Salon: The Sarah Palin pity party

[cbayer]

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/09/30/palin_pity /

/snip/

Everyone seems to be oozing sympathy for the fumbling vice-presidential nominee. Please. Cry me a freaking river.

By Rebecca Traister

Sept. 30, 2008 | Is this the week that Democrats and Republicans join hands -- to heap pity on poor Sarah Palin?

At the moment, all signs point to yes, as some strange bedfellows reveal that they have been feeling sorry for the vice-presidential candidate ever since she stopped speaking without the help of a teleprompter. Conservative women like Kathleen Parker and Kathryn Jean Lopez are shuddering with sympathy as they realize that the candidate who thrilled them, just weeks ago, is not in shape for the big game. They're not alone. The New Republic's Christopher Orr feels that Palin has been misused by the team that tapped her. In the New York Times, Judith Warner feels for Sarah, too! And over at the Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates empathizes with intelligence and nuance, making clear that he's not expressing pity. Salon's own Glenn Greenwald watched the Katie Couric interview and "actually felt sorry for Sarah Palin." Even Amy Poehler, impersonating Katie Couric on last week's "Saturday Night Live," makes the joke that Palin's cornered-animal ineptitude makes her "increasingly adorable."

I guess I'm one cold dame, because while Palin provokes many unpleasant emotions in me, I just can't seem to summon pity, affection or remorse.

Don't get me wrong, I'm just like all of the rest of you, part of the bipartisan jumble of viewers that keeps one hand poised above the mute button and the other over my eyes during Palin's disastrous interviews. Like everyone else, I can barely take the waves of embarrassment that come with watching someone do something so badly. Roseanne Barr singing the national anthem, Sophia Coppola acting in "The Godfather: Part III," Sarah Palin talking about Russia -- they all create the same level of eyeball-squinching discomfort.

/snip/

More of this outstanding article at link.

[Warpy]

1. I don't know who to feel sorry for

Magoo because even he knows he made a deal with the devil and got saddled with the worst VP candidate ever...or...Palin because as dumb as she is, she's got to know she's taken on more than she can handle...or...the poor slobs in charge of trying to turn Palin into something other than a gibbering idiot blurting out any sort of word salad that pops into her empty head...or...the GOP voter who is trying very, very hard to convince him/herself that it's a viable ticket because they bought all the horseshit about Democrats in general and Obama in particular.

The truth is that I wouldn't want to be any of 'em right now.

[snappyturtle]

2. Worth reading, that's for sure. I think the last paragraph of the article

is especially good:

"Palin is tough as nails. She will bite the head off a moose and move on. So, no, I don't feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for women who have to live with what she and her running mate have wrought."

[sarge43]

3. Also check out the readers' letters n/t

[nickinSTL]

4. This is exactly what I'm afraid will happen if Biden isn't careful...

I've thought that Biden has a very difficult tightrope to walk. He needs to show how completely in over her head she is, and how she is an abysmal choice for VP (calling McCain's judgment into question) - without coming off as seeming "mean".

I'm pretty sure that's a very high likelihood - and Biden has to do his best to avoid coming off as mean or condescending to her.

Stupid, I know, because if she can't handle a debate with Biden, how would she handle Putin or Ahmadinejad, but if he's not careful, the MSM will spin it like he beat up on the poor young attractive mother of a disabled baby, or some such BS.

[road2000]

5. I agree.

If he even looks over at her, we'll get an avalanche of Lazio redux.

[KoKo]

7. He just has to answer the questions and ignore Mz Sarah. She will dig her own hole.

All this advice the media pundits keep spewing out about what Biden should do is just to fill up air time so we don't focus on the real issues out there. Biden has been debating in the Senate for decades. He knows how to deal with the "clueless" and "rabid" because he's been dealing with the Repugs in the Senate who are vicious attack dogs who will bite you in the backside when you aren't looking. He should be himself and ignore her ignorance.

[MelSC]

6. I'm one of those that feel sorry for her...

that said why would anyone vote for a ticket they feel sorry for? I don't feel any hatred or disdain toward Palin. I don't enjoy bashing Palin, I don't think it benefits us in anyway, it's not necessary. It will be evident for all Americans this coming Thursday (if not now) that she is not ready to be Vice President of our country.

However, if I were a republican, I would be livid that my candidate made such an asinine pick for a running mate. That's not a decision you take lightly and it is clear that McCain did not think this through. This pick makes McCain appear thoughtless and impulsive...sound familiar anyone?

[YDogg]

8. welcome to DU

[MelSC]

11. Thank you :)

n/t

[madamesilverspurs]

9. There's room for some skepticism, here.

It still feels a bit too scripted. And it's just hard to believe that Palin doesn't know that she is woefully inadequate for the position. There's a sense that she's doing her part to promote something other than a McCain presidency. After the last eight years, I still don't put it past this bunch to do whatever they have to in order to hold power. Or not. Maybe there's just a part of me that refuses to believe that anyone could be that deliberately dumb.

[noiretextatique]

13. there are plenty of palins out there...bush is just like her

they are secure in their tiny worlds with their tiny brains. palin's problem is that she's been a big fish in a provincial pond, and she knows nothing about the real world or her true place in it.

palin reminds me of clarence thomas, bush I's cynical replacement for thurgood marshall.

the author of the article wrote:

"When you stage a train wreck of this magnitude -- trying to pass one underqualified chick off as another highly qualified chick with the lame hope that no one will notice -- well, then, I don't feel bad for you."

that's exactly how i feel and felt about thomas.

[DrZeeLit]

10. BS. She didn't blink, so now she has to take the heat. No sympathy here. She coulda said ....

THANKS BUT NO THANKS!!!

(when McCodger asked her to ... I wonder just what/how he did phrase the question)

[Deny and Shred]

12. Great take on the situation in this article.

Page 2 especially. She sets the place of women and minorities in politics back to 'tokenism.' Sad, but true.