Today, I am far more educated, and when I say "educated" I mean more truly knowledgeable, not just more skilled at repeating talking points, which is what "educated" meant to me when I was a radical left-wing pro-choice agnostic. I have spent countless hours in the past few months, to the increasing detriment of what was once a thriving social life, tracking down footnote after footnote, following the references and citations where they lead. I have more or less constant headaches from eye strain, my back hurts all the time, and I am thinking of hiring a research assistant just to field arguments from Facebook friends. Do you know anybody who'll work for cookies and gold star stickers?
When I was in my late teens and early 20s, I read books by Al Franken and Michael Moore (yes, on purpose) condemning Ann Coulter as a lying liar who lies. In the few years in which I was deeply interested in liberal politics, I admit the only thing I ever read by Ann Coulter was the famous quote extracted from her column published in Human Events three days after 9/11. It said, referring to Muslim terrorists and those who sheltered them, "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity." I remember the "moral" outrage I felt (I put the word "moral" in quotations because I had no morals to speak of then) at reading that quote, and I remember reading or hearing Ann referred to in the "mainstream" press as a hateful, venom-spouting polemicist skeleton. A lot of the vitriol was mixed with a weird amount of reference to her physical attractiveness, but I ignored the obvious sexism because it didn't suit my purpose at the time, which was to reaffirm my current beliefs that Ann was a lot like a cockroach, if you could imagine a cockroach who was also a willowy blonde WASP from Connecticut. (Most of us can.)
I didn't read even a single column of Coulter's, but that didn't stop me from bitching about how hateful and dishonest and horrifying she was whenever anyone mentioned her name (usually to bitch about how hateful, dishonest and horrifying she was). I can't remember which, and can't stomach the thought of tracking it down seeing as how I'm not getting paid, but it was either Franken or Moore who accused Ann Coulter of citing phony or misleading sources, when she cited anything at all. I took the liberty of tracking down a random selection of footnotes from her most recent book, and found to my total lack of surprise that they were neither phony nor misleading.
It's an uncomfortable feeling, finding out that a lot of what you believed was utter rubbish, such as that Bill Clinton is an honorable human being and Sarah Palin is a moron.
All I knew about Sarah Palin when I commenced to hate her was that she was a conservative, her daughter was knocked up, and the religious right LOVED her. I also found out pretty quickly, via an email forward, that she shot wolves from helicopters. As a lover of animals, this disgusted me. I watched a video online of Ashley Judd condemning Palin for destroying Alaskan wildlife, which should have been my first clue that Palin wasn't all bad. Judd, after all, is an outspoken proponent of Planned Parenthood and opponent of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban. How I was able to take seriously Ashley Judd weeping for "defenseless" anything is beyond me.
In true liberal form, I started emailing this video to everybody I knew, proclaiming loudly that the media was covering it up, although I had personally found the information via the media. A Google search for "Palin shooting wolves" done today gets 176,000 hits, the first few pages of which almost exclusively contain material which (a) was published before March 2009, and (b) fails to defend Palin's actions in any meaningful way. Instead, headlines scream: "Sarah's Cruel Streak" and "Alaska's Dead Wolf Pups Demand Justice." The left does this all the time and I know because I did it all the time. I would find a million references in the press to something "the right" was "covering up," get really pissed about the conspiracy, and tell everyone I knew about it. This happened all the time, from Halliburton to Guantanamo to Dick Cheney being the ogre under the bridge from The Three Billy Goats Gruff. (Not yet confirmed.)
I ignored the obvious, sexist jab at Palin made by Obama (the "lipstick on a pig" remark) and I laughed at the callous, though very funny, jokes my friends made about her baby. Sample exchange:
Me: She named her new baby something weird, too. Trig.
Friend: Guess what class he'll never be in.
Really funny, but totally mean. I admit it: I laughed. I thought about the hundreds of thousands of babies with Down syndrome who are aborted every year, and I was very glad she kept her baby, and glad she encouraged her daughter to keep her baby, but I still laughed. And I defended David Letterman when he made the terribly inappropriate joke about Bristol Palin, a teenager, on his talk show.
