Warner Todd Huston
Palin-smearing Baltimore Sun columnist whines readers being mean to her
Warner Todd Huston
Susan Reimer, columnist for the Baltimore Sun, is shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, that people took exception to her tactless bashing of Governor Sarah Palin in her September 1 column, "A woman — but why this woman?" In fact, Reimer is so upset that people where exercised enough to drop her a note, give her a call, or write an email about her baseless smearing of Palin that she says in her September 5 column that she feels "frightened." Do you want some cheese and crackers to go with that whine, Reimer?
Even worse for Reimer, her gutter scraping column was read by Rush Limbaugh and Brit Hume and was linked by Drudge as an example of the outrageous treatment that Palin has gotten at the hands of feminist media elites like Reimer. Oh, the humanity!
One would think that a columnist such as she would be thrilled to get so much attention. After all, isn't she ostensibly one who wants to see her opinion reach as many people as possible, people who just might per chance find themselves in agreement or — fingers crossed — actually persuaded by the power of her words?
Not so much, I guess...
She ends her self-actuated pity party with the following paragraphs.
I'll speak directly to you, now, Ms. Reimer. Let's review the hatred and lies in the September 1 column that got you so much fan mail, shall we?
Of course, this is not a fact based claim. It is your feelings we are subjected to. Are we supposed to reject the sexist meme that you women are guided solely by your "feelings" and not logic when we read this line of garbage? If so you are making it awfully tough to do so!
No one on this planet with any knowledge of American politics imagines that the Palin pick was intended to persuade dyed-in-the-wool, kool-aid-drinkers like yourself, Reimer. McCain suffers from a lack of conservative chops and Palin was put on his ticket to mollify an increasingly dissatisfied conservative base. You obviously have no clue what is going on, do you?
Then, Reimer, you attack Palin's special needs baby?
Didn't think so.
Naturally, when you then go after other conservatives imagining that their endorsement of Palin must be one based on evil intentions... well, how could you have expected that to sit well with the readers?
But, here is a difference. James Dobson is a man of God, wouldn't hurt a fly. Can the same be said of any of your favorites?
Next:
Then we get this trenchant bit of political analysis:
Then, without even the slightest bit of ability to compare and contrast, you go for the easily discredited experience attack.
Well, then, let's compare and contrast.
Palin was a mayor of a town with a budget of close to 13 million dollars and sported several hundred employees. She left the job still quite popular with her voters and moved on eventually to the Governor's mansion with a budget of 11 billion dollars and 15,000 employees. There she has approval ratings in the 80 percent range as we speak.
She has managed billions of dollars, fought for and managed that budget, and guided its formation through the legislature. She has also dealt with many thousands of employees.
So, let's see what our "community organizer," Barry Obama, has been up to for roughly the same number of years. Well, he had a tiny office with but a few staffers as a state senator in the Illinois state legislature and as a Senator in Congress has a budget of about 4 million dollars. He also has a staff there of less than 100 people. Further, he's not had to fight for his budget among voters and the legislature, either. He was just handed it when he walked into the office on the first day.
And that is the full extent of his budgeting experience. That's it. Finis.
Speaking of employees, do you want to talk about Obama's "change" and "fairness" on that count? It seems all his female employees make less than his male staffers in Congress.
You wrap up your presumptuous proclamations with the sentiment that Palin will be "in over her head" as vice president. And you posit that she won't be able to match up well against Obama's pick of Joe Biden for VP.
Joe Biden has been in Congress as a Senator since 1973 — that's 35 years in case you don't have your calculator handy, Sue — and he has not once been made a minority or majority leader. Isn't that a bit odd? For a man that is supposed to have so much "experience," a man that is claimed as such an integral part of our foreign policy and government, the fact that he has never been considered enough of a leader to be offered the office of honor among his peers has to be wondered about. I mean isn't it a bit strange that all his many hundreds of Senatorial colleagues have never bestowed the favor of their vote for him to become their leader after so many decades amongst them?
Seriously. Think about it. Doesn't that singular fact say something quite stunningly bad about your "experienced" man in the VP slot on the Obama ticket?
And as to your claim that Hillary far outclasses Palin, I have another question for you. Why do you stand against a woman who got to her position (Palin) by the sweat of her own intellect and not because her man so carefully and expansively paved her way to power like someone we both know (Hillary)? What kind of pseudo feminist does that make you, Reimer?
