Rage whisperers don't tend to have the patience, fortitude or grace to convince non-sociopathic fellow citizens to caucus as they would.
8
What exactly were Republican voters in a rage about in 2008? The policies of the man they voted for TWICE? The Republican party shrewdly redirected that rage towards the black man in the white house, so we've gone 16 years without the Republican establishment having to accomplish anything that helps their constituents.
As far as Senator McCain goes, I do not see his silence about Palin as "graciousness" so much as an inability to own her presence on the national stage and apologize to the American people for doing so.
As far as Senator McCain goes, I do not see his silence about Palin as "graciousness" so much as an inability to own her presence on the national stage and apologize to the American people for doing so.
43
I well recall Senator McCain addressing the woman who thought Obama was an Arab and out to destroy the US. Although I did not vote for him, I was grateful for shutting down the nonsense in at least one GOP audience. He did bring forth this horrible woman to the national stage.
Between them Palin and Trump have cornered the entitled wealthy false rage corner of the political landscape. She should be retired, permanently, to Alaska or somewhere where she cannot twist more minds with her English-free rants. I hope that bringing her back from the wilderness backfires big time for Trump; he did look uncomfortable during her delivery. If this is what America has become then we all are in terrible trouble. If he actually considers putting her in his cabinet then I can have no respect for his acumen with people--how would he ever be able to lead (meaning=rule) the United States with someone like her at his side?
Between them Palin and Trump have cornered the entitled wealthy false rage corner of the political landscape. She should be retired, permanently, to Alaska or somewhere where she cannot twist more minds with her English-free rants. I hope that bringing her back from the wilderness backfires big time for Trump; he did look uncomfortable during her delivery. If this is what America has become then we all are in terrible trouble. If he actually considers putting her in his cabinet then I can have no respect for his acumen with people--how would he ever be able to lead (meaning=rule) the United States with someone like her at his side?
25
I have been puzzling over this. Trump did not need this endorsement and even he must be aware of the potential downside. Aside from becoming fodder for another SNL sketch, sharing a podium with the walking non-sequitur that is Ms Palin is likely to alienate more than a few fence sitting voters. Particularly in the general election.
Then it occurred to me. Mr. Trump is hedging his bet. Even an ego that big can't hide the fact that his nomination is not a done deal. What to do if he should (gasp) become a loser? No worries, just have some one close at hand to blame it on. Who better than the Big Noise from Wasilla?
She got a proven record of single-handedly torpedoing a national campaign. If Trump loses any of the early primaries I'm willing to bet Palin will be the first one under the bus. Written off as a simple miscalculation for which some nameless underling will be summarily fired.
Then it occurred to me. Mr. Trump is hedging his bet. Even an ego that big can't hide the fact that his nomination is not a done deal. What to do if he should (gasp) become a loser? No worries, just have some one close at hand to blame it on. Who better than the Big Noise from Wasilla?
She got a proven record of single-handedly torpedoing a national campaign. If Trump loses any of the early primaries I'm willing to bet Palin will be the first one under the bus. Written off as a simple miscalculation for which some nameless underling will be summarily fired.
13
How did it come to be that the Republican party settled for so little? Extolling Sarah Palin's endorsement - someone with a room temperature IQ - is frightening.
As voters we must make sure that they never get near the White House.
As voters we must make sure that they never get near the White House.
16
You say that the October 2008 incident when a woman at a McCain rally said Barack Obama was "an Arab" (in contrast, apparently, to a "good and decent family man") was "an early warning that the Republican base was profoundly agitated.
No, it was a warning (not the first) that the base the Republic party was relying on to win elections is profoundly misinformed (when it isn't uninformed), thanks to 24/7 propaganda from right-wing media. It should be embarrassing to depend for your power on voters like these and not be promoting honest adult education and a fairness doctrine from the FCC.
No, it was a warning (not the first) that the base the Republic party was relying on to win elections is profoundly misinformed (when it isn't uninformed), thanks to 24/7 propaganda from right-wing media. It should be embarrassing to depend for your power on voters like these and not be promoting honest adult education and a fairness doctrine from the FCC.
23
See now... as long as people who know better say things like "the Republican base was profoundly agitated," when they mean, racist, irrational, fearful, ill-informed and aggressive, we will never see another Republican president. The Party has gone over the reactionary edge, primarying moderates, gerrymandering districts to safe seats, and continuing a loathsome tradition of race-baiting, fear-mongering campaigns. The GOP can't win a national contest until they move back to the center, where elections are won.
13
Whispering is a talent Ms. Palin doesn't have. She can rant in words that only her followers understand, though and if she were a mama bear, her cubs would starve to death trying to get her to feed them substance over over shill.
10
this woman is not fluent in anything.
14
Perhaps if Congress and the Executive were actually paying attention to the people of America, instead of corporate lobbyists, Sarah Palin wouldn't have to speak - or rage - on their behalf.
6
I'm not convinced that the readers of the NYT are typical American voters. Most of the comments here reveal a capacity for reflection...
