Something fishy about Sarah Palin

Spambalaya,

“And then, as usual, those here will call Rod on such tactics and he in turn will wail about his being victimized because everyone else can't ‘lighten up’ at his ‘humor.’”

Dunno, haven’t been reading the blog long enough to know that. Maybe it is true, as you suggest, that Rod is not reachable or educable on these tactical issues. Maybe he is. I’ll wait and see how he responds. Probably being too optimistic.

As for jocks bullying academic achievers because they could, I think that they could is a part of it. (And like you I doubt Rod was a bullying jock.) I’ve always thought people who engage in pack behavior involving bullying did it because it they thought that type of conformity was the only way to validate themselves. Secure people don’t need to validate themselves, they mostly engage confidently with the world in a way that is appealing and attractive. I know plenty of very confident achievers who never bully anyone. It’s their serenity and innate confidence (as opposed to arrogance) that makes them so attractive as human beings. Bullies seem to lack a sense of serenity. Bullying jocks seem to lack the inherent confidence to say, this is what I am, you are what you are, cool. So I still think there is some type of envy or fear or something negative that fundamentally lies behind bullying. Some people outgrow it, some never do.

I do agree that Rod and Andrew both are worth reading but both are far from perfect.

Liam, I agree that Democrats probably aren’t afraid of Palin, although I am not a Dem. I’m not sure where that line of reasoning comes from. But then, I’m not afraid of much of anything in U.S. politics. As a moderate and centrist, I live comfortably under Republican and Democratic administrations alike. I generally don’t know what it is like to live within a fear framework. That’s one of the reasons Beck doesn’t appeal to me. Michael Moore doesn’t, either. Brooks, Noonan, Wehner, Gerson, Frum, Sullivan, Dreher, yes, always at least considering. Limbaugh and his ilk, no.

For Anglican and Crustacean and anyone concerned about criticism of Palin.

There are any number of ways to look at criticism of Palin. One is constructive feedback. The best way to hurt the Republican party is for us to pretend she’s perfect, doesn’t need to change anything, and to let her stumble along and never expand her appeal beyond what she now has. On another thread, I posted what I would have said about the campaign, if I were she. My comments had nothing to do with her being “lower class” and everything to do with the concept of learning and self-improvement.

My parents were very poor when I was born. I think my Dad briefly was unemployed or very underemployed beyond his capabilities then. I worked some part time jobs while in college (although I was lucky to receive some scholarships) and was employed full time while in grad school. I quickly paid off such college loans as I had had to take out. I’ve been working full time since I was 22 with no support from my parents and no handouts from anyone else. Everything I have – and I am comfortably well off now -- is the result first of my academic abilities, of the result of acquiring useful skills that employers needed, and of working hard in such a way as to benefit my employers. I point that out because I believe to equate criticism of Palin with classism or people who don’t believe in the value of hard work hurts her unnecessarily. Sealing off criticism of her as invalid based on over generalization closes the door to her for improvement. If you want her to suceed, then you have to help open that door, not close it.

We all can use improvement, recognizing that and working on our shortcomings is one of that the American workforce depends on. America didn’t become great because people decided they only needed to try so hard. I’ve done worked on my skills all my life; there’s no reason Palin can’t, either. To argue that she need not just helps give her critics unnecessary verbal ammunition. Kevin Drum wrote yesterday at Mother Jones of Palin that

“Lots of politicians have mastered the art of speaking in talking points and never going off message, but mostly they at least try to sound like they know what they're talking about. Palin doesn't. She just spouts the sixth grade version of the talking points with an apparently total unawareness that she sounds like a child.

Virtually every political commenter — even the ones who like her! — concluded after the presidential campaign that she needed to study up on the issues, maybe pick one to make into her signature, and use that to increase her gravitas. But obviously she hasn't.”

Discussions about Sarah Palin have a preternaturally powerful attraction for trolls, as witnessed by the some of the comments here.