National Review’s Rich Lowry actually wrote the following without irony.
A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen. It’s one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O’Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat. Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I’m sure I’m not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, “Hey, I think she just winked at me.” And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America.
Everyone’s mocking Lowry, but I at least partially agree with him. I described myself as stunned, which isn’t that far from mesmerized. I had a tremendous amount of difficulty processing any meaning in what she was saying. Part of the reason for that was that she was speaking extraordinarily quickly and part of it was that she kept making unsignaled changes in direction. Part of it was because a lot of what she was saying was filler, and basically meaningless. But another big factor was that I couldn’t believe my eyes. I couldn’t believe that she was acting like a beauty contestant, and it stunned me almost insensate. I couldn’t believe that John McCain had allowed this to happen. I still can’t. So my sympathy goes out to Rich Lowry. He’s now the butt of a joke. But, for me, those little starbursts in the living room were real. They came from my frying synapses.
The first time I saw the wink, I thought I was imagining it. Maybe she got something in her eye. And then it happened again, this time more emphatically, and it couldn’t be denied. She was winking at, flirting with, the audience! By the time I noticed the third wink and it was obvious that she was fending off the questions with her blather on the McCain talking points, I began to picture her on the runway, in a bathing suit, or standing with the emcee answering some beauty pageant question with beauty pageant inanity. From that point on, it wouldn’t have surprised me if she had pulled her flute out from inside the lectern and treated us to some insipid tune. To those who say that her performance at the VP debate redeemed her from the embarrassing Couric interviews, I say bullshit. For all but those who choose to continue in their self-delusion, her performance must be seen a continuation and a confirmation of her stupidity and her utter, utter lack of qualification, not only to serve as Vice-President of the United States, but to serve as Governor of the State of Alaska.
He has Lowry as the worst person in the world.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#27015683
I can’t believe they let Olbermann say that on teevee. Hilarious.
He trivializes the problem with his sniggering brand of humor.
Lowry is just another willing subject, not the worst person in the world. If he is is the worst person in the world, then so are all the other sex image-enslaved men of this world who are falling for her act.
Face it. She is good at what she does. And what she does…the entire content of it…is shuck and jive while hiding behind an “Aw shucks” flirtation game.
Listen up. If you are aware of her real beliefs…and please feel free to go here and here for the beginnings of all you need to hear about that…then you know that she cannot honestly answer ANY questions posed to her about how she would fill the job of Vice-President of the United States.
Why?
Because in reality she is nothing short of a Christian Taliban member, and her aim is to make an armed fundamentalist theocracy out of this country. She cannot say this in public, so she uses the only effective cloaking weapon at her disposal…her talent at projecting a particular kind of sex image, a very good weapon as billions of similarly talented women have discovered over the history of the world…to get over.
This problem is much more serious than some wanker columnist and his Sarah crush.
Believe me…she is dangerous and she is being backed by some dangerous people, Karl Rove among them. Do not discount her power. She is all McCain has going for him right now, and she appears to me to be the spearhead of some sort of coup attempt.
Get McCain elected and then disappear him.
Word.
Trivializing this threat is counterproductive.
Believe it.
Trivializing this threat is what she does.
And she does it very well.
Sexual image.
With Sarah Palin…it’s what’s for dinner.
And that dinner? It threatens to be a last meal.
Bet on it.
Later…
AG
skills. If she shows her real political passions, like those creepy videos of her in her church from THIS SUMMER, more people would WAKE UP as Arthur G likes to say.
Precisely.
AG
That beauty pageant runner-up has-been routine is part of what turns me off so much and makes it so impossible to take her seriously. I simply cannot believe that so many people are so dazzled by it. Is this really what they want in their national leaders?!
It is not what they want, exactly.
It is simply what they have been brainwashed into accepting as the way things are.
That’s the game that was used to get the current Preznit in office.
George W. as Hud.
Same game; different sex.
Same voters; different candidate.
Sex image.
It works.
Winning elections is a game of numbers. .5% is a win. Attract even 3% that would otherwise either be noncommittal or in opposition and you add to a possible winning margin. I personally think that a good 10% or more of the likely debate viewers are susceptible to sexual image manipulation. Hell…that’s what American media DOES. That’s how it sells things. If one is a media hypno-addict…and how many of us can truthfully say that we are not in this culture…then her act is to which we have all been predisposed since early childhood.
So it goes.
Want to sell a car or some beer?
Hire a pretty girl.
Want to sell a military theorcracy?
Ditto.
Do not scoff.
Look at the results of that debate.
It’s working.
AG
Those little starbursts came right through the set and I breathed them in and they went into my heart filling it with love and compassion and a fighting spirit to defend America because there are people who wanna do us harm nod and wink and ya know, some people they don’t get that and they want to wave the whiteflag of surrender.
you have been cracking me up with these posts. that is all
and speaking of stunned…my sweet coconut? The conquests continue
I apologize that I can not comment because my brain has not recovered from reading the Palin debate transcript today and this McCain laugh silenced me for good.
http://www.bluetidalwave.com/2008/10/halloween-started-early.html
I apologize for not being able to figure out how to embed videos.
Good lord. You’ve got to be kidding me. What little starbursts? I saw no little starbursts.
Oh wait. Maybe because I’m a heterosexual woman. I don’t have the right chromosome.
I’ll repeat what I said about her last night:
You feel sorry for Lowry? This isn’t a frat party it’s a presidential election. If you were so stunned that you couldn’t hear what she was saying I suggest you find another line of work. Really.
Is your snark-meter busted or something?
She must have missed the part about the synapses! And frankly, most of the people (women and men) I know would have seen through her immediately.
“most of the people (women and men) I know would have seen through her immediately.“
ALL of the people I know – women, men, straight, gay – not only saw through her, but were completely revolted by her faux folksy, cutesy-adorable, flirtatious, VERY non-serious approach to a set of very serious subjects.
As I have said already, she came off not like a serious candidate for a serious job, but like an exceptionally smug, self-satisfied cheer leader campaigning for home coming queen.
The kind who was embarassing even in high school.
I see we have the same visceral reaction to that species of northern bimbo…
Soft core porn (vice-)presidency? No thanks.
I think you’re taking Boo a bit too seriously, but I certainly understand what you mean about her being that chick. I had the same reaction. She’s basically every braindead girl I went to high school with rolled into one person, and every intelligent, educated woman I know finds McCain’s choice of her incredibly offensive. And every intelligent, educated guy I know can’t stand her because she’s such a complete moron.
Conservative men want to fuck her. That was easy enough to see coming (no pun intended).
Here’s the thing, people. Those “little starbursts” were every bit as contrived as her canned responses were.
Oh – and the winks? It seems it was all on account of a hair malfunction. It seems her bangs on that side were getting tangled with her eyelashes, and the winks were involuntary reflexes. Apparently someone came out at one point and applied some double stick tape, which kept the bangs out of her eyes. And sure enough, it does look like a chunk of bangs did get moved part way through the evening. So, she wasn’t flirting with you, guys. Sorry to disappoint you.
Yes, of course. When my bangs get caught in my eyelashes I always wink with one eye and give a flirty little nod at the same time. I’ll just assume you’re joking, and not brain-dead.
I am neither joking nor brain dead (and by the way, the brain dead snark was unnecessary). And yes, one eye will reflexively wink if something is irritating it, and it is quite likely that you would give a little shake of the head to get the irritant away from the eye. And yes, during some parts of the debate a chunk of bangs was clearly in her left eye, and during other parts it appeared to be held back by something. And I did not see it myself, but someone I am acquainted with, who is not exactly a fan of hers, insists that someone came out on the stage at one time with some double stick tape to secure the bangs out of the eye.
Look, nobody is more repulsed by Sarah Palin than I am, and I mean no one. In fact, as I was remarking to colleagues today, I have not loved to hate someone this much since I was 13 years old. And I also found her frivolous approach to her candidacy, to the subjects under discussion, and to the event last night to be utterly and unforgivably repulsive. I also find the alternative explanation for her winking behaviour credible.
Look, nobody is more repulsed by Sarah Palin than I am, and I mean no one.
Hey what a minute Hurria. I take exception to that statement. Lets not go claiming any awards here. I like to think that I’m the most repulsed by Palin. I’m willing to concede a tie.
Hey, Salunga, read what I said again, more carefully this time! :o}
I did not say no one was AS repulsed by her, I said no one is MORE repulsed by her. I do not have sufficient hubris to claim that I am alone in my degree of repulsion, only that I am part of the (rather large) crowd at the top of the repulsion heap.
Oh I apologize I should not have jumped to conclusions. 🙂
Hurria,
Sorry for the snark, but I’m not inclined to cut this woman ANY slack. This is a woman who used her unmarried pregnant daughter and baby as political props. This is a woman who has demonstrated over and over again that she is totally unqualified to be governor of Alaska, much less the vice-president/president of the United States. This is a woman who lies and distorts, can’t answer basic questions, and has difficulty stringing a sentence together. This is a woman whose ideas with regard to EVERYTHING should frighten us more than any thought of terrorists. So again, while I apologize for the “braindead” comment, I will not apologize for being absolutely ruthless in exposing and criticizing her.
I watched the entire debate again, and it is easy to tell when her hair was getting in her eyes versus when she was winking. I’m now even more convinced that she WAS winking, based on three things: (1) the actual wink, (2) the head nod and movement of the mouth in the direction of the wink, and (3) what she was saying at the time, where the wink was a sort of visual punctuation.
Well, look, I am not inclined to cut her any slack either. In fact, I have not enjoyed despising anyone this much since I was a teenager, and I find her despicable for all the reasons you mentioned, and many that you did not (it would take forever to compile a complete list, wouldn’t it?).
I watched the wink video a few more times (don’t think my stomach could tolerate watching the whole debate), and the hair-in-eyes explanation is plausible in some, but not all cases. In any case, her entire demeanor is completely appalling.
She displays a number of typical characteristics of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), of which her shameless use of her unfortunate children is one sign. For a narcissist other people are little more than tools to be used to aggrandize themselves, and when people are not useful to them, they throw them away. They are incapable of empathy. Grandiosity and hubris are also characteristics that she appears to possess in abundance. They also tend to be very vindictive, and often viciously so, which by all reports, she is. Narcissists are sociopathic by definition. And many of them sure know how to turn on the charm – and I do mean like flipping a switch – which we all saw her do to a ridiculous degree Thursday night. And narcissists, particularly of the charming sort, tend to leave long strings of victims behind them everywhere they go.
Was it someone here who pointed out that she made her part in the debate all about herself? Very standard narcissist behaviour.
My reaction to her was the same as yours but we must be careful. At first I found this:
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) : How to Recognize a Narcissist
http://www.halcyon.com/jmashmun/npd/
It sounded more like McCain. Then I found this:
What’s John McCain’s Major Malfunction?
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/9/14/9551/68488
But the other side sees it differently:
Barack Obama: Narcissistic Personality Disorder? (McCain denies his accomplishments).
http://24ahead.com/blog/archives/007728.html
Then it spreads to everyone!
WASHINGTON’S NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucmg/20080930/cm_ucmg/washingtonsnarcissisticpersonalitydisorder
Anyone can throw around the term Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and try to apply it to anyone they like, but if you are going to suggest that a particular person is afflicted with it, at the very least you need to back up that suggestion with something that makes it a real possibility. You need, for example, to at least be able to match some of the DSM IV criteria with the person’s thinking and/or behaviour. The article suggesting that Barack Obama is a narcissist does not even attempt to do that. In fact, I doubt very much that the authors of the third and fourth article you list even know how to spot NPD. They appear to just be throwing the term out there without even understanding it.
As for McCain, the guy certainly shows some very strong sociopathic traits, but I don’t see NPD there. I could be wrong, of course, but I’m not seeing it at all.
And Obama? Nothing I have seen of him or heard about his history suggests NPD, or particularly strong sociopathic trait. And I am and have never been a supporter of his (I will be voting AGAINST McCain), so I am not biased by that, at least.
George W. Bush? Definitely a sociopath, and certainly shows strong narcissistic traits as well.
The State of Israel, were it an individual person and not a political state, would be a classic narcissist AND sociopath of the most destructive kind.
The United States also shows strong narcissistic traits.
A certain level of narcissism along a continuum is normal, and necessary for survival. Some people never seem to develop beyond about a three-year-old level of narcissism.
PS I DO agree with you that we have to be careful about suggestions that a politician has a particular mental illness/personality disorder, and that anyone can throw those things around.
So, I need to issue a disclaimer that any suggestion on my part of a psychiatric diagnosis absent a full workup by a qualified clinician is for entertainment purposes only. :o}
A scientific explanation?
Busted! The truth about male decision-making
But there is more to be discovered:
Business – politics, is there a difference? Wink
I love her looks but was immune to any sparks. Seeing her puppet strings turned off any charm she tried for for me.
Palin’s whole adult life was in that debate. When she is in over her head she goes ‘cute’, and flirtatious. More trouble = more cute. Almost certainly she was told to ‘go with her strengths’. She has the act down pat. Like was said in Kill Bill… ‘This wasn’t the work of a squirrelly amateur, this was the work of a salty dog.’
Now it’s easy to see why McCain picked her. They were meeting and she did her routine on him. He was/ is smitten. In private she probably pulled out all the stops. He’s a dirty old man and I bet he lapped it up. I bet his advisors FREAKED when he told them he was picking her.
I sure would have liked to be a ‘fly on the wall’ during the discussions with her husband before AND after the McCain meeting. I bet there was some serious planning going on.
She’s no fluke, and I expect her to be a star in the Republican party for years. She’s perfect for them.
nalbar
I agree with everything, including the ominous comment about her future, except for what you said about the way she was chosen as running mate. The word is, and it is almost certainly true, that the choice was forced on McCain in order to ensure support by the powerful Christian fanatic component. In fact, it seems they threatened not only to refuse to support him, but to cause big problems at the Convention by not supporting him and pushing their own candidate if he did not choose a running mate they could support.
Repulsive and revolting all the way around, and yet now that McCain appears to be fading, at least in part because of the appalling Palin, I am more able to enjoy the comedy.
Way off topic:
OJ Simpson guilty on all counts as of about 15 minutes ago.
Maybe justice does happen sooner – or later.
It’s the semi-desperate, “this is all I’ve got left and I’m afraid everybody will find out” plastered on synthetic smiley face that disturbs me most. It was well in evidence at the debate.
Regardless, she did come across as nominally more controlled, if not any more impressive. One thing is for certain. Ideology aside, she did absolutely nothing to convince me that I should feel comfortable with her making any serious decisions, particularly on a Presidential level, regarding things like launch codes and Supreme Court appointments. Hopefully I’m not alone in that judgment.
I just felt like puking with the first wink.
I suppose Mr. Lowry and Peggy Noonan are telling their closest and more intelligent friends that writing such drivel about an index card reader and winker who depends on cable news shows for all her information is what they have to do to continue to feed at the right wing media and speaking circuit trough.
For this 67-year old ex-sailor, Gov Palin’s voice is shrill and grating. I find her mannerisms and folksy way of speaking very similar to hearing and seeing Saint Ronnie speak, kind of making it up as she goes.
But we are 30 years past a Grade B actor, and I would’ve hoped that we’d gotten somewhat more sophisticated.
“I would’ve hoped that we’d gotten somewhat more sophisticated.“
Apparently not.
Does anybody think Lowry sprayed little starbursts all over the screen? Does anybody think it’s way past time to ban perpetual 13-year-old boys from trying to seize power in America?
The last time I saw a woman wink like Sarah Palin did during the debate I was in a topless bar and the woman was dancing wearing nothing but bikini briefs. She was winking trying to get me to tip her for taking off her clothes.
Such coquetry might be somewhat appropriate in a topless bar where the rules are well known and most of the players are half drunk or more. I find it a great deal less appropriate to a person trying to win the job of Vice President.
Rich Lowery doesn’t get out enough if he has that big a reaction to a woman trying to get him to part with his money.