Why? Why did I hate her so much?
I honestly don't know. Maybe because it's what everyone else was doing. All the smart people are liberal! Tina Fey, who is so intelligent and funny and cool, nailed Palin to the wall on SNL. Everybody smart thought Palin was stupid, backwards, and contrived. And I'm smart! Ergo, I should find Palin stupid. Right?
This is the kind of non-thinking I did for years as a liberal. I absorbed the default position on every issue from media and pop culture, gleaned the talking points, and let 'er rip.
Sarah Palin was the target of blatant sexism during the 2008 campaign. For an idea of how she was perceived by liberals, Google her image now and you will find a plethora of images of her head pasted onto the bodies of naughty secretaries with their blouses popping open. Most of them accompany websites that denigrate Sarah's politics and beliefs. Conservative, pro-Palin websites do not indulge in fantastical images of her behaving like a soft-core porn star because they respect her.
Then there was Obama's "lipstick" remark, and the constant noise from the "feminist" camp about everything from her parenting skills to her "anti-woman" pro-life stance. While they should have been praising her for raising five children in a loving marriage to her high-school sweetheart as she ascended to governorship of a state and candidacy for the vice presidency of the United States, they called her, the only woman in the race with executive experience, a vacuous, vapid, ridiculous floozy. Meanwhile, liberal "men" blogged about her stupidity while in another browser window they collected photos of her for an... ahem... personal file. Ann Coulter is absolutely right: from Ann herself to Sarah Palin to Carrie Prejean, people go nuts lust-hating beautiful conservative Christian women.
Sarah Palin was the target of a pro-Obama (prObama?) media. While they lobbed him softballs about how hard it must be to be a black man in his position, and how hard it must be to be attacked by the right wing conspiracy, and how hard it must be to be so brilliant and so handsome at the same time, Palin was being asked tough questions, some of which were pointedly obscure or vague (experts had to point out later that there really was no one policy or group of policies that could be pointed to as the "Bush doctrine").
In a move typical for the prObama media, they went after divorce records -- not Sarah's but her alleged lover's. They found not a shred of evidence that she'd had an affair with Brad Hanson or Scott Richter, so eventually they had to shut up about it. I'm sure they sent her and her family a heartfelt letter of apology, just as I'm sure Judas and Hitler regularly go ice-skating together in Hell.
I defend Sarah now because in these instances she deserves to be defended. I do not defend her for shooting wolves from a helicopter or for encouraging others to do so. From what I have learned, this is not a terribly controversial activity in Alaska, where moose, caribou and other herd animals are depended on for food by many people and high predator populations can lead to food shortages. The majority of the few wildlife and hunting experts whose opinions I read online (3 out of 4) said that bear populations need more culling than wolves. Nevertheless, Palin is far from rare in believing Alaskan wolf populations have to be thinned by humans for various reasons.
I disagree with Sarah on this. I don't think she should shoot wolves, and I don't think anyone else should without a damn good reason, such as being in immediate danger from one.
But the same so-called bleeding hearts who tear their hair out with grief for the poor wolves who threaten human food supplies defend a woman's right to have her child murdered in the womb for any old reason at all, such as that she prefers a boy and is pregnant with a girl, or doesn't want to lose her figure, or can't stand the thought of having Bill Clinton's baby. All I can say is: give me a break. Please. Cut out the crocodile tears. This "defenseless" animal is a predator who had at least a shot at life. It's an animal. If it were hungry and you were nearby, it would rip your throat out without a second thought. The victim of abortion is a truly defenseless, utterly trapped and dependent human child. How dare you weep for the hundreds or thousands of predators culled by hunters in the wilderness while simultaneously dismissing without a thought the millions of human babies killed every year legally in your very own neighborhoods?
The attack on Sarah Palin is rife with double standards, sexism, hypocrisy, irrationality, and the left's typically twisted "moral" posturing. And it is not over. The way it looks now, Sarah is a "definite maybe" for 2012, and it will only get worse. As Obama and his supporters, who include the entire establishment media, try desperately to save his presidency for a second term (which, at the rate he's going now, will be desperate indeed) the attacks on Palin will only worsen and increase.
This time, though, for what it's worth, they won't have me on their side.
A slightly modified version of this blog was posted at Modern Conservative.
Everything that comes out of Sarah Palin's mouth is hate. (I have defined all opinions that diverge from my own "hate").
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I got anything out of this except "Everyone's so mean to Sarah!" Seriously... how is she REMOTELY EVER viable as President? She was a small town Mayor (nice, but that's about a 2 on a scale of 1 to 100 on the Presidential experience-o-meter). She was a Governor of the only state in the Nation with a nearly communist state wealth re-distributionalist economic policy.... for almost three quarters of one term. And it's one of the lowest populated states with the greatest amount of earmarks in total dollar figures. She's a conservative genius how?
ReplyDeleteI admit, she's super cute - and props for doing the super-mom thing, but really. Dig up some substance other than "those people are MEAN!" Note: I'm not a Democrat.
My point in this column was not to defend Sarah Palin as a candidate, but to point out not only her unfair treatment by the media, but by people (like I was) who buy into the lie. In that case, according even to you, I did what I set out to do.
ReplyDeleteI never said she was a conservative genius, by the way. Genius is not a word I would use to describe her.
And I don't care at all about MEAN. Bring on the MEAN. But at least observe a modicum of fairness and honesty while doing it. That's what I set out to say, and I said it.
If you want to be "fair and honest", you need to talk about all the other unfair, dishonest, mean attacks on politicians like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Colin Powell, etc. Sexism? Look up all of the commentary on Hillary's clothing and hair during the campaign. And she actually IS smart and WAS qualified to be president. Barack Obama? Do you actually think it's fair for people to compare him to Hitler? How about calling Colin Powell unpatriotic for not supporting every aspect of the Bush Administration's psychotic torture tactics? Oh, and to add salt to that wound, those attacks came from other republicans - draft dodgers like Cheney and Bush who used their elitist ties to do anything they could to avoid going to war. Pretty "fair", huh?
ReplyDeleteOh, and I'm not a democrat, either.
First of all, just a little correction, Kattie: Cheney requested deferments, Bush served in the National Guard. The only draft dodger you mentioned was Bill Clinton.
ReplyDeleteFair and honest: unfair, dishonest, mean attacks on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were practically nonexistent in the mainstream media during the campaign. You are probably only convinced that this was a common occurrence because of the countless times when the mainstream media brought up the "fact" that the media was perpetrating unfair, dishonest, mean attacks on Obama and Clinton. If you heard negative comments about Hillary's hair, makeup, or appearance from the Washington Post, New York Times, Rolling Stone, LA Times, Vanity Fair, or any other "neutral" source, it was probably because they were pointing out how unfair it is that the press is making negative comments about Hillary's hair, makeup, or appearance.
It doesn't matter that you're not a Democrat, and I don't know why commenters keep making that "point," as if somehow it exempts from you being influenced by an overwhelmingly pro-Democratic media.
By the way, I don't have time to go into it, but Hillary Clinton, undeniably intelligent though she may be, has proven herself deeply unscrupulous. Look up how the Whitewater real estate operation took money directly out of the pockets of working class people and put it into hers.
Kristen, Sarah Palin has never shot a wolf, either from an aircraft or the ground. AS governor, she merely continued the Alaska Fish & Game Dept.'s program of predator management.
ReplyDeleteWolves are not dogs. They are efficient killing machines that hunt herd animals in packs. Ask the families of campers and hikers who have recently been killed by wolves in Alaska how lovable these animals are.
Wolves have litters of four to five, while moose and caribou mostly have single births. As a result of this fact of nature and numbers, wolves left unmanaged would decimate the caribou and moose herds. With no herd animals as their prey, wolves would go after domesticated pets and humans, as there are not enough rodents and other small prey to support their numbers. Many of the predators would starve to death, a fate much worse than a hunter's bullet.
Alaska's native populations depend on the herd animals to feed and clothe their children, as there are no Wal Mart or Food Lion stores in their remote villages. Even if there were such retail outlets where they live, the price of meat and produce would be prohibitive for these folks.
The portrayal of Sarah Palin as a cruel and heartless puppy-killer is totally false and intended to play on the emotions of people who cannot think rationally.
Anyone who supports or defends Sarah Palin will be subject to the same abuse that the left has been pouring on Sarah and her family. Be strong as you walk out of darkness into the light.
- JP
Some of you that still attack Sarah are koolaide intoxicated. look at the fool of a VP we have.
ReplyDeleteHe gives condolences for a Mother not dead yet, ask a wheel bound individual to stand up and be recognized. Sarah has more executive time then this fool in office. He is destroying our economy and our way of life. He has put our children's children in RED and Clinton COME ON
Bank and mail fraud, violations of campaign finance laws, illegal foreign campaign funding, improper exports of sensitive technology, physical violence and threats of violence, solicitation of perjury, intimidation of witnesses, bribery of witnesses, attempted intimidation of prosecutors, perjury before congressional committees, lying in statements to federal investigators and regulatory officials, flight of witnesses, obstruction of justice, bribery of cabinet members, real estate fraud, tax fraud, drug trafficking, failure to investigate drug trafficking, bribery of state officials, use of state police for personal purposes, exchange of promotions or benefits for sexual favors, using state police to provide false court testimony, laundering of drug money through a state agency, false reports by medical examiners and others investigating suspicious deaths, the firing of the RTC and FBI director when these agencies were investigating Clinton and his associates, failure to conduct autopsies in suspicious deaths, providing jobs in return for silence by witnesses, drug abuse, improper acquisition and use of 900 FBI files, improper futures trading, murder, sexual abuse of employees, false testimony before a federal judge, shredding of documents, withholding and concealment of subpoenaed documents, fabricated charges against (and improper firing of) White House employees, inviting drug traffickers, foreign agents and participants in organized crime to the White House.
JP, thank you for the very welcome encouragement. It is deeply appreciated, as is the illuminating information on wolf hunting in Alaska. This is the type of thing I wish it were easier to find in the media.
ReplyDeleteI did see a video of Sarah Palin shooting a wolf from a helicopter or low-flying plane, which admittedly could have been the result of simple editing. (Show Sarah aiming gun; cut to wolf getting hit with bullet.)
Whether she did the actual shooting or not, the information you provided points out a totally acceptable and justifiable reason for Alaskan wolf hunting. So thank you.
Don, you are right: the Clintons are dangerous, immoral people, and Biden is a doofus. I think the most foolhardy and awful thing this administration is doing right now (besides health care "reform") is damaging our relationship with Israel.
ReplyDeleteGary, thank you for your kind comments and encouragement. The more I learn about Sarah the more I find to admire. And the more I learn about wolf hunting the more I find that yet again the establishment media created a mountain of lies out of a molehill.
ReplyDeleteYour welcome.
ReplyDeleteYou know, most things are either more complicated, or sometimes less, than we first think.
I live in Texas, and we have a very robust wildlife management system. We don't have as many predator issues as other western states, but managing the deer population, as well as fish and other game is a priority.
I first learned about Sarah right after she was elected Governor. Fred Barnes, from the Weekly Standard wrote a glowing article about her abilities. He had just met her himself and was blown away. (like everyone who meets her is)
Back then, you couldn't find a bad word said about her. The "straight" media covered her well. Vogue even did a cover story.
As Governor, Sarah had the highest approval of any Governor in the nation, high 80's. And Alaska is a state full of seriously independent voters.
What impressed me was her work before being Governor. She fought corruption starting with her earliest days on the Wasilla city council. But her time as Chairman of the AOGCC, the state's energy and environmental regulation agency is what sold me on her.
As the state's chief energy regulatory she was tough on the oil companies and tougher on those in her own agency. In fact, it was here that she uncovered massive corruption.
Most of the corrupt officials we Republicans and buddies of the sitting Republican Governor, Frank Murkowski. They called themselves the "Corrupt Bastards Club!"
Sarah went after them, and took down most of the Republican leadership, including the party chair, who also worked for her.