I think the world is in for a big shock in 2016.
I think the world is in for a big shock in 2016.
13
Once again we´re reminded that Palin is a spectacularly stupid woman - dumb, mean, shallow. She is a deceiving and unscrupulous woman utterly unversed in any of the needful political discourses but easily trained to utter preposterous lies and to appeal to the basest element of her audience.
She has never met a simple, declarative sentence she liked, or learned that little things like subjects, verbs and objects are supposed to work together. And her kind of talk gets dangerous. 'Don't retreat... reload' and using crosshairs to illustrate targeted legislators was calling for violence, no question. McCain´s election team says she was "catatonic” and possibly mentally unstable.
She has never met a simple, declarative sentence she liked, or learned that little things like subjects, verbs and objects are supposed to work together. And her kind of talk gets dangerous. 'Don't retreat... reload' and using crosshairs to illustrate targeted legislators was calling for violence, no question. McCain´s election team says she was "catatonic” and possibly mentally unstable.
18
Sarah who? An apparition that rose from the dead? A zombie, you say, a creature that eats brains because she hasn't one?
Trump-Palin in November? If not her, who?
Trump-Palin in November? If not her, who?
10
Sorry, Sarah Palin does not deserve to be on the national stage, due to some fluke where they put a flunky into the VP slot. She is strident, and does not have the intelligence to be a female Donald Trump.
I thought she went away for good last time, but unfortunately she's
baaaaaaaaaaaaaack
I thought she went away for good last time, but unfortunately she's
baaaaaaaaaaaaaack
8
Rage! No, Sarah Palin is an amateur in rage compared to the commenters in the NYT when they write about the Republican Party, the 2016 Republican candidates for President and the U.S. Congress. Now those people have rage, raw, unadulterated rage directed towards their fellow Americans.
5
David Brooks should read this column. It will help him realize how out of touch he is.
9
Nicolle Wallace, of all people, is obviously an anti-feminism. Sarah Palin has as much right to be a lunatic as any other Republican.
8
She is simply part of pop culture's insatiable thirst for stupidity on a gigantic scale - or the dumbing down of America, one Kardashian at a time...
14
Thy may be clever but the amazing duo reminds me of the movie Dumb and Dumber.
10
It's clear lithe anything having to do with Trump and Palin as candidates or nominees will not end well for the GOP or for America. Putting lipstick on a pid doesn't make the pig Kim Kardashian.
3
Trump / Palin: off the rails and headed for the ravine.
10
Whisperer?
7
For the life of me, I do not understand why white people are so angry.
The police are not shooting you dead in the streets and getting away with it.
You kids are not being thrown around in classrooms.
Unemployment always leans in your favor. The Oscar ballot is a white out.
Why the heck are you guys so ticked off?
The police are not shooting you dead in the streets and getting away with it.
You kids are not being thrown around in classrooms.
Unemployment always leans in your favor. The Oscar ballot is a white out.
Why the heck are you guys so ticked off?
14
Fluent in anger... Doesn't sound very Christian to me.
5
Trump is the other shoe to drop. He is reaching out to people who have been pummeled by the endless GOP drumbeat and the piercing dog whistle that the country is in trouble. The economy is a shambles (it isn’t), Obamacare is a disaster (it’s a success), unemployment is high (it’s the best it’s been in a decade), and immigrants are taking good jobs from Americans (they aren’t).
Among the hard-core GOP grassroots, voters don’t want policy wonks, or competent leaders, or someone you might trust with the nuclear codes. They want a shambling loud-mouthed real-estate mogul who insults women and trivializes the complexity of government.
Among the hard-core GOP grassroots, voters don’t want policy wonks, or competent leaders, or someone you might trust with the nuclear codes. They want a shambling loud-mouthed real-estate mogul who insults women and trivializes the complexity of government.
12
Trump and Palin will head up the G.O.P. ticket next fall. The can run as Trump and Tramp.
8
Ms. Wallace, shouldn't there be an apology in there somewhere? You helped give gasoline to a lunatic holding a book of matches and now you complain that fire can be a problem sometimes.... YOU built that.
26
As I read your article I thought McCain is as loathsome as Palin and Trump for allowing this to perpetuate in the goal of winning at any cost. By any cost , I refer to the values of the United States that he was raised in and defended as a man of the Military. McCain sold his soul when he added Palin to his ticket. The 'rage' you write about that Palin taps into, is a rage born by the Republican Party and Roger Ailes in the quest for power. A rage that began with " government is the problem , not the solution " mind set, that demonizes first government as tool of society to foster a common good, instead cleaving it apart for their own ends. A rage that the Republican's like McCain and Bush an d Cheney ( your buds) thought they could reign in and control and instead unleashed an ager against the other, an ager against their neighbors.
We have gone to a dark place as a nation Ms. Wallace, and you and McCain and Ailes and Murdock bare as much responsibility as Palin and Trump.
