Flirting her way to victory: Sarah Palin's farcical debate performance

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/oct/03/sarah.palin.debate.feminism

Flirting her way to victorySarah Palin's farcical debate performance lowered the standards for both female candidates and US political discourse

Michelle Goldberg guardian.co.uk, Friday October 03 2008 18:30 BST

At least three times last night, Sarah Palin, the adorable, preposterous vice-presidential candidate, winked at the audience. Had a male candidate with a similar reputation for attractive vapidity made such a brazen attempt to flirt his way into the good graces of the voting public, it would have universally noted, discussed and mocked. Palin, however, has single-handedly so lowered the standards both for female candidates and American political discourse that, with her newfound ability to speak in more-or-less full sentences, she is now deemed to have performed acceptably last night.

By any normal standard, including the ones applied to male presidential candidates of either party, she did not. Early on, she made the astonishing announcement that she had no intentions of actually answering the queries put to her. "I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record also," she said.

And so she preceded, with an almost surreal disregard for the subjects she was supposed to be discussing, to unleash fusillades of scripted attack lines, platitudes, lies, gibberish and grating references to her own pseudo-folksy authenticity.

It was an appalling display.

Edited to add:
Palin said "Being a mom, one very concerned about a son in the war, about a special needs child, about kids heading off to college, how are we going to pay those tuition bills?"

None of Palin's children, it should be noted, are heading off to college. Her son is on the way to Iraq, and her pregnant 17-year-old daughter is engaged to be married to a high-school dropout and self-described "fuckin' redneck". Palin is a woman who can't even tell the truth about the most quotidian and public details of her own life, never mind about matters of major public import.

[TwilightGardener]

1. Brilliant article. K/R.

[Forkboy]

2. LOL....I love it when people hold back what they really think.

:rofl:

[JackintheGreen]

3. "the adorable, preposterous vice-presidential candidate"

Too long for a bumpersticker, but I love this line.

[Gman]

4. "Scathing" does not do this article justice...

"Burned beyond recognition" is probably a better description of the article's characterization of Palin's performance.

[bunnies]

5. K&R. We could use truth like this in the media here. nt

[LibDemAlways]

6. Truly a shame that we have to go to a source in the UK

to get the unvarnished truth about Palin.

Her performance was pathetic. She should never have been allowed to steer the course of the "debate" with her outrageous comment that she wasn't going to answer the questions. I kept waiting for Biden or Gwen Ifill to call her on it more harshly.

Palin is a world-class embarrassment.

[xiamiam]

7. the wink heard round the world is so humiliating...just when I thought it couldnt get worse..

if our culture is being judged by the fact that anyone in america is actually serious about voting for her, well, we are doomed...pitiful...we have made ourselves the subject of many well deserved jokes..

[maxsolomon]

8. Only the British use "farcical".

As in "farcical aquatic ceremony".

I doubt that 50% of americans could define that word.

[Forkboy]

17. And that's why I love 'em!

:)

[Matariki]

9. Good photo choice they made. Needs to be spread around in all it's insincere 'glory'

[Liberal_in_LA]

15. drudgereport is using the wink photo as main pic today.

[Matariki]

10. Excellent assessment of the US press too

"It was an appalling display. The only reason it was not widely described as such is that too many American pundits don't even try to judge the truth, wisdom or reasonableness of the political rhetoric they are paid to pronounce upon. Instead, they imagine themselves as interpreters of a mythical mass of "average Americans" who they both venerate and despise."

[Disturbed]

13. I have been deeply emberassed by Busholini, as Pres.

Gov. Palin doubles that.

Alaskans should be mortified.


At the very least, Alaskans need to mount a Recall Petition & toss her out. She is corrupt & inept. The vetting process of her becoming Gov. must have been almost non existent. Her abuses while Gov. have been ignored until recently. The spotlight has revealed her unethical & perhaps criminal actions as Gov. She screwed up by accepting the VP position that is way beyond her level & has brought about scrutiny of her as Mayor & Gov. She is unfit to be Gov., much less VP or possibly Pres. of the USA.

[Boo Boo]

11. Vote this one up!

:dem:

[Raschel]

12. her newfound ability to speak in more-or-less full sentences,

So true, isn't that why some people are praising her performance?

"Look, Sarah spoke a full sentence...isn't it wonderful?"

[jenmito]

14. Tina Fey will do a perfect job of "pointing this out" tomorrow night, I'm sure.

I can't wait.

[JPZenger]

16. Caption her flirting photo

On another thread on DU, people were asked to write a caption for her winking photo. The best one was: "Error. Error. Talking Point No. 231 not found. Reboot.

[Kurovski]

18. K&R

I read the Guardian, Ms. Couric.

[jazzjunkysue]

19. "I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years,"

"Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again pointing backwards again. You preferenced your whole comment with the Bush administration. Now doggone it, let's look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future. You mentioned education, and I'm glad you did. I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and god bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right? ... My brother, who I think is the best schoolteacher in the year, and here's a shout-out to all those third graders at Gladys Wood Elementary School, you get extra credit for watching the debate."

[Stephist]

20. Does Anybody Else Find Many Of Those Comments Left Disturbing?

NT.

[anneboleyn]

22. The Guardian tends to attract those types -- they have discussion sections that are dominated by

this kind of discussion. Don't be too bothered by it as it is typical for the Guardian forums.

[noiretextatique]

21. it was an appalling embarassment

that ridiculous "folksy" speech, the inability to answer a direct question, the references to her "experience." it was as painful to watch on tv as i am sure it was to watch in person.

[Raffi Ella]

23. I enjoyed reading that too much

:evilgrin: thanks

K&R

[AspenRose]

24. Oooh, that's gonna leave a mark

:thumbsup:

[Number23]

25. Wooo-wee!! That's gotta sting old Mooselini

"The only reason it was not widely described as such is that too many American pundits don't even try to judge the truth, wisdom or reasonableness of the political rhetoric they are paid to pronounce upon. Instead, they imagine themselves as interpreters of a mythical mass of "average Americans" who they both venerate and despise."

BAM!!!!!

"The criteria are far more vaporous. In this case, it was whether Palin could avoid utterly humiliating herself for 90 minutes, and whether urbane commentators would believe that she had connected to a public that they see as ignorant and sentimental. For the Alaska governor, mission accomplished."

Pow!!!

"Palin is a woman who can't even tell the truth about the most quotidian and public details of her own life, never mind about matters of major public import. In her only vice-presidential debate, she was shallow, mendacious and phoney. What kind of maverick, after all, keeps harping on what a maverick she is? That her performance was considered anything but a farce doesn't show how high Palin has risen, but how low we all have sunk."

Ka-BLOOOOEEYYY!!!! :nuke:

((Staggering)) Oh my God... I think I need a cigarette after that. Oh, so very happy to rec!