Frank Rich Did It First, But More Would Follow: Trying To Destroy Sarah Palin And The Tea Party Movement
Monday, January 18th, 2010Here is one Mainstream Media Narrative: Tea Partiers (Baggers) are racist, mobs, hate-filled, unruly, people.
Here is another Mainstream Media Narrative: Sarah Palin is a stupid hick, a gender traitor, and a quitter.
And the Mainstream Media Narrative that underlies all narratives: Anyone who believes something other than the liberal agenda is selfish, mean, and evil. So, there goes the majority of the country too stupid to see greatness when it’s right in front of their eyes. /sarcasm
Now, the Judson Phillips’ Tea Party Nation, Inc. gathering at Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee [background here] had the potential to fulfill every single one of those narratives and give the MSM a story that wrapped everything up in a bow. In fact, the MSM was hoping to undermine the Tea Party movement, discredit Sarah Palin and vilify “rich” conservatives all in one fell swoop–hopefully the day of the convention.
Unfortunately for the MSM and fortunately for those who are concerned about the country, the shady actions of a few were exposed so as to not tarnish the vast majority of good people in the Tea Party movement. Some changes could be made to correct errors by the Tea Party Nation, Inc. founder. Sarah Palin could make a decision with all the facts and not be blind-sided.
Still, guys like Frank Rich tried to jump from this one bad actor and tarnish the whole movement. His piece was utterly predictable. He tried to say that Sarah Palin was attempting to hijack the Tea Party movement. Erick Erickson writes of Rich’s leaps in logic:
As for Palin? Rich is trying to build up activists to tear down Palin, but in fact Palin and the activists are one together. Sarah Palin is the epitome of the tea party activist — a mom who got involved in politics because the political establishment in Wasilla, Alaska was misspending sales tax revenue. Just as wasteful spending in Wasilla got her involved in politics, the federal waste and spending is getting lots of moms, dads, and kids involved in politics today.
The Left hates Sarah Palin with a vehemence that is impossible to quantify. They loathe the Tea Party folks because it is everything they’re not–true grassroots, not astroturf; common citizens coming together (not paid stooges); and people who are united by a desire to take power away from D.C. and give it to the American people.
So, if Frank Rich and others like him can tie the actions of one man to the average Tea Party person concerned for his country, he’ll do it. If Frank Rich can portray Sarah Palin as a hypocritical pol, he can defeat the most effective voice in opposition to Barack Obama and the left in general.
The Tea Party groups around the country are doing much good. They will be an effective foundation for bringing accountability to both parties.
Witness what is happening in Massachusetts. Even in a liberal state given to supporting Democrats almost exclusively, the people are rising up to send a message to elitists in Washington.
This is terrifying for the liberals. They’d like to knock down any symbols that will threaten their power.
So, the people do well to police their own. The Left accuses the Right side because they’re the Soros-funded, ACORN-defiled and SEIU astroturf kings. They are utterly corrupt and they want to dishearten Americans by painting the opposition with their own cynical brush.
The best defense against scurrilous attack by people intent on destruction is the truth. Keeping our own side clean deprives the Left of ammunition.
Meanwhile, it’s too late. The Left is losing. And they know it. That’s why they’re desperate.
Podcast: Erick Erickson And Dan Riehl Talk About Tea Party Nation and Sarah Palin
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010Dan Riehl of Riehl World View and Erick Erickson of Redstate join me to discuss the Tea Party Nation, Tea Party groups and Sarah Palin. What’s happening here?
Melissa talks about CPAC and Sarah Palin’s choices with Dan Riehl of riehlworldview.com and Erick Erickson of redstate.com
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When Melissa isn’t on the radio, you can find her at melissaclouthier.com and on Twitter. Her username is MelissaTweets.
