Has Palin Learned from Obama How to Play the Victim Card?
That’s certainly the impression I get from reading the Anchoress’s post on Obama supporter Oprah Winfrey’s interview with former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin:
Palin struck me as too guarded and needlessly defensive. Toward the end, Oprah asked if she had anything else to say, and Palin unwisely blurted out, “you can’t turn off my mic…” which was very revealing. . . . it seems to me that Palin is showing her scars from the detestable way the press descended on her and her family like a pack of rabid canines and worked to literally destroy Palin when she emerged in ‘08.
But the press tried to destroy Reagan, and they tried to destroy Bush; they could only get so far, because both men were able to shake the rutting mutts off their legs with aplomb, and look forward. It is a quality of character, part of it comes from knowing who you are and -as we see happening- it encourages people to take a second look, or a third, if need be.
I have suspected that Palin does know who she is, but she’s been rattled, and it shows. And so, she is talking about media mistreatment; her charges are not untrue, but tonguing the wounds will not help her with the people she needs to win over. They will see it merely as an unattractive, vindictive quality, rather ala Obama. Who wants more of that?
Like Obama, Palin is at her best when speaking to a supportive crowd. Both are good speaking from prepared texts, though the Alaskan is better when she lacks a Teleprompter.
Palin needs to learn from the greatest president of the second half of the twentieth century and not the incumbent in dealing with the media. He faced treatment nearly as bad as what she’s now getting. She’s made some smart choices during her book tour, by bypassing, for the most part, the mainstream media and seeking out venues where she is likely to get treatment only slightly harsher than that Democrats get from MSM outlets in the Northeast and Southern California.
She needs learn from Dave Townsend of the Alan Parsons Project:
If it’s getting harder to face every day
Don’t let it show, don’t let it show
Though it’s getting harder to take what they say
Just let it go, just let it go
If the subject of media treatment gets to you, Governor, just let it go and say it won’t detract you from speaking out on the issues of concern to you, and if polls are accurate, with a growing majority of Americans.
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I didn’t see Palin’s appearance with The Oprah but it’s a sure bet that she was (and still is) rattled.
Sure, Reagan (and Bill CLinton) and Bush-II took a lot of hits from the press but for shear animalistic brutality, Palin took the worst hits by far. Some of the attacks were so far over the line that I can’t find the words… and, to top it off, she’s called stupid by towering intellects like Chris Matthews and David Brooks.
Palin’s candidacy proved one thing – getting any normal person into high office is bloody unlikely. Why would any decent person subject themselves, AND THEIR FAMILIES (minor children included) to the insane rantings and hate from the likes of perverts like Keith Olbermann and Dave Letterman? From the likes of Andrew Sullivan (I think his meds are rotting his brain. There, I said it).
If Palin were to run, I don’t know if I could support her or not… I just don’t know enough about her political positions. But I am confident that the Palins are decent and honest people who’ve had the misfortune to get tangled up with a lot of dishonorable and/or loathsome people (Levi, are you there? McCain?).
They say we get the politicians we deserve. I think “they” are right.
Comment by SoCalRobert — November 16, 2009 @ 8:39 pm - November 16, 2009
“They will see it merely as an unattractive, vindictive quality, rather ala Obama. Who wants more of that?”
Wow. The stories you people tell yourselves….
‘if polls are accurate, with a growing majority of Americans.”
To wit: yes, lets imagine that the polls are accurate. What exactly do the polls say about the feelings that America has for Sarah Palin vs. Barack Obama? Not only as political leaders (or potential leaders) but as human beings?
Having seen myself aligned with what were political majorities and political minorities several times each in my life, I have some unsolicited advice for you Dan. Telling yourself stories that you want to hear (i.e. what you do everyday for yourself and your readers) is a dead end. Being brutally honest with yourself and your friends – i.e. accepting reality, even if it sucks for the moment – is the only way to get on the path to political revival.
Comment by Tano — November 16, 2009 @ 8:59 pm - November 16, 2009
“Palin took the worst hits by far.”
Oh really? Was she accused, just for example, of being the murderer of her best friend from childhood, while trying to deal with that friends suicide? By not only the anonymous extremists nuts in the opposition, but by their leading spokesmen, and “spiritual” leaders?
Has she been subjected to an official governmental prosecution, by a dedicated prosecutor whose only job was to try to examine every moment of her life to find something, anything by which to bring her down. No, strilke that -TWO personal prosecutors – the second taking over when the first found nothing credible to prosecute. And the second finding nothing either amongst the original charges?
