The Victorious Opposition

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any sillier…

I suppose the only reason people are making an issue of this is that Palin has been critical of Obama’s teleprompter dependence.  Certainly nobody’s suggesting there’s anything wrong with the use of crib notes in general.  Then again, dwex’s “pretty sad” comment indicates otherwise.

But the difference between Palin and Obama is the difference between an inch and a mile!  Obama reads every word of his speeches off the teleprompter, even recently hauling one into a sixth-grade classroom.  Yet people are drawing a comparison between that and SIX damn words scrawled on Palin’s hand?

This is totally ridiculous, but a perfect example of the ire Palin draws from non-conservatives and the political class.

Oh please. She actually read “lift American spirits” from her hand during a Q&A; you can see her do it in the video. She had to write down “energy”, “tax”, “budget cuts”? She couldn’t remember these basic tidbits, which are rather core to her message? And to actually have to hand edit her notes (pun intended)?

Not to mention the absolute amateur-hour of scribbling notes on your hand like a kid cheating on a test. Like she couldn’t use 3x5 cards or something?

It’s pathetic.

Palin doesn’t draw my “ire”, she draws my ridicule. She’s like a parody of herself.

If “lift American spirits” was a key phrase she was sure she wanted to use, what is wrong with her putting it in her crib notes?  Same with her key points of energy, tax and budget cuts.  And what is really the problem with writing on her hand—I do the very same thing when I need to focus on a couple key points and don’t want the distraction of a note card.  There’s nothing “amateur hour” about it!

Also, I’d like to point out that you completely dodged the inch-and-a-mile comparison between her and Obama.  dwex, do you really believe six words scrawled on a palm compare with having to read every word of one’s speech from a teleprompter?

dwex, do you really believe six words scrawled on a palm compare with having to read every word of one’s speech from a teleprompter?

The abuse of the teleprompter is weak, but it’s up front and unhidden.

I think having six words scrawled on your palm is pathetic. If you need to remind yourself to speak about taxes at a Tea Party event, that’s face-in-hands embarrassing. If you need to read from your hand to answer at a Q&A session, that’s astoundingly weak. If you’re going to bust on someone for reading his speeches, you really shouldn’t be caught having to read from your hand what your key points are.

Is “inch-and-mile” the new meme? It isn’t even relevant in this context. If Obama were reading shit off his hand, I’d rag on that too. That’s complete amateur hour. Unquestionably.

Sorry that I don’t bow down at the altar of Saint Palin. She isn’t worthy of an iota of the devotion thrown at her. All she’s done is (a) quit and (b) throw spitballs. She lost me at (a), and obtained my scorn with (b).

I’m putting my chips on you dwex, with this argument. It has become increasingly clear to me living in California, that Republicans value the same large government tactics the Democrats too value.

Is “inch-and-mile” the new meme? It isn’t even relevant in this context. If Obama were reading shit off his hand, I’d rag on that too. That’s complete amateur hour. Unquestionably.

Yes, it completely seems to be in play here. Sarah Palin has run her course, as is the modern tea party movement. I wanted it to be a message to both parties that people were tired of this much movement. In the meantime, the movement was distorted by both sides. Palin is not after smaller government, or fiscal responsibility. Let’s just call it what it is. What the tey partiers are mad about (supposedly) is too much government. I could dig that.

What the spokeswoman for it has come out saying, is that she’s after just the same as Bush (who any conservative here has said was not conservatism). It’s funny that I’ve said that the Republicans could do more with a relative unknown, only floated before elections, who would promise lower taxes, and job creation. Now they both promise the same thing, more government growth, just a disagreement (marginally) about where to do it. No lower taxes, no balanced budget, no smaller government. Just which Unions should vote for them. Will it be government Unions or the private Unions?

Either way we’re getting socialism.

I have a question…

What’s wrong with using a teleprompter? I’m currently writing speeches for a cabinet minister, and he reads out everything I write for him, word for word. Each speech takes at least a day to complete because language is very very important - if something is phrased the wrong way, then it can be a PR, political or legal problem. We often spend an hour deliberating on the right 3 or 4 words to use in a phrase. He reads from peices of A4 paper that are on a lectern in front of him. Pretty much every single other (UK) politician does the same. A teleprompter is just the same thing, but it allows the speaker to maintain eye contact. I would love my guy to use a teleprompter, but it just isn’t practical.

