Posted on 07/07/2009 10:17:53 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In the aftermath of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s announcement last weekend that she plans to resign from office, pundits have been scrambling for an explanation. Personally, the whole matter has left me feeling a little like I did at the end of seventh grade, after a year spent passively watching bullies ostracize and pick on one of the only black girls in the school: sick, and embarrassed for all of us.
Whatever your passionate opinions, whatever your disagreements with her views, this woman and her family were savaged in a manner that went beyond any reasonable standard. She is a public figure, but her husband and children are not. That did not stop certain members of the media and blogosphere from ridiculing them in vicious fashion, even long after the election was decided. President Obama, to his credit, spoke out against it. Would that more of his supporters had shown the same level of decency.
Instead, we got ridiculing of Mrs. Palin’s appearance, of her decades-old participation in a beauty pageant, and even of her children, which was especially cruel. Self-proclaimed “feminists” made a blood sport of hating and dehumanizing her. Personally, I do not agree with all of Governor Palin’s views, such as her absolutist pro-life position. But such vicious hatred, on the part of self-described feminists, was an embarrassment.
The Governor’s announcement, in which she offered her reasons for leaving her office, has, not surprisingly, been greeted with near-universal skepticism. But I am inclined to believe what she says. Essentially, she has been slapped with a slew of ethics complaints that have been dismissed as baseless. But, due to the nature of Alaska’s laws, her family has been required to pay legal bills to the tune of $500,000 to defend her good name.
The Palins are not wealthy, and they want to be able to afford college tuition for their children. It would appear the Governor cannot afford to hold a modestly paid position while facing such ongoing harassment from her political enemies without potentially facing personal bankruptcy. Not to mention that, although these complaints have thus far been found baseless, the time and energy required to respond to them is apparently reducing her effectiveness as Governor.
Then there is the matter of how the media treated Mrs. Palin’s family, especially her children. How sad that normal people may no longer wish to run for or hold public office due to this horrific sort of exposure, including abuse of their children.
It’s true that American politics have often been spirited, at times even vicious. During the Civil War, for instance, President Lincoln was burned in effigy in the South, and during the campaign of 1828, newspapers favorable to the National Republican Party falsely accused Democrat Andrew Jackson of having beaten up another man to steal his wife, to cite just a couple examples from history. But am I alone in feeling that ridicule of a disabled infant, and rape threats, represent a new low? How intensely cruel and hypocritical this behavior was, often coming from “feminists” and “progressives” who probably don’t realize how many conservatives they are helping to create, as anyone with a moral compass is likely to figure that, if that’s how liberals argue, maybe they’ll consider conservative ideas, thanks.
To a lesser extent, established media have embarrassed themselves and lost credibility. Since when do established feminists, for instance, dispatch with one of our nation’s only female Governors by disparaging her looks (”Caribou Barbie”).
Last month, the Governor’s husband Todd erupted angrily over David Letterman’s lewd sexual joke about one of the Palin’s teenage daughters. Clearly, Mr. Palin was angry. Placing one’s marriage ahead of one’s career ambitions may be an unthinkable in the realm of “progressive” media, but perhaps that is what Mrs. Palin is doing.
For the record, the media did not cease its savage dehumanization after the election. In the August issue of Vanity Fair magazine, a lengthy article by Todd S. Purdum entitled (italics added) “It Came from Wasilla” cites the opinions of several unnamed Alaskans that Governor Palin suffers from “narcissistic personality disorder.” Perhaps Mr. Purdum, who in a stunning feat of journalistic objectivity also asserts of Governor Palin that “no political principle or personal relationship is more sacred than her own ambition,” should be reminded of a psychological mechanism known as projection.
Is it possible her critics are projecting onto Governor Palin some of their own grasping motives?
Now that their scapegoat has simply wandered off, they are left to analyze her departure through the prism of themselves. And they don’t know what to think.
Hence, perhaps, they’re theorizing that this hyper-ambitious, moronic-yet-calculating, misogynist Lady Macbeth must be hiding something evil.
Wow! Even some on the Left finally get it.
Did a pig just fly by, this was written in the HUFFINGTON POST..no way..have my eyes deceived me
Why am I suspicious then?
Could be because the Huffington Post was one of those left wing sources savaging Palin.
I wonder if it's the threats of legal action from her lawyers that has the folks at "The Huff" squirming in their seats.
Yeah - read the comments on the huff post article, and you can see that this is pretty much a minority opinion.
No, but I think a liberal just flew out my butt!
RAT face bullies that have no morals. This is the Democratic machine and their way of destroying a person. And the MSM should be ashamed of themselves but they glorify in destruction of anyone that upsets their agenda. They are very sick.
This is nice, but she sure didn’t learn her lesson about speaking up earlier, when she could still do some good.
WTF....this is the same HuffPo that said that Palin would run for Prez in 2012 on the Retarded Ticket....
I was surprised as well. This is probably the best summary regarding the liberal media/pop culture treatment of Palin that I've seen.
Don’t believe it. Magnanimity costs you nothing when you’ve destroyed your opponent.
Rush Limbaughs stand-in host, whoever he was, said it well today. Palin, after the GOP convention speech, was an instant hit for America, a bright light on the conservative political scene. She also became an instant threat to the now establishment radical left, who will destroy anyone in their path to implement their 60’s agenda on America.
HuffPo knows they are in deep doo with their
“Retard” article and more.
With Gov. Palin taking off the gloves, they think making nice with one aticle will fix it. Don’t think so.
Ding,ding,ding,ding.We have a winner.
How sad that normal people may no longer wish to run for or hold public office
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Honest, capable, and Constitution supporting **conservatives** no longer wish to run!!!
Liberal/Marxists can drown a woman and not report it, support a girl falsely claiming rape, run a homosexual brothel out his home, be married to a serial rapist, forget the age of his daughter and where he met his wife, be a former head of the KKK, not present documentation to his natural born status,...all this... and get a complete pass from the press.
Sarah is telling them to pound salt. Or as my mother used to say, Up your giggy.
Major OUCH!
Read the replies over there to this piece: The Huffheads are not happy campers. There’s not a pro-Sarah, nay, not even a slightly moderate post. They are mad at Miss Robinson, and not bashful about it.
Pigs are flying over at the Huffington Post....DC is freezing over.
Come read!
WOO HOO
The HuffPo allies on FR have a thread going to divide Republicans, pushing their third party crapOla
which = a democrat winner
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.