Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Poor, Poor Pitiful....Palin

So her book is coming out, and if the media is to be believed (which is always a dangerous assumption) it is more of a defense of herself and an attack on those that dared to question her and oppose her than it is an autobiography.

Now before we begin let me say that the idea of her writing an autobiography is not as ludicrous as it would appear at first glance. She is after all a presidential hopeful and probable candidate and even a very strong possible nominee for the Republican Party. It has become traditional for presidential hopefuls to write an autobiography, intended more as a resume as well as an expression of personal views that can be quoted by friends and distorted by enemies alike.

I read, for instance, The Audacity of Hope. While I was very undecided for much of the previous Presidential Campaign, I will say that the class, intelligence and respect that Barrack Obama put in his autobiography made him a very likeable candidate to me. I read where he disagreed with people, including (then) President Bush, but he treated each situation he had confronted with respect, stating that these men (and women) loved their country and were doing what they felt best for the country even if he disagreed with them. I know on the campaign trail things got a little vicious from both sides, and everybody (colored by their own political views) will argue who threw more mud...which is entirely irrelevant because slinging mud, no matter how little, results in both sides getting dirty. But outside of the campaign, in just retrospect of reading his autobiography I was struck with his respect and overall class. That is the purpose and intent of these autobiographies, sway the view of the reader in favor of the candidate.

As far as Palin and her autobiography go I first acknowledge a couple of facts that her fans and other conservatives are going to point out...so let me save you the trouble:

(1) I have not read the book and therefore cannot intelligently and independently comment on it. This is true on ALL counts. I have NOT read the book, and I cannot comment intelligently and independently. Almost right at least. This is a blog...you want intelligence???? Blogs are all about personal views and these views are not always intelligent or expressed intelligently...deal with it. I can somewhat comment independently simply because...I independently can't stand the woman! That being said I will preface ANY comments with the fact and acknowledgment that any comments I make at this point are (a) personal EMOTIONAL views (b) colored by the take of the media (c) unfounded on any REAL facts personally ascertained or developed from personally perusing her book.

(2) Let me elaborate on one of those points. The only people that have seen an actual copy of it is the media...which happen to be primary targets of Palin all the time anyway and frankly would relish the opportunity to give their own slant on it before the public gets to it. Basically, steal her thunder. So there is no question that their view is slanted and biased, with good reason...she has done nothing to make the media her friends.

There...happy? the disclaimers are all out of the way. That being said I find a couple of things to be...ironic...for lack of a better word.

(1) During the 2008 Presidential Campaign much was made in a mocking manner of Obama's autobiography, mostly stating that he didn't have anything to write about because he had not accomplished anything. I am not here to refute or argue that statement or sentiment. Let us consider what Sarah Palin has to write about:

-A failed Presidential Campaign. To hear it from the McCain camp, Palin was a large part of why the campaign fell apart in the end. According to them she was a self serving diva. Whether or not there is any truth to that is irrelevant to this argument. What is however factual, is that the only reason you choose a Vice Presidential candidate is for what votes they can bring to the table. This is a basic fact in American politics. In short, she was brought on to do a job...one she apparently did not succeed in...they lost the vote...and depending who you talk to..she was a large part of the reason why.

-An incomplete job as Governor of Alaska. Not much was made of it, just enough for political purposes, but otherwise it was just a ripple on the lake with bigger fish to fry. But I personally found her resigning as Governor of Alaska mid term as a revealing view of her personality. (a) The people of Alaska put their trust in her to do a job, and she was hired to do that job for a certain period of time, and she quit that job before her mandate from the people was completed. (b) Her reasons were self serving and selfish. She can give whatever reasons she wants, but it is obvious to everybody that her reasons were geared toward her getting a new job...the Presidency of the United States. If she was unable to complete one job....what makes us think she is capable of completing this job.

-A successful career in local politics...but then...after the disparaging comments she found such a following for during the 2008 Presidential Campaign about Obama's small time local politics, do we really care what she did as mayor of small town Alaska? I mean seriously, if Obama's job as Senator does not help his resume as President...then what does being mayor of..Wasalla? Wasilla? shrugs...who knows?

(2) If the purpose of a presidential hopeful's autobiography is to present their resume to the American public as well as present the views they will run on as well as their view on what a Presidency should be like...then what will we learn from Palin's autobiography?

-How a President can be manipulated? After all, from all accounts, (if the media is to be believed, which is always highly suspect in my personal views)the book tells how she was manipulated and how the McCain staffers used her and manipulated her. It seems like a fine line in some cases. Like when Senator McCain would say something she would defer to his authority. But in the case of the staffers they were manipulating her, holding her back, stifling her. Then there is the media. A favorite target for attack for Palin. The Elite Media, as she disparagingly referred to them during the campaign (a term that apparently includes all media outlets except FOX News and Rush Limbaugh). They made her look like an idiot. Well like it or not, when it is YOUR face in the video doing stupid thing and saying stupid stuff...the media does not HAVE to interpret it...they just have to amplify it...which is what they did. They amplified mistakes and stumbles she made, but she provided the material.

-How a President can blame others? Whatever happened to the president that had a sign on his desk, "The buck stops here"? Even President Obama is still pointing fingers at the Bush Administration. It has been a year...get over it...deal with it and prove what you can do, not how much a victim you can be. I get aggravated every time I read where the former administration is blamed for current direction. Yes, I am aware that there are issues at hand that the administration has to deal with that were left there by the former administration (i.e. Iraq, Gitmo, etc.) but stop whining about it, stop blaming others for it and just talk about where we are going...not where we were. In this same token, Palin seems to spend a lot of time blaming other people for her mistakes. She did not have anything to do with the non answers in her vice presidential debate..she was coached into them. It was not her fault she had a dismal interview with Couric, it was Couric's fault, Couric was on a witch hunt. PUHLEEESE!

I will read Palin's book (once I can afford the 30.00 price tag...I got Obama's in a used bookstore for 5.00). But I won't make any promises of doing so with an open mind. I believe Palin is an idealist. We all are in one way or another. Her ideals are different from mine. I do not fault her, or even say she is wrong and I am right. I am sure there is something to be learned from her book. Her excuses do not interest me. If she has something to add that is of worth I will listen. But if it is just going to be a regurgitation of her former vile venom...I will read it...and file it away in the BS file in my head...right along with Beavis & Butthead.

2 comments:

Christina said...

Okay wait first I have to say...Really? I mean...really?..please note that the question/statement is accompanied by the squinting of the eyes while the eye brows are raised in a look somewhere between "wow...I bet you still use the words "at least my mom loves me" and "wow you're such a friggin idiot I knooow it qualifies you for some kind of disability compensation". You've got to tilt your head slightly to side when you say it too cause that just gives it that extra empathetic (emphasis on the last three syllables) feel. But as for your madman man musings, well this a blog and more importantly it's YOUR blog...so YEAHHHHHHH for first ammendment freedoms or was that second...whichever one says I can beat you with my arms and blog about it!...and I'd vote for Palin just cause she's a woman. It might be her only qualification but I'm not going to hold that against her. I'M NOT...stop looking at me like that. I can rant too.

Christina said...

Yes I realize I commented in the wrong blog section...but you know what I mean! And I'll wait for you to read the book and give me the good parts...(starts laughing)

 

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