Palin ends Dreher-Goldberg standoff

So tell me, Rod, what color vestments does a high priest of Palin wear these days?

Politicized 'social conservatives' have revealed themselves to be either undiscerning or cynical. No way should a mother of five, which includes a special-needs infant and a pregnant teen, be campaigning for a ultra-demanding job like VP. She is an upwardly mobile careerist with a 'traditionalist' veneer, and authentic social conservatives should not be fooled. Or does 'crunchy-con-ism' stop being operative when the big enchilada of political power beckons.

Hi, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is "michael" and I'm going to talk right over the point of this post so that I can recite the standard anti-Palin talking points that have been floating around the blogosphere the past few days. In closing, I'd like to take the standard shot at "crunchy conservatism" that is de rigeur for anyone who doesn't agree with this outlook. I bid you adieu.

Great to hear that you met two heroes, Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam.

Often you speak well of Ross Douthat and today I found out why. On Book-TV (C-Span 2), they broadcast on Monday a panel discussion on the future of the GOP that included Douthat and Salam (discussing their book, "Grand New Party") as well as David Frum. The panel had been hosted at AEI, and it may have been a re-broadcast.

I depend on Book-TV on C-Span to tell me about the ideas contained in books that I don't have the time to read. The ideas shared by Douthat and Salam on this program were "spot on" and both Governor Jindal and Governor Palin were mentioned as the kind of folks representing the future of the GOP in this country.

Thanks for blogging from the Convention and giving us all a view from "behind the scenes."

Ben, please. It's a short one-off post about reconciliation between two old friends, and Rod even ribs himself about his "lurv."

If Rod were acting like the flip side of Sullivan, he would have been donning tinfoil hat and theorizing about some supposed 5th grade plagiarization "scandal" for Malia Obama or something.

It's silly, but I'm actually feeling depressed over this. Rod, at this point, are you straight up refusing to analyze this beyond your crush, or are you just keeping us in suspense? I really don't know what to think.

Yes, Sarah Palin sets many of our a hearts a flutter, but we're talking about the vice presidency, possibly the presidency. The fanboy stuff is getting old, you're acting like the flip side of Sullivan. Pull it together, man!

You know, I'm a moron. I think that people can't possibly think I'm seriously crediting Sarah Palin for bringing Jonah and me together. Jonah, in fact, joked about this tonight: "Look at what Sarah Palin has done, she's brought you and me together." We had a laugh at that, and I cribbed Jonah's joke for this post. And then somebody actually thinks that I really am crediting Palin as a peacemaker! (P.S. The opening line of the post is a paraphrase of Homer Simpson's line: "Beer -- is there anything it can't do?")

But I have been posting a lot of pro-Palin stuff, so I'll put up a comment before I retire for the night saying what my worries about Palin are.

"it was learned that Ms. Palin now has a private lawyer in a legislative ethics investigation in Alaska.."

Yes, this is standard procedure for such investigations in almost every state in the union I can think of. Completely unremarkable. But do please keep bringing up this "investigation" fostered by the political forces in Alaska who are angry with Palin.

As for the rest of it: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13062.html

"'The media doesn’t understand life membership in the NRA; they don’t understand getting up at 3 a.m. to hunt a moose; they don’t understand eating a mooseburger; they don’t understand being married to a guy who likes to snowmobile for fun. I am not surprised that they don’t get it. But Americans get it,' said Florida Rep. Adam Putnam. 'A mooseburger means she is like one of us. She is not some jackass who’s ‘gone Washington.’' With a pregnant teenage daughter and an infant with Down syndrome, the Palins, it seems, have been caught up in the same struggles of everyday life that confront many American families."

"If Palin can withstand more media vetting — a big if — and if she can avoid being framed as a nutty, gun-toting, Bible-thumper — another big if — it will suddenly become clear that there is no playbook for how to contend with a national politician who hasn’t been in the public arena long enough to accumulate the kind of personal and ethical baggage that almost invariably accompanies the ascent to power. The recently dialed-down Democratic response to Palin’s nomination is an indicator that the Obama campaign is beginning to understand what it’s up against."

Finally, I love this quote: “The same old experience is irrelevant. You can have the right kind of experience or the wrong kind of experience. And mine is rooted in the real lives of real people, and it will bring real results if we have the courage to change.”

Who said it? Bill Clinton in 1992.

DonF: "So tell me, Rod, what color vestments does a high priest of Palin wear these days?"

Forgive me, but hearing "Palin" "priest" and "vestments" in one sentence is for me an unfailing "Niagara Falls" by which slowly I turn, sketch by sketch, clip by clip, back to an earlier Palin - and a priest and vestments far earlier still:

modrzew.stopklatka.pl/grafika/s3/kardynal.jpg

I really like Sarah Palin and wish her and her family well. She certainly has a compelling personal story and might even qualify as a crunchy con! However I am not going to vote for Mad Bomber McCain just because he has picked a rather Outside the Beltway person with some real libertarian creds as his VP.

However, if the VP actually limited him/herself to the duties of VP as enumerated in the Constitution, Governor Palin would have all the time in the world to tend to her special needs baby, her pregnant teen daughter, etc.

I love when a bromance can have a happy ending.

I figured she was running so that she could cut back on her hours and raise her baby. She can call the White House every morning to see if Johnny's still kickin', then it's full time mom for the rest of the day.

Now THAT is funny, Ethan.

Congrats on the reconciliation.

Mr. Goldberg has advocated surrender in the fight to protect marriage where as you have analyzed that the best opportunity to pass an amendment has passed. I always wonder how quickly Mr. Goldberg or anyone else at NR for that matter would advocate surrender on some other issue - say tax cuts. It's not that I think NR is disingenuous about social issues; it's just I think that social issues like protecting unborn baby human beings and protecting marriage are a lot lower on the priority list than the reader is led to believe, at least in the even numbered years.

Jonah Goldberg writes who book called "Liberal Facism" complete with a smiley face with a Hitler mustache and then acts appalled when he is questioned about it. It was an in your face moved and it was designed to help him sell books. That said, a lot people on the right would be pretty ticked off with a book called "Conservative Nazis" with the identical graphic that Mr. Goldberg's publisher chose for his book. It was an Ann Coulter move, and I really think Jonah Goldberg is better than that.