Sundry Palin Reverb

I take it from the feedback on the previous post that most people got my point, so I’m happy. However, a few people had various questions/comments that I thought worth noting. One person asked:

According to what I’ve read on liberal sites, serious commentators are attacking what they perceive to be Palin exploiting her children as political props. I don’t know whether I agree with that view, so don’t attack me–I’m merely reporting that view and inviting you to respond.

Palin’s children were a huge issue in the campaign, not because she “used them as props”, but because the existence of Trig Palin was a grave threat to the worldview of the leadership of the Democratic party and its most entrenched supporters. The visceral and insane hatred of that baby and of his siblings was breathtaking. Others may have forgotten, but I haven’t, the cries of “ewww” and “unsanitary!” when his sister in an unscripted moment at the convention, slicked down his hair. The pure hatred for her was palpable. No matter what Palin had chosen to do, her kids were going to be targets because of the mindless and unreasoning hatred her children evoked amongst the “humans are a disease” crowd that makes up the netroots and their allies. If she’d left them in AK, she’d be arraigned as abandoning her family and grasping after power. If she took them with her, they were “props”. Any action would be attacked, because the real issue was the mere existence of her children–and *especially* of a disabled child in the midst of the eugenic dreams of the Left.

Every politician has to figure out a way to incorporate their family into their very public life. Obama getting the girls a dog was a political act because everything a pol does is politicized by the fact that he does it. If a president can’t dislike broccoli without it making headlines, it’s unlikely his family will escape scrutiny either. But in Palin’s case, the scrutiny was combined with visceral hatred because of Trig. That’s why there are still nutty Trig Truthers out there, months after she *lost* the election, still attempting obstetrics by internet to prove that there was some grand conspiracy surrounding his birth.

Another reader says she’s not resigning because of her family:

She is performing a repeat of her resignation from the oil and gas commission which brought about (in ways too numerous to list) massive positive change in Alaska government.

Okay. The point is: she resigned. And some people are treating it as though it was a brilliant first step to the White House. I think that’s delusional. I also think that every problem facing her now would only be amplified tenfold if she’d won–meaning she’d still be resigning now, which is not a sign that she is competent for the Veep or Prez office.

My reader continues:

I would agree that she would be happy to serve as President and who could blame the woman for maybe dreaming about it a bit with all the indicators out there suggesting the possibility? But you don’t really get how horribly difficult that would be for any human being. It is practically impossible because of the nature of the GOP right now and the lack of organization among the many working adults who have, over the years, simply dropped out of politics.

Well, er, actually I think I *do* get how horribly difficult it would be for any human being, but especially for a human being who 1) was with her infant son and other children Public Enemy No. 1 for a pro-choice media and cultural elite and 2) showed herself in a number of ways to not yet be prepared for that or for the job. That’s not just me. That’s Jonah Goldberg, no enemy of Palin.

My reader concludes:

You may be looking for a savior of the GOP. I am not. I am through with the GOP having declared my independence along with Sarah Palin, and I can almost guarantee you that unless the Tea Party folks and the Libertarians who are willing to compromise on social issues will bite the bullet and be active in the GOP or, alternatively, start a viable third party, the liberals will continue to run (and ruin) this country until we’re all on Uncle Sam’s Plantation.

I know you mean well, but please, stop stepping on people’s hope.

I’m not quite sure what to make of this. I’m not looking for a savior for the GOP. I figure that, in the course of time, experience will educate and people will begin to get a clue. When they do, somebody will emerge to articulate reality and lead the party out of its self-imposed sojourn in the wilderness. I just don’t think Palin is going to be that person and neither does my reader. So I don’t see how I’m stepping on anybody’s hope unless it’s a false hope–which needs to be stepped on so that real hope, founded on prudence, can emerge.

Another reader says:

Mark, I’d agree with you if she was just resigning because of the criticism. However, she seems to be resigning because of the financial costs of the criticism

Not one of which would go away if she’d been elected Veep. Instead, all the accusations would follow her to DC and multiply. If she couldn’t take it in AK, why would she be able to do so in DC?

Another reader says:

Yeah, but I wish Joseph Biden, who *was* elected VP and who makes Palin look like Einstein, got as much abuse (you know, along these lines:

You and me both dude. Biden’s kid gloves treatment by the Obama-worshippers in the media is ridiculous.