It was supposedly "political suicide" when she resigned in protest because Murkowski was trying to protect his friends. It was as a private citizen that she ended up taking this bunch down, sending many to prison.
Then she went after Murkowski, and took him down, defeating him in a landslide.
That took courage, and this woman has it in spades.
I'm sure, by now, you have learned about the goings on up in Alaska after she became a national figure, and how Obama and his top level aides went on the attack. Obama had Pete Rouse, at the time his campaign chief of staff, and an Alaskan, set up a network of people who continually attacked her, and filed all of the phony ethics complaints.
Google "Obama's Alaska Mafia" for details.
Anyhow, Pete Rouse is now a senior White House adviser, and still coordinates attacks on Sarah.
One of the reasons Sarah handed the ball off to her Lt Governor, Sean Parnell, was so she could go after Obama. Parnell, who is carrying on with her policies, is cruising to an easy win this year for re-election. He's up by 60 points!
Not sure if she will run in 2012 or not, but most of us feel she will, and if she does, she will win big.
I watched her debates back when she debated Murkowski for the Republican nomination, and then when she debated popular ex-Governor Tony Knowles, a Democrat, for the win. She was brutal!
Sorry for being so long winded.....
I get to talking about Palin and just get excited. I still remember the feeling I got when Ronald Reagan became President after the disastrous Carter years. Sarah reminds me of Reagan so much. It's almost uncanny.
Anyhow, thanks again for the great read. Look forward to more.
Kristen, I am encouraged because you have been 'there' on the 'hate Sarah, destroy Sarah' team but have chosen to leave.
ReplyDeleteAmerica needs a leader with character, courage and a proven record of successful governance, and of fighting and winning against corruption - surely the HC Bill 'PROCESS' is clear evidence of that!
I pray that God is merciful and that Constitutional America survives ..... that "The People" will either choose Gov Palin as their leader or someone VERY LIKE Gov Palin as their leader ....
Thankyou for having the courage to speak out FOR the innocent unborn and also FOR Gov Palin ..... sadly, you will surely bring hatred and filth upon yourself because of it .... may God bless and strengthen you and your family in the tumultuous days that lie ahead ...
Gary, I too am a proud Texan, born and raised and will never permanently live anywhere else! Always nice to meet a fellow resident of the Lone Star State!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you taking the time to read this, encourage me, and give me some great information about Sarah Palin. I am looking forward to doing some research and finding out more about her.
Exodus 2011, thank you for your comments. It is true I have gotten some flak from my liberal friends for posting this blog (for my conservative views in general), but if we start whining every time we have to defend ourselves, we're no better than they are. So I welcome it! And I especially welcome the encouragement and kind words from people like you. I hope you keep reading. God bless you!
ReplyDeleteKristen, simply put, "you rock"! Only truly honest beings are able to look and see truth. You are doing that and are to be greatly admired for confronting the lies, innuendos, distortions, intentions to destroy, etc., spewed by those who cannot tolerate differing viewpoints, their lapdogs and their sheep.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading more of your words - honesty is uplifting!
"Bush served in the National Guard"
ReplyDeleteTrue, as far as it goes.
But please keep in mind that he was tucked safely away in the Texas Air National Guard during Vietnam, along with several other 'fortunate sons'. (Lloyd M. Bentsen 3d)
Gary "Sarah reminds me of Reagan so much. It's almost uncanny. "
ReplyDeleteThere are similarities, yes. Some believe that's not a good thing, though.
I've voted for various parties, based more on my evaluation of the candidate. So I'm not locked in to Dem or Republican at all.
I would have voted for McCain, and proudly, until his VP candidate was named. Her, "a heartbeat from the Presidency", scared the h*ll out of me. Lack of experience and, as it turned out, a real ignorance of the world (past and current) would have meant ruin for the USA.
Biden is no prize and I do not agree with all that President Obama has implemented, or tried to implement.
But Gov Palin running as President? That would guarantee Obama being reelected.
"This time, though, for what it's worth, they won't have me on their side."
ReplyDeleteIt is worth it. One more person seeing the light and seeing sense is always a good thing.