Michelle Goldberg Has A Snit On Bloggingheads, Ann Althouse Calls Her Rhymes-With-Snit
Saturday, November 28th, 2009I got lost in the vortex of Bloggingheads hell and ended up listening to Michelle Goldberg and Ann Althouse yelling at each other. Michelle threatens to bail on the call when Ann pins her down on her inarticulate defense of Barack Obama’s memoir Dreams Of My Fathers. Michelle can’t defend analogizing Obama to Tolstoy and threatens to bail. She smoothed her hair and soldiered on.
The whole conversation was quite illustrative of liberal thought. Or rather, liberal emotionalism. There wasn’t much thought to be had, although Michelle knows her way around 25 cent words. I found myself rolling my eyes. A lot.
So, according to Michelle Goldberg, the Obama-voting Ann Althouse is a conservative. And according to Ann, she’s miffed that Bloggingheads couldn’t find one conservative to defend Palin. That is a valid criticism. Really, Bloggingheads, is there no one who can defend Sarah Palin or is it that you just don’t like conservatives who might defend Sarah Palin?
For what it’s worth, Ms. Goldberg, Ann is a social liberal and libertarian who supported the war effort after 9/11. How, in anyone’s world, does that qualify as a conservative? Mind you, I’m glad to have Ann Althouse’s voice and like her and respect her views. Still, she voted for Barack Obama which to me was a vote for a man weak on foreign policy, indecisive even, and an economy-killing statist. She was not alone in her vote and those from the middle who swung to favor Barack Obama did not win me to the cause of moderation. That vote simply struck me as naive. Still does.
So, whatever, I was watching Bloggingheads and so clicked on Michelle and Ann to see what they talked about. Topic: Sarah Palin. Ann thought Sarah was dumb (I had read her review and thought it harsh). Since Ann finished the book, her review was more charitable. Michelle Goldberg’s feelings of hatred have abated somewhat but she still vehemently dislikes Sarah Palin. She trots out the old trope, “But she’s really good for the Democrat party.”
Between Ann and Michelle, they decide (Ann with a self-aware sparkle in her eye, Michelle utterly beyond self parody) that Sarah Palin is stupid as are those who support her. But don’t say anything about the elites being obnoxious. That characterization is so undeserved. They are people like you and me; they’re just better people.
“She has a reputation for mendacity,” says Michelle Goldberg of Sarah Palin.
“Reality has a liberal bias,” says Michelle regarding why the AP has 11 fact checkers on Sarah Palin’s book, but none of Barack Oama.
“She is a screen onto which conservatives project hopes, just as Barack Obama is a screen onto which liberals project hopes,” says Ann Althouse
“I don’t want to be saved. I want a President to take care of things….preserve us,” says Ann Althouse.
Michelle responds,”And that’s what we’ve got” [in Barack Obama].
You need to watch this interchange if only to get a better understanding of why Barack Obama will always be popular with a certain segment of the population. His actions don’t matter. If he never acts, that’s a bonus because it demonstrates his urbane thoughtfulness. His inaction is a sign of his intelligence. Dithering is nuance because people who take direct action, by definition, act without thinking. Can you see how a liberal would think that Barack Obama is fabulous? One of his greatest weaknesses, the weakness that could land America in the worst position and is doing just that, is actually a strength.
In short, Barack Obama can do no wrong because he is doing nothing.
Sarah Palin And Identity Politics: Using The Left’s Standards Against Them
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009Identity politics grate on most conservatives, or they did until Sarah Palin came along. Most conservatives who loved Sarah Palin, didn’t love her because she was the best looking woman on TV–forget in politics. Most conservatives loved her conservative ideals and her connection to average Americans.
And her ideals, connection, and her beauty, provoked rage on the left. Still does. And so, they attacked her and her family. Nothing was out of bounds. Major news organizations were reduced to screaming like gossip rags. It was disgusting.
It was sexist. It was classist. It was everything the Democrats and leftists claim to be against.