Comment by Tano — November 16, 2009 @ 9:04 pm - November 16, 2009
“Why would any decent person subject themselves, AND THEIR FAMILIES (minor children included) to the insane rantings and hate from the likes of perverts like Keith Olbermann and Dave Letterman?”
Or the commenters at Gay Patriot, for that matter, eh?
Comment by Tano — November 16, 2009 @ 9:06 pm - November 16, 2009
If Sarah only does one thing, I hope she makes everyone aware – in detail – of what an inexcusably bad campaign John McCain ran. I believe every word she says about McCain staff/campaign. I’d love to see her go on the stump for his AZ GOP primary opponent. I’m baffled by “my friends” who still support McCain and engage in apologetics for his bungling.
Comment by KevinQC — November 16, 2009 @ 9:06 pm - November 16, 2009
“though the Alaskan is better when she lacks a Teleprompter.”
Sorry for the consecutive comments, but this post is just such a goldmine.
What to say????
Palin read a great speech off the teleprompter. Then she went off-teleprompter with Gibson and Couric. Those are the big pieces of empirical evidence relevant to this question. What am I missing Dan?
Where is Sarah wowing us all spotaneously?
And Obama – well I know you righties love to play the telepromter thingie, but lets face it. He was not on teleprompter when he cleaned McCain’s clock twice in the debates. And, yeah, this is subjective judgement, but I betcha a vast majority of Americans would agree with me that he has given many impressive interviews where he comes off fully competent. Has Sarah don that once?
Comment by Tano — November 16, 2009 @ 9:13 pm - November 16, 2009
“Has Sarah done that once?”
Yes.
She sounded very on messgae when talking with Hannity
Comment by gillie — November 16, 2009 @ 10:04 pm - November 16, 2009
“you can’t turn off my mic…”
In context…
WINFREY: Okay, one final question. Should I be worried? Should I be worried? Because I have heard that you’re going to get your own talk show.
MS. PALIN: Oh.
[LAUGHTER]
WINFREY: Yeah, come on.
[LAUGHTER]
MS. PALIN: Oprah, you are the queen of talk shows. There’s nothing to ever worry about.
WINFREY: No, no.
[APPLAUSE]
MS. PALIN: Yes, she is.
WINFREY: Should I be worried?
MS. PALIN: And you are. And you can’t shut off my mike, so let me say this, too, Oprah, about the…
[LAUGHTER]
MS. PALIN: Or maybe you can, you’re the boss.
WINFREY: No, I won’t. Go ahead.
MS. PALIN: Okay. The inspiration that you have provided–I got to talk to Oprah just a little bit backstage beforehand, and I talked about in the ’90s–those were the years where I was a stay-at-home mom–got to watch you more than I watch you now, but got to watch you back then–and being quite inspired by some of the challenges that you were facing, and you overcame those, too, just seeming, too, as a normal American woman with a lot on your plate. Being able to handle it all, you provided a lot of inspiration, and I appreciate what you’ve done all these years.
WINFREY: Thank you for saying that. Thank you for saying that.
MS. PALIN: Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
Comment by ImImaginary — November 16, 2009 @ 10:14 pm - November 16, 2009
“you can’t turn off my mic…” – Rather less to it than meets the eye, it seems.
But I can’t blame Palin, if it turns out that she is a little bit “rattled” or defensive. How many leftist haters have come out of the woodwork to slander her? If you have even one lawsuit or ethics complaint against you, it can make you lose a little faith in people, no matter supportive your hot husband is and no matter how bizarre and unfounded the complaints are. (Something I’ve gotten a taste of, with certain haters on this blog.)
Reagan was lampooned and slandered and all, but I don’t think he quite had to go through what Palin has been through.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — November 16, 2009 @ 10:58 pm - November 16, 2009
I was certain this post would suck Tano and gillie in, but so far they have not had anything cogent to say.
Comment by heliotrope — November 16, 2009 @ 11:16 pm - November 16, 2009
I haven’t been participating in the dialogue on this thread for long, but already it’s clear how asinine some of the people are. I don’t want any one to get upset, but I’m afraid there’s ONLY one crown per pageant and it’s undeniable which bitch trolling these waters deserves to wear it. Come on down TANO, it’s all yours girl.
