The commenters are right and I'm wrong, largely, about Sarah Palin. She's not fit to lead the country. You're right, all of you. That said, I still find her appealing as a person. I'd like her on my town board.
To explain my prejudice for her, and Pat Buchanan's too, there's populist conviction, anti-elitist sentiment. I think it pleases both of us to see insiders like Andrea Mitchell and Rahm Emanuel annoyed by her selection; she's utterly unfit because they don't know her name–while Obama has at least been kissing insiders' rings for four years. I sometimes give in to that prejudice, and I shouldn't. The commenters are right, I'm wrong, she's unfit.
A lot of my smart friends are saying, It's game over, McCain has lost his marbles. I guess there may be some truth in that, though I want to think better of her and him than that. Also: The commenters who say I revere the two-party system aren't completely right. I have voted for many Alt candidates. I voted for Nader twice for president, and am proud of it. I'm gaga for Obama. My chief joy in McCain-Palin was the pure political spectacle of it.
A year or so back David Brooks said the divide was between populist isolationists and east coast elites. Well his own party has gone in on the populist side of that culture war. That's real interesting to me. I wonder how much Jewishness plays into this. My experience of Jewish life is that it's elite-oriented. We cared deeply about prestige (yiches, in Yiddish) and excellence in my family, and I came to find those values suffocating. It was very achievement-oriented, and valorized conventional prizes, in judging what anyone had done with their life. I find this aspect of the meritocracy nauseating. The thing that bugged me more than just about anything at AIPAC was the ceaseless discussion of Israel's scientific and techno contributions. As though leading the way on water desalination gives you license to rubbish the human rights of Palestinians. The late Israel Shahak said that Jewish law rationalizes doctors not giving treatment to Arabs. The contempt for peasants is something I always found concerning in my own cultural background, that I seek to reform in my own Jewish experience. What I'm getting at is that Sarah Palin scores Zero in an elite/excellence value system. And that in itself is not disqualifying in my book.
That said, I want my president and vice president to be people of achievement with a lot of smarts. Obama is that. I don't think McCain is; he's not that smart, as Shii said, he doesn't know Czechoslovakia is no more. David Brooks says Obama has no achievement, I think he has stupendous achievements already. His book, his writing, the cold conduct of his campaign. I think the intellectual elitists who support Obama because we face extremely challenging issues and they want a president who really knows how to think should own that bias, and communicate it to other Americans.
I'm in that camp. I'm an elitist intellectually–is it Jewish, or the meritocracy, or the information age? I don't know. My contempt for the elites is that there is a caste quality to them, and a smugness about their own election. I'd hope to fashion values of both intelligence and humility that allow for outsiders to get into positions of power. I love David Souter for that reason.
One other thing–she has a bad voice.
Again, I love the William Buckleys line about how he would rather be governed by the first 100 names in the Boston phone book instead of the 100 Harvard faculty members.
BTW. Israel Shahak was a fucking lunatic. If you ever went to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem you would see that Arabs get the EXACT same care jews get. And the reason Arabs don't trumpet there technological achievements is that they have none. But I digress. Be condescending and elitist all you want. But I think that there is a vast middle in this country that are going to like this woman. She took on the Republican establishment on ethics in Alaska and that's something Obama has never done. He has NEVER done a risky thing in his life.
If McCain only watched MTV he would of realized he just shit in his own mess kit. When interviewed a few months ago, guess who Sarah thought was just wonderful. None other than Ron Paul. When AIPAC gets a load of that they and MSM will be doo dooing on him until election day.
http://newsroom.mtv.com/2008/08/29/sarah-palin-republican-vice-presidential-nominee-plugs-romney-paul-but-not-mccain-in-mtv-interview
Phil:
I love this post!
You're perhaps the only blogger I've witnessed changing his mind.
My impulse was to cheer the selection of the novel outsider Palin, too, and to like her. I despise the way insiders in our country seem to have the game all wrapped up before it even begins.
