best article I've seen on the whole phenomenon, from Commentary:

https://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/the-meaning-of-sarah-palin-14674?page=all

Good read, it's the first time I've read Yuval Levin, I hope it's not the last.

A spot on description of the true differences between the major parties, and what drives 'em. I was relieved to see the author points out the union between the left and the media. Like it or not, an intellectually honest person can not deny it.

I hope the republicans embrace the governor and her ideals, and tell their elites to sit down and shut up. If not, many, including myself will turn a deaf ear to their cause. I'm close to saying to-hell-with-'em.

The GOP is lost,IMO, without Gov. Palin. The media is more our enemy than the U.S. government.

fantastic analysis. non-judgmental and IMHO correct.

constructive critique such as this, that would not or should not offend the critiqued, is seldom so well achieved.

thanks for the lead.

Most excellent article--Levin percptively hit the nail on the head in several areas of the current political establishment.

Sarah Palin was just too...you know, middle class, for the cultural/political elite to tolerate.


Casey

Great read! I've passed it along to some of the elitist Palin-bashers I know, as well as supporters who wondered what went wrong. A piece like this offers food for thought for everyone.

The article recognizes a (the?) major weaknesses of the two parties. The "some are more equal than others" attitude of the dems, and the failure of the Right to accept that the government's primary economic role is to ensure fair play / transparancy in the various markets.

Palin has a future, but I would suspect it's not as President. She does not have the gravitas for the job. Then again, that's what people said about Reagan. JMO, Dutch.

Ronald Reagan lost his first bid for the nod in 1976, and well he came back in 1979 and well we all know what happened. Sarah Palin, was the only thing about 2008 that kept the GOP from a total route. BO and company won,but they sure didn't have the grass roots coattails to go along with it. They went after her because of fear nothing else. She will learn from it, and charge on. At some point, and I could not tell you when, she will be President of the United States. I will bet coin on it. The left since his first day, tried to write off Reagan as well a dim wit and what have you, history tells it different.

If nothing else, Palin freshness and candor represented a clarion call to the GOP, that it MUST return to Conservative principals if it wants to remain a viable alternative to the dhimmicrat party.

the level of hysterical hate she generated from lefties....particularly leftie women....was shocking


and it takes a lot of hate from those people to shock me, after watching them foam at the mouth over Bush for eight years

The meaning of Sarah Palin is that nobody else wanted to run with McCain,...

I wonder how much less comment (pro and con) Governor Palin would inspire if she weren't beautiful.

I don't believe that has anything to do with it, any more than her being left handed, or right handed would.
What comes out of her mouth is what has polarized folks. If you want to see Conservatism on the come back trail, you like her. If your feelings are that Reaganesque Conservatism is not appropriate for this age, then you probably dont like her.

What came out of her mouth was but one of many things that polarized folks. I suspect that if her beauty had not been part of that complex, the rest wouldn't have been so polarizing.

Many results in life come from a complex of causes � not from any single cause alone, though any single cause in the complex can significantly contribute to the result.

A sudden gust of stiff wind, say, breaks a tree where it's weakened by a pocket of rot. Those whose "thinking" is so primitive that they must isolate and concentrate on "the" single cause disagree �
(a) one concludes that the cause was the vigor of the wind �
(b) one concludes that the cause was the sudden shift in the speed of the wind �
(c) one concludes that the cause was the pocket of rot having weakened the tree.

Who'd be right? Who'd be wrong?

Its an excellent question.

The fact that she was --pardon the phrase-- SMOKIN' HOT infuriated leftist women, who have an alarming tendency toward a drab appearance.

What the election really highlighted for me is tribalism.

The "Feminist Tribe" will support members of their tribe NO MATTER WHAT (Bill Clinton) and will attack non-members NO MATTER WHAT (Sarah Palin).

Sad, really.

BMT

I have to agree with you Steve, that was an excellent article. The breakdown of the differences between the GOP and Dems, Cultural populist / Economic elitist vs. Cultural elitist / economic populist is dead on. Where the GOP needs to go to become a winner again is Cultural populist / economic populist. Unfortunately, the route they appear to be taking is Cultural elitism / Economic elitism. The elitism of the neo-conservatives is a cancer that is eating the GOP from within right now.

The problem the GOP has is they haven't delivered on their message since Ronald Reagan. Until that changes, it'll be SOS, different RINO.