Comment by Spartann — November 16, 2009 @ 11:38 pm - November 16, 2009
All of this dissecting of events/people around Palin has become very tiresome. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”. Palin’s folksy rhetoric is fakery at it’s best and she clearly either can’t handle the true pressures of politics or she feels she can just up and leave when the situation doesn’t suit her. Either way, she’s not fit for vice-president or president.
By the way, in your love to link the President to only being able talk with a written speech, you’ve never shown proof this is true…He is clearly capable of speaking intelligently extemporaneously. Quite a contrast to our last president, who literally couldn’t finish a grammatically correct sentence unless he was reading from a teleprompter.
Comment by Kevin — November 17, 2009 @ 12:00 am - November 17, 2009
SocalRobert, You said it so well I’m just quoting you.
I have no idea if she is presidential material, right now I don’t care. If she is willing to fight the conservative fight that is fine by me. But she needs to get away from her personal story and talk about conservative values in general.
I’ll keep on watching her, if all she does for the next few years is drive the left crazy (Tano, gillie) that is also a great service for which I say, thank you.
Comment by Leah — November 17, 2009 @ 1:05 am - November 17, 2009
Part of Palin’s problem is that the conservative media, this site included, has set up the meme of Palin being a victim of both McCain’s campaign and the liberal media. It’s the monster you’ve all created. But hey, I guess the victim card works on both sides of the political fence. It gets traction. So why not run with it for a while.
PS. Can someone please explain, rationally with no ad-homs, why she has two stories concerning how she accepted the VP nomination? In one she says she consulted her family before accepting. In the latest, she didn’t consult. Here is her quote from the Sean Hannity interview:
On her family’s reaction to be picked as the VP nominee:
“It was a time of asking the girls to vote on it, anyway. And they voted unanimously, yes. Didn’t bother asking my son because, you know, he’s going to be off doing his thing anyway, so he wouldn’t be so impacted by, at least, the campaign period here. So ask the girls what they thought and they’re like, absolutely. Let’s do this, mom.”
I tried to find the quote directly off Hannity’s web page, but I didn’t see a search feature. Man, that site is cluttered. He needs to find a better web page designer.
Comment by Sonicfrog — November 17, 2009 @ 1:36 am - November 17, 2009
Tano, some days I think you comment to this blog in the same spirit Naomi Wolf appeared on Larry King last night–to provide easy sport for serious conservatives.
So, as per a post I wrote a while back–shooting fish is barrels sure can be fun.
I don’t think I’m the one having trouble accepting reality, Tano. Here, I offer a bit of criticism of a woman I admire and you don’t even acknowledge that. Meanwhile, all polls show that on the primary issues facing Americans, Americans’ views closer to those of Sarah Palin than to those of Barack Obama. Even on abortion.
And if subjecting people to the commenters at GayPatriot is such a bad thing, Tano, why do you do it?’
Oh, Tano, Tano, Tano, you bring up Palin’s two worst interviews and define her by them, interviews where she was sabotaged by biased anchors and not prepared for said sabotage.
Go watch the Palin interview on CNN from the campaign. And then go watch Obama in some of the Democratic debates before the “debate camps” he held in the fall campaign.
And Kevin, please show me the evidence for your allegation that Palin’s folksy rhetoric is fakery. But, I daresay that you, like Tano, won’t respond to the points I ask you to address.
Comment by B. Daniel Blatt — November 17, 2009 @ 1:39 am - November 17, 2009
Oh really? Was she accused, just for example, of being the murderer of her best friend from childhood, while trying to deal with that friends suicide? By not only the anonymous extremists nuts in the opposition, but by their leading spokesmen, and “spiritual” leaders?
Yes. She was accused, not only of faking her pregnancy, but of causing her child’s disability and causing her two previous miscarriages. It was spread by the Obama Party and Barack Obama that she was divorcing her husband, that she was an abusive mother, that she stole, and that her husband was having incestuous sex with her daughters.
By your party, Tano, and your pathetic leader, Barack Obama. And you supported and endorsed every bit of that.
Has she been subjected to an official governmental prosecution, by a dedicated prosecutor whose only job was to try to examine every moment of her life to find something, anything by which to bring her down. No, strilke that -TWO personal prosecutors – the second taking over when the first found nothing credible to prosecute. And the second finding nothing either amongst the original charges?
Yes — the politically-motivated “Troopergate” activity, ordered by the Obama Party, as well as the EIGHTEEN-plus “ethics” charges filed by Barack Obama-paid campaign operatives, all requiring government investigators and prosecutors, all of of which tried to examine every single moment of her life to try to find something, anything by which to bring her down and bankrupt her — and again finding nothing.
By your party, Tano, and your pathetic leader, Barack Obama. And you supported and endorsed every bit of that.
So in short, your argument only exposes the nth-power degree of hypocrisy that liberals like yourself practice. You scream about two prosecutors, when Palin was subjected to nine times as many. You whine about murder rumors, when you and your party were flat-out stating that Palin faked her pregnancy, caused her baby’s disability, and had a husband that was having incestuous sex with their daughters.
Bigot. Liar. Hypocrite. That’s all that you and your Barack Obama are, and your behavior towards Palin demonstrates it beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Comment by North Dallas Thirty — November 17, 2009 @ 2:17 am - November 17, 2009
[...] Has Palin Learned from Obama How to Play the Victim Card? [...]
Pingback by GayPatriot » On the Entertainment Value of Palin Derangement Sydrome — November 17, 2009 @ 3:15 am - November 17, 2009
Dont know about Palin, but someone sure has…
Comment by American Elephant: Providing the Sources that ILC Can't — November 17, 2009 @ 4:49 pm - November 17, 2009
Just the facts, AE. As you are always *pretending* to do.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — November 17, 2009 @ 6:44 pm - November 17, 2009
As for this bit:
How interesting! You have me (or actually, a warped ghost that you like to pretend is me as you fulminate) living in your head, rent-free! I’ll take that fact as a backhanded compliment.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — November 17, 2009 @ 6:48 pm - November 17, 2009
You dont have any facts ILC, that’s why you cant provide sources. Liar.
Comment by American Elephant: Providing the Sources that ILC Can't — November 17, 2009 @ 7:16 pm - November 17, 2009
And, AE’s obsession continues.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — November 18, 2009 @ 12:15 am - November 18, 2009
Yes. I am obsessed with truth. You, on the other hand, are obsessed with being right, even when I show that the law does not agree with you, and every dictionary says you’re wrong. It’s why I can back my arguments up with statutes, dictionaries, and other authoritative sources, and you cant back yours up with squat.
Its also why you constantly try to redefine words and phrases, why you contradict the dictionary, why you constantly lie, try to reposition yourself, and why you constantly need to have the last word. (At least up until now, we can all hope and pray that for once you would shut up)
Its why you have to try to distract by whining about being called names (liar is not a “name” when its true!), and throwing fits over typos instead of coming up with the sources that prove you are not lying to begin with or coming up with a reasonable explanation for why you redefine common words and phrases to mean things they absolutely dont mean.
Its why you drag everyone through days and days of your lies and weaseling and distractions. Because you are a pathetic liar with zero integrity.
Comment by American Elephant — November 18, 2009 @ 1:33 am - November 18, 2009
And, AE’s obsession – with me – continues.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — November 18, 2009 @ 2:39 am - November 18, 2009
P.S. AE: Here is why.
Everything I’ve ever said to you on the issues has been the truth. And everything I’ve ever said about your behavior – how your behavior has shown inappropriate rage, immaturity, dishonesty and irrationality, thus disgracing and dishonoring of yourself – has been true.
And you know it.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — November 18, 2009 @ 2:45 am - November 18, 2009
As for sources: I’ve given you them, AE. You simply can’t deal with them.
Here are just a couple recent examples. In a recent discussion on the issue of gay marriage, AE, you tried sleazy tricks to misrepresent/falsify my views… not only once, but twice. The two links are to places where I pointed out your behavior for the sake of the record. But they only quote your own words – and in a correct context (something you never quite manage to do with mine). There you are. Two sources. Face up to those with some modicum of integrity and maturity.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — November 18, 2009 @ 2:54 am - November 18, 2009
You never stop lying, do you! Your only “source” was your own asinine opinion which you then dubbed “reality” and you then argued that every online dictionary was wrong. I asked you to provide a source where ANY legislature or statute agreed with you about the purpose of marriage because they, NOT you, are the ones who define what it is. You cant because your definition is ridiculous on its face. Nor, for that matter can you provide any dictionaries that back up your sleazy, dishonest attempts to redefine words and phrases.
But keep on lying and you can try as hard as you want to have the last word, lying about me, lying about what you said. I’m not going to let you.
Sleazy, repugnant, liars like you repulse me, and I am more than happy to make absolutely sure that everyone knows how dishonest and sleazy you are.
Comment by American Elephant — November 18, 2009 @ 6:31 pm - November 18, 2009