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Now It All Makes Sense

Governor Palin’s every comment was scrutinized by the media and judged against what Jefferson or Lincoln might have said. ~Fred Thompson Yes, if not for the unfair Jefferson/Lincoln standard they imposed on her, she would be doing just fine.  Now we know why Palin has been doing so badly in those interviews–the standards we are using to […]

Governor Palin’s every comment was scrutinized by the media and judged against what Jefferson or Lincoln might have said. ~Fred Thompson

Yes, if not for the unfair Jefferson/Lincoln standard they imposed on her, she would be doing just fine.  Now we know why Palin has been doing so badly in those interviews–the standards we are using to judge her are just too high!  I don’t know how these sorts of arguments persuade anyone.  Perhaps they are not supposed to persuade, and are simply designed to fire up devoted followers.  That in a nutshell might describe the fatal flaw of Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign, except that his rhetoric always suffered from the serious flaw that it never fired anyone up.  What’s strangest about this sort of defense is that it presupposes a) the audience is really gullible and b) that Palin’s inability to handle mild, fair questioning on policy can only be explained by the media’s rigorous standards that set her up to fail.  At the Thursday night debate, this denial of reality or embarrassing apologetic will run head-on into a lopsided defeat.  Perhaps the purpose of commentary like this is to prepare the devotees for the inevitable humiliation.  They can then, like the Ma’min, reinterpret the abject failure of their idol as a cunning, mystical path to the salvation of the world.  Could we please stop all this?

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