And , no, its not a conspiracy, its merely a confluence of events and self interests without regard for our society, our community our Nation.
We have gone to a dark place as a nation Ms. Wallace, and you and McCain and Ailes and Murdock bare as much responsibility as Palin and Trump.
And , no, its not a conspiracy, its merely a confluence of events and self interests without regard for our society, our community our Nation.
15
It is so easy to do. Start a mob rumor, inflame and feed it with lies, watch it turn into mass hysteria that will smash anything in its path, and sit back and enjoy as Rome burns. Or maybe I was thinking of Fallujah, or maybe Ukraine, or maybe Birkanau, or maybe Lahore? No - this cannot happen in America!
2
"This interaction will go down as one of the finest moments from one of the country’s finest men. But it was also an early warning that the Republican base was profoundly agitated." It should have been a clear signal to the party that it's base gets its news from Fox and none of them care about the truth whatever Fox news tells them it must be the truth.
This lady is NUTS and does not have a clue about anything, a true fox news reporter or guest
This lady is NUTS and does not have a clue about anything, a true fox news reporter or guest
10
Nicole...you usually seem thoughtful and level headed. What are you talking about here? Why are you defending the wildly unhinged wing of your party? That woman in Minnesota was not just "profoundly agitated," she was grossly misinformed and misled by people just like Sarah Palin. How can this be good for anyone on either side of the political spectrum?
9
MAMA GRIZZLY Sarah Palin's 'speaking in tongues' everywhere she goes is like dog whistle signals to the group that support her without question--she knows just how to whip them up into a frenzy. I recently read a piece that said that voters choose their candidate based on emotional factors most of the time. It's terrifying to think that Sarah could boost Trump's popularity. In my personal opinion, neither one is fit for high office because of just plain lack of fundamental information about the complexities that face the president or VP.
3
Finally......one of the secret "string-pullers" for the Republican candidate puppets is revealed. You know, the puppets owned by Wall Street. I just never expected that one was Palin.....I did not think she had the smarts. But then, string-pulling is not a high-paid job, is it?
1
"I stood backstage at a rally in Minnesota in October 2008 where Senator McCain took the microphone from a woman in the crowd who spoke about her fears, including that Barack Obama was “an Arab.” Senator McCain said, “No, ma’am,” and explained that Mr. Obama was a good and decent family man and an American with whom he simply disagreed on policy matters. This interaction will go down as one of the finest moments from one of the country’s finest men."
It amazes me that this moment has never been exposed as the racist drivel that it really was -- less overt, perhaps, than the comments of the woman who McCain responded to, but nonetheless reeking of bigotry. The clear deduction is that "Arabs" are NOT "good and decent family [men]," and that they cannot be "American."
McCain clearly lost an opportunity to elevate the debate, by pointing out not only the inaccuracy of this ignorant woman's claim but also the imperative to avoid falling prey to racial stereotypes. That's what I would have expected were McCain truly one of the country's "finest men." Instead, he implicitly validated the very brand of fear-mongering that Palin and her ilk regularly deploy in their ongoing assault on our country's core values.
It amazes me that this moment has never been exposed as the racist drivel that it really was -- less overt, perhaps, than the comments of the woman who McCain responded to, but nonetheless reeking of bigotry. The clear deduction is that "Arabs" are NOT "good and decent family [men]," and that they cannot be "American."
McCain clearly lost an opportunity to elevate the debate, by pointing out not only the inaccuracy of this ignorant woman's claim but also the imperative to avoid falling prey to racial stereotypes. That's what I would have expected were McCain truly one of the country's "finest men." Instead, he implicitly validated the very brand of fear-mongering that Palin and her ilk regularly deploy in their ongoing assault on our country's core values.
18
Sarah Who?
1
I think you mean, "Rage Babbler."
8
I distinctly remember that in 2008 the author was so appalled by Ms. Palin that she told Steve Schmidt that she didn’t even vote in the general election.
If you don’t vote Ms. Wallace you have no say.
If you don’t vote Ms. Wallace you have no say.
8
"I stood backstage at a rally in Minnesota in October 2008 where Senator McCain took the microphone from a woman in the crowd who spoke about her fears, including that Barack Obama was 'an Arab.' Senator McCain said, 'No, ma’am,' and explained that Mr. Obama was a good and decent family man and an American with whom he simply disagreed on policy matters. This interaction will go down as one of the finest moments from one of the country’s finest men..."
Really? I found his response disgraceful. A fine moment would have been if McCain had said, "Putting aside Mr. Obama's putative ethnicity, there is nothing inherently wrong with being 'an Arab.' Mr. Obama, like many other Americans, Arab and non-Arab, is 'a good and decent family man and an American with whom I simply disagree on policy matters.'"
Really? I found his response disgraceful. A fine moment would have been if McCain had said, "Putting aside Mr. Obama's putative ethnicity, there is nothing inherently wrong with being 'an Arab.' Mr. Obama, like many other Americans, Arab and non-Arab, is 'a good and decent family man and an American with whom I simply disagree on policy matters.'"
