Comments on: Transparent Cynicism Fails

By: Indya

Indya — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:55:01 +0000

Ouch. True!

By: Daniel Larison

Daniel Larison — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:25:06 +0000

Well, there is a difference betwee groupies and cultists. The cultists retain some self-respect.

By: Indya

Indya — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:22:22 +0000

The conservative men that I argue with love to tout her “executive experience” even though it is hardly conservative or qualified. They think I’m being catty. I respect the fact that she’s a beautiful woman, but I am not chopped liver, I am not jealous. If she were all that she was cracked up to be, I’d respect her a heck of a lot more. I think it’s more of the fact that she represents a unique stance for women, especially being pro-gun.

It’s like she’s a much prettier Linda Hamilton from Terminator 2: strong as heck, takes no crap, and on the side of people. They love the image, and her identity – the small town, pro-gun, seemingly honest “reformer” resonates deeply with them because of the package it is in. They gloss over things like her penchant for vengeance and abuses of power, and wholly buy the “evil librul media” thing to preserve her standing.

And what’s more ironic is that they want to call Obama supporters cultists. Right.

By: Daniel Larison

Daniel Larison — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 23:40:18 +0000

Indya, that’s right, and it makes the claims that her “record” is what they admire that much more irritating, because it is increasingly clear that many men are not interested in her for her “record” and can’t be bothered to think about it. I think men, or at least conservative men, also feel more of an impulse to defend Palin because they ultimately don’t think she should be treated like other politicians and should be given more leeway because she’s a woman. My guess is that so many women view Palin unfavorably partly because they assume that she has badly damaged the prospects of women in high office in the future. Can you imagine how long it will be before another presidential nominee selects a female running mate? Maybe it will happen in the 2030s. For the same reason I think her male admirers are indifferent to her lack of preparation. It seems to me that for some of them this is an elaborate put-on designed to make a mockery of feminism in all forms. Others are simply overwhelmed by, er, enthusiasm.

By: Indya

Indya — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 23:18:06 +0000

I think this represents over-excitement by men of her good looks. It was a transparent ploy to begin with, and many intelligent women knew that from the get-go. Some were more forgiving and gave her a shot, but she put her feet well down her throat and showed her unreadiness. Men are stalwarts because they are charmed by her. Example: Rich “Little Starbursts” Lowry.

By: mbtogut

mbtogut — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:34:44 +0000

Any professional woman is likely to have run into a Palin at some point in her career–someone who is pretty, perky, and deferential to men, but basically incompetent. In short, someone who skates by on her personality and feminine wiles as opposed to hard work and discernible talent. So, it comes as no surprise that she’s tanked among a large contingent of Hilary voters.

By: bayesian

bayesian — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:24:06 +0000

A quick question by your favor, O All-explicating One:

When Pew includes “1-week Obama change” columns (e.g, on the General Election Matchup table), wouldn’t it make more sense to show the net Obama change rather than the gross Obama change, i.e. ([O(thisweek) - M(thisweek)] – [O(lastweek) - M(lastweek)])/2?

When I do that, the motion toward Obama is greater in most rows.