It’s ironic, really, how much I’ve come to loathe Sarah Palin and everything she represents, and to earnestly believe that John McCain’s selection of her as his runningmate — and elevation of her poisonous presence onto the national stage — was one of the most reckless, irresponsible, indefensible, politics-first/country-last decisions in modern political history, such that it caused me to lose a lot of the respect I once had for the good and honorable man who was the GOP’s presidential candidate in 2008.
Ironic, I say, because the moment McCain introduced Palin to the nation, two years ago today — at a Dayton, Ohio rally, which I watched live online from work in Knoxville — was quite literally the emotional high-point of the entire campaign for me. Granted, that’s largely because I’m a Notre Dame alum who happens to be a huge sucker for the “Rudy” soundtrack, which is the music that was played when Palin came on stage. But still. It literally gave me goosebumps, moreso than anything in Obama’s acceptance speech in Denver the night before, or his triumph on election night, or even his epic, transcendent “they said this day would never come” / “Yes We Can” speech in Iowa. Those moments were great — but this was the highlight of the whole stinkin’ campaign, for me:
Who knew, back then, what a cancer on the body politic Palin would turn out to be? At that moment, I’ve often joked, if someone had handed me a ballot, I’d have cast it enthusiastically for McCain, Palin and Rudy. 🙂
P.S. Go Irish! Beat Boilers! 🙂
P.P.S. Here’s a handheld video taken by someone who was there:
and elevation of Obama’s poisonous presence onto the national stage — was one of the most reckless, irresponsible, indefensible, politics-first/country-last decisions in modern political history, such that it caused me to lose a lot of the respect I once had for the media.
There, fixed that for you.
Really gahrie it’s impossible to take anything you say seriously at this point. It’s one thing to disagree with a politician or party, no one is saying you have to embrace Obama or anything, but to compare the embarrassment that is Sarah Palin to Obama is to show a complete and utter lack of perspective whatsoever.
I’m not comparing Palin to Obama…I’m comparing the media to McCain..do try to follow along………
and by the way…many of us do consider Pres. Obama to be an embarrassment at best, and there is no disputing that he is the most stealthy candidate we have elected in the last 50 years due to media deference.
What will you do if she becomes president? Or are you expecting the world to end in 2012, so no biggie?
“and there is no disputing that he is the most stealthy candidate we have elected in the last 50 years due to media deference”
Have you considered seeing a psychiatrist for your persecution issues? Where does this myth of media deference towards Obama come from? What exactly wasn’t covered? Just because he wasn’t an idiotic embarssment like Palin doesn’t mean he wasn’t covered.
Here’s an example of where this “myth” comes from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/01/elections-obama-press-bias-mccain
McCain “suspended” his campaign in the fall to… uh… make himself look like a fool. He had a moron for a running mate. So the idea that he got more bad press than Obama meaning anything other than he deserved it is laughable.
Not even the media tries to seriously defend itself concerning its almost comically biased coverage in favor of Obama.
Oh, well case closed then. Wait, what case?
What precisely did you feel Obama was given a pass on?
Well lets see……his prior affiliations, his college transcripts and papers, his medical records ……….
If you truly feel that Pres. Obama faced the same critical scrutiny that all presidential candidates deal with, you really haven’t been paying attention. Hell, ask Hillary, she agrees with me.
gahrie, you know, the college transcripts and papers, and the medical records, are something NO president has had to produce! So why should Obama? I don’t see a scary media issue there: they did what they usually do.
Yeah, B. Minich is corrrect. In fact, John Kerry didn’t release his military records just to keep secret his college transcripts which showed he was just as dumb as George Bush.
What gahrie want’s to say, but is too embarrassed to say, is that he feels that reverse racism was at work on behalf for the “liberal” “establishment” media who were too scared to fully examine the past of Obama because they were afraid of being labeled racist by the Sharptons of this world–an arguable point, bur Sharpton is a demagogue and a fool. If I were going to make the same leaps of logic about gahrie that he makes about Muslims, I would go on to say that he is also embarrassed that the US elected an African American, or actually a “malato” to be president. And he cannot understand why people can’t see that a man of such decent is categorically unqualified for the job and is upset that the media failed to address this point. Honestly the Tea Party / Birther movement is little better than a re-brand of the KKK. But because of the economy they can’t afford bed sheets.
Obama’s hiding his medical records too? What is he sooooo afraid of people knowing about, the cyst on his ass!?!?
We know Obama’s church, preacher, political history, education history, life story, professional history, that he was in the same room with a “terrorist” who was so dangerous that he was never charged with a crime by the US government.
There’s a lot of fake hysteria that Gahrie (and millions more) are way to gullible to follow, just because they want to believe. Hell that’s how Glenn Beck has an audience.
Wow, “cancer in the body politic”? You know, the same body politic where the last President to be impeached and his wife can still move about and be treated seriously? The fact you’re using such hyperbolic language means that you might as well put “Proud Arm of the Democratic Party” under the letterhead.
Sorry, but given the above statement your protestations that you’re a moderate make about as much sense as someone stating they’re not a cheater just because they were falling down drunk when they shagged the babysitter. And no, the occasional broadside at a hapless Democrat does not change this.
“Proud Arm of the Democratic Party”? It’s one thing if you want to say that my anti-Palin rhetoric means I’m a liberal, but that hardly makes my blog an arm of a specific liberal institution. Calling me a liberal allows that I’m still thinking for myself, but that my thought process are colored by a specific ideology that I’m reluctant to acknowledge; calling my blog an arm of a party is an accusation that I’m not thinking for myself, that my anti-Palin rhetoric is not only “hyperbolic” but isn’t my own, that I’m simply repeating it because someone else thinks it’s what I should believe. Care to rephrase?
Do I care to rephrase? No. Should I rephrase because you are correct? Yes. Fine, you are a _liberal_, but the “Proud Arm” comment was a bridge too far.
Fair enough. 🙂 I don’t particularly care to pick a fight about my ideology. I think I’m a left-of-center moderate; you think I’m a liberal. Compared to what, eye of the beholder, etc. Not worth bickering over.
“It’s one thing if you want to say that my anti-Palin rhetoric means I’m a liberal”
Being anti-palin doesn’t make you a liberal, it just means you aren’t an idiot. Unlike Palin.