Palin in office isn't even close to the traditional personna she portrays so well.

God help us all if we Republicans nominate this ignorant, ill-informed, unqualified woman for the presidency. Yes, her ideology is just what we need, but she is otherwise utterly unqualified. She is an embarassment. She should concentrate on being a better parent (a little sex education or moral instruction on the pitfalls of premarital sex would be a good place to start). If she ever wants to play on the national scene again, she needs to educate herself on such fundamental concepts as American exceptionalism (which most of us learned in high school) to say nothing of such things as the Bush Doctrine.
In many respects, Palin reminds me of trailer trash. Of course she is not, but her lack of sophistication, of fundamental knowledge, her general ignorance about how the world works, her poor vocabulary and delivery all make her fundamentally unelectable. She may be the candidate of choice of the illiterate, but she cannot capture the votes of those conservative democrats and educated young voters whose support we will need in order to try to return this country to conservative governance.

Smug arrogance turns off more conservatives than a sheepskin.
You already won.



The claim is as baseless now as it was prior to the election. Your response is very well pointed out in the article though.

Where is the smug arrogance? In calling it like it is (or at least as one sees it). Or in assuming (arrogantly, thinks I) that those who take issue with Palin's qualifications (or lack thereof) are smug and arrogant??

There were several reasons I stood in my living room and pumped my fist skyward when she spoke at the RNC.


The most powerful was for the first time in eight years, somebody was fighting back! The press and the democrats were unfettered in their "hate Bush" mantra, and it was Sarah Palin who was the first to counter-punch in a very long time. In fact to date she is still the only conservative who doesn't head for cover at every opportunity.

What qualification does she lack?

Calling those who support, "illiterate", is off the scale of jerkism. Had it not been for Palin the election would have been a landslide.

What other "conservative" ever pushed back even a little against the onslaught by the press?

You're kidding, right? Every candidate running for president punched back and hard at the left and the anti-Bush forces. But bear in mind, there's very little to defend in George Bush. He did not govern as a conservative, more as a moderate-liberal. Spending skyrocketed under Bush. It still stuns me that we Republicans elected this mediocrite over Steve Forbes. And the similarities between Bush and Palin are rather striking: both are ill-informed, fundamentally ignorant really, in so many ways. Both are embarassing to watch. They do not inspire confidence. Have you actually seen the Couric and Gibson interviews? They are painful to watch. I don't think a vice-presidential candidate has appeared so ignorant and ill-informed, so unready to govern in modern times. Palin gave the ticket a boost when she was first announced. But as swing voters came to see who she actually was, how genuinely unqualified she was, they quickly abandoned the Republican ticket.

I think the words of Kathleen Parker continue to ring true.

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.

No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I�ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I�ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.

Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there�s not much content there. Here�s but one example of many from her interview with Hannity: �Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we�re talking about today. And that�s something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this.�

When Couric pointed to polls showing that the financial crisis had boosted Obama�s numbers, Palin blustered wordily: �I�m not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at track records and see who�s more apt to be talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to change, and who�s actually done it?�

If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.

If Palin were a man, we�d all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she�s a woman � and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket � we are reluctant to say what is painfully true.

What to do?

McCain can�t repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP�s unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.

Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.

Do it for your country.

Robjordan
You have to be the most ignorant sombitchin, bastard I have ever come in contact with. Are all you DEMOCRARATS this BUT UGLY, I MEAN STUPID?
So what! She was not up to date on specific subjects! Blame that on the McKain bunch. She was nominated on a moments notice. How long, was her oponents preparing for the KILL? She did one hell of a job considering the circumstance at hand. You hind tit sucking demo's need to get your resumes in order. I hope she runs next time with her own pick of the RNC and KICKS MAJOR ASS!
Which I feel she is capable of holding her own!

Huffington Post, correct?

There's a pant-load.

The fight is with the left and the press that supports them, not BUSH.

Your response identifies you as the "ignorant, sombitchin bastard" pal. I'll stand my conservative credentials up against anyone's. It is precisely because I am a conservative that I cannot support Palin. It is not McCain's fault that Palin was ignorant and ill-informed. (And believe me, I am not defending McCain. I don't drink that kool-aid). She is a governor for hell's sake. It is her responsibility to learn what the Bush doctrine is---to understand basic civics, for hell's sake.

You wish. I have hated Arianna Huffington since before you even knew who she was.

You cite Kathleen Parker, the exception, which doesn't make her the rule. Nice try.

Now post the reviews of the majority of conservative columnists. Also if you would, post the HELL Kathleen Parker took after her article.

Your response identifies you as the "ignorant, sombitchin bastard" pal. I'll stand my conservative credentials up against anyone's. It is precisely because I am a conservative that I cannot support Palin. It is not McCain's fault that Palin was ignorant and ill-informed. (And believe me, I am not defending McCain. I don't drink that kool-aid). She is a governor for hell's sake. It is her responsibility to learn what the Bush doctrine is---to understand basic civics, for hell's sake.

Just great. We've got a guy who can't even spell "McCain" (McKain!) and "Democrats" (DEMOCRARATS!)telling us who would make a great president. Hogbuster, I'm gonna rename you "Cletus" and no longer wonder why you are falling all over Palin.

Well now we know who and what you are.

HB...shake it off friend.

Your response completely begs the question. We don't decide truth based on popularity. Yes Parker caught hell, but that fact tells us nothing about whether her premises were correct, whether her facts were accurate and whether her conclusions logically followed her premises. It tells us alot more about the ignorance which has come to characterize so much of the Republican party. Watch the Couric/Gibson/Hannity interviews again and get back to us on just how well qualified Sarah is.

Well now, could it be that Rob and his arrogant elitist attitude is the root of the party's problem? This illiterate blue collar slob thinks so. I won't say what is really on my mind.

Now you cite any other negative you can conjure up.
Tough, I hope she flattens the press and the dems.
I'll wait for your list explaining why she isn't qualified (other than not being a liberal democrat).

It's possible, but doubtful.

You need to drink more than the KOOL AID You sir are, a friggin idiot, Plain and simple! Take a pill or three, the BOTTOM SUCKING DHEMOKRATS will still be in office, once you wake up! We still have 3 years to nominate a replacement for the COMMUNIST/Socialist PARTY ov' the WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL THE TODAYS PARTY? Hopefully two years from now WE' Will be singing a different tune!
Is there still a POT free ADMENMENT in tact in AK. I SPENT 14 years serving in the UASF in AK and @ one point you could grow your own pot as long as I think it was an OZ and it didn't GO Beyond a certain limit. YOU BEEN SMOKING MORE THAN YOU SHOULD?
SMOKE A J AND GET BACK TO THE AMERICAN VOTING POPULUS!

You get a birthday thread?

NO THANKS! FROM AN IGNORANT SOB LIKE YOURSELF. ID rather bend over and grab my ancles! With no lube thats what we are going to get anyway.Go MASTERBATE somewhere quiet like a linnen closset!

Listen dipshit, after eight years of Bush and the candidacy of McKain/Palin (your spelling, not mine) the Republican brand is down to 28% of the electorate (a historical low) and there are now only five solid red states out of 50. The prospect of Palin as future president does not seem to have helped us much and it is highly unlikely that your approach is part of the solution, rather than the problem.

I'll put my blue collar bonafides against yours any day Kend. And by the way, poor prose, ignorance and sloppy reasoning are not virtues.

Rob, The problem here is not so much about what you said rather how you said it. Honorable men should disagree honorably. You are a educated man as is obvious in your writing. You are being critisized for insulting your readers, as you did me. You took the gloves off before you got into the ring. You might be a good guy but I'd much rather have a beer with Hogbuster than you.
It's hard to be objective when someone calls you an idiot. Ken

RobJordan
You need serious help. ANCHORAGE is a great place to GET THE HELP YOU so seriously NEED! GO directly to the DVA or the ANCHORAE Police Dept and ask for their QUACK on call, Chances are they have a padded room asaigned for yor you

Rob,

The commentary by Yuval Levin has you so nailed I can just shake my head.

And this ill literate responds:

<

THE END

HOGBUSTER:

You Ol' Name-Callin' Nincompoop, crawl back under your rock.

You do boorish lout so well.

Say...here's an idea. Ask those that elected her Governor what her qualifying qualities are!

What a stack of pompous posers.

Not directed at you RickyD.

More wag.

Let the men talk.

She is a lot more qualified than the President that we got and she is the only reason that I did not have to hold my nose while I voted for the Republican Party. miles

Good article..........thanks for posting.

