Now I know what to get David Frum (and others like him) for Christmas. Phewf. This is a relief.
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Brigitte is unspeakably happy to report: “Sarah Palin ‘Going Rogue’ goes No. 1 on Amazon, Barnes & Noble sites; beats Dan Brown ‘Lost Symbol'” That will really annoy all the right people. Good Job, Sarah!
Can frank language change the outcome of a debate? Some (here and here) are saying Sarah Palin has won a round against President Obama, thanks to some “inflammatory” (if you hate Palin) or “frank” (if you like Palin) language. Her “death panel” phrase drew enough attention that part of the proposed legislation on end-of-life medical care was scrapped:
A Senate panel has decided to scrap the part of its healthcare bill that in recent days has given rise to fears of government “death panels,” with one lawmaker suggesting the proposal was just too confusing.
I am certainly an advocate for diplomacy. (Does that make me too nice?) However, the words we use do matter. (Say for example when you use “choice” or “women’s rights” instead of “killing.”)
This synopsis of comments about Sarah Palin saying she briefly considered abortion is interesting. Note the last one which mentions Canada:
WillSeattle wrote, “…I wish we’d just move on, like they did in Canada, where it’s nobody’s business what the woman and her doctor decide.”
I think the point of Palin admitting she considered abortion shows nothing other than the pull of a bad option that appears to “resolve things” so quickly. The point should not be that Palin is a hypocrit, or that she’s denying the choice to others that she would not herself take–the point is that abortion is a magnetic, whispered seduction–“we can make this go away”–at low cost, at low risk, and you’ll never have to think about your mistake again. Abortion providers are the wicked witch in a fairy tale, holding a bright, shiny apple…
In short, it’s a malicious lie, pushed at the cost of babies’ lives and women’s health–but it’s attractive nonetheless, all in an anxious moment.
I’ve met women who were staunch pro-lifers, competent, in good marriages, OK for finances–and they briefly considered this idea that their unwanted pregnancy could just go away. I think it’s a human thing to admit. The main point is we should not be making such a vicious “choice” so easy.
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Rebecca adds: The point of free will, and the definition of virtue, means choosing the right course of action when we could choose to do otherwise. I don’t think you’ll find an (honest) person on the planet who has never contemplated something they know is morally wrong: having an affair when they knew their spouse would never find out; walking out on a spouse during times of distress or conflict; stealing something under their noses; driving home when they’ve had too much to drink. We don’t judge people based on whether or not such thoughts cross their minds, we judge them based on how they behave. Someone who chooses not to have an affair when they know they could, to make a marriage work when they could end it, to scrimp and save to afford something, or do without, rather than steal it, to call a cab, or their parents, or a friend, for a lift home when they’ve had too many when they’re pretty sure they would make it safely home undetected – that’s someone being virtuous.
The pro-choice crowd is in the business of influencing–encouraging a young girl to believe she is not equipped, not strong, not able to carry a pregnancy to term. You think they just leave women to “make a choice?” Well in so doing, they play upon all the fears we know women feel–mostly because we have ourselves already felt them in one way or another.
This is something Sarah Palin highlighted as she spoke at a Right to Life gathering yesterday. You can watch part of it below, and I’ve transcribed a little bit here:
We went through some things a year ago that now lets me understand a girl’s temptation to maybe try to make it all go away–if she has been influenced by society to believe she is not strong enough, or smart enough or equipped enough or convenienced enough to make the choice to let the child live. I do understand what these women, what these girls go through in that thought process. Maybe you are going through a battle right now. I want to encourage you. In my moments of doubt that I just went through a year ago I clung to a faith that taught me that we could face the challenges, that we won’t be given anything that we can’t handle and really at times that faith was all that I had. … Trig is the best thing that ever happened to me and I want other women to give this a chance and experience this.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZIf-ZUWRzo]
Maybe you are going through some things right now. May you be encouraged that you are strong enough, and smart enough and equipped enough to deal with it. And may people walk into your life who are savvy and kind enough to know this, and to speak those words.
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Brigitte adds: whoops, both Andrea and I wrote about the same story at the same time. And we did it without calling each other first (“what you gonna write about today?” “I don’t know, what you gonna write about?”). My take on the story is this: Even if, like me, you’re not big on “image of God” references, her speech is powerful stuff. I will not claim unplanned pregnancies aren’t inconvenient. I’m sure they are in many, many cases, and not every woman is as strong and determined as Gov. Palin. But as Andrea likes to say, we don’t kill to solve our problems.
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Andrea adds: I know Gov. Palin means faith in God when she speaks of faith. And the Bible does expressly teach we won’t be given more troubles than we can handle. That is encouraging, but only for those who believe the Bible. But I think for non-religious types you could simply have faith in something better coming down the pipes. I think it’s called optimism. I have come to understand that pro-choicers suffer from a frightful lack of creativity–an incapacity to see how healing in an unplanned pregnancy could occur with the baby living, not dead.
You know my bias. I like Sarah Palin. Yahoo News tells me “Sarah Palin is Lashing Out At The Media–AGAIN.” I go check it out and this is what I find. CNN commentators who can’t shut up, and about 20 seconds of Palin looking fairly composed. (If this constitutes “lashing out,” you have to be hanging out with some really boring folks.)
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v87FjdgUy40]
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Brigitte says: Hey! (Am I boring?)