I could be completely wrong about this - but are you assuming that every other American politician makes their speeches up on the spot? Or is the ire directed because its a teleprompter, and not a notepad?

It isn’t that he uses a teleprompter for most speeches; it is that he uses it for every speech.  Bringing in a teleprompter when speaking to a group of six graders is ridiculous.  It makes him seem less genuine and that there is something that he is hiding.  He is too concerned with making sure he says the right thing and even with the teleprompter, he still messes up.

cress,

There’s nothing generally wrong with using a teleprompter, but our President’s complete reliance on it can be annoying and distracting, particularly when one considers the praise he is routinely given for his supposedly excellent oratorical abilities.

Speaking for myself, the more I see him speak, the more distracting his behavior is.  I often struggle to focus on what he’s actually saying, because of his speaking habits.  He just seems unnatural—using paper on a lectern would be far more natural and less distracting.

You say that a teleprompter allows a speaker to make eye contact, but this is absolutely not the case with Obama, whose gaze always remains fixed on one of the two teleprompter screens, very rarely making eye contact with his audience.  I’ve heard people who’ve seen him in person say that it feels like he’s talking past them.  One lesson I’ve learned from Toastmasters and other settings that have helped me with my speaking is the importance of making eye contact with audience members—it helps create a more intimate connection and thus increases audience listening ability. 

I could forgive him for his distracting style, but given the laud he receives from many for his oratory, it seems fair game for criticism.

Bringing in a teleprompter when speaking to a group of six graders is ridiculous.

FWIW - he didn’t use the teleprompter to speak to the sixth graders (that’s from The Weekly Standard, not some left-wing Obama sycophants). The teleprompters were set up in a separate room where he made a press statement after speaking with the kids. Yes, he uses the teleprompter too much, but (a) this story is wrong and (b) there’s a world of difference between teleprompter addiction and having to write your key themes (e.g. remembering “tax” at a Tea Party event) on your hand like you’re cheating on a test in sixth grade.

...there’s a world of difference between teleprompter addiction and having to write your key themes (e.g. remembering “tax” at a Tea Party event) on your hand…

You’re right.  One is a consistent pattern of distracting behavior for the “communicator-in-chief”.  The other is a ridiculously unimportant tempest in a teapot about someone who doesn’t hold any important office or position.

someone who doesn’t hold any important office or position.

She had an important office or position, and she quit, because the mean, mean Democrats were picking on her too much.

And yet people pay attention to her like she actually does hold an important office or position.

And so we ridicule her when she does amateur hour shit like scribble cribnotes on her hand to remind herself to talk about taxes at an anti-tax event.

For the life of me, I cannot fathom why you are defending this nonsense.

Ridiculous.  Good to see that the media has sunk to a new petty and weak low in their ongoing campaign to stop her. 

And no, dwex, having to recite every single thing that you say from a teleprompter whenever a camera is pointed at you is not the same thing as writing notes on your hand if you don’t want to stand out there holding a bunch of index cards.

I’m sure that if she had used index cards, the Obamo-phile Media would be making jokes about her handwriting.  Why do liberals hate conservative women so much?

She had an important office or position, and she quit, because the mean, mean Democrats were picking on her too much unscrupulous liberal partisan hacks were personally bankrupting her with legal fees incurred during frivolous ethics complaints.

You needed some proofreading there.

And yet people pay attention to her like she actually does hold an important office or position.

You just don’t get it.  More precisely, you don’t understand conservatives.  If only somebody had foreseen that she would use her status as an outsider to put herself front and center of the anti-Big Government backlash and give it a face and a voice.  Oh, wait. I did:

Assuming that the Obama Administration keeps going like it has been into 2012, there is going to be an enormous anti-government/anti-liberal storm built up and Palin is going to be its most authentic representative given how much of an outsider she is.

Posted by Thrill on 12/13/09 at 05:10 PM from

Being out of “an important position” is quickly becoming an asset, not a liability. 

It’s entertaining to read dwex virtually screaming from the mountaintop about how Palin has finally been discredited, is politically finished, and can never build a following and become a presidential contender after every media attack as Palin continues to rise without even a wobble.

Is it denial or mere obtuseness?  You be the judge.

ooh!  Let’s start dissing her wardrobe too!

dwex:

She had an important office or position, and she quit, because the mean, mean Democrats were picking on her too much.