And so, conservatives started fighting back. Every perceived slight, injustice, denigration, and revealing act of hate was highlighted and pushed into the liberal left’s face. It was galling to see feminist women defend the treatment Sarah Palin received. It was embarrassing, as a woman, that this sort of thing still flew–that women would be reduced to their own worst caricature: catty, vicious, and petty toward other women.
Liberals now wonder why conservatives jump to play the sexism card. Are they kidding? After decades of excoriating men for their piggish ways, after whole reeducation programs at work about what is, and what is not, “appropriate” behavior, these clucking, self-righteous people wonder why their own, politically correct rules are being turned on them now?
And yet, they seem incapable of seeing how Sarah Palin has been savaged in the media. There is a concerted lack of empathy and certainly no such thing as fairness.
The liberals have done more to push back the treatment of women than any conservative man. The cliché is that conservative men are backward, sexist cretins, just one step beyond knuckle-dragging missing links while liberals are enlightened, open, tolerant, loving righteous people. So when liberals engage in rank sexism and then defend the obnoxious behavior, it sets things back for all people trying to be judged for the content of their character.
Liberal men and women have been the sexist police for years. They are the knitting circle ladies waiting for an infraction and smacking the hairy knuckles hard for failing to obey the p.c. rules. But when push comes to shove, they’ll use any method, including demeaning and sexist methods, to achieve their political ends.
Conservatives won’t stop calling liberals on their sexist ways. Why should they? Political correctness is used as a cudgel against conservatives. Every conservative is one “macaca” or Strom Thurmond praising speech away from being banished for life while liberals can spew any vile word and not only be not vilified, but praised for their actions–as long as it’s a conservative who’s on the receiving end of the hate.
Identity politics have a pernicious effect on an achievement culture. People are elevated based on color or ovaries or culture or whatever the p.c. police believe lacks. So more qualified people are looked over in favor of superficial characteristics. This is the world the left has wrought.
Their pique at perceiving Sarah Palin as just such a candidate is really too much. They created identity politics. Now, they can live with the rules they created.
The Left Wishes Sarah Palin Wasn’t
Monday, November 23rd, 2009Wouldn’t it be nice if no one was pushing back against the leftist, state-growing agenda? It would be bad for America, but great for Democrats. It would be bad for America, but great for establishment Republicans. I bet John McCain really wonders about what he’s wrought.
You know what’s driving the left nuts right now? People see Sarah Palin and are thinking, she’s looking a heck of lot less risky now that we’ve seen President Obama in action for a while. She sounds strong. She speaks with conviction. She might have an Alaskan twang, but her message is clear.
Here’s the money quote from the LaTimes post about Palin:
Saturday night Palin’s book bus swung by a mall in Roanoke, Va., a state Obama won a year ago but just recently elected a Republican governor to replace departing Tim Kaine, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The former Alaska governor wanted to greet the hundreds of fans already lining up in 39-degree weather for her Sunday morning signing.
“She brings out a different crowd,” Salem Republican Party Chairman Greg Habeeb told the Roanoke Times. Habeeb was struck by the numerous non-Republicans he spotted in the line snaking all over the mall. “She taps into something that the Republican Party really needs to tap into.”
It’s not clear whether Sarah Palin can overcome the misgivings many feel about her, but it’s clear that she can drive the debate. The left would like nothing better than a silent majority. With Sarah Palin giving voice to the frustration and alienation many feel from the political class, the majority is a lot less silent.
Sarah Palin is just what America needs for that reason alone.
Andrew In The Sky Of Diamonds
Thursday, November 19th, 2009Conservative authors have said that Liberalism Is A Mental Disorder and Andrew Sullivan has made me a believer. He is Exhibit A: hallucinating his way through a serious case of Sarah Palin hate. But Andrew Sullivan is only the most shriekingly obvious deranged lib. The mainstream media [Newsweek, NBC, WaPo] makes itself look even more addled and irrelevant with the way they treat Sarah Palin.