But a cursory review of Palin's politics reveals her to be a repugnant troglodyte.
Also, I had forgotten that you voted for Nader – twice, even. I don't know whether it matters to you, but I need to take back some of the criticism of your political outlook that I wrote in response to a comment from Anne Silver.
My ideal would be for Nader or McKinney to win the election this fall, but absent that I hope Obama/Biden absolutely crush McCain/Palin and dispatch the Republicans into irrelevance.
"I love the William Buckleys line about how he would rather be governed by the first 100 names in the Boston phone book instead of the 100 Harvard faculty members."
I think far more relevant than that questionable observation, is the undeniable fact that our country would be much better off if we were governed by the first 535 people picked at random from the telephone listings than the 535 current members of Congress.
Hey liberal white boy, guess what, I'm representative of everything you hate and despise. And I like her. Wrap your little pea brain around that one.
I am actually upset with mcain for plucking this fruit before it was ripe. of course she is going to answer the call to serve her country, she probably felt it was her duty. phils reaction is what alot of people experienced, the day after they realized there was no there there. if she SOME rational reason to support her i would. Romney had business experience, biden had foreign policy credentials. both had run for president.
do you think sarah palin thought about running for president this year? of course not.
the assholes at comentary are already going over her life with a fine toothed comb looking for paleo sympathies. she's got 5 kids, she's pro life, she lives in alaska of COURSE she likes pat buchanan
One other thing–she has a bad voice.
Buried the lede there, Phil.
I want to like her for exactly the reasons Phil mentioned, and additionally I harbor an obsessive dislike for the whole Obama media zeitgeist. Can't stand it anymore.
But that voice of hers… unbearable.
She took on the Republican establishment on ethics in Alaska and that's something Obama has never done.
For a while, SOG, I thought you just enjoyed being an agent provocateur. Now I realize you dont read, study, or google. Or you're just effing stupid.
"How Obama defied Reid and got real ethics reform passed"
link to raisingkaine.com
"Senate begins work on ethics bill"
link to obama.senate.gov
FEINGOLD AND OBAMA INTRODUCE THE LOBBYING AND ETHICS REFORM ACT
link to feingold.senate.gov
Klobuchar talks about Obama's ethics bill
link to minnesota.publicradio.org
Jewish law rationalizes not providing medical service to someone is going to kill or severely harm you or your family. It has NOTHING to ethnicity, and is frankly prohibited on the basis of ethnicity.
American law is far worse. In the US, people can be denied medical care if they don't have health insurance, which 20% of Americans don't have.
Sword is right that Jews are FAR MORE universalistic in that respect than most.
Israel Shahak is a resentful misleading fraud.
You again should be smarter than that.
I only voted for Nader once for president.
Guess what Lester, I like here and Bill Kristol likes her. Try not to have your head explode over that one.
Arabs treated in Israeli hospitals cannot count on receiving equal quality treatment. Unscrupulous doctors sell cancer treatments to Palestinian patients that would never be acceptable for use on Israeli children, because they know how limited the Palestinians' alternatives are:
Sfard, the attorney for Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights, says he hears about awful things that happen to Palestinians every day. "But when I heard this story, I could hardly believe it. It's bloodcurdling. After I started looking into it, I was just appalled. It seems that at Assuta there's a separate medical channel for Palestinians, and they are given inferior care. And that's only the tip of the iceberg. Someone's making money from this. And we're talking about cancer-stricken children here."
At Assuta Hospital this week, they did not deny using outdated equipment. "A Cobalt 60 machine was formerly in use at Assuta," the hospital said, "for those limited medical uses that were approved by top-ranking medical specialists in Israel, and in the past both Israelis and Palestinians were treated with it, as was standard in advanced Western countries like France, Italy, Belgium, England, Spain and in leading and recognized medical institutions in America."