Do you remember the vivisection that this woman received from not only democrats, but also an all too willing accomplice in the mainstream media?  From investigations into what she wore and who gave it too her, to endless ethics probes on baseless accusations. If democrats, liberals and the media (is there really a difference anymore?) had spent one quarter of the energy vetting “teh whon” as they did the vice presidential candidate of the opposition we might not be hurtling towards socialism at full speed.

BTW - it’s definitely obtuseness

Let’s also suck the air out of dwex’s implication that she was somehow being hypocritical by criticizing Obama’s teleprompter dependency:

And in that spirit, I caution against allowing this movement to be defined by any one leader or politician. The tea party movement is not a top-down operation. It’s a ground-up call to action that is forcing both parties to change the way they’re doing business, and that’s beautiful.

This is about the people. This is about the people. And it’s bigger than any king or queen of a tea party. And it’s a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter.

The dig she was making was at the PR-invented cult-of-personality Teleprompter Jesus who the Democrats have deified and used to define their supposed movement with its leftwing agenda. 

She was illustrating that he’s vapid and his appeal is based on his ability to beautifully recite empty words rather than real grassroots “Change.”  Obama was not brought into office because he carried ideas that the American people want; it was entirely because he was a semi-black guy that gives neat speeches posted by a teleprompter that he follows with Ron Burgundy-like devotion.

Another thing that kills me is how scared liberals/democrats/media are of SP.  To wit

Wow, talk about a picture being worth a thousand words.  Really? The White House Press Secretary is now authorized to single out private citizens for public beatings?

dwex, you seriously need to revisit your critical thinking skills.  Lawyerin is hard!

It is amazing how you confuse incredulity and ridicule with fear. We aren’t scared of Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin winning the GOP nomination is the best possible gift the Democrats could receive in 2012.

What we are is incredulous at the nonsense she spews, and the fact that people take her seriously in any serious context any more. And we ridicule her because she does ridiculous stuff.

Like - she had to write “tax” on her hand to remind herself to talk about taxes at the Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Party convention.

That is laughable. Spin it all you like. It is laugh-until-your-guts-hurt ludicrous for someone who is supposedly a serious candidate/politician/pundit for the “conservative” movement.

And yes, Thrill. She quit. Because she was being picked on. You can’t get past it - she quit. When the going got tough, the tough abdicated. It’s weak. Oh, poor, poor Sarah Palin. The mean, mean liberals won’t stop picking on her.

Cry me a river.

We aren’t scared of Sarah Palin.

I thought you were an independent…not a democrat. But in your response to wm calling out libs/dems, you state “we” above - as in you are part of that group of dems.

Of course, it is a free country…be who you like…but don’t claim to be independent if you are not.

Also, she did quit. My understanding is that the lawsuits got to be so expensive and time consuming she could neither afford them or continue to be governor while being distracted by them. Would you like to call out the dems for being so aggressive with her and filing frivolous lawsuits as that seems to be playing politics which sure seems to light your fire? I mean, they were wasting tapayers time and dollars going after one person they hated. Isn’t that TERRIBLE politics? Isn’t that what you rant against?

In your rants about SP, I have only seen you give one side of the equation into her resignation. She did not just “quit.” But facing going bankrupt and spending the majority of time in court instead of governing seems to be why she left. Again, should the dems face some rant from you for being so, well, “political” and not doing what they thought was best for the state?

I have a question…

What’s wrong with using a teleprompter?

Other than the idea that you have no clue as to the party you represent, probably nothing. If you concede that Washington is Hollywood, carry on. Some Americans desire sincerity in political beliefs, and are completely let down by the idea that someone would need to read these heart felt beliefs off of a tele-prompter.

It is amazing how you confuse incredulity and ridicule with fear. We aren’t scared of Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin winning the GOP nomination is the best possible gift the Democrats could receive in 2012.

I agree. Everything she’s done is a play into the hands of the democrats. I think any strategist would see this chick has some baggage. No one is scared of her, she’s no Messiah. i would posit that someone who had the swing vote would be the weapon to brandish right now.

I think that the thermometer between this blog and our father blog has shown that the proclivity has been center-left. A compelling case for the reason that SP
should run for president is forthcoming.

In your rants about SP, I have only seen you give one side of the equation into her resignation. She did not just “quit.” But facing going bankrupt and spending the majority of time in court instead of governing seems to be why she left. Again, should the dems face some rant from you for being so, well, “political” and not doing what they thought was best for the state?

She did, in fact, quit under duress. That much cannot be disputed. The blame game can be pretty long, but the actions are clear.