Seriously: If she’d denied bias, they wouldn’t have believed her. If she’d shut up, they would have said she was afraid to speak for fear of hurting her chances in 2012. They will not give her any chance at all. I think she can manage pretty well regardless, mind.
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Tanya might need to watch this again: but did the CNN guy actually compare Sarah Palin and her image to Dan Quale and the P-O-T-A-T-O incident? That can’t be right…tell me I heard wrong, please.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvidXkvaciU]
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Andrea adds: No, Brigitte, you are not boring. Quite the opposite. My point was that if the news editors at CNN think this is “lashing out”–Sarah Palin quietly and demurely sitting by–then they need to get out more. And possibly have a chat with just about anyone in my family. We’ll show them “lashing out.” Oh ya.
Sarah Palin on the birth of her grandson:
We are over the moon with the arrival of this healthy, beautiful baby,” Governor Palin said. “The road ahead for this young couple will not be easy, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy. Bristol and Levi are committed to accomplish what millions of other young parents have accomplished, to provide a loving and secure environment for their child. They are both hard workers, they’re very strong, and have faith they’ve made the right decision in setting aside their own interests to make this child their highest priority,” the governor said in a statement LifeNews.com obtained.
Nothing worth having is easy. True enough.
Sarah Palin. I second this nomination, for the abuse she endured because she is religious and pro-life, for the stands she took and held, publicly, under great duress from supposed friends and enemies alike, and generally for being an advocate for the unborn as a successful woman everywhere she went.
No, seriously. This column by Joseph Ben-Ami highlights the mismanagement of the McCain campaign (which had nothing to do with Sarah Palin).
How about the inconsistent, and at times, incoherent messaging of the McCain team throughout the campaign? Did it really take Joe the Plumber to point out that the Obama tax plan was blatantly redistributionist? And when that issue was working to Senator McCain’s advantage, why did the campaign release new ads in the final week on – wait for it – the environment? Did McCain strategists really believe that winning over Sierra Club or Greenpeace members at the last minute would put them over the top?
The leaks–Sarah Palin went out herself to expensive stores and purchased all those clothes, for example–they sound like lies to me. Post losing the election, if the McCain camp is better prepared to whinge, rather than grapple with the issues they failed to address–well then. Obama deserves the presidency–he won it fair and square.
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Rebecca adds: If the McCain campaign had directed half of the energy they’ve expended throwing Sarah Palin under the bus toward actually attacking Obama (you know, their opponent, as compared to their teammate, a subtle distinction to be sure) they might have won. So, asking Obama why the profoundly racist and hatemongering Rev. Wright enjoyed his support for two decades is off limits, but sniping that Palin answered her hotel room door once wearing a bathrobe is exactly how the campaign should be conducting itself?
Watching CBC news last night (all paraphrased) on the US election:
“Barack Obama, in an unprecedented move, spent 6 million on a primetime infomercial. (bla bla bla about his campaign.)”
“But the Republican camp hasn’t given up yet. Sarah Palin was in Ohio (interview with some supportive college girls). Republicans are angry with Palin for possibly campaigning for her own candidacy in 2012.”
Based on the CBC, it was as if John McCain didn’t exist.
So who has moved on to 2012–Palin? or the media? (I’m still wondering what Joe Biden is up to.)
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Brigitte shouldn’t be surprised but still: “Republicans” are angry with Palin? Which Republicans? All of them? Ah, er, except for Rush listeners (he’s a pretty enthusiastic fan), a batch of conservative commentators, and even Karl Rove, who wrote this morning that he had “already cast my absentee ballot in Kerr County, Texas — joyfully, enthusiastically marking the straight Republican column.” I’m sure there are McCain aides and supporters who resent Sarah Palin’s popularity. But good grief, isn’t that sort of why they drafted her in the first place? Why can’t the CBC (and most other traditional media outlets) see the grumblers for what they are? Oh, and have they talked about Wendy Button while reporting on the Obama campaign?
If it’s plain as plain as a clear sky over the prairies that Sarah Palin is completely unqualified for VP–you’d think Danielle Crittenden would include at least one or two reasons in this column. Maybe she ran out of space, since she spent a good 500 words describing her own background. (Which was interesting, don’t get me wrong.)
Not compelling though, on why I’m supposed to think Palin is incompetent.
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Tanya adds: Funny that you’d blog on this, Andrea. I was just watching this clip this morning. The real question that no one seems to be able to answer: “Name the most significant thing Barack Obama has done –” Or, more specifically: “what’s he done other than run for president from the day he graduated from Harvard Law School? ” But Palin, running for VP, is unqualified. Of course.
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Andrea adds: Oh but Tanya–don’t bore Crittenden with thoughts like that! (“The other side doesn’t have experience either!”) For she tells us, “That’s an argument you can make without having graduated from elementary school.”
She may not be part of that snobbish “elite.” She is, with this piece, imitating them rather well, however.
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Rebecca would like to draw our attention to Michael Novak on Palin, and Palin-bashing:
I wonder if most of the people who are today dissing Sarah Palin, at least among a few conservatives I greatly admire, are more accustomed to debating highly educated liberals. Could it be that they understand the diction of journalism and the academy better than they understand the speech of most of America?”
I think he’s onto something. More than a liberal or conservative echo chamber, I think what’s going on here is the politics-junkie echo chamber. The world of people who spend most of their time thinking about, writing about or practicing politics is fairly small, and as with any group who share an intense but narrow interest, it’s easy to forget that the rest of world thinks and works differently.