The RNC: Kickin' Ass With Sarah Palin

There’s a lot I admire about Sarah Palin:  Her meteoric rise in a highly-scrutinized, male-dominated profession. Her ability to be smart and tough but also beautiful and feminine.  The challenges life has thrown her way and how she has handled them.  My friend Andy, a republican insider on Capitol Hill, says the party has had its eye on her for years.  A true rising star.  She is "feisty, with grace,” as a republican delegate recently put it. 

Sure, I find it pretty easy to be excited about all of that.

And, then there’s a lot I don't like about her.  Her belief that creationism should be taught in public schools.  Her desire to drill for more oil and build nuclear power plants instead of insisting on clean and safe sources of energy.  Her belief that government should be able to tell women what they can and cannot do with their bodies.  There’s a lot of policy to disagree about, but these disagreements are par for the course in a republican versus democratic race. 

This race isn’t going to come down to any of that.

No, this race is going to be about personality and character.  And it's now abundantly clear that Sarah Palin has a lot of both.  The question is whether she’s got the kind of personality and character befitting a person holding the second-highest office in the land. 

Or whether hers is conduct unbecoming.

During her acceptance speech I expected to hear the kind of content conservatives salivate over, just as the DNC speeches dripped with the content democrats crave.  So I wasn’t surprised by the topics.  Still, I heard some things that made my stomach churn.

I heard her ridicule Obama’s community organizing experience.  Of course we democrats know that community organizing is what you do when government is failing to meet the needs of the people.  Martin Luther King was a community organizer.  So was Jesus Christ.  Maybe she does not understand what that work is all about.  But did she have to ridicule it?

What was with the tone she took? The attitude? I was instantly reminded of the swaggering cowboy we currently have in the Oval Office who makes clear that he thinks anyone who disagrees with him is like an animal in his personal rodeo.  After hearing Sarah Palin speak, it is easy to imagine her as the new cowboy in town, with the leather chaps, metal spurs and lasso, kicking ass and taking names. This is who we want representing us in the world?

The world is so tired of an America that behaves that way. 

And so am I.

We need a president who respects people – all people – who doesn’t think we are better than everybody else, and better yet who understands that while we are but a tiny fraction of the planet’s population we have a great obligation to help lift up those around the world who are enduring tragedy and hardship. We need a president who will make America America again, both around the world and right here at home.   It is hard to imagine that a woman who is called a "barracuda" because of how she treats people would be one of our nation's highest leaders.  It is hard to imagine a woman who had no need for a passport in the first 43 years of her life being able to be an ambassador for America around the world.  It is hard to imagine such a woman being a heartbeat away from the presidency.

I am a democrat.  I believe government should actively safeguard a basic quality of life for all citizens.  I believe our leaders must believe in science, in global warming being greatly compounded by human behavior, in a woman’s right to choose.  But even more than these things, I want the highest leaders in the land to respect people.  The kick ass attitude Sarah Palin showed in her acceptance speech may be what it takes to get things done in Alaska, but in my view it is conduct unbecoming the next Vice President of the United States.

Yee haw.

Comments

[Karin]

Pitbulls don't create jobs, provide an affordable health care plan, fix the crumbling infrastructure. Seriously.

And what's with her hiding out for two weeks? She's ready to take on the second most powerful job in the world, but she has to study before she can talk to the press? Whaaaa?

[Snoskred]

All I can think is that men are writing her lines - they don't know how badly that stuff plays to women. We've all been in a situation with a mega beyotch and the sarcastic snarky arrogance Palin is displaying speaks volumes to women. This is not someone the majority of us would look to befriend, because we would be worried that she'd be stabbing us in the back.

I've noticed also that she is recycling the lines - even though it is clear from feedback on the web and even on tv shows that they're not appealing to people as much as she would want them to. Especially the community organiser one.

McCain seems to be happy to let her be the attack dog with lipstick but what he doesn't understand is he could get away with those lines a lot better than she could. Yes, apparently there is a double standard there but it is true - nobody likes a woman who is also a beyotch. Men have been getting away with being the beyotch for centuries.

She reminds me a lot of Elaine from Seinfeld, but without the cute clumsiness and vulnerability that made Elaine so lovable to many of us.

[Tatiana]

Palin's speech made sense once I read (probably on Talking Points Memo) that it was written by the Bush speechwriters BEFORE they knew who the VP candidate would be. So, once you get past the beginning of her acceptance, where she's quite vivacious and charismatic because it's personal, you hit the meat of the speech and definitely hear the echoes of the past. Sarcasm doesn't have a role in something as massive as her first speech in front of a national audience, and I agree with you completely in feeling uncomfortable to hear someone speak that way.

[Scheherazade Khan]

I think you have got it completely right about this woman. Hauteur and bitchy disdain are such off-putting traits to display to a world that is now getting to know you. What does that say about the person? Not so much what she said (which was pretty bad) but how she said it, that was what really got to me. I simply can't imagine that women will be immured to this prickly condescending, judgmental person, much less feel that she should be so close to being the leader of the free world.

[KrisUnderwood]

I agree with you completely. Her speech totally turned me OFF for several reasons. I couldn't believe how completely sarcastic, condescending and 'pit bull attack' she was. I can't imagine how women of this country can say 'yeah! I get what she's all about!' politically.
Once she got past her introduction (ah...snowmobiling champions???) and started in on the attack, it all sounded so much of the SAME as the last 8 years.
The only thing the Republicans recycle is their lines.

[Fitzbugs]

Thanks for the article. So glad I found the link to this website on the Barack Obama site. In reference to Palin's speech at the Republican convention...I cannot recall a time when I have so been induced to, well, puke (my pregnancies don't count because those were actually a good thing :-)). The only thing my friend and I could say to each other after this farce was, "Gag me with a spoon." In fact, for any other of you children of the 80s out there who may wish to join along with us, we have now started calling the GOPAC the GMWAS (Gag Me With A Spoon). I think it's darn well time we resurrected the goofy old slogan and use it with reckless abandon when referring to all things Palin, McCain, and Republican. Is anybody else out there just appalled at Palin's speech and what a complete nincompoop she is?? I cannot believe that the streets of America are not overflowing in a veritable river of vomit after that convention. Go Obama! To your opposition, GMWAS.

[m]

"I heard her ridicule Obama’s community organizing experience. Maybe she does not understand what that work is all about. But did she have to ridicule it?

What was with the tone she took . . . The world is so tired of an America that behaves that way. And so am I. We need a president who respects people – all people – who doesn’t think we are better than everybody else."

Amen. Perfectly said. Let's hope enough people agree with these sentiments.

[cynematic]

Ok Keith, but did you forget to turn the fan off in your trailer before you went to bed...on your mama's sofa?