{Republicans deserve a better candidate. I want one who will eliminate government (starting at duplication). i don’t care who it is.

Other than the idea that you have no clue as to the party you represent, probably nothing. If you concede that Washington is Hollywood, carry on. Some Americans desire sincerity in political beliefs, and are completely let down by the idea that someone would need to read these heart felt beliefs off of a tele-prompter.

Here’s the thing though. Every speech is written by someone other than the politician giving the speech. And it has been this way for about 80 years. If you’re expecting Obama to write his own speeches, and then memorise them - then sorry, you’re being unrealistic.

If your problem is that Obama has to read the speeches, then you also have a problem with pretty much every US president since Harding, and most senior politicians around the world.

Although if your problem is with the fact that he uses a teleprompter, as opposed to cue cards, or a ring binder, then I’m still going to have to ask “Whats wrong with using a teleprompter”?

There’s not anything wrong with using a teleprompter.  However, with this president; the use of it is so frequent, it is used at times where it shouldn’t be necessary, and he recites exactly what it says even when it’s telling him to say the wrong thing.

The way Obama uses the teleprompter just feeds the impression many of us have that he is nothing more than a PR firm-created, media-driven celebrity.  He’s phony and lacks any passion—or at least is afraid to speak his mind on things he’s really passionate about.

Obama is the president who was supposedly swept into office by this spontaneous movement of Americans wanting “Change” and that he was a post-partisan racial healer who would unite everyone and build a more efficient, competent government.  Of course is was all horseshit but that was the Obama icon. 

There is a sense that what he really believes and what the teleprompter tells him to say are radically (emphasis on that word) different and it’s unsettling.  Consider his unscripted moments where he really lets his attitudes and prejudices show: “the police acted stupidly” or “spread the wealth around.”

I don’t fault him for using a teleprompter.  I fault him for being a ruthless, idealogical celebriwhore phony who sold the American people a false image.

I thought you were an independent…not a democrat. But in your response to wm calling out libs/dems, you state “we” above - as in you are part of that group of dems.

Of course, it is a free country…be who you like…but don’t claim to be independent if you are not.

I’m part of the group that opposes Sarah Palin, as her social agenda is antithetical to mine (explicitly liberal), and her fiscal agenda is built on nothing other than fear-mongering (putting her quite in step with the GOP leadership that I oppose).

This kind of slag is the same as when my liberal/Democrat/whatever friends/followers accuse me of being a “Bush-bot” or “right-winger” for opposing health care reform, the bailouts, etc.

The fact that my agenda sometimes aligns with that of one side of a debate doesn’t mean I’m part of that side. As I have to routinely explain to friends who can’t understand why I don’t support Obama when I despised Bush so much.

So yes, you caught me in a response about Palin opponents, and I was unclear. This is one area where I have no issue with aligning with the Democrats - disdain for and ridicule of Sarah Palin.

In your rants about SP,

I don’t “rant” about Sarah Palin. If you think this post was a “rant”, you have some strange definitions. I call out her bullshit. Especially when it’s such blatant bullshit as this.

As for the frivolous lawsuits, aren’t those all under a policy that she pushed through the state legislature as part of her ethics reform agenda? I’m not sure how a system got set up that has a public official sued as a private individual with an expectation that the private individual pick up the tab (when the issue at bar is about conduct in office, anyhow). Generally public officials are given a presumption of some level of immunity for their duties, and it only gets past that immunity if there is some clear evidence of negligence (see, for example, the various attempts to sue Ashcroft and/or Rumsfeld directly and individually in Federal court). Is Alaska’s system so different?

Frivolous lawsuits are indeed a bad thing, and it sounds like the system in Alaska is broken. The one time I can find that we discussed this issue specifically (in the aftermath of Palin quitting), I agreed that excessive ethics investigations are significant problem.

At the end of the day, though, she quit rather than face up to her opposition. These aren’t qualifications to recommend her for further, higher, elected office.

I don’t fault him for using a teleprompter. I fault him for being a ruthless, idealogical celebriwhore phony who sold the American people a false image.

See, that I can agree with.

At the end of the day, though, she quit rather than face up to her opposition. These aren’t qualifications to recommend her for further, higher, elected office.

She’s been facing her opposition since she left office.  She’s done everything she can to draw their fire: from publishing her memoirs to signing on with Fox News to putting herself front-and-center for the Tea Party movement.

If you want to walk around with blinders on, that’s fine; but just forgive us if we feel the need to laugh at you about it.  You may end up being the only guy on the VO who’s actually amazed when she starts carrying state after state during the GOP primaries in 2012.

See, that I can agree with.

Well, that’s what Palin was saying.  Too bad that too many people were too interested in looking at her hand to listen.

Before I respond Thrill, I just want to make one point that should help clarify my puzzlement over this issue.

I would bet that 90% of the speeches given by Presidents in the last 80 years have been written by speechwriters, and read out from some sort of device; be it a teleprompter, notecards, a ring binder or a simple stack of A4 paper.

So it seems to me people have got their panties in a bunch about the medium on which his speech is delivered to him. That’s the bit that I don’t get.

He’s phony and lacks any passion—or at least is afraid to speak his mind on things he’s really passionate about.

There is a sense that what he really believes and what the teleprompter tells him to say are radically (emphasis on that word) different and it’s unsettling.

I’m a bit confused as to what you mean here – are you saying that because the prose is written by someone else, the speech isn’t his? That its really Favreau that is behind the Obama administration, and that Obama is just reading out what he’s told to? Because if that’s the case, then the teleprompter is the least of your worries!!

Consider his unscripted moments where he really lets his attitudes and prejudices show: “the police acted stupidly” or “spread the wealth around.”

That’s exactly why every president since Washington has read from a script for important speeches. When every single word that comes out of your mouth is analysed by millions of people, you’d better make sure that the words you use are the right ones.

Again, are you annoyed that he ‘reads’ his speeches, or that he reads them from a teleprompter?

Or is it the fact that the ‘illusion’ is broken because you can see the prompter right there, as opposed to some notes hidden on a lectern?

NB: I know this unfairly picking on you Thrill, and for that I apologise, but the whole teleprompter thing puzzles me, and it seems like you can explain the thinking.

Here’s the thing though. Every speech is written by someone other than the politician giving the speech. And it has been this way for about 80 years. If you’re expecting Obama to write his own speeches, and then memorise them - then sorry, you’re being unrealistic.

Dude, I didn’t write my response to your statement for me, I wrote it for you. I think it was you who was under the notion that Obama would heal the world and rain mana from the skies, seemingly healing the Trans-Atlantic rift in the process. I believe you even remarked during the election that some English-person was reading a book about Obama in the tube, therefore confirming that people across the pond would appreciate him more.

Now we’re getting to the brass tacks of it, that Obama is just a smarmy carpet bagger, selling the entire country out and not giving a shit about any of his “social” agenda more than he could throw a nickel tip at it. We’ve had to be patient while the “world” celebrates Obama, but now all of you guys should just buck up and say you fell for it.

She’s been facing her opposition since she left office.  She’s done everything she can to draw their fire: from publishing her memoirs to signing on with Fox News to putting herself front-and-center for the Tea Party movement.

Yes, but now she has no actual responsibility for doing anything. She’s just another talking head. She abdicated (literally) her responsibility to actually do stuff. This is not qualification for higher elected office…

Well, that’s what Palin was saying.  Too bad that too many people were too interested in looking at her hand to listen.

Dude, the story is her hand. The fact that she had to write “tax” on her hand to remind herself to talk about taxes at the Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Party convention, for example. That is the entire point.

The fact that she also had the cojones to bust on Obama for reading from a teleprompter when she didn’t even have enough confidence to remember the core theme of the event is just bonus that makes the entire ludicrous scene all the more ludicrous.

Tina Fey couldn’t have done a better parody of Sarah Palin than she did of herself.

Dude, I didn’t write my response to your statement for me, I wrote it for you.

Eh?

You said:

If you concede that Washington is Hollywood, carry on. Some Americans desire sincerity in political beliefs, and are completely let down by the idea that someone would need to read these heart felt beliefs off of a tele-prompter.

So maybe I need to be a little less gentle with my language.

(I am going to assume you don’t have an irrational hatred of autocue machines, and that your problem is that Obama reads his speeches)

The idea that a politician just stands up in front of a crowd and comes up with an off the cuff speech with no help from anyone, that is accurate, poetic and legal – then you are talking about Hollywood. I know he does it in Independence Day, but that isn’t real life.

In the real, non Hollywood world, what politicians say matters, and that is why all of them use speechwriters, and read their speeches, either off paper, or off a television screen. It’s the way the real world works dude. JFK didn’t write the “What your country can do for you” line. Sorry to break the illusion.

Now if you’re mad at Obama (or Bush, or Clinton or Nixon or whoever) for not being Bill Pullman, then I wonder if it was the left wingers or the right wingers who expected Obama to be the second coming of Christ. So either you are an unrealistic fantasist, or you just really hate the company that makes teleprompters.

I think it was you who was under the notion that Obama would heal the world and rain mana from the skies, seemingly healing the Trans-Atlantic rift in the process.

Cracking hyperbole there MW. But no, those are three things that I never thought Obama could deliver. Quick question – are you deliberately misrepresenting my position, or are you just sticking to hack talking points?

But seriously, this is my main puzzlement… there are so many things to attack Obama for – why does the right choose the one thing that he never said he could do, and no president has ever done. You might as well criticise him for not healing the world in 12 months or causing a supernatural precipitation.

Oh hang on, you just did.

I’m a bit confused as to what you mean here – are you saying that because the prose is written by someone else, the speech isn’t his?

No, I’m saying that what’s given to him to read is carefully crafted to ensure that it sounds palatable and doesn’t give away what he actually believes.

I’m not talking about mere gaffes. I’m saying that when he’s given the opportunity to say something off-script, there is a danger that he will say something he actually believes because it isn’t processed by his public relations puppeteers. It causes a shitstorm when he does.  JFK, Clinton, Bush, Carter, etc simply did not have Obama’s level of radicalism and didn’t have to worry about off-the-cuff remarks betraying their beliefs.

Previous presidents only wanted to look good on TV.  Obama is all about creating an image to HIDE the real man beneath, not just make him look good.  He doesn’t use a teleprompter to enhance his image.  Obama uses it in situations where he just shouldn’t need to because he is absolutely reliant on it to make sure he maintains the mask.

I wrote somewhere before the election that if the American people knew who Barack Obama is and what he really thinks, they would run him out with torches and pitchforks.  His declining poll numbers largely reflect the fact that people are finally getting wise.  This is not even what the Duped 52% voted for.

Dude, the story is her hand. The fact that she had to write “tax” on her hand to remind herself to talk about taxes at the Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Party convention, for example. That is the entire point.

The fact that she also had the cojones to bust on Obama for reading from a teleprompter when she didn’t even have enough confidence to remember the core theme of the event is just bonus that makes the entire ludicrous scene all the more ludicrous.

Well, let me put it this way:

Cheers Thrill - that makes a lot more sense. And not something I’d actually disagree with.

Well, let me put it this way:

Well, you seem to care a great deal, given how much you’ve had to say in your rabid-dog defense of something that is unequivocally noteworthy and ludicrous.

The fact that you can’t see how ludicrous her cribnotes are is also noteworthy.

I’m part of the group that opposes Sarah Palin, as her social agenda is antithetical to mine (explicitly liberal), and her fiscal agenda is built on nothing other than fear-mongering (putting her quite in step with the GOP leadership that I oppose).

Yeah…that group…how nice for you.  Try not to stand too close to them as I understand this sort of stupid may spread through osmosis.

Don’t get me started on Joy Behar. Good God…

Yeah, I think that your normal position of standing unaffiliated on most issues and just opposing Palin for your own reasons may be the best course instead of lumping yourself into that “group.”

You can imagine how pleased I am to not be in that group.  I am no Palin fanatic and will point you to one other post at Ace’s that sums up my feelings on SP exactly.

But the amount of liberal heads that assplode when the topic of Sarah Palin comes up does make me chuckle and feel all good inside, so I suppose I have some issues I still need to work on in the “works and plays well with others” category. 

But the amount of liberal heads that assplode when the topic of Sarah Palin comes up does make me chuckle and feel all good inside

I’ve said before that whenever I need to know if someone deserves my support, I only need to look at who is opposing that person and how viciously.

In Palin’s case, it’s obvious.  Sullivan hates her so she must be doing something right.

See, I actually look at what the person has to say and what they do, rather than letting some other talking head I like/dislike make up my mind for me. I initially liked Palin. My opinion of her started dropping when she couldn’t handle Couric, and dropped off the bottom when she quit her job. Everything since then has been bonus sources of amusement at (a) Palin herself and (b) the people who actually give her credit for any modicum of capability.

See?  I’m definitely voting for her in the primary.

Because Andrew Sullivan hates her. Got it. Weak…

No.  You.

Ooh snap.