Conservative Commentator: Palin Needs to Go!

So now it's clear that the Palin effect has become so ineffectual that even conservatives are turning on her. She's an embarrassment to them. One columnist has gone so far as to suggest that she should pack her bags and go back to Alaska. "It was fun while it lasted," she says. "But now its time to call it quits."

Here's what she says:

From







Palin Problem
She’s out of her league.

By Kathleen Parker

If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream — away from Sarah Palin.

To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president — and possibly president — is to risk being labeled anti-woman.

Or, as I am guilty of charging her early critics, supporting only a certain kind of woman.

Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick — what a difference a financial crisis makes — and a more complicated picture has emerged.

As we’ve seen and heard more from John McCain’s running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn’t know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion.

Yes, she recently met and turned several heads of state as the United Nations General Assembly convened in New York. She was gracious, charming and disarming. Men swooned. Pakistan’s president wanted to hug her. (Perhaps Osama bin Laden is dying to meet her?)

And, yes, she has common sense, something we value. And she’s had executive experience as a mayor and a governor, though of relatively small constituencies (about 6,000 and 680,000, respectively).

Finally, Palin’s narrative is fun, inspiring and all-American in that frontier way we seem to admire. When Palin first emerged as John McCain’s running mate, I confess I was delighted. She was the antithesis and nemesis of the hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood — a refreshing feminist of a different order who personified the modern successful working mother.

Palin didn’t make a mess cracking the glass ceiling. She simply glided through it.

It was fun while it lasted.

Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.

FULL ARTICLE

The Sarah Palin Effect Effects What?

It's been interesting watching the networks fall over themselves hunting for formerly Democratic white women who are so infatuated with Sarah Palin and angry with Obama for not choosing Clinton that it proves the power of the "Sarah Palin Effect." I saw one they interviewed at a Palin rally this past weekend who claimed to have been a former Democrat, only to throw that into question when she admitted she has never been very political.

The fact that the press has to look so hard to find these people makes one wonder how effective the Palin effect is. From what I've been reading it's had the opposite effect on many women who are appalled by what Palin stands for. The fact that she is also ill prepared for the position, almost embarrassingly so, hardly sells her to Clintonites. There's far too much to swallow here for whatever disappointment they may still feel over Clinton's loss to translate into a vote for McCain. The point is, most intelligent, reasonably well-read women, which is the vast majority of them (as opposed to men, where the "reasonably well-read" part would have to be modified), are not taken in by Sarah Palin. My wife, who fits this categorization, is certainly not alone in being able to spot a phony a mile away.

Let me go out on a limb and make a prediction here. The Palin effect will not be very effective come election time, especially as we find her continuing to stonewall the press as she repeats the same memorized lines over and over and over again. She will, in fact, become an irritant to many people, reminding them (as she reminds me) of that former cheerleader, student council president, miss straight A'ed, perfect toothed, goody two shoes who made high school such a hell for so many people. (She is irritating that way, don't you think?) The effect in this case will be to push more people into the Obama/Biden camp. And the Democrats will win the election. By how much I'm not certain. But they will win.

After the electionSarah will go back to Alaska, but having made so many enemies by lying about the bridge and sending high power Washington lawyers up to smear the reputation of the former police chief and state senators, she will be voted out of office. Finding this door closed and the "not welcome" sign out for the Wasilla mayor's position, she will move with her family to Washington to work as a high power lobbiest for the NRA.

Just see if I'm not right . . .

Trooper Gate: the Plot Thickens

Here's a contrast worth noting. First is an excerpt from a piece from Reuters News Service announcing the (surprise, surprise) attempt on the part of Republicans to stop the "trooper gate" investigation of Sarah Palin . Immediately following is an excerpt from a piece written by an Alaskan politician ruminating on how the insertion of national politics into the investigation (by the Republicans) introduced a brand of politics Alaskans are unused to.

Make note of the fact that up to this point Palin has only known Alaskan politics.

First the piece from Reuters:

Alaska Republicans sue to stop Palin trooper probe

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Five Republican state legislators filed a lawsuit in Alaska state court on Tuesday seeking to block Democrats from investigating whether vice-presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power in firing a state trooper feuding with her family. (full story)

* * *

Karl Rove Comes to Alaska

Now an excerpt the piece from the Alaskan politician named Les Gara (from Mudflats), filed under the headline: "Karl Rove Comes to Alaska" last week (before the Republicans invented their fiction about Democratic control of the process):

To get their way, and prevent sworn testimony from leaking out on what I suspect was probably a minor breach by Governor Palin, McCain’s operatives have come to Alaska to add invective in a state where people generally get along. They’ve chosen to vilify: 1) one of the state’s most respected public officials, Senator Hollis French; 2) the state’s most respected law enforcement official, Walt Monegan; and 3) a highly respected former DA and Victims Rights advocate a legislative committee voted 12 - 0 to hire to conduct the investigation, Steve Branchflower.

It’s the ghost of Karl Rove. Say something untrue enough times - like that Al Qaida is training with Saddam

Hussein’s help - and people will believe it. Not this time. I’m not sure if I mentioned a few important facts.

Did I mention that no one ever attacked the Troopergate investigation by Alaska’s Legislature - started long before Governor Palin was placed on McCain’s ticket - until August 29? That was the day Governor Palin joined the McCain bid for the White House.

Did I mention that before the McCain camp got involved, the Governor stated

of the Legislative investigation: “That being the route they choose, so be it. I’m happy to comply, to cooperate.” (KTUU.com, July 24, 2008). She repeatedly stated she’d comply, and that it was the right thing to do.

Did I mention the personal attacks against our local public officials only started after Sen. McCain sent his flacks up to our small state on August 29? They came with a mission to make America believe a Republican-initiated investigation, started with a unanimous committee vote of 8 Republicans and 4 Democrats, was a “partisan” plot. That’s only a tough sell if people know the facts.

Did I mention they now claim the Legislature cannot legally proceed with an investigation into government misconduct (I thought Republicans didn’t like attorneys who made frivolous arguments), and that they are threatening to to go to court to stop it? The Governor’s attorneys started writing those letters on - you guessed it - August 29. Before then they agreed the investigation was proper.

Oh, and what about this. Last week the McCain camp put our Governor in a bizarre position. They told her to file an ethics complaint against herself! Yup, again after her VP nomination. Too weird? What’s behind this move? You guessed it. Lawyers. (FULL STORY)

* * *

And now, as Paul Harvey says, here's the rest of the story. (the latest from AKMuckraker at Mudflats):

Blizzard Warning. Palin Halts Traffic.

16 09 2008

STORM WARNING! The legal paperwork blizzard has arrived. Today we are expecting accumulations of 10-12″ of legal stall tactics, creating hazardous conditions for those trying to navigate through the Palin scandal we have come to know as “Troopergate”. So, before proceeding, make sure you’ve got your studded tires on, and a good shovel. Ready?

Today, five Republican lawmakers filed a lawsuit against not only Democratic Sen. Hollis French, who is overseeing the investigation; not only Juneau Democratic Sen. Kim Elton, who heads the Legislative Council, and not only independent investigator Steve Branchflower, but the bipartisan Legislative Council itself. The suit seeks to delay the infamous ethics investigation until after the election on November 4, or to remove French and Elton.

FULL STORY HERE

Suckers!

Back in the '70s there was a popular evangelist named Marjoe Gortner who drew large crowds to tent meetings. And he knew how to whip them up into a frenzy.

On his last "crusade" he invited a film crew to do a documentary on his life and work. The film showed him working the crowds. Then it panned to him in his hotel room after the show was over rolling on his bed in the money he had taken off the unsuspecting crowd. "Suckers," he said as he literally rolled in the dough. It was a sham. The whole thing was a sham.

For some reason that film keeps popping into my mind every time I ponder the "Sarah Palin effect." Here, too, it feels like like we're being played for suckers.

Out in public we've got this charming, charismatic figure who says all the right words (carefully chosen by her handlers) to work the crowd into a frenzy around the theme of "reform" and "no more politics as usual." Behind the scenes we've got a pol who rose to the top of Alaskan politics because she plays political games so well, a chameleon-like figure who does whatever it takes to get elected, including running roughshod over any and all who oppose her. And that's to say nothing about the way this self-proclaimed anti-ear mark crusader sucked up our tax money to buy the favor of her constituents.

In public we've got a polished speaker claiming to be able to speak with authority on national and international affairs. Behind the scenes we find a former sports announcer and small town (really small town) mayor who claims foreign policy experience because she vacationed in Canada and Mexico and on a clear day can see the Russian border from the border of her state.


If what was at stake was less serious this would be good material for a comic novel. But the stakes are too high for comedy. This is tragedy.

What I fear is that we will wake up on November 3rd and say what we've been saying for the past four years - how did this happen? How did we let ourselves get suckered yet again?

That's my fear. My hope is that it won't happen again.