Believe it or not, I gave a lot of thought over the weekend to responding to my friend who's commented on his fears of and opposition to Sarah Palin. And I still intend to, and to explain why it's taken me so long, in case you care. But in the meantime, I've been beaten to posting a comprehensive list of rumors about Sarah Palin and responses thereto. In all fairness, the author is clearly conservative and probably a Palin supporter. But he doesn't appear to go out of his way to debunk rumors purely because they're negative.
Update: Factcheck.org gets in on the act.
Showing posts with label Sarah Palin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sarah Palin. Show all posts
Monday, September 8, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Random Thoughts: The Speech
WOW! Could you believe the energy and excitement! The sheer wonderfulness of the whole thing?! It was an hour of absolutely riveting television! Not to be forgotten! A breath of fresh air!
I am referring, of course, to last night's episode of Project Runway.
But first, the convention... for some reason, I was one of the few who enjoyed Huckabee's and Guiliani's speeches almost more than Palin's. It's clear that both men have lots of experience playing to crowds and making their points in a pithy and often funny manner. (I'm still chuckling over Huck's line about getting to college before he realized a shower wasn't supposed to hurt.) But they should be, right? Both men were serious presidential contenders, both have lots of experience giving speeches. Guiliani was a prosecutor, so he's used to making his point forcefully. Huckabee, if I'm not mistaken, is an ordained minister in addition to a politician. As I listened to both of them, I thought, you know, they're both doing a great job of selling McCain/Palin - a much better job than either of them did selling himself. Why is that?
Romney, on the other hand, was a flop for me. Maybe it was because I was driving while he was speaking, so I heard him on the radio and couldn't be dazzled by the magnificence of his hair. But although his speech was workmanlike and made some good points, particularly about the economy, I don't think it did what it was supposed to do - fire up the crowd.
I'm sorry I missed Michael Steele - I would have been interested to hear him.
Why did they stick the governor of Hawaii between Huckabee and Guiliani? I'm sure she's a capable person and all, but that's exactly what she came across as - capable. Competent. BORING. She sucked all the enthusiasm out of the crowd, which I'm sure was not the point. And it was hilarious to see her... husband? the guy sitting next to her, not sure who he was... shaking hands with Palin's dad. They looked vaguely similar (maybe just because they're both silver and balding), but he was so tan and Palin's dad was so pale, they could have been photo negatives of each other.
Anyway, Palin: the woman can give a speech, that's for sure. She's blessed with the rare female voice that doesn't sound shrill when trying to project. She ends her sentences by pitching her tone down, not up, which is also a skill a lot of women don't have. Now if she can just learn not to press her lips together like that all the time...
It was a basic speech. I think she just needed to get through it and have it be solid, calm, and informed. She will need to take on the traditional VP role of attack dog and go after the other side with passion and conviction. She seems to have done all those things, and well. She's still at the introduction stage, which is too bad - Obama, Biden, and McCain all have a jump on her there. She's been portrayed so much as a backwoods rube, it was strange to hear her speaking so knowledgeably on foreign policy. She came across as smart, tough, and ready for a fight - good thing, too, because Biden will be spoiling for one once the debates roll around. Now THAT should be interesting.
Random thoughts on Project Runway forthcoming...
I am referring, of course, to last night's episode of Project Runway.
But first, the convention... for some reason, I was one of the few who enjoyed Huckabee's and Guiliani's speeches almost more than Palin's. It's clear that both men have lots of experience playing to crowds and making their points in a pithy and often funny manner. (I'm still chuckling over Huck's line about getting to college before he realized a shower wasn't supposed to hurt.) But they should be, right? Both men were serious presidential contenders, both have lots of experience giving speeches. Guiliani was a prosecutor, so he's used to making his point forcefully. Huckabee, if I'm not mistaken, is an ordained minister in addition to a politician. As I listened to both of them, I thought, you know, they're both doing a great job of selling McCain/Palin - a much better job than either of them did selling himself. Why is that?
Romney, on the other hand, was a flop for me. Maybe it was because I was driving while he was speaking, so I heard him on the radio and couldn't be dazzled by the magnificence of his hair. But although his speech was workmanlike and made some good points, particularly about the economy, I don't think it did what it was supposed to do - fire up the crowd.
I'm sorry I missed Michael Steele - I would have been interested to hear him.
Why did they stick the governor of Hawaii between Huckabee and Guiliani? I'm sure she's a capable person and all, but that's exactly what she came across as - capable. Competent. BORING. She sucked all the enthusiasm out of the crowd, which I'm sure was not the point. And it was hilarious to see her... husband? the guy sitting next to her, not sure who he was... shaking hands with Palin's dad. They looked vaguely similar (maybe just because they're both silver and balding), but he was so tan and Palin's dad was so pale, they could have been photo negatives of each other.
Anyway, Palin: the woman can give a speech, that's for sure. She's blessed with the rare female voice that doesn't sound shrill when trying to project. She ends her sentences by pitching her tone down, not up, which is also a skill a lot of women don't have. Now if she can just learn not to press her lips together like that all the time...
It was a basic speech. I think she just needed to get through it and have it be solid, calm, and informed. She will need to take on the traditional VP role of attack dog and go after the other side with passion and conviction. She seems to have done all those things, and well. She's still at the introduction stage, which is too bad - Obama, Biden, and McCain all have a jump on her there. She's been portrayed so much as a backwoods rube, it was strange to hear her speaking so knowledgeably on foreign policy. She came across as smart, tough, and ready for a fight - good thing, too, because Biden will be spoiling for one once the debates roll around. Now THAT should be interesting.
Random thoughts on Project Runway forthcoming...
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
The Palin Production, pt. 3,203
Wow. Some people just don't want to give it up.
Folks, Trig is Sarah's baby. Need proof?
Could we lay off the stupid baby-mama-drama stories and get back to talking about the issues? Doubtful. People have been obsessed with scandal in politics since Grover Cleveland's time (and probably before), but it seems to have reached new heights this year - to the point that we're treating presidential candidates like the D-list knocked-up celebrities we're all obsessed with. [Grammar goddess interjects: "That should be '...with whom we're all obsessed.'"]
Oh, and P.S.: this is just ridiculous.
Folks, Trig is Sarah's baby. Need proof?
Could we lay off the stupid baby-mama-drama stories and get back to talking about the issues? Doubtful. People have been obsessed with scandal in politics since Grover Cleveland's time (and probably before), but it seems to have reached new heights this year - to the point that we're treating presidential candidates like the D-list knocked-up celebrities we're all obsessed with. [Grammar goddess interjects: "That should be '...with whom we're all obsessed.'"]
Oh, and P.S.: this is just ridiculous.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
I Do Not Think That Word Means What You Think It Means
Hypocrisy: –noun, plural -sies.
1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.
3. an act or instance of hypocrisy.
So the proverbial stuff has hit the proverbial fan, and not for the last time, I'm sure. Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant and getting married. Frankly, I'm not all that surprised. It's dark and cold in Alaska most of the year.
It's kind of a relief. In this day and age, you knew there was a skeleton or two in her closet. (By the way, have I mentioned that I envy her closet? Not as much as Anne Hathaway's, I grant you - GOD, that girl can dress - but nonetheless...) If this and the "Troopergate" scandal are the worst the press can come up with then, hell, she's doing fairly well. I fully expect to hear of some Billy-Carter-like toothless relative who shoots polar bears for fun or something.
It's got to be tough, though. Marriage is hard enough at 37, much less 17. I won't even get into parenthood. I only have a dog, so far.
But the thing that puzzles me is that the word "hypocrite" is being thrown around with respect to Sarah Palin and her daughter. Now, to me, a hypocrite is one who says one thing and does another. Let's say, for example, that Sarah Palin claimed to be an evangelical Christian, but on the weekends she flew with Paco the pool boy to Aruba, where she cavorted naked on the sand drinking mai tais and being fed peeled grapes. That, my friends, would be hypocrisy. Fun, but hypocritical. Or, on a more practical level, if she were saying she teaches her kids to wait until marriage but in fact tells them that it's okay to have sex or knows about them fooling around but deliberately looks the other way.
But having a 17-year-old pregnant daughter? I just don't think that's hypocritical. The argument, as I understand it, goes like this: Palin claims to be an evangelical Christian and to stand for family values, but her daughter is pregnant out of wedlock, so she can't possibly practice what she preaches. Say what? I mean, have you ever met a preacher's kid? Or a teenager, for that matter? People do what they're going to do. Kids disobey their parents. Even the best kids, the ones raised in the most loving and supportive homes, the ones taught the best values, the ones who succeed and are absolute joys to their parents, do completely asinine things. Do you remember high school? Like, at all? And don't even go there with college. That doesn't make their parents hypocrites. It makes the kids human.
Side note: if anything about Palin has a chance of proving hypocrisy, it's the Troopergate allegations. If true, they will prove damaging - she crusades as a reformer, all the while using her office to try to get her brother-in-law fired and firing the public safety director when she couldn't. I doubt whether they will prove true - the timing is all wrong, for one thing, and if the public safety director in fact refused to fire the trooper after he threatened his father-in-law's life and committed some of the other acts alleged, then there's no scandal there, as far as I can tell. But I digress.
I think "hypocrisy" is used by people these days to describe a sort of savage joy in someone else's problems, rather than the actual meaning of the word. It's a feeling of, "Ha! Caught you! You claim to be so high and mighty, but you, too, are human!" Which is fine - if that's how you feel, then say it. But don't throw around the word "hypocrite" unless you actually mean it.
1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.
3. an act or instance of hypocrisy.
So the proverbial stuff has hit the proverbial fan, and not for the last time, I'm sure. Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant and getting married. Frankly, I'm not all that surprised. It's dark and cold in Alaska most of the year.
It's kind of a relief. In this day and age, you knew there was a skeleton or two in her closet. (By the way, have I mentioned that I envy her closet? Not as much as Anne Hathaway's, I grant you - GOD, that girl can dress - but nonetheless...) If this and the "Troopergate" scandal are the worst the press can come up with then, hell, she's doing fairly well. I fully expect to hear of some Billy-Carter-like toothless relative who shoots polar bears for fun or something.
It's got to be tough, though. Marriage is hard enough at 37, much less 17. I won't even get into parenthood. I only have a dog, so far.
But the thing that puzzles me is that the word "hypocrite" is being thrown around with respect to Sarah Palin and her daughter. Now, to me, a hypocrite is one who says one thing and does another. Let's say, for example, that Sarah Palin claimed to be an evangelical Christian, but on the weekends she flew with Paco the pool boy to Aruba, where she cavorted naked on the sand drinking mai tais and being fed peeled grapes. That, my friends, would be hypocrisy. Fun, but hypocritical. Or, on a more practical level, if she were saying she teaches her kids to wait until marriage but in fact tells them that it's okay to have sex or knows about them fooling around but deliberately looks the other way.
But having a 17-year-old pregnant daughter? I just don't think that's hypocritical. The argument, as I understand it, goes like this: Palin claims to be an evangelical Christian and to stand for family values, but her daughter is pregnant out of wedlock, so she can't possibly practice what she preaches. Say what? I mean, have you ever met a preacher's kid? Or a teenager, for that matter? People do what they're going to do. Kids disobey their parents. Even the best kids, the ones raised in the most loving and supportive homes, the ones taught the best values, the ones who succeed and are absolute joys to their parents, do completely asinine things. Do you remember high school? Like, at all? And don't even go there with college. That doesn't make their parents hypocrites. It makes the kids human.
Side note: if anything about Palin has a chance of proving hypocrisy, it's the Troopergate allegations. If true, they will prove damaging - she crusades as a reformer, all the while using her office to try to get her brother-in-law fired and firing the public safety director when she couldn't. I doubt whether they will prove true - the timing is all wrong, for one thing, and if the public safety director in fact refused to fire the trooper after he threatened his father-in-law's life and committed some of the other acts alleged, then there's no scandal there, as far as I can tell. But I digress.
I think "hypocrisy" is used by people these days to describe a sort of savage joy in someone else's problems, rather than the actual meaning of the word. It's a feeling of, "Ha! Caught you! You claim to be so high and mighty, but you, too, are human!" Which is fine - if that's how you feel, then say it. But don't throw around the word "hypocrite" unless you actually mean it.
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