In any case, I don't think you'll have to worry much about Sarah Palin's ability to handle herself with slow Joe Biden, Ms. Reimer.
To close my discussion with you, Reimer, I have to ask: don't you see the hatred that you expressed for this woman? Don't you see that your snide comments about her Down Syndrome child and your abhorrence with every American that votes Republican — which is half the electorate, by the way — just might raise a bit of ire out there? Can you really be so shocked that your spittle specked rage was met with a bit of resistance?
If not, well, you really aren't as smart as you might like to imagine.
(Photo credit: Baltimore Sun)
© Warner Todd Huston
By
Susan Reimer, columnist for the Baltimore Sun, is shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, that people took exception to her tactless bashing of Governor Sarah Palin in her September 1 column, "A woman — but why this woman?" In fact, Reimer is so upset that people where exercised enough to drop her a note, give her a call, or write an email about her baseless smearing of Palin that she says in her September 5 column that she feels "frightened." Do you want some cheese and crackers to go with that whine, Reimer?
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On Monday, I wrote a column criticizing the McCain campaign for what I saw as a cynical attempt to gather in unhappy women voters by naming Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin his vice presidential candidate and for exploiting the poignant story of her youngest child to appease the Republican Party's pro-life base... And then the storm began.
Even worse for Reimer, her gutter scraping column was read by Rush Limbaugh and Brit Hume and was linked by Drudge as an example of the outrageous treatment that Palin has gotten at the hands of feminist media elites like Reimer. Oh, the humanity!
One would think that a columnist such as she would be thrilled to get so much attention. After all, isn't she ostensibly one who wants to see her opinion reach as many people as possible, people who just might per chance find themselves in agreement or — fingers crossed — actually persuaded by the power of her words?
Not so much, I guess...
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A handful of people wrote to say that I had captured exactly their reaction to the Palin nomination. But the rest of the responses were vehement or venomous... And more than 316,000 people viewed the column on The Baltimore Sun Web site. That number — more than 100 times the attention I normally receive — actually frightened me.
She ends her self-actuated pity party with the following paragraphs.
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The things that were said about me, my personal appearance and my children — as well as Barack Obama — were beyond the bounds of decency, and many were said in language that might only be seen in a bathroom stall.
Generally, the comments were not made behind the veil of anonymity the Internet can provide. The writers signed their names. And they revealed what I think has become the bare-knuckles nature of our national conversation.
So much pent-up anger, so much barely concealed hate was released in those e-mails and those postings. I wonder where next they will find a vent.
It is still two months until the presidential election. Things could get really rough out there.
I'll speak directly to you, now, Ms. Reimer. Let's review the hatred and lies in the September 1 column that got you so much fan mail, shall we?
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So. This is what being pandered to feels like... John McCain picked Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska and mother of five, to be his running mate to woo women like me.
Of course, this is not a fact based claim. It is your feelings we are subjected to. Are we supposed to reject the sexist meme that you women are guided solely by your "feelings" and not logic when we read this line of garbage? If so you are making it awfully tough to do so!
-
Does McCain think we will be so grateful for a skirt on the ticket that we won't notice that she's anti-abortion, a member of the NRA and thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution?
His selection of Sarah Palin is insulting on so many levels that I am starting to feel like the Geico caveman.
No one on this planet with any knowledge of American politics imagines that the Palin pick was intended to persuade dyed-in-the-wool, kool-aid-drinkers like yourself, Reimer. McCain suffers from a lack of conservative chops and Palin was put on his ticket to mollify an increasingly dissatisfied conservative base. You obviously have no clue what is going on, do you?
Then, Reimer, you attack Palin's special needs baby?
-
You want to look good to the evangelicals? Choose a running mate with a Down syndrome child.
Didn't think so.
Naturally, when you then go after other conservatives imagining that their endorsement of Palin must be one based on evil intentions... well, how could you have expected that to sit well with the readers?
-
(When James Dobson, the conservative Christian radio host who fancies himself a kingmaker, jumped up to say that the selection of Palin means he can now "pull the lever" for John McCain, I almost felt sick. I don't know what I'll do if she trots out the story of her 5-month-old baby to shore up the Republican base.)
But, here is a difference. James Dobson is a man of God, wouldn't hurt a fly. Can the same be said of any of your favorites?
