If you really want to know why we conservatives [heart] Palin so much, here's a good article on the subject by Victor Davis Hanson. In the end, it has a lot to do with not having a silver spoon sticking out of your backside and willing to use a little elbow grease.
An excerpt:
"We know now that you can do nothing and still finish as the head of Harvard Law Review, or win a Nobel Prize, but if you miss an antlered moose, or run out of gas in the tundra, or fall overboard on a salmon boat, there is no Norwegian committee or Harvard Law Dean to bail you out.
An excerpt:
"We know now that you can do nothing and still finish as the head of Harvard Law Review, or win a Nobel Prize, but if you miss an antlered moose, or run out of gas in the tundra, or fall overboard on a salmon boat, there is no Norwegian committee or Harvard Law Dean to bail you out.
Such is not an argument for anti-intellectualism or a dismissal of in-depth scholarship and research, but rather a reminder that Palin has led a full life than can be enhanced by more formal investigation. A chatty, rarified Obama misses dearly a concrete past, where he had to succeed or fail on his own merits, in a competitive unkind environment, where the muscular world often conspires against the intellectual."
In short, hard work and personal responsibility [which are strictly conservative values, apparently, thus to say, they are traits not making up the liberal cloth. I suppose that may be a true statement].
Regarding the book tour. I could really care less, which I think is the sentiment for all at the Daily Ire, yet we can't help but throw in our two cents.
Everyone has a right to air their dirty laundry if they want, especially after being shut up for a year, and I'm sure it may come off as whining. I can't say one way or the other as I didn't watch the Oprah or hear any other interviews, but Palin could be telling liberals exactly what they want to hear and they'd still get all uppity so I find it hard to imagine any liberal giving her a fair shake. Which is incredibly awesome imo.
From what I have heard/read, the "whining" everyone is going on about - how the McCain camp handled her, the media etc. - makes up a small fraction of the book's 432 pages. But, that's what people want to talk about, c'est la vie.
Here's another thing I agree with Obama on, I doubt I'll read Palin's book. Frankly I've read a few autobiographies/biographies and most are not well written, especially those about current political figures. Maybe if I'm bored.
Anyway, I always enjoy Hanson's work. Check out his wiki page, it's fairly impressive.
Regarding the book tour. I could really care less, which I think is the sentiment for all at the Daily Ire, yet we can't help but throw in our two cents.
Everyone has a right to air their dirty laundry if they want, especially after being shut up for a year, and I'm sure it may come off as whining. I can't say one way or the other as I didn't watch the Oprah or hear any other interviews, but Palin could be telling liberals exactly what they want to hear and they'd still get all uppity so I find it hard to imagine any liberal giving her a fair shake. Which is incredibly awesome imo.
From what I have heard/read, the "whining" everyone is going on about - how the McCain camp handled her, the media etc. - makes up a small fraction of the book's 432 pages. But, that's what people want to talk about, c'est la vie.
Here's another thing I agree with Obama on, I doubt I'll read Palin's book. Frankly I've read a few autobiographies/biographies and most are not well written, especially those about current political figures. Maybe if I'm bored.
Anyway, I always enjoy Hanson's work. Check out his wiki page, it's fairly impressive.
"Such is not an argument for anti-intellectualism or a dismissal of in-depth scholarship and research, but rather a reminder that Palin has led a full life than can be enhanced by more formal investigation. A chatty, rarified Obama misses dearly a concrete past, where he had to succeed or fail on his own merits, in a competitive unkind environment, where the muscular world often conspires against the intellectual."
ReplyDeleteI still find it amazing that people like Hanson, and many other conservatives, seem to view Obama as a child of privilege who led a charmed life and never had to work for anything. Maybe I would take his defense of Palin more seriously if he didn't engage in the same snide dismissal of accomplishments he claims to decry.
Barack Obama got to where he is through hard work, which is not a trait unique to conservatives or liberals, but conservatives are the who demagogue it.
the ones*
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of politicians, liberal or conservative, who got where they are with hard work, without a spoon of any kind - but they are not the norm in either case. I don't know if ANY can claim "in-depth scholarship and research." As a side note, there are even fewer not catering to some form of lobbyists and "special interest groups" instead of their constituents, whether those lobbyists are for Halliburton or PETA.
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