Doc Zero over at HotAir’s Greenroom (who is this incredible writer?!) says this:
The media has treated Palin’s book like the mirrored scroll from “Kung Fu Panda”: every reviewer sees themselves reflected in its pages. Imagine a mainstream news magazine trying to portray any liberal woman as a lightweight, by using a photo of her in running shorts to tease its review of her major new book. Running a book review by someone who admits to skipping the last third of the book is not an insult to Sarah Palin, who was not writing for an audience of lazy media hacks. It’s an insult to the audience… including liberal readers of the Washington Post with the intellectual clarity to desire an understanding of those who eagerly devoured every single page. Palin is a phenomenon, and honest liberals would be well-advised to read her work and understand her appeal, just as conservatives should read “Dreams From My Father” to understand the mind of Bill Ayers.
The careless, sloppy disdain of the Left’s reaction to “Going Rogue” is almost as strong an argument for Palin’s politics as anything contained within its pages. The absolute lack of care and competence from the government that ran up a $12 trillion national debt is astonishing. Months of dithering over Afghanistan strategy, with American troops under fire, ends with a painfully unqualified Commander-in-Chief wailing that he wants a new set of options. The politicization of national defense ends in the absurd spectacle of a civilian trial for illegal enemy combatants… subcontracting national security to trial lawyers, and a randomly-selected pool of 12 people who never heard of 9/11.
He continues. You must read the whole thing.
The liberal establishment can barely contain their contempt for the average American life. Common sense is scorned in favor of high-minded theories. The bitterness coming from the left will only increase as President Obama, Congress and the SEIU enforcers put into place their liberal utopia and it fails utterly (as it is doomed to do because liberal policy is all theoretical and ignores little truths like self-interest and human nature).
Liberals will look, act and sound like tripping LSD Dead Head groupies as President Obama and the Democrats in Congress fail. Liberals will see things that aren’t there. Reality will cease to have meaning for them. It’s already happening. Andrew Sullivan is only the first of many to completely lose rational thought in the face of abject ideological failure.
The fresh conservative breeze Sarah Palin represents blows all those theories away. Sarah Palin stands on reality. God, family, country. Baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and …. well, Honda, I guess. She’s a “bitter clinger”. She’s prays. She births. She runs. She works. She’s the average American that libs don’t want to believe exist. And yet, there she is in all her glory. And in the face of normal, the left has come completely unhinged–ranting, skin crawling, tripping their way to a complete psychotic break.
Andrew Sullivan is only the first and most obvious. This will get worse.
Sarah Palin Helped Oprah: Better Ratings Than With Obama!
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009Wow. That’s gotta be galling for Oprah to know that coddling Obama cost her so much. Meanwhile, a visit by Sarah Palin nets her the best ratings in years:
Monday’s episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” drew a 8.7 household rating and 13 share — the best since Oprah had the entire Osmond family on the show in 2007.
That means Palin also topped Oprah’s heavily viewed interviews with Whitney Houston at the start of the season.
Sarah Palin causes a press tsunami. Even Andrew Sullivan can’t absorb it all, poor dear. Fans wait breathlessly in lines for Sarah.
Maureen Dowd is predictably churlish. She’s defensive about her elite, insider status [humor, Sarah, make fun of these empty pumps, they can't take humor]:
“We felt our very normalcy, our status as ordinary Americans,” she writes, “could be a much-needed fresh breeze blowing into Washington, D.C.”
It is also real hard to be a real, ordinary, hard-working American if you are part of “what used to be called ‘mainstream’ national media,” as Sarah scornfully writes. “The time has come to acknowledge that it is counterfeit objectivity the liberal media try to sell consumers,” she says. “A period in the great American experiment has passed.”
I was beginning to panic. I pored over the book to see if there was anything that I shared in common with this apotheosis of traditional American values.
Let me answer that for you: No. You have nothing in common with Sarah. Now that that’s solved…
Sarah Palin causes serious heartburn.
Oh, Levi, Levi, Levi
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009Dan Riehl is right, this is not going to end well. Levi Johnson keeps parents of teenage girls awake at night–and it’s not because they’re looking at his scintillating Playgirl pictures. He’s exactly the kind of guy they don’t want their daughters to consort with ever. And here he is, exploiting his child’s family yet again. And he’s disgusted?
Jim Hoft says: “Maybe Levi should call Cindy Sheehan to find out how this story ends.”
Indeed. And I feel as sick watching him in the exploit-cycle as I felt watching Sheehan. It is as though neither of them are self-aware enough to know they’re being used. At the same time, their messages are so rank, that it’s difficult to feel sorry for them.
And Jules Crittendon notes how irrelevant Sarah Palin still is and has this comment on the polls:
It’s not so much that only 23 percent like her, or that 38 percent don’t like her, but that after going through the wringer as the designated target in a presidential campaign and being kicked around ever since, she still has 37 percent who haven’t heard enough or are undecided. That’s a pretty big soft area to work on over the next couple of years, while Obama keeps doing what he’s doing to his own numbers. As I heard some commentator remark the other day, a lot of people thought Ronald Reagan was a fringe joke around this time in Jimmy Carter’s presidency, too. Ball’s in her court.
I’d just like to point out that independents in New Jersey and Virginia overwhelmingly voted for Barack Obama a year ago. Now, they gave conservatives huge wins. The independents are fickle pickles. It’s kinda cool to Palin hate, but that will change as Obama’s policies get less popular.
I have more on Sarah Palin’s recent interviews here. [Oh, here's Rush's transcript, by the way.] Decided to give old Ricky Hollywood his own post. It will be one of the last ones he gets.
Also, I find this statement by John Zieglar amusing: “For many reasons, this is by far the best book and greatest literary achievement by a political figure in my lifetime.”
I am all for effusive praise, but come on. I found those sorts of reviews of Obama’s books embarrassing. This is weird, too. But John has his reasons for being so enthusiastic. He says:
Among other things, we discover that Sarah Palin has a ridiculously good memory. People who know me say that I have an amazing ability to recall events and I have written two books, but I was blown away by the level of detail in this project, which encompasses her entire life. Since the timing of Going Rogue did not allow for massive amounts of time and resources to be put into research it had to all be put together — in incredibly short order — by Palin’s own memory and notes. The notion that numerous “news” outlets thirsting to find inaccuracies have yet to find one of major significance (no, a disagreement over the definition of “vetting” does not count) may to be the greatest testament to the book’s remarkable credibility.
We’ll see. I have the book sitting here. Received it today and will read it and review it.
In the meantime, I’ll be thankful that my kids aren’t yet dating age.
More at Memeorandum
Sarah Palin Interviewed By Rush And Oprah, A Study In Contrasts–UPDATED
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009The Sarah Palin – Oprah interview couldn’t have been more different than the Sarah Palin – Rush interview. I watched the Oprah interview yesterday after having not watched the Oprah Show in years. I listened to Rush today after listening intermittently for years. If I tell you how long, you’ll realize I’m older than I look, so I won’t tell you.
Anyway, before I get into the details, my overarching impression wasn’t related to Sarah Palin at all, but rather to the state of the press in general. For example, here’s Sarah Palin going into hostile Obama-loving territory on Oprah. She was on edge, and fought defensiveness, much like her interview with Katie Couric. But she did it. Unlike Barack Obama, who has studiously avoided any interview from anyone who isn’t a “friendly”, Palin demonstrates some gumption. [Barack Obama has decided to grant Fox an interview tonight, reportedly.] Luckily for him, that’s a rather small group and only one network who are fair and balanced–which is to say they’re not kissing his ass 24/7–but if any conservative did the same, the conservative wouldn’t ever be on TV or interviewed by any newsweekly, period. There are no even remotely neutral media sources. Who? MSNBC? NBC? ABC? CNN? CBS? Newsweek? Time? The New York Times? Who is fair? Who doesn’t lean so far left that they’re imploding for lack of viewers and/or readers and the ad dollars eyeballs drive? [UPDATED: Texans for Palin calls out USA Today for their bias today. It never ends.]
Right.
So, here’s Sarah Palin going forward into Oprah’s female den of iniquity. Oprah needs Sarah like Sarah needs Oprah. Sarah Palin needs to appeal to a broader slice of the electorate. Oprah needs ratings. It’s mutually beneficial and one of the bile-inducing decisions politicians make. Oprah doesn’t ask Sarah Palin substantive questions. Oprah asks Oprah questions–about Levi coming to Thanksgiving [More on Levi here], about her marriage, etc. Rush Limbaugh called the questions “soap opera stuff”, but that’s Oprah’s audience. Palin did relatively well. The Anchoress sums it up this way:
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. As I said over two twitters:
there is a brittle defensiveness to Palin that was not there before; she’s clearly carrying scabs from being savaged in ‘08 BUT…you can’t do that in politics. She was treated (IS still treated) abominably by press, but if she can’t transcend that she’s out
Okay, political analysis in 140 characters doesn’t really work, but yeah, 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?
Sarah Palin needs to deal with this den of vicious beasts better. And they are vicious. Camille Paglia, who The Anchoress quotes, says succinctly:
She also needs a shrewder, cooler take on the mainstream media, with its preening bullies, cackling witches, twisted cynics and pompous windbags. The Northeastern media establishment is in decline, and everyone knows it.
Rush’s interview, in contrast, made Sarah Palin sound like a wise elder statesman. He didn’t throw softballs. To the contrary, he asked her substantive policy questions. [Transcript here and here's the audio.] Guess what? She didn’t stumble. She flowed. It was great to listen to, really, and heartening. Rush asked her questions on everything from national security, foreign policy, oil exploration, health care and illegal immigration. Not one stutter. Not one hiccup. She was flawless.
It wasn’t just her form. Her substance was pure, unapologetic small-government conservative. It was like taking a breath of fresh political air, if such a thing exists. D.C. smells gives off the fetid fumes of months dead fish in the still undrained swamp. Sarah Palin is not D.C. She brings the brisk, clean Alaskan air and sends a chill down the spines of Democrats and Republican establishment types. They are right to fear her. She is formidable.
I want Sarah Palin to succeed.
Sarah Palin must though, find a way to be at ease answering any question that the superficial, bigoted, condescending North Eastern blue bloods throw at her. Underneath, these people are insecure. It rattles them to their bones that a state college educated, wife, mother, politician and governor could best them. Their insecurity will get more piqued as President Obama continues to waffle, avoid and hide–from unfriendly press, from dictators, from tough decisions, from failure.
Sarah Palin will have to get used to wearing the mantle of leader. That means that she’ll have to own the fact that she’s so formidable that Barack Obama has finally, at long last, decided to man up and face Fox. (It won’t be much of a feat. Geeze, O’Reilly already loves him and the rest of the cast like him, too. It’s only the talking heads like Beck and Hannity that dislike the guy. What a weenie Obama has been avoiding Fox. So typical, though.)
Obama illustrates the point though. He’s weak. He will only take the easy road. Sarah Palin, by nature of being conservative, chooses the more difficult road. It’s just the way it is. She needs to own it. She needs to march down the road with cheerful grace. These self-important press and establishment types cannot handle good humor. They have no sense of humor about themselves. A well-placed gentle jibe will do more than 100 well-circumscribed answers and cluck-clucking back-tracking. The circumlocution is Obama’s forté. Sarah Palin needs to own everything, be direct and have a ball.
Really, what does Sarah Palin have to lose? What more can they say? The left has shot its load, not they won’t try to reload and make more bullcrap out of whole cloth. Let them. Really. Now is not the time to be defensive or afraid.