21
Just as McCain's selection of Palin as his VP running mate disqualified his candidacy on account of stupid, so should Trump's selection of her as one of his spokespersons . In my opinion, this choice gives insight into how Trump would think as the President, and this was a extremely stupid move just to get more votes in Iowa. With a promise of a position in his WH, a really stupid move.
11
Trump has said he will give Palin a "senior level role" in his government.
2
Sarah Palin's appeal says more about the people who get riled up when they see her than about her. Like Trump, she's just an entertainer; she's just a reflection of the dark instincts of the Republican base. How anyone can consciously "whisper" to arouse such a vile crowd is beyond me. After all, they do represent the worst amongst us.
8
When Tina Fey did her Palin impersonation, it reminded me of This Is Spinal Tap parodying heavy metal bands. How does one parody what already appears as parody?
"They are treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality and bad poetry."
"That's just nitpicking, isn't it?"
"They are treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality and bad poetry."
"That's just nitpicking, isn't it?"
4
Why anyone in their right mind would listen to Palin's rants and raves is beyond me. Why McCain picked her to be his VP running mate is beyond me. I lost any respect for McCain after that stunt. To put his political ambitions in front of doing what was right for the country is unforgivable. If he had won and died while in office, we would have had a complete imbecile for president.
Palin cannot put together a coherent sentence let alone be president of the US or endorse anyone for same. She is up for sale by the highest bidder and I cannot believe I have to think about her being in the spotlight again. Insane and stupid- she is in fact the poster child of the GOP.
Palin cannot put together a coherent sentence let alone be president of the US or endorse anyone for same. She is up for sale by the highest bidder and I cannot believe I have to think about her being in the spotlight again. Insane and stupid- she is in fact the poster child of the GOP.
11
There is far more intellectual content in this single column than in Mrs Palin's entire brain.
Analyzing her is sort of like studying 'white noise'. It is chaos theory.
John McCain's very small 'decent' moment when he spoke down an ignorant woman's idea that Obama was Muslim was/is hugely overshadowed by the gross insult against Americans in general in attempting to put this rube of a woman one heartbeat away from the Presidency.
I have not forgotten, and will never respect Mr McCain again. He is irrelevant.
Analyzing her is sort of like studying 'white noise'. It is chaos theory.
John McCain's very small 'decent' moment when he spoke down an ignorant woman's idea that Obama was Muslim was/is hugely overshadowed by the gross insult against Americans in general in attempting to put this rube of a woman one heartbeat away from the Presidency.
I have not forgotten, and will never respect Mr McCain again. He is irrelevant.
11
She said "Arab," not "Muslim."
McCain insists to this day that his selection of Palin as his VP running mate was the "best decision I ever made".
3
"Resentment voters", a cute euphemism for uninformed sheep who let others like Palin and Limbaugh tell them what to resent!
The only part of Trump's platform I agree with is his proposals on trade with China.
The only part of Trump's platform I agree with is his proposals on trade with China.
2
AT best, Mrs. Palin examples where the mythical "American Dream" breeds nightmares. That so many rally to her adolescent ranting illustrates recycling waste products comes with its own price.
3
"The party bears some responsibilty for her success". Are you kidding me? The Republican party has been feeding this 500-lb. gorilla of ignorance, stupidity, and vulgarity, and their twin cousins Crazy and Evil, for the last thirty years, and it's come home to roost. If we're very, very lucky, it will take down the Republican party, without taking down America. Let's hope we dodge the bullet of proto-fascist Trump and his bimbo Palin.
20
Nicole Wallace still misses the point about that McCain interaction in 2008 and how wrongheaded it was. Being an "Arab" as that ignorant woman called then Senator Obama did not disqualify him from being any of the things Senator McCain then went on to describe him as, "a good, decent, family man."
This is the problem with the American right; even the so-called moderates are incapable of seeing their inherent racism.
This is the problem with the American right; even the so-called moderates are incapable of seeing their inherent racism.
13
re "... even the so-called moderates are incapable of seeing their inherent racism."
The GOP just cannot countenance a blackman in the WH, regardless how competent, capable and wise. It's racism straight up.
The GOP just cannot countenance a blackman in the WH, regardless how competent, capable and wise. It's racism straight up.
6
The rise of demagogues such as Palin and Trump can be laid squarely at the feet of the knowing conservative pundits and political consultants such as Ms Wallace, who blithely includes the woman who accused Barack Obama of being "an Arab" with those voters described as agitated or resentful. If Ms. Wallace wanted to help the country, she and other Republicans would instead describe the woman as utterly uninformed - as so many Republicans are uninformed on issues such as climate change, and which party has a better record on the economy.
7
Sarah Palin was a cheerleader in high school. She has never been anything more than that - certainly never a thoughtful public figure. Only now, instead of cheering on her football team, she cheers on the the political extremists on the right and their supporters. There's really nothing wrong with that, after all we are all entitled to our beliefs. But let's not try to elevate her to anything more than that. In fact, let's hope her team is roundly defeated and someone retires her pom-poms! I am so tired of her
2
Sarah Palin is smarter than the media give her credit for. She knows her limitations, hence no run for congress or Senate in Alaska. She also looked around and noticed that most of the politicians in Washington have become wealthy. The Senate is almost exclusively a millionaires club.
So she parlayed her 15 minutes of fame as a VP candidate into a million dollar book deal and a few million more on reality TV programs. These occasional political appearances are simply her effort to keep her brand alive and marketable. There will be some additional pay days down the road for her. She's smart enough to know that getting mocked by the media for foibles like 'squirmishes' in the Middle East only improve her standing as the average gal who the elites in Washington look down on.
She knows she has nothing substantive to offer, except her image as 'the average American gal' and she plays it to the hilt. She may not get elected to anything, but she's certainly not going back to small town life in Alaska. Unless of course the cameras are rolling and the paychecks are coming in.
So she parlayed her 15 minutes of fame as a VP candidate into a million dollar book deal and a few million more on reality TV programs. These occasional political appearances are simply her effort to keep her brand alive and marketable. There will be some additional pay days down the road for her. She's smart enough to know that getting mocked by the media for foibles like 'squirmishes' in the Middle East only improve her standing as the average gal who the elites in Washington look down on.
She knows she has nothing substantive to offer, except her image as 'the average American gal' and she plays it to the hilt. She may not get elected to anything, but she's certainly not going back to small town life in Alaska. Unless of course the cameras are rolling and the paychecks are coming in.
3
The premise of Nicole Wallace's op-ed is outrageous, let's focus on that too.
"The party bears some responsibility for her success. Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who, despite historic victories in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014, seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda or asserting themselves in the country’s foreign policy debates."
She quietly slips in there that the job of the Congress was just to reverse President Obama's agenda, an agenda the majority of Americans voted for? Not to work across the aisle to perhaps improve programs and fund them adequately for the benefit of all Americans? To assert themselves so we could go to war in more places? With no funding for these wars and the veterans who return home?
And she thinks that is what the Republican base is upset by, instead of an eroding liveable wage, jobs, education, and health care?
Cynical at the least.
"The party bears some responsibility for her success. Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who, despite historic victories in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014, seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda or asserting themselves in the country’s foreign policy debates."
She quietly slips in there that the job of the Congress was just to reverse President Obama's agenda, an agenda the majority of Americans voted for? Not to work across the aisle to perhaps improve programs and fund them adequately for the benefit of all Americans? To assert themselves so we could go to war in more places? With no funding for these wars and the veterans who return home?
And she thinks that is what the Republican base is upset by, instead of an eroding liveable wage, jobs, education, and health care?
Cynical at the least.
8
Your mention of the woman in Minnesota who said Obama was an Arab was not an early warning of an agitated base. It was a profound display of the ignorance present in the base, a base that chooses anger based in deep seated prejudice rather than constructive dialogue about important issues. Palin merely fans these flames, and it is in these flames that the true destruction of the America that she and Trump crave is taking place.
7
"Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who, despite historic victories in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014, seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda or asserting themselves in the country’s foreign policy debates."
The angry base seems to feel entitled to have everything in government go their way. Yet under our Constitution, the Congress does run the show alone. For bills to become law, the President must sign them. When it comes to foreign policy, the only leverage the Congress has over the Presidency is foreign affairs are declarations of war and the power of the purse.
The angry base seems to feel entitled to have everything in government go their way. Yet under our Constitution, the Congress does run the show alone. For bills to become law, the President must sign them. When it comes to foreign policy, the only leverage the Congress has over the Presidency is foreign affairs are declarations of war and the power of the purse.
3
The anger seems to stem from the fact that they can't reverse President Obama's skin color.
6
Anyone who's watched film footage from political rallies in 1930s Germany can't help but recognize the parallels to the positions angry conservatives are taking here and now. "Make our country great again", "No more immigrants", "Back to traditions". Today's conservatives are simply repeating the German's script from 80 years ago. The whole world knows how that era of conservative politics worked out.
8
Nicolle Wallace is my favorite Republican, but her reasons for John McCain being kind to Sarah Palin remain unsatisfying. The reason there is little movement from Congress on the issues Palin supporters care about is because the candidates she promotes are unwilling to compromise. It is more important to insult the president, Democrats, and the fact-inclined media (otherwise known loathingly as the mainstream or elite media) than to see where there is common ground to move forward.
But the inclination toward misinformation goes further than the Palin crowd. Republicans up and down the line distort facts and ignore evidence. And they bow at the alter of a fictitious former president--Ronald Reagan--who in real life raised taxes multiple times, exploded the deficit, and saw most of his national security team under criminal indictment (after failing to release hostages in exchange for illegal arms sales to Iran).
Smart people like Nicolle Wallace explain away these things and find reasons why cutting Federal spending during a recession is a good idea (even though it has made things worse when tried) or why stimulating the economy by repairing infrastructure, etc., at zero percent interest (which is traditional economics during a recession) is bad, or why it's OK to be willing to ignore the dire warnings of nearly every expert in a field (climate) and still be considered for higher office. But it is baffling. It makes me think there is a hidden agenda or hidden influence.
But the inclination toward misinformation goes further than the Palin crowd. Republicans up and down the line distort facts and ignore evidence. And they bow at the alter of a fictitious former president--Ronald Reagan--who in real life raised taxes multiple times, exploded the deficit, and saw most of his national security team under criminal indictment (after failing to release hostages in exchange for illegal arms sales to Iran).
Smart people like Nicolle Wallace explain away these things and find reasons why cutting Federal spending during a recession is a good idea (even though it has made things worse when tried) or why stimulating the economy by repairing infrastructure, etc., at zero percent interest (which is traditional economics during a recession) is bad, or why it's OK to be willing to ignore the dire warnings of nearly every expert in a field (climate) and still be considered for higher office. But it is baffling. It makes me think there is a hidden agenda or hidden influence.
3
Just to be clear. This nation needs some good, old-fashioned, Righteous Anger. And it needs to be directed at the political class in general, leftists in particular. Add to the mix, tar, feathers, rails and politicians and our worse problems would be solved within minutes.
1
Oh, Gibson, you are such a Hoot! not.
4
"Ms. Palin has amassed a decent record of success by endorsing conservative stars like Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa and Ted Cruz, of Texas, in his Senate bid."
And how does anyone measure the success of Palin's endorsements? The Tea Party destructionists Joni Ernst (pig emasculator, sent to Washington with her ever present guns to "make 'em squeal") and Ted Cruz (Harvard educated but retrograde, self-styled political demolition expert, who did his best to cause economic calamity by shutting down the federal government) have been utterly ineffective in Congress, for all their bombast about smashing the government into small pieces. Palin's endorsees, as well as the Tea Party extremists in the House, have failed time and time again to achieve their destructive goals because they are too small in number to overpower "establishment" politicians and far too inept to out-legislate sophsiticated leaders like Barack Obama and his allies at home and abroad.
For the same reasons Trump will lose the general election in devastating fashion, should he even make it that far. Like Palin, Cruz, and all the Tea Party radicals, they will discover that mindless rage alone is insufficient to win elections, to govern, or to effect meaningful change.
And how does anyone measure the success of Palin's endorsements? The Tea Party destructionists Joni Ernst (pig emasculator, sent to Washington with her ever present guns to "make 'em squeal") and Ted Cruz (Harvard educated but retrograde, self-styled political demolition expert, who did his best to cause economic calamity by shutting down the federal government) have been utterly ineffective in Congress, for all their bombast about smashing the government into small pieces. Palin's endorsees, as well as the Tea Party extremists in the House, have failed time and time again to achieve their destructive goals because they are too small in number to overpower "establishment" politicians and far too inept to out-legislate sophsiticated leaders like Barack Obama and his allies at home and abroad.
For the same reasons Trump will lose the general election in devastating fashion, should he even make it that far. Like Palin, Cruz, and all the Tea Party radicals, they will discover that mindless rage alone is insufficient to win elections, to govern, or to effect meaningful change.
9
T rump speaks with the vocabulary of a 4th grade boy, Palin speaks in tongues, and Wallace speaks with a forked tongue.
The amount of right wing fantasy and magic thinking that is beginning to pepper this newspaper has me questioning my loyalty to my subscription.
The amount of right wing fantasy and magic thinking that is beginning to pepper this newspaper has me questioning my loyalty to my subscription.
11
So much talk about anger. Wither the rugged individuality that the residents of the heartland so pride themselves on? There are no silver bullets left - the treasury is spent and cannot do more, the world is changed forever and we cannot turn China and India back, policies that Government can put in place are not the ones peddled by their preferred candidates in the Republican party. This wonderful "voter" attention we all lap up these days, disappears after the politicians have gotten their business done.
I don't see any reason to believe that this women is a political force to be reckoned with. She lost a national election, resigned from state public office, and eventually even failed as a media personality when Fox cancelled her contract. The only people whoever write about her are people who hate her. If they stopped, she would eventually fade from public view.
8
Keep in mind that half the population is of below average intelligence.
2
All that's needed now is for that other ignorant nut Michelle Bachmann to join the Trump circus and the bogus buffoon will really be off to the races.
1
It seems that too many Democrats are scared of horses that can't lose and they can't ride.
1
Once again, history is repeating itself, but not the way this article tries to depict it.
Just like today, during the American Revolution people wanted proper representation. Representation to prevent government's over taxing and corporate charters that gave rights and power to dictate to people how to live. There were mainly two types of colonists as there are today. Those who followed in blind loyalty the establishment and those who are profoundly agitated.