MM

Yep, that sums it up. Good article.

since your response indicates you just swallowed....or maybe just agree with....the leftie's talking points on Palin, I sort of doubt your conservative bona fides, friend.

why don't you tell us what you think the so-called Bush doctrine(s) is? it was a stupid question with no answer, designed specifically to draw the WTF response it did.

The Bush Doctine is a term used by leftists to describe, roughly, anything they don't like in foreign affairs done by the prior administration. Any short answer: Peremption, not negotiation....or the like, is just playing the leftie's game and oversimplifying. There is no consensus, sound-bite meaning, and it isn't used by the Bush people themselves. Unlike the Powell doctrine, for example, which has an agreed meaning.

Palin like most governors was no foreign policy expert, but in the context of an election against the current incumbent buffoon, it is pretty amazing that the media focused so completely on her lack of qualifications....she who had acutally done something other than ghost-write books about herself....and ignore the hollow man on the other side.

BTW your comment about her daughter marks you indelibly as a jackass.

"The New York Times got it wrong. And Charlie Gibson got it wrong." - Charles Krauthammer

Charlie Gibson's Gaffe

Krauthammer is credited as the first define and use the term "Bush Doctrine".

Proving that some people never learn, RobJordan still gets it wrong.

The smear tactic against her is not unprecedented. The press has destroyed every republican VP in my life time.

When, WHEN, do republicans catch on, and fight back?

kind of funny really....I put up Krauthammer's article...and this RobJordan shows up and gives a demonstration of the very things he describes


and always, as with Rush's seminar callers, with the assurance that he's really a conservative guy with blue-collar cred

right

I'm confused on that one.

Palin has a history of slapping arrogant asses across the face. She slaps with her words. She slaps with her actions. She slaps with law suits. She's a damn good slapper with impeccable aim.


The MSM hates her. They fear her. The liberl left hates her, they fear her, too. She's got an inner strength that literally scares the hell out of them. She has no bone piles in her closet. Her closet door is wide open and always will be. They hate that with a passion.

More than anything they don't want to be the next one slapped!

I have such high hopes!

When Schumer, Durbin, Kerry, Feinstein etc., or NPR, ABC, the NYT start there partisan Pelosi (BS), that she will issue sharp, stinging corrections.

That pelosi being = to BS thing is going to catch on, isn't it?

I like it!

Yup, they know she has what it takes to make a run. I'll be behind her. She has been so successful so fast, its quite an eye opener. Months after the election she is still getting excoriated, which is really not bad for her political future.

It sooooo fits!

uh, the article that started this post?

What am I not getting? Is Yuval Levin not the author?

just sayin...

About the Author

Yuval Levin is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the author of Imagining the Future: Science and American Democracy (Encounter).

jeez, I'm sorry. I was bouncing back and forth between this thread and the Krauthammer article thread and forgot where I was.

need more coffee.

The best thing the GOP can do is boycott ABC CBS NBC and CNN. No advertising, no interviews, just hit them in the pocketbook. Use the internet and public speaking to the fullest. I would pretend from this day forward that they don't exist. Watch Couric interview Biden and compare it to the Palin interview. She was all over Biden like she wanted to bear his children and in some instances answering the questions for him.

man, have they been keeping Biden shot full of Thorazine in a strait-jacket somewhere? he's been invisible.....he'll pop up with some asinine statement and then disappear again.

Especially when he screwed up the swearing in of Hillary, even with it written down in front of him.

I think there is quite a bit to that. Those on the left who were blessed with the beauty of a Janet Reno could not help but react negatively. The 'threat' was instantly locked on their radar.My wife was thrilled. We finally had someone preaching conservatism who looked good to boot.

Maybe so....I mean, Jeanne Kirkpatrick would have made a great president, but she looked a lot more like Janet Reno than Sarah Palin.

That is an outstanding article. I think it quite accurate too.

Expat

Balance in all things

Palin/Coulter 2012

I get a kick out of how many folks think how bad/good palin is cuz they read a report or an article, etc.

Most of you didnt know squat about her until she was picked as VP nominee.

She ran a much stronger campaign for Gov than as she did for Veep, mccain really held her hands and not to mention the media....jesus, they were scared of her.

shes not perfect and I dont agree with her all the time, but I would take her anyday of the week and twice on weekends for what we have now in office.

