Pitbull Palin Mauls McCain

[Faygo Kid]

Source: New York Times

By FRANK RICH
Published: October 4, 2008

SARAH PALIN’S post-Couric/Fey comeback at last week’s vice presidential debate was a turning point in the campaign. But if she “won,” as her indulgent partisans and press claque would have it, the loser was not Joe Biden. It was her running mate. With a month to go, the 2008 election is now an Obama-Palin race — about “the future,” as Palin kept saying Thursday night — and the only person who doesn’t seem to know it is Mr. Past, poor old John McCain.

To understand the meaning of Palin’s “victory,” it must be seen in the context of two ominous developments that directly preceded it. Just hours before the debate began, the McCain campaign pulled out of Michigan. That state is ground zero for the collapsed Main Street economy and for so-called Reagan Democrats, those white working-class voters who keep being told by the right that Barack Obama is a Muslim who hung with bomb-throwing radicals during his childhood in the late 1960s.

McCain surrendered Michigan despite having outspent his opponent on television advertising and despite Obama’s twin local handicaps, an unpopular Democratic governor and a felonious, now former, black Democratic Detroit mayor. If McCain can’t make it there, can he make it anywhere in the Rust Belt? . . .

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/opinion/05rich.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

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Ya know, I'm sick and tired of hearing how Palin "won." She sucked, and she lost.

Thanks again, Frank Rich, for nailing it.

[Historic NY]

1. Brilliant

With a month to go, the 2008 election is now an Obama-Palin race — about “the future,” as Palin kept saying Thursday night — and the only person who doesn’t seem to know it is Mr. Past, poor old John McCain.

[kellyflan1]

2. palin had the lead in the school play and she nailed her lines.

She did a great with talking points but lacked anything that resembled depth. She has been exposed and will probably have her hands full after she returns November 5th.

[peacetalksforall]

3. but lacked anything that resembled deph AND truth.

[taddles]

4. The big thing missing in Sarahs debate...

an original thought.

[ordinaryswimmom]

5. Exactly but Rich nailed her

He says “…there’s a steady unnerving undertone to Palin’s utterances, a consistent message of hubristic self-confidence and hyper-ambition.”
Unnerving is right. He cites the interview where Charlie Gibson asks her if she thought she was ‘ready’ and Palin replies that ‘she didn’t even blink’. Rich calls response “jarring for its lack of any human modesty.” When Katie Couric asks which vice president most impressed her, Palin chooses George Bush Sr because he was a VP who had gone on to the presidency, a choice that doesn't reflect any value or strength other than ambition. When asked how she would govern if the president died in office, Palin cheerfully announces she’d go her own maverick way, with no apparent concern for the loss of of a human life that would make this possible. When Biden relates being a single father following the death of his first wife and daughter in a car crash, Palin basically blows him off: one would think that, given all her self-promotion of motherhood she'd take the opportunity to show a little empathy, but she doesn't seem to have any. Rich points out how “emotionally disconnected” Palin is. Not to imply that it has anything to do with Palin, but these are characteristics one looks for in serial killers. Disconnectedness characterized Palin’s performance throughout the debate. I thought her ‘Can I call ya Joe?’ on the way to the podium was a voice coming from somewhere else onstage. I assumed the wink was a facial tic or attempt to dislodge an irritating glob of mascara, because my brain could not accept the image of a woman doing something as innately lewd as winking while engaged in debate with in front of a nationwide television audience until photos confirmed that she was in fact winking, with her mouth open no less. Why Her ‘drill, baby, drill’ line was similarly lewd and disembodied from context and indeed, the majority of her answers were disconnected from the questions that prompted them. The blanket disclaimer she provided for this created a big disconnect in that that Gwen Ifill did not nail her for it. The only true connection seemed to be between Palin and the teleprompter and imagined hordes of drooling men.
From what I’ve read, she grew up in a veritable wilderness with minimal daylight and bad weather, having to kill many animals for food. Although she is admirable as a smart, strong woman tutored by the forces of nature,it seems unlikely she was able to get much education under the circumstances. Too many snow days. It is frequently said that she is a “quick study” which I take this as a euphemism for ‘she never learned to think. ’ Seen on the larger stage beyond Alaska, Palin is jarring for an apparent lack of self-awareness. I’m thinkin’she has a borderline personality disorder, I betcha. Not unusual for a politician but scary when combined with ignorance and political drive the force of which brings to mind a charging animal. Everyone sees things through a political filter, but underlying characteristics can penetrate. Maybe her fans in the audience paused to ask themselves, ‘was she winkin’ or blinkin’?’

[pipi_k]

6. emotionally disconnected

I have a sister who is like that...in fact, there's a vaguely eerie similarity in their looks, but anyway, the point is, my sister is emotionally disconnected with much of life.

She doesn't answer questions in any coherent way, but goes off on a tangent, is easily distracted by her own business (or obsessions), and cannot connect on any deep emotional level with normal human beings. It's like she's in her own world, and her eyes show a peculiar emptiness.

I see the same thing in Sarah Palin, and it's pretty disturbing.

No "soul" in the eyes...they might just as well belong to a snake or some other creature that doesn't seem to spend a lot of time pondering the wonders of the Universe....

Just....empty.