Compare the editorials at the time of Thomas Payne to the writers of the NY Times? The Times is not even close to the editorials we should have today. Little has changed when it comes to people blindly looking for leadership and those who are dissatisfied and angry with the lack of honest representative leadership from either party. This is why there is so much interest in Trump and Sanders. Both candidates are capable of upsetting the main-steam status quo when one or both ends up on the general election ballot. People are starting to see the lies and will cross party lines to place their vote, because many more people than you realize are upset with how our government doesn't work for them.
Payne would say about today; "It has been in the works for centuries and still may not work." JAM
`
Just like today, during the American Revolution people wanted proper representation. Representation to prevent government's over taxing and corporate charters that gave rights and power to dictate to people how to live. There were mainly two types of colonists as there are today. Those who followed in blind loyalty the establishment and those who are profoundly agitated.
Compare the editorials at the time of Thomas Payne to the writers of the NY Times? The Times is not even close to the editorials we should have today. Little has changed when it comes to people blindly looking for leadership and those who are dissatisfied and angry with the lack of honest representative leadership from either party. This is why there is so much interest in Trump and Sanders. Both candidates are capable of upsetting the main-steam status quo when one or both ends up on the general election ballot. People are starting to see the lies and will cross party lines to place their vote, because many more people than you realize are upset with how our government doesn't work for them.
Payne would say about today; "It has been in the works for centuries and still may not work." JAM
`
2
Sarah Palin does not know what whisper is she is loud mouth and loves to butcher a beautiful language English.
What a shame.
Now as I recall at least from the movie that you were so fed up with Palin and her antics and had a foresight to voter for Obama.
That was a good decision looking back I shudder having Ms. Palin as the VP of this Country.
Now looking at Trump and how uncomfortable he was with her verbiage there is no way Trump will chose Sarah as his VP choice.
He will soon fire her from his premises.
What a shame.
Now as I recall at least from the movie that you were so fed up with Palin and her antics and had a foresight to voter for Obama.
That was a good decision looking back I shudder having Ms. Palin as the VP of this Country.
Now looking at Trump and how uncomfortable he was with her verbiage there is no way Trump will chose Sarah as his VP choice.
He will soon fire her from his premises.
2
Besides one of Sarah Palin's handlers during the McCain/Palin run for the presidency, with Ms. Wallace reportedly the one who helped Sarah spend $100,000 on clothing and accessories so the family wouldn't come across as a family of rubes when they hit the stage, but was also the chief Media and Information Director for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney during the Iraq War Years.
That means she was the one who stood at a podium day after day disemminating lies to us about the ginned up Iraq War. And now she writes this piece even though there is nothing new here that we don't already know.
This is all about what so many if not most of these types do to keep their names out in front of us, hoping we'll buy one of the books they wrote after their 13 minutes of shame.
Wnem asked once, about her being able at the time to dispel the arrogance and costly actions of the Bush Administation, she responed, 'IT's a little egotistical for a lowly staff member to sit around contemplating whether they were involved in something ill conceived."
Are you kidding me? While our Veterans Hospitals were being flooded with para and quadripalegics and those with half their brains blown away due to IED's and riding around in Humvees with none of the armor needed to repel those blasts. How arrogant you are Ms. Wallace. What would have happened if Daniel Ellsburg buried his head in the sand during the Vietnam War?
That means she was the one who stood at a podium day after day disemminating lies to us about the ginned up Iraq War. And now she writes this piece even though there is nothing new here that we don't already know.
This is all about what so many if not most of these types do to keep their names out in front of us, hoping we'll buy one of the books they wrote after their 13 minutes of shame.
Wnem asked once, about her being able at the time to dispel the arrogance and costly actions of the Bush Administation, she responed, 'IT's a little egotistical for a lowly staff member to sit around contemplating whether they were involved in something ill conceived."
Are you kidding me? While our Veterans Hospitals were being flooded with para and quadripalegics and those with half their brains blown away due to IED's and riding around in Humvees with none of the armor needed to repel those blasts. How arrogant you are Ms. Wallace. What would have happened if Daniel Ellsburg buried his head in the sand during the Vietnam War?
6
"Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who, despite historic victories in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014, seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda or asserting themselves in the country’s foreign policy debates."
So in other words the GOP cant stand democracy?
So in other words the GOP cant stand democracy?
2
Thank you, Ms. Wallace, for such a thorough and thoughtful anaylsis of the inexplicable appeal of Palin.
Perhaps all the politicians, their staff and consultants should look more closely at themselves and their congressional (in)action in order to better understand voters' rage. It is not limited to Republicans, Democrats or the Decline to Staters. It is shared by those who refuse to vote in disgust of the system they dislike (from whichever perspective).
Having seen you on the Rachel Maddow Show, your observations and perspective are always refreshing, welcome and right on point. Great column.
Perhaps all the politicians, their staff and consultants should look more closely at themselves and their congressional (in)action in order to better understand voters' rage. It is not limited to Republicans, Democrats or the Decline to Staters. It is shared by those who refuse to vote in disgust of the system they dislike (from whichever perspective).