Next:
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Palin's personal story is very compelling, but it reads more like a movie pitch than a resume for national leadership.
Then we get this trenchant bit of political analysis:
-
She makes John McCain, Naval Academy graduate, fighter pilot and prisoner of war, look like just another grouchy, old, rich white guy... Oh. Right. He is.
Then, without even the slightest bit of ability to compare and contrast, you go for the easily discredited experience attack.
-
Under the circumstances, the decision to choose this woman over the likes of, say, Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison looks less like a stroke of genius than a stroke. It looks crazy. It looks wacky.
Barack Obama was the editor of the Harvard Law Review, for heaven's sake. And the best McCain can do is a woman who minored in poly-sci at the University of Idaho?
Well, then, let's compare and contrast.
Palin was a mayor of a town with a budget of close to 13 million dollars and sported several hundred employees. She left the job still quite popular with her voters and moved on eventually to the Governor's mansion with a budget of 11 billion dollars and 15,000 employees. There she has approval ratings in the 80 percent range as we speak.
She has managed billions of dollars, fought for and managed that budget, and guided its formation through the legislature. She has also dealt with many thousands of employees.
So, let's see what our "community organizer," Barry Obama, has been up to for roughly the same number of years. Well, he had a tiny office with but a few staffers as a state senator in the Illinois state legislature and as a Senator in Congress has a budget of about 4 million dollars. He also has a staff there of less than 100 people. Further, he's not had to fight for his budget among voters and the legislature, either. He was just handed it when he walked into the office on the first day.
And that is the full extent of his budgeting experience. That's it. Finis.
Speaking of employees, do you want to talk about Obama's "change" and "fairness" on that count? It seems all his female employees make less than his male staffers in Congress.
-
The average pay for the 33 men on Obama's staff (who earned more than $23,000, the lowest annual salary paid for non-intern employees) was $59,207. The average pay for the 31 women on Obama's staff who earned more than $23,000 per year was $48,729.91. (The average pay for all 36 male employees on Obama's staff was $55,962; and the average pay for all 31 female employees was $48,729. The report indicated that Obama had only one paid intern during the period, who was a male.)
You wrap up your presumptuous proclamations with the sentiment that Palin will be "in over her head" as vice president. And you posit that she won't be able to match up well against Obama's pick of Joe Biden for VP.
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Palin might do just fine during the campaign. And she might do an excellent job of going to diplomatic funerals. (Which McCain once said is the only job description for the vice presidency.)
But it is more likely that she will be in over her head, and all the women McCain thinks he is courting will be cringing for our sister instead. And then we will be furious at him for setting one of us up to fail.
It isn't just that Palin might look bad campaigning against the likes of Biden or Obama.
It's that she already looks bad compared to the likes of Hillary Clinton.
Joe Biden has been in Congress as a Senator since 1973 — that's 35 years in case you don't have your calculator handy, Sue — and he has not once been made a minority or majority leader. Isn't that a bit odd? For a man that is supposed to have so much "experience," a man that is claimed as such an integral part of our foreign policy and government, the fact that he has never been considered enough of a leader to be offered the office of honor among his peers has to be wondered about. I mean isn't it a bit strange that all his many hundreds of Senatorial colleagues have never bestowed the favor of their vote for him to become their leader after so many decades amongst them?
Seriously. Think about it. Doesn't that singular fact say something quite stunningly bad about your "experienced" man in the VP slot on the Obama ticket?
And as to your claim that Hillary far outclasses Palin, I have another question for you. Why do you stand against a woman who got to her position (Palin) by the sweat of her own intellect and not because her man so carefully and expansively paved her way to power like someone we both know (Hillary)? What kind of pseudo feminist does that make you, Reimer?
In any case, I don't think you'll have to worry much about Sarah Palin's ability to handle herself with slow Joe Biden, Ms. Reimer.
To close my discussion with you, Reimer, I have to ask: don't you see the hatred that you expressed for this woman? Don't you see that your snide comments about her Down Syndrome child and your abhorrence with every American that votes Republican — which is half the electorate, by the way — just might raise a bit of ire out there? Can you really be so shocked that your spittle specked rage was met with a bit of resistance?
If not, well, you really aren't as smart as you might like to imagine.
(Photo credit: Baltimore Sun)
© Warner Todd Huston
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