As a side note: When Oprah asked her invasive family questions, I noted that Sarah turned and looked at her daughters with love and pain in her eyes. It is disgusting to me that they have to hear the b.s. Some will say, “Well, it’s Sarah’s fault for bringing them.” Really? If Barack and Michelle Obama brought their daughters on Oprah, would she ask them, in front of the girls, about fight rumors and rumors of divorce? Somehow I doubt it.
There is a double standard. It’s despicable. In order to succeed, though, a conservative candidate, man or woman must, as The Anchoress says, transcend it. No doubt, Sarah Palin will have plenty of opportunity to do just that as she faces more hostile interviews.
More at Memeorandum
Sexy Sarah Palin: Leftist Sexists At It Yet Again–UPDATED, UPDATED AGAIN
Monday, November 16th, 2009How ribald can you be? Newsweek will show you:
The CBN’s David Brody says:
You’ve got to hand it to the folks at Newsweek. They have accomplished being biased and sexist at the same time. Quite a feat. This cover has got to be a new low right? They don’t use a photo of Palin on the campaign trail. No instead they take the sexy Runners World photo. Yes she posed for it but don’t tell me they didn’t purposely use that photo to make a point? I predict this cover will become a bigger story over the next 24-48 hours and let’s face it. This isn’t JUST about media bias. This cover should be insulting to women politicians. Where’s the sexy photo of Mitt Romney? Why not a picture of Tim Pawlenty with an unbuttoned shirt relaxing on a couch in the Twin Cities?
We see Obama with halos hovering over his head. We see Sarah in running shoes. The whole purpose is to diminish, denigrate and destroy a woman who differs politically.
As if fair-minded Americans needed more evidence of press bias.
Updated:
Sarah Palin responds to the cover from Facebook:
The choice of photo for the cover of this week’s Newsweek is unfortunate. When it comes to Sarah Palin, this “news” magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant. The Runner’s World magazine one-page profile for which this photo was taken was all about health and fitness – a subject to which I am devoted and which is critically important to this nation. The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now. If anyone can learn anything from it: it shows why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, gender, or color of skin. The media will do anything to draw attention – even if out of context.
- Sarah Palin
After this post got fed to Twitter, I got into an argument with a leftist feminist there about this cover. She brought up Hillary Clinton. She believes that Sarah Palin did this to herself by posing for Runners World. What serious politician or man would pose for that sort of cover?
What serious newsweekly would put a degrading picture, say of Obama frolicking in the surf or Bil and Hill dancing in the sand for the camera, on the cover of a magazine? Only conservative politicians need worry about being portrayed as trivial and sexy (Sarah), mean and old (McCain), mean (Cheney), mean and stupid (GWB). A Democrat gets gravitas-portraying treatment.
Always.
And that’s why conservatives view the press as biased. They don’t even attempt, even feebly, to hide it anymore.
UPDATED AGAIN:
Well, I knew this story had legs. Sorry, couldn’t help myself. Anyway the feminists are coming out against Newsweek. It’s about damn time. It is heartening to see them facing this bias. Women should be evaluated on their content, beliefs and actions. When Sarah Palin is reduced to her legs, the men don’t have to evaluate her on her merit.
Julie Millican of Media Matters [!] says:
There are a lot of legitimate reasons to criticize Sarah Palin, her new book, and her policies, but you don’t have to stoop to sexism to do it. Newsweek’s November 23 issue, however, does just that by publishing on its cover a photo of Palin in short running shorts and a fitted top, leaning against the American flag. Making matters worse is the equally offensive headline Newsweek editors chose to run alongside the photo — “How Do You Solve a Problem like Sarah?” — presumably a reference to the Sound of Music song, “Maria,” in which nuns fret about “how” to “solve a problem like Maria,” a “girl” who “climbs trees” and whose “dress has a tear.”
When will the media stop this degrading nonsense? I think it’s when those within the ranks start holding them accountable. That’s happening, thankfully, at long last.