Was Sarah Palin out of her league last year? Yes...But, as Winston Churchill said of someone calling him a drunk, "tommorow I'll be sober, you'll always be ugly".

Sarah Palin was a minor factor in the election. Barack Obama could have put her on HIS ticket and still won the election.

Gov. Palin will be elected to national office from Alaska. Let her matriculate her career. She will run for President when she is ready. Not in 2012. In 2016 or 2020. And probably win...

just my opinion... idahoguy101

Yes palin was small in the grand scheme of things, dont tell the MSM that, they are still afraid of her.

As for being ready for pres, Obama wasnt and still isnt ready either. just about all of his cabinet was under contraversy. he still cant get his spending bill right. I hope the messiah get his [bleep] squared away pretty dang fast cuz, unfortunately, hes our guy.

He better learn his presidency 101 pretty fast, but with his ego, I cant see that one happening.

Joel/AK

I think we're one the page regarding Pres. Obama. I read the election of Pres. Obama as a reaction against Washington in general, and particularly the Bush presidency. I don't think he originally expected to be elected in 2008. But he caught the wave at the right time. He was the anti-Clinton in the Democratic party and the anti-Bush in the general election.

All this leaves Obama without a strong base of own. So he is trying to use the Clinton's base. But like everyone associated with the Clinton's he is being ethically slimed by taking in them and their associates. Big mistake by Obama.

As for the stimulus spending Bill Obama it is been used the left wing House to reward their supporters. His best choice would be to veto it in current form and cut a deal with the Republicans and flyover country Democrats for a new bill. I have no idea if he will. If he wants to move to the political center he had best show a willingness to push the left wing of his party under a bus. Otherwise he will effectively cede legislative leadership to Nancy Pelosi. Then if the Republicans can get their act together for 2012 he will be out of office. Just my opinion...

idahoguy101

*Well then dammit ....."Live and let live ...... !"

'Course the frikkin' MSM and libb-turds hate the "idea of that" too!

BTW Steve, thanks for the thread, and particularly for the link to that article.

Take any cowardly, slobbering left wing broad. Extract the liberal, stamp out the socialist, add courage, shine a little light on that empty, black heart inside them and beat the ugly off of them with a stick and you'd be left with a Sarah Palin.

The rabid response to her boils down to jealousy. Women because they'll never be like her and men because they'll never get one like her.

She'll stand tall through it all! And they'll just keep looking smaller and smaller.

"She does not have the gravitas for the job."

I'd give her another shot at VP. She certainly has as much 'gravitas' as Joe Biden. ;-)

Me too. She is certainly just as qualified as many past Presidents, and I believe she's a quick study. She's far more eloquent than W. The status quo won't stay quo if she's running things, I guarantee that.

I mean look at Joe Biden. He's supposed to be 'real smart'. So how come he says something stupid, wrong or embarrassing every time he opens his pie hole? "We're going to be tested..."

0bama is also looking darned fallible these days... ;-)

I just hope we survive four years of his 'leadership'!

What leadership?

Excellent read ...

yep agree with others here, really appreciated the link Steve


best summary I'd seen, perhaps because it aligns with my take on it but oh well there you have it.

I've stated openly and often she's earned my support for her actions here as our governor. Do I agree with her 100%, heck no, even a girl I admire more than Palin, the one I finally said "I do" to we don't hit 100% agreement.

have also tried to be honest here that I felt she stumbled and stumbled badly upon her interview opportunities. Really no other way to slice it imho, sure Courics bias was obvious in her interview style, if you really want a laugh go look at her interviews with Clinton she really looked like she wanted to have his baby, sheesh credible journalist??? hardly think so.

don't feel she's earned the cred to be compared to Reagan, but I do see some similarities there, what kind of foreign policy allows a Prez to denote an "Evil Empire" remember how the Ivy leaguers got their panties in a wad over that????

all I'm saying given the options of what we had to choose from, I'd take the common sense and plain talk over the slicked up politician any day of the week.

you can be well educated and not pick up the snobbery and elitist attitude that so many do, our campfire is living proof of that as does my life experience here locally confirm such.

there's some smart cookies that frequent this board that are long on education and short on holier than thou mindset.

again really appreciate the link Steve, along with the other stuff you bring to this place. Thank you

Well stated, 1AK!