A 'Victim' With a Constituency By Eugene Robinson

[Political Tiger]

WASHINGTON -- What can you say about a public official who ridicules those who would take the "quitter's way out" -- as she faces reporters to announce that she's quitting? A governor who claims that "the worthless, easy path" would be to serve out the remaining 18 months of her term? An ambitious politician who says that "life is too short" to worry about, you know, boring things such as responsibility or duty?

You can say that all of us who ever took Sarah Palin seriously -- or pretended to take her seriously -- should be deeply ashamed. And you can say that John McCain should publicly apologize for putting the nation he loves at risk by choosing Palin as his running mate. Imagining Palin within a heartbeat of the presidency should be enough to make even diehard Republicans shudder.

The reasons she gave for stepping down are not just contrived or implausible but literally nonsensical. She can most effectively serve the people of Alaska by ceasing to exercise the powers of chief executive? She worries that as a lame duck she would somehow be compelled to waste taxpayer money on useless junkets? In her "Don't Cry For Me, Alaska" news conference announcing her departure, the folksy non sequiturs -- "Only dead fish go with the flow" -- were like nuggets of Cartesian logic amid a tub of mush.

But I'm stating the obvious. The thing is, Palin's unsuitability for high public office has been obvious all along. Tina Fey got it right; the rest of us were far too reluctant to state plainly that the emperor, or empress, has no clothes.

<snip>

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/07/07/a_victim_with_a_constituency_97322.html

[opihimoimoi]

1. Gene got it right.....bingo.....nekkid as a molted bird....

[xenussister]

2. Some of "the rest of us" knew within days

I was impressed, at first, that McCain had chosen a woman. I assumed she was intelligent and articulate and would double McCain's threat. Boy, that didn't last long. Every day brought new information that made the threat get smaller and smaller and smaller until it was a tiny dot in the distance. At the same time her entertainment factor got bigger and bigger and bigger. She made the campaign far more entertaining than it would have been otherwise, so for that, and the fact that she turned countless Republicans into Democrat-voting entities, I thank her profusely.

[MrModerate]

4. Five minutes into her acceptance speech I knew . . .

I was watching a mean-spirited, narrow, vicious and shallow fraud. I knew that either McCain's bid for the presidency was doomed - or America was.

[MrModerate]

3. One presumes that the Republican party will eventually recover . . .

From the disastrous culture war/Bush debacle they've dragged us through over the last 10 years or more. That they'll toss the whackos overboard and find some reasonable stand closer to the genuine concerns of the broader American people, and bring back good governance as their winning mantra.

But not until they get past their unhealthy fascination with Palin. While a lot of us are slightly nauseous over the insane coverage given the late Michael Jackson, at least the man could do his stuff. He was real. Palin is a phony, an absolute waste and a mean, sleazy bully to boot. And a whiner, and a quitter, and a gold digger, and a fool.

And she's set to be their "kingmaker" in 2011? I despair for America. Dems will wreck themselves if there's no honest, comptent opposition. That's a requirement of the two-party system.

We don't have that now and I see no evidence that the 'Licans are anywhere near righting their capsized ship. The gravity waves when they implode into a black hole could upset the entire American political system.

[murielm99]

5. You are right they we need honest, competent opposition.

It could turn our party into something as corrupt and sleazy, just like the GOP, if we do not have it.

God knows, we have few if any honest journalists to hold Democrats responsible.

It will be up to us to hold their feet to the fire if Democratic leadership strays. But how many of them will listen to us if there is no threat of being voted out of office?

[Demeter]

7. There Is No Reason to Think that the GOP Will Recover

There is nothing for a sane person in that party, and unless the entire country loses its collective mind, the crazy people will always be a minority.

The brand is tarnished, the pipeline for candidates clogged and crushed by incompetence, and the ranks dominated by people one wouldn't invite into one's home even if they were relatives.


The Democrats would have to get worse than the GOP to drive away voters. It's hard to imagine any living person declining to such decay, let alone a whole bunch of them.

I'm waiting for a third party, frankly. One that looks and acts more Progressive.

[MrModerate]

8. I could easily see a new party coalescing on the left or the right . . .

Of today's Democratic party, pushing the Dems in the opposite direction.

'Licans are fringe to mid-right, but as everyone on this board agrees, have almost no credibility except with the fringe. (7 out of 10 Republicans would vote for Palin? I don't think so.) Near-right to center "Democrats" are an impediment to good governance and should be ridden out of the party, and on the whole the Dem Party is way too far right for progressives to be comfortable.

A likely scenario? 'Licans collapse, and from their ashes a true center-right party arises, sweeping up the Nelsons, Landrieus, Shulers, and Liebermans of the world. Dems shift left, actually coming to represent the "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party."

Wingnuts contract drastically, but spawn more Limbaughs and Timothy McVeighs, and governing the place gets much more complicated.

[Demeter]

9. The Corporate Democrats Will Never Leave a Functioning Party

Why should they go to the trouble of building new from the ground up, when they can co-opt and buy their way into a going concern? Which is what they have done. The Democratic Party's tolerance and Big Tent unfortunately leaves it wide open to being taken over by the monied interests. What we need is Truth in Advertising--call it the Corporate Party and be done with it!

No, I'm afraid if we want a Progressive Party, we are going to have to build it and call it that, so that it lives up to its name and mandate, and so that obvious interlopers cannot take cover under Me Too (but not really).

[MrModerate]

10. You may be right, but I'm convinced that the perceived vacuum . . .

Left by an imploded 'Lican party would prove irresistible to the DINOs in the party. They could get right to the front of the pack!

[Demeter]

6. She can most effectively serve the people of Alaska by ceasing to exercise the powers of Gov?

She can most effectively serve the people of Alaska by ceasing to exercise the powers of chief executive?

Actually, yes! That's the best, nicest thing she's ever done for Alaska. Now mabe the state can aspire to public and official competence, integrity, and non-laughingstock status.

[JohnnyLib2]

11. K & R. Good article on the Paris Hilton of the GOP.

:crazy: