Posted on 01/07/2011 6:05:49 PM PST by Bigtigermike
Why do conservative elites go out of their way to trash Palin? I’ve noticed that George Will and Charles Krauthammer have taken time out of their many TV gigs to trash Sarah Palin. Other prominent conservatives seem to relish dissing the former Alaska governor. David Frum, Joe Scarborough, Peggy Noonan, David Brooks, Chris Christie; don’t forget Kathleen Parker, who parleyed her Palin envy into a CNN talk show that no one watches.
This is not an attack on these conservatives. I read them all and often find a lot of worth in what they opine. I don’t understand why they actively, often unprompted, go out of their way to bash Palin. I don’t recall in the past — unless you count Ronald Reagan — a steady drumbeat of prominent vocalized opposition, and off-the-wall bashing of previous presidential hopefuls — large and small — from within the party (Gary Bauer, Steve Forbes, Richard Lugar, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney …) The rationale is usually that Palin has no chance of winning and that her poll ratings are low. The latter point is conceded but given the regularly savage treatment she receives from the political class and the popular culture, she merits credit for being a survivor rather than a casualty. More classless commentary (favored by Brooks, Noonan, Frum and Parker) is that she’s not smart or sophisticated enough to be taken seriously.
I think a lot of the criticism — from the right — is arrogance disguised as disdain. I doubt Sarah Palin reads Peggy Noonan, David Brooks, Kathleen Parker, George Will or even Charles Krauthammer. Thomas Sowell, Mark Levin, Walter Williams, Victor Davis Hanson, David Limbaugh, Mark Steyn, Cliff May, S.E. Cupp, Star Parker, and other “new conservative” writers I suspect are her guides. It grinds on somebody like a Noonan, or a Brooks, who have reached the traditional heighths of their careers, to be ignored by a ”mere Palin” after they’ve been flattered and courted by so many for so long. That Wasilla mayor is not only not at the parties, she doesn’t even want to be there.
Look, I’m not claiming Palin is perfect, or she will win if she runs in 2012. I think it’s ridiculous to dismiss a potential candidate who worked hard to oppose the big-government assault Democrats launched in 2009 and campaigned hard to help the GOP gain the U.S. House. She is the spirit of the Tea Party movement, even while Mr. Frum grumbles that Republicans are doomed if they listen to her.
Can Sarah Palin win in 2012 if she runs? She’s tough enough to compete and she’ll need to be because she’ll have most of the political class — with many righty snipers – and 99 percent of the cultural class opposed to her. On the other hand, I recall the 2008 debates, and — although it’s moved through the memory hole — Palin was the most impressive of the four candidates.
Because the are really Liberals.
She is one of us and not one of them. I am sick of “elite” conservative snobs telling us what to think. I am sick of “belt-way” conservatives.
Give me a fisherman or women, a lady who will cut down a tree, club a fish and clean it, and run the most important state in our Union and some socks to put in these “conservative” talking heads mouths.
They hate her for the same reason why the Elites hated Andrew Jackson. He was not one of THEM.
Conservatives listen to her. Elites listen to each other.
The answer is because she doesn't bow down and kiss their rings or play by their rules.
A woman who had to take some semesters off to actually work? Like being a waitress and cleaning toilets to pay for school all by herself which resulted in her taking five years to finish school which to many is ignoble and not Presidential?
‘Conservative elites’ is an oxymoron......
“Why do some here trash her?”
It is a fad to trash Sarah, and sadly, there are plenty of FReepers that want to be with the in crowd.
You are not part of the in crowd if you do not trash her.
I just finished my morning listening to Savage, who happens to be very insightful, and the best at calling Obozo a Marxist, but he consistently contends that Obozo would win all 50 states if Sarah is the nominee.
As for myself, I do not see ANYONE better the Palin.
The rest of the crowd stinks with RINO BO and BS.
Conservative, Liberal, whatever. They are part of the power structure, the Ruling Class and they recognise Sarah as one of us, those whose lot in life is to be ruled over. They can’t let her put them out of the loop. Even though most of them are wealthy and don’t really need the salary their office pays them, they still have a need to “RULE.” They will not go quietly into that good night of irrelevance.
#1 she scares the hell out of them because the majority of America would and will relate to her.
#2 they are really not conservatives...posers...just a slightly different flavor of Progressive but still leave that awful taste...
I think it centers around the word “elite”. People who think of themselves as “elite” think that they know better then others what is the best way to do things. Sometimes people think this way because of their wealth. Sometimes because of their social standing or fame. Sometimes because of their schooling.
In whatever case, they tend not to put any credence into ideas or thoughts by people who aren’t like them. Sarah is not at all like them, and the short story is they don’t think she’s ‘earned’ the right to be given credit. To me, it looks like jealousy.
It doesn’t matter if their political beliefs are conservative, much like Palins, it has more to do with their own ego and self worth. In the end, IMO, their “elitist” position has taken them out of the mainstream of most of conservative society, and their rhetoric is hollow compared to Palins “I’ve been there, lived it, did something about it, and got the T-shirt” approach.
I was telling my wife the other day, after watching part of the Discovery show....While there is something in the way Sarah talks, which annoys me, that is so insignificant when you compare it to what she talks about and takes a stand on. On most issues she has shown me she has more Balls then the standard “elite” conservative standard bearers. I would vote for her over any of the ‘nice sounding’ big names who talk nice but really are just fingers in the wind.
Those “elite” conservatives who talk against her only do themselves harm and advance her case in my opinion.
Easy. They are not conservatives.
I nearly stopped listening to 750am because they had a local host who seemed to think he was the smartest person in the world. I don’t even remember his name. But, he trashed Palin because of her education. She wasn’t Ivy League and had taken so long to get her degree.
I nearly busted a vessel every time I heard that elite little snot on the air. IMHO, it is time we get the Harvard and Yale freaks out of Washington. They have damaged our Republic enough.
Another angle is Palin would reduce and restructure the Govt so much it would put a lot of leaches out of business...they would have anything left to analyze.
Because Socialism with an (R) after it is better than Socialism with a (D) after it. Capitalism always fails, always. </sarcasm>. It’s about the power stupid, nothing else. Both parties suck at their cores.
Replace “conservative elites” with Establishment Republicans and you’re spot-on.
Who cares what the members of the Old Boys Club think? They’re all passe, all passe, and they don’t even realize it.
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