Meller and Bendel decided not to ignore the matter. They requested a meeting with Assuta's medical director, Dr. Orna Ophir. The two came out of that meeting in May 2005 shaking their heads in disbelief. According to the lawsuit, at the meeting Ophir admitted that the Cobalt 60 machine did not meet the accepted standard in Israel and that the use made of it at Assuta was solely to meet the needs of the Palestinian Authority. At the meeting, Bendel reproached Ophir, saying that Assuta had found a way to make money from a service it couldn't sell to Israelis. Bendel says Ophir confirmed this and even added, as the lawsuit says, that she saw no ethical problem in selling an out-of-date treatment to Palestinians. "It's not my problem," she told the shocked Bendel and Meller.
- Toxic Treatment, 16 Nov 2007
SoG:
Bill Kristol is an immoral monster. I don't know why anyone would keep track of his tastes.
Liberal White Boy:
I watched that video of Palin on MTV. It's completely inconsequential. She doesn't take any definitive stance on the Republican presidential candidates.
SOG- bill kristol also thought the idea that the shia and sunni would be at each others throats in iraq was a lot of "pop sociogy", that the war in iraq was a good idea and the US cold certainly "walk and cheew gum at the same time" with afghanistan and iraq, I think he supported mcain in 2000 and also thought Dan Quayle would give bush1 appeal with youth voters. As far as i can tell the guy has never in his entire life been right about anything so if he likes palin, who's point are you trying to make?
To sword of Gideon…
1. "the reason Arabs don't trumpet there technological achievements is that they have none".
If you were on top of your technological game, so to speak, you might be surprised to discover how quickly this is changing.
It is easy enough to discover; just start perusing the scientific departments at various Arab and Persian universities.
Given the almost unlimited amounts of money some of these countries have, and their relatively recent commitment to fund scientific research, it won't be long before they are Israel's (and America's) equals in the world of science.
This is not a "card" Israel should count on being able to play very much longer.
Peace is the best card Israel can play.
2. "She took on the Republican establishment on ethics in Alaska".
Well, ethics is not exactly a Republican strong point, is it?
And since she is herself under an ethics investigation, what are you referring to?
To sword of Gideon…
1. "the reason Arabs don't trumpet there technological achievements is that they have none".
If you were on top of your technological game, so to speak, you might be surprised to discover how quickly this is changing.
It is easy enough to discover; just start perusing the scientific departments at various Arab and Persian universities.
Given the almost unlimited amounts of money some of these countries have, and their relatively recent commitment to fund scientific research, it won't be long before they are Israel's (and America's) equals in the world of science.
This is not a "card" Israel should count on being able to play very much longer.
Peace is the best card Israel can play.
2. "She took on the Republican establishment on ethics in Alaska".
Well, ethics is not exactly a Republican strong point, is it?
And since she is herself under an ethics investigation, what are you referring to?
What I was saying Lester, and I'll go slow here because your not that bright. Is that you seem to think that the "assholes at Commentary" are going to get her somehow. And what I'm saying is the I think Bill Kristol and myself like her. And I think that we're representative of everything that you hate and despise. Try to wrap your mind around that one.
The Palestinian community is getting better educated and achieving more. (The two go hand in hand.)
Some due to Western education, some due to education within Palestine (West Bank), and probably most due to periods of educational opportunities within Israel.
And Israel Shahak is recognized as an expert on Jewish law by whom? Why not quote Ann Coulter as an expert on sharia?
And Israel Shahak is recognized as an expert on Jewish law by whom? Why not quote Ann Coulter as an expert on sharia?
And Israel Shahak is recognized as an expert on Jewish law by whom? Why not quote Ann Coulter as an expert on sharia?
And Israel Shahak is recognized as an expert on Jewish law by whom? Why not quote Ann Coulter as an expert on sharia?
sword of gideon- if you found out she really was a big pat buchanan supporter you'd probably vote for obama
It turns out that at one point she did campaign for Buchanon and was a supporter of Ron Paul as of August.