Having seen you on the Rachel Maddow Show, your observations and perspective are always refreshing, welcome and right on point. Great column.
3
This this writer is the perfect example of what's wrong with the "industry" of politics in the US. There was no mention whatsoever of the village idiot, Sarah Palin's ability to govern. The only concern was her ability to to draw angry crowds of people, many of whom don't have the intellectual capacity to see how dumb she is. And one wonders why the population is turned off by politics. It's run by a bunch of fools providing a bunch of fools as candidates. God help us all...
3
Rage Whisperer? I get the rage part but Sarah does very little whispering. I'm just going to blurt things out like Sarah and the Donald do. She's a loud mouth, incoherent attention craving idiot. Talking about people who should be banned from this country, I will add rage whisperers to the list. Let's deport rage whisperers to Syria and see how they like trying to board a row boat with 60 other people and get the hell out of there. And while we are at it, let's send a few of our 'bad' politicians back to Mexico and see if they like the poverty down there and the drug business that forces families into corruption. Sarah would make a great mule. I'm sure she could talk her way across the border. Better yet, put her in a tunnel under that fence she wants to build. We don't have to listen to her if she is underground. (Wouldn't that be nice?) And, if Barack is a Muslim then Governor Palin is a quitter. And that's a fact. Personally, I would much rather be a Muslim. She shoots innocent animals for fun out of a helicopter and can't put a sentence together. That's a fact too. Her ideas for foreign policy is just shoot 'em up. Her idea about the economy is have the Donald build more towers. Tina Fey for President!!!!!
5
Bill Maher compared her to a drunken bridesmaid who grabs the microphone at the reception and wouldn't let go. Best description I've heard in a long time. But what to make of her bizarre attempt to stir some rather fetid hip-hop poetry into that weird word goulash she was stewing? Is Sarah goin' gangsta?
7
With that voice, how can anything she says be called whispering?
6
This is an appalling commentary on Palin, the reckless irresponsibility of the Republican party, and the venality of Ms Wallace.
16
Palin trying to become a part of the new American 'Kakistocracy'-that is a government under control of the worst, least qualified persons.
12
Say what you will, but I really don't give stirring up of anger a positive contribution to this campaign. I wish the media would stop trying to spin this as that, or better yet, devote a column to it.
8
Yes!! Get Palin offstage. Get the hook!
2
So this is how McCain's handlers were thinking? That the difficult job of leading the greatest free nation in the world and handling the nuclear codes must be sold like a used car?
25
"Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who, despite historic victories in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014, seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda or asserting themselves in the country’s foreign policy debates."
I think the author skipped Civics 101. Here's a primer on American politics:
Fact One: The Republicans' "historic victories" did not produce a veto-proof Republican majority in Congress.
Since congressional Republicans won't work with Democrats, and since few Democrats want anything to do with the Republicans' obstructionist strategy, Republicans have unable to obtain enough Democratic votes to create veto-proof majorities on, oh, just to pick one example, repealing Obamacare.
This is a living example of the checks and balances that protect our democracy.
Fact Two: The American people elected President Obama on the basis of his legislative agenda, so it is presumptuous of the Republicans to want to reverse the few legislative gains the Obama administration has made in the face the Republicans' determination to block him at every turn.
Fact Three: The Constitution gives the Executive and Congressional branches of government foreign policy powers. Perhaps if Republicans in Congress showed even the least amount of interest in working with the President instead of against him, they might be more effective in exercising their constitutional powers.
I think the author skipped Civics 101. Here's a primer on American politics:
Fact One: The Republicans' "historic victories" did not produce a veto-proof Republican majority in Congress.
Since congressional Republicans won't work with Democrats, and since few Democrats want anything to do with the Republicans' obstructionist strategy, Republicans have unable to obtain enough Democratic votes to create veto-proof majorities on, oh, just to pick one example, repealing Obamacare.
This is a living example of the checks and balances that protect our democracy.
Fact Two: The American people elected President Obama on the basis of his legislative agenda, so it is presumptuous of the Republicans to want to reverse the few legislative gains the Obama administration has made in the face the Republicans' determination to block him at every turn.
Fact Three: The Constitution gives the Executive and Congressional branches of government foreign policy powers. Perhaps if Republicans in Congress showed even the least amount of interest in working with the President instead of against him, they might be more effective in exercising their constitutional powers.
43
The "few," legislative gains?
Gee, I wish the Left would look at the man's record.
Gee, I wish the Left would look at the man's record.
I get that the anger-wing is apoplectic - but what exactly are they angry about, what exactly do they want to do about it, and what exactly will be the consequences? Journalists need to probe deeper and demand to know what the anger-wing actually wants.
Repeal Obamacare? Are they ok with the 45,000 deaths per year caused by lack of insurance that preceded it? How exactly would they address that?
Shut down the EPA? How are they going to deal with the next Flