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Abridged Douchehat
Rising Hegemon —
Sarah Palin represents the kind of "common", "ordinary", "representative" American that forms the readership the NY Times hired me to reach. Stupid people too dimwitted to recognize their own ignorance. Let me ignore a few facts about American history to tell you a few items of unadulterated bullshit. Just 10 more months until they ship in the next pathetic right-wing asshole at the Times. (picture screams lovechild of Kelsey Grammar and Lindsey Graham) ...
No More Mister Nice Blog — ... According to Ross Douthat's New York Times column today, if you go to an Ivy League school, no one in the press ever says anything mean about you: ...
Your Abbreviated Pundit Round Up
Daily Kos —
... Steve Steckler: But what I really think cemented Sarah Palin’s most loyal following and elevated her personal mystique to a level transcendent of her politics was the single most selfless decision of her life: to give birth to her son Trig. That seemed the case among many at my 4th of July parade, including those who I know never attend church and would rather talk combines and corn borers than abortion or gay marriage. Ross Douthat: She should have said no. Yes. And while she ...
Gadzooks!
pandagon.net - we are the public option —
by Jesse Taylor
Ross Douthat is trying to muscle in on Bill Kristol territory, turning Sarah Palin into a Lesson For Us All:
Our president represents the meritocratic ideal — that anyone, from any background, can grow up to attend Columbia and Harvard Law School and become a great American success story. But Sarah Palin represents the democratic ideal — that anyone can grow up to be a great success story without graduating from Columbia and Harvard.
[...]
Here are lessons of the Sarah Palin experience, for any aspiring ...
Sarah Palin is Like a Box of Ex-Lax
David E's Fablog —
by David E | (Visited 12 times) S&C Asshat weighs in on The Chilla From Wasilla :“She should have said no.” Ya Think? But wouldn’t that meant she’d have had to give back the penmanship medal?“If Sarah Palin’s political career ended last Friday, 10 tumultuous months after she was introduced as the Republican Party’s vice-presidential nominee, those five words will be its epitaph. Had she refused John McCain, Palin would still be a popular female governor in a Republican Party starved for future stars. Her scandals would be the stuff of local politics, her ...
The Not-So-Useful Idiot
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
... Ross chronicles the meteoric rise and fall of the biggest farce in American politics in living memory. The column is yet another rehash of Nixonian class resentments and Rovian cynicism that dominate the GOP;s thinking classes: if only she'd waited and "boned up" on the issues, she could have had a real future. How about nominating someone who actually knew something about some issues before she was picked? Or someone who could at least give a passing imitation of even being interested in them? Did that ever occur to Ross? He mentions not a single policy issue, nor a ...
Is Palin's Appeal Based on Class?
The Monkey Cage —
... So says Ross Douthat in the NY Times. I have no idea whether Sarah Palin is a “great success story.” I guess getting elected governor and being nominated for the vice-presidency counts as success, although some might say it’s how you do those jobs rather than whether you simply hold them. And I’ll leave it to political theorists to parse Douthat’s contrast between meritocracy and democracy, and whether or how Obama and Palin somehow embody those ideals. (A lot of Obama’s story seems to me a “democratic” story, but that’s ...
How Did He Do It?
Balloon Juice —
So I just finished the Douthat piece DougJ linked to earlier, and my only question is how did he write that whole column without using the terms Orthogonians and Franklins?
Class and Gender
Neptunus Lex —
Barriers to success, in America:
Here are lessons of the Sarah Palin experience, for any aspiring politician who shares her background and her sex. Your children will go through the tabloid wringer. Your religion will be mocked and misrepresented. Your political record will be distorted, to better parody your family and your faith. (And no, gentle reader, Palin did not insist on abstinence-only sex education, slash funds for special-needs children or inject creationism into public schools.)
Male commentators will attack you for parading your children. Female commentators will attack you for not staying home with them. You’ll be ...
Palin and the Elites
The American Scene —
... Is it just me, or does anyone else get the sense that Andrew Sullivan didn’t even bother to read Ross’s latest column before he ...
The 'democratic ideal'
Political Animal —
THE 'DEMOCRATIC IDEAL'.... The New York Times' Ross Douthat agrees that Sarah Palin has disqualified herself for national office, and has "delusional" expectations of her future. Douthat insists , however, that her rise and fall has been "a dispiriting period for American democracy." [President Obama] represents the meritocratic ideal -- that anyone, from any background, can grow up to attend Columbia and Harvard Law School and become a great American success story. But Sarah Palin represents the democratic ideal -- that anyone can grow up to be a great success story without ...
Taylor Marsh: Sarah Palin's Second Chance
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... for 2012. Others thinking what might have been, because they don't realize what is right now. "She should have said no," is a look back by Ross Douthat. ...
two scenarios
The American Scene —
... Ross Douthat’s column on Sarah Palin. According to Zengerle, “after briefly acknowledging that Palin made mistakes, Ross goes on to blame her plight on elites' mistreatment of her.” Actually, Ross says that “last Friday’s bizarre, rambling resignation speech should take her off the political map for the duration of the Obama era.” And then he says that, while a resignation for personal reasons elicits sympathy, “A Sarah Palin who resigned in the delusional belief that it would give her a better shot at the presidency in 2012 warrants no such kindness.” And then he goes on to ...
On the Elites v. Palin
PoliBlog: A Rough Draft of my Thoughts —
Writes Ross Douthat in today’s NYT (Palin and Her Enemies)
Sarah Palin represents the democratic ideal — that anyone can grow up to be a great success story without graduating from Columbia and Harvard.
This ideal has had a tough 10 months. It’s been tarnished by Palin herself, obviously. With her missteps, scandals, dreadful interviews and self-pitying monologues, she’s botched an essential democratic role — the ordinary citizen who takes on the elites
I have heard and read similar claims since Palin’s announcement and even before that recall people talking about how the “elites” ...
Sarah Palin: The First Politician Ever to Be Criticized In Less Than Fully Rational Ways!
Lawyers, Guns and Money —
... for the obvious rejoinder to Douthat's claim that it's only politicians of Palin's gender and class background who can expect that their "children will go through the tabloid wringer" and their "religion will be mocked and misrepresented." Even leaving aside the press' longstanding war on Clinton and Gore, as Adam notes we have an excellent ongoing example of an Ivy League meritocrat being subjected to all kinds of race-and-gender driven attacks in Sonia Sotomayor. Palin was indeed subjected to some attacks based on her gender and class (as well as many more perfectly ...
iquitarod
skippy the bush kangaroo —
... but even as the hardly-ever-right wing trips over itself trying to spin palin into an amazingly brilliant tactician, it becomes obvious to the reality-based americans all over that this woman is, at best, the worst strategist ever, or, at worst, the best crazy person to occupy centerstage since michael jackson died. ...
Ross Douthat Depicts Palin as a Conservative Feminist Martyr
Firedoglake —
... As you read Ross today, it's appropriate to play the world's tiniest violin between your index finger and thumb. ...
Feminist Hatred of Palin
PoliGazette —
Violet of Reclusive Leftist posted a thought-provoking piece on her blog this weekend, Feminists and the Mystery of Sarah Palin. Violet is a self-described feminist who has been dismayed by the malicious, dishonest attacks on Sarah Palin.
Violet is “baffled” by feminists who never bothered to research Palin’s record and policy views. Instead, their hatred of Palin spurred them to intentionally make up lies about the ”second woman in U.S. history to run on a major party’s ticket” ...
Class and Sarah Palin
Matthew Yglesias —
Ross Douthat on Sarah Palin:
That last statistic is a crucial one. Palin’s popularity has as much to do with class as it does with ideology. In this sense, she really is the perfect foil for Barack Obama. Our president represents the meritocratic ideal — that anyone, from any background, can grow up to attend Columbia and Harvard Law School and become a great American success story. But Sarah Palin represents the democratic ideal — that anyone can grow up to be a great success story without graduating from Columbia and Harvard. ...
It's her own fault
The Reaction —
By Mustang Bobby Ross Douthat makes a half-hearted attempt to defend Sarah Palin against her enemies. She should have said no. If Sarah Palin’s political career ended last Friday, 10 tumultuous months after she was introduced as the Republican Party’s vice-presidential nominee, those five words will be its epitaph. Had she refused John McCain, Palin would still be a popular female governor in a Republican Party starved for future stars. Her scandals would be the stuff of local politics, her daughter’s pregnancy a ...
Happy Hour Links
Weekly Standard Blog —
Christopher Hitchens: Did the Toppling of Saddam Hussein Lead to Recent Events in Iran?
Ross Douthat: Palin and Her Enemies.
Andrew Malcolm: Russian TV grills Obama on heroes, favorite movie, his nice wife.
Ed Morrissey: IRGC takes control of all security functions.
Gary Schmitt: Government Spending Rises, Just Not for Defense.
Jennifer Rubin: Powell Loves Racial Preferences and the Judge Devoted to Them.
Sarah Palin: Working Class Hero? (And The Rest Of Your Scritti Politti)
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... I appreciate that Ross Douthat is looking for a working-class hero for the future GOP of his book, Grand New Party. The sooner he can bring himself from barking up Palin's tree, though, the better off he's going to be. But for the moment, he's running with it: ...
Douthat v Sullivan: Name The "Delusional Liar"
Riehl World View —
... Ross Douthat's item on Sarah Palin from today. Most have heard about Palin's accomplishments in Alaska related to energy and an old line corrupt Republican establishment, among others as governor. I'm unaware of any lies she has been proven to have told. So, just who is the delusional lair here, Sullivan, or Sarah Palin? ...
links for 2009-07-06
FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog —
... (tags: California Proposition_13 California_Budget)
Sarah Palin and Her Enemies – Don't Even Think About It
If Sarah Palin’s political career ended last Friday, 10 tumultuous months ...
The Education of Sarah Palin
Pajamas Media —
... scrutiny which goes with a national political career. And if they are unduly harsh and have been condescending and cruel beyond anything we have seen on the national scene, they at least have confirmed a key rule in politics: don’t give your enemies ammunition to confirm their worst suspicions about you. Still, there is a lingering sense among many conservatives that this is not really Palin’s fault. While conceding her poor interview outings during the campaign and other “missteps,” Ross Douthat sounds a sympathetic note for Sarah Palin: Here are lessons of the Sarah Palin ...
What the world needs now is not more Sarah Palin; or, how her right-wing admirers are falling all over themselves trying to love her up
The Reaction —
... 1) Ross Douthat -- One of the more thoughtful conservatives around, to be sure, with a perch at the NYT, one of the key media organizations of the coastal elite that Palin claims to loathe, and against which she directs much of her silly resentment. I was going to comment earlier on his ridiculous juxtaposition of "Palin and Her Enemies," but I don't have much to add to Mustang Bobby's ...
Leah Anthony Libresco: Sarah Palin's Gut is Making Me Sick
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... In Monday's column, Ross Douthat looks at Palin's high unfavorable ratings (44 percent in a recent Pew poll) and manages to tease out a silver lining: among Americans without a college education, her approval ratings peak at 48 percent. Douthat doesn't linger on the fact that, even among this subpopulation, Palin's approval is shy of a majority, let alone a mandate. Instead he prefers to focus on the 'crucial' significance of Palin's popularity among citizens without a college education. ...
Talkin' Bout Real
Bitch. Ph.D. —
... It all sort of started with Douthat's column in the New York Times last Sunday about Sarah Palin. Douthat argued that the failure of Sarah Palin's political career was a failure of the "democratic ideal," which is apparently that "anyone can grow up to be a success story without going to Columbia or Harvard." I don't know if I can make a pithy statement about what the "democratic ideal" is, but whatever it is, it sure as hell ain't that. ...
Late Night: Baked Potato Frontrunner for 2012 GOP Nomination; Liberals Vow to Destroy Potato, MSM Reaches for Sour Cream, Chives
Firedoglake —
... TPPoW: Elitist! Clearly you're just terrified that the old American aphorism about how anyone can grow up to be president might actually be true! ...
On Palin, Noonan Is the Antidote to Douthat
Comments from Left Field —
... I like Ross Douthat, as I’ve said here before, but earlier this week he wrote a justly panned column in which he claimed, absurdly, that Sarah Palin had been done in by media elites who “mocked and misrepresented” her because she didn’t graduate from Columbia or Harvard. Douthat’s editorial was infused with the very thing he was objecting to – classism, the condescending assumption that a woman without an Ivy League pedigree shouldn’t be criticized by uppity reporters for appearing utterly clueless about, say, foreign policy, the economy, the ...
Let’s Play “What If?”
The Sundries Shack —
... might well explode (via Duane Lester ). But if for some reason that one didn’t trigger a cranial detonation, this one surely would . The takeaway: An administration spinning out of control because of the same disease which characterizes all central planners; the false sense that central government is best suited to make decisions for individuals. And add to it the hubris of the political classes, the people who cannot fathom that anyone without the proper degrees or who isn’t articulate lacks intelligence or common sense. By the time ...
SOME NEW BLOOD FOR INTELLECTUAL CONSERVATISM
Right Wing Nut House —
... , Ross Douthat, (who collaborated with Salam in writing a book about how the right can make a comeback) and because he’d probably feel bad if I left him out, ...
