2008 Woodie Awards
I Can't Help but Watch and Wait
Devin Thomas
Issue date: 10/2/08 Section: Opinion
Full disclosure: I have developed a morbid fascination with Sarah Palin, and I hate it. I constantly read about her, constantly talk about her. Channel surfing the other day, I found myself inextricably drawn to her televised speech to the folks in Media, Pennsylvania. Like most otherwise sentient liberals, I know I shouldn't be so interested. But unlike most otherwise sentient liberals, I'm drawn to Palin like a moth to the flame. She's like a human train wreck: I know I shouldn't, but I can't help but watch.
Since she burst onto the political scene a few brief weeks ago, the governor of Alaska has bifurcated the country: To some, she's a quintessential American success story, a resilient and self-possessed individual who climbed the rungs of local politics to become the leader of our country's (geographically) largest state; to others (like me) she's a quintessential American success story that got dumped like flaming dog doo on the nation's doorstep and now must be extinguished (preferably without mucking up our domestic sneakers).
"Sarah Palin on US Weekly"- That sounds unintentionally ominous. Let me rephrase. Sarah Palin is everywhere: from a front-page story in US Weekly (under the "Celebrity News" banner, no less- eat your words, John McCain!) to a plethora of liberally biased Salon.com stories deconstructing everything from her broad public appeal to her "mysterious trade missions" with Russia (hint: they never happened!). Tina Fey and the folks at SNL mocked her in a Skit Seen 'Round the World (I brought it up with my parents the other day, and it turns out even my ninety-year-old great-grandmother had seen the sketch). A bunch of nerds came up with lolPalin, a form of anti-Palin ridicule modeled on the Internet phenomenon lolcats. Controversial atheist Sam Harris just lambasted her in a Newsweek op-ed. People are blogging about her en masse (a cursory search of the term "Sarah Palin" on GoogleBlogs returns 695,687 results). But in the midst of all this chatter, what's actually being said?
Since she burst onto the political scene a few brief weeks ago, the governor of Alaska has bifurcated the country: To some, she's a quintessential American success story, a resilient and self-possessed individual who climbed the rungs of local politics to become the leader of our country's (geographically) largest state; to others (like me) she's a quintessential American success story that got dumped like flaming dog doo on the nation's doorstep and now must be extinguished (preferably without mucking up our domestic sneakers).
"Sarah Palin on US Weekly"- That sounds unintentionally ominous. Let me rephrase. Sarah Palin is everywhere: from a front-page story in US Weekly (under the "Celebrity News" banner, no less- eat your words, John McCain!) to a plethora of liberally biased Salon.com stories deconstructing everything from her broad public appeal to her "mysterious trade missions" with Russia (hint: they never happened!). Tina Fey and the folks at SNL mocked her in a Skit Seen 'Round the World (I brought it up with my parents the other day, and it turns out even my ninety-year-old great-grandmother had seen the sketch). A bunch of nerds came up with lolPalin, a form of anti-Palin ridicule modeled on the Internet phenomenon lolcats. Controversial atheist Sam Harris just lambasted her in a Newsweek op-ed. People are blogging about her en masse (a cursory search of the term "Sarah Palin" on GoogleBlogs returns 695,687 results). But in the midst of all this chatter, what's actually being said?
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Karianne Bilsky
posted 10/13/08 @ 10:50 AM EST
While this opinion column clearly indicates Thomas' disagreement with Palin as a VP pick, there is scant evidence offerd to support the opinion. In addition, Thomas is repeating the mischaracterization of Sarah Palin's response to Charlie Gibson's question about the "Bush Doctrine. (Continued…)
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