential consideration.

As does the mere notion that Sarah Palin might be our first women in office.

Too bad this is my lunch hour.
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funnyface
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
Jay Newton-Small should be fired. I couldn't BELIEVE that she let Palin blame Obama and Rahm Emmanuel for the ethics investigations without so much as a follow up question about PROOF.
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Little Green Frog (Wise Latina)
07/10/09

@funnyface: Oh don't worry, their department of law there in the White House will take car of that.
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OK_NiceLegs (formerly: thevickinator)
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
I think Anna's hit the nail on the head with the 'upside-down land' description. Palin clearly is operating under her own rules, but to such an extreme that it makes me wonder- who's taking the crazy pills here? The media? Palin? or us?
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Edited by OK_NiceLegs (formerly: thevickinator) at 07/10/09 1:37 PM

halloweenjack, King of the Wild Frontier
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
"an Alaska original, raised and ripened in an environment remote, extreme, unfamiliar - and free,"

Are they as dumb as she seems to be? Wasilla is practically a suburb of Anchorage.

It is ironic, though, that they ask where "the road less taken" leads to... as they show her on the end of a pier.
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femputer
07/10/09

@halloweenjack, King of the Wild Frontier: LMAO...I totally missed the take-a-long-walk implication there. Niiiice.
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ellaesther
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
Also, Peggy Noonan -- she of the occasional good insight, often very-well written -- had a really good column about Palin today. Someone pointed out to me that Noonan should employ a little more introspection about the role she herself played in creating the GOP that was able to produce a Palin, and that is certainly true, but that aside, it's a good essay. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124716984620819351.html

(Though, I suppose it's possible that I think it's "good" simply because I'm a liberal who likes to see the conservative movement complaining about each other, but that's surely beside the point.)
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Edited by ellaesther at 07/10/09 1:29 PM ellaesther was starred ellaesther was unstarred

ellaesther
07/10/09

@ellaesther: (Ok, I have apparently figured out how to make a paragraph break, but not how to embed a link. Shit!)
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Sputnik_Sweetheart
07/10/09

@ellaesther: I was actually going to say the same thing (you beat me to it, you minx! ;P) Noonan did really an efficient job of decimating the Palin myth. My favorite part: "The elites hate her." The elites made her. It was the elites of the party, the McCain campaign and the conservative media that picked her and pushed her. The base barely knew who she was. It was the elites, from party operatives to public intellectuals, who advanced her and attacked those who said she lacked heft. She is a complete elite confection. She might as well have been a bonbon.
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Edited by Sputnik_Sweetheart at 07/10/09 1:46 PM Sputnik_Sweetheart was starred

thegogglesdonothing
07/10/09

@ellaesther: It's feast or famine with Peggy Noonan - sometimes she turns out a beautifully written piece that lends a lot of insight to an issue, and other times she turns out maudlin hackwork about 'real America.' I'll have to check the essay out - thanks for the link.
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Jack_Burton
07/10/09

@ellaesther: Psst! If you use Firefox, get the extension "BBCode" - it's pretty useful in comments, and even in authoring blog posts. And you can customize it!
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ellaesther
07/10/09

@Jack_Burton: Thank you! I do, and I will!
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whynotshesaid
07/10/09

@ellaesther: Hee! That's exactly why I started reading David Brooks during the election. It was very amusing to me to watch an Ur-conservative like him scramble away from the stench of failure lingering around the McCain campaign.
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Yahtzii
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
"Did you feel that the institution of government was no longer the best way to bring change about?" Even my jr. high newspaper class taught me to ask open-ended questions. Major journalism fail, Time.
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Everything MidnightBikeRide does is a balloon.
07/10/09

@Yahtzii: And, I´m sure, to ask questions with some recognizable grammatical structure. You´ve got to speak her language, I guess.
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AvocadoGills: purveyor of kinky fish porn
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
I find it so irritating when the media (those hounds!) is put down for "ruining" a public figure's image, as in this quotation from the article: "her public performances became personal testimonials to the damage the media can inflict on a person's reputation and career."

I didn't let the media influence my views of Palin; rather, they simply gave her ample opportunity to open her mouth and ruin her own credibility. TIME authors, let's not confuse being a victim of the media with being a victim of one's own incompetence, mkay?
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Edited by AvocadoGills: purveyor of kinky fish porn at 07/10/09 1:26 PM

ellaesther
07/10/09

@AvocadoGills: purveyor of kinky fish porn: Indeed! They didn't even have to give her any rope -- she brought her own rope along with her, and proceeded to hang herself.

Also: Hey! Welcome back!
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whynotshesaid
07/10/09

@AvocadoGills: purveyor of kinky fish porn: I hate the media-blamers. I have just as many criticisms of the media as anyone else - and maybe even more as someone who works in the field - but what these flying assmonkeys conveniently neglect is that without the oh-so-hateful media, no one would have a fucking clue who they were.
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Little Green Frog (Wise Latina)
07/10/09

In reply to She's Not Crazy, She's Alaskan: Why It's Hard (And Easy) To Criticize Sarah Palin
I'm so tired of that "We can't predict the next fish run, much less what's going to happen in 2012." line. She said it to news people more times than I've heard "Let's dance" this year.
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NefariousNewt
07/10/09

@Little Green Frog: Strangely, I think the Inuit got pretty good at predicting the next fish run, leading to their survival up there near the Arctic Circle.

And this has little to do with prediction -- she can choose to run or not. Pretty simple choice. I think she resigned as Governor so she could think it through, and perhaps rummage through the closet for some other skeletons that might potentially bite her.
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Anna N.
07/10/09

@NefariousNewt: Yes -- she may not control the fish runs, but she does control whether she runs for President. It's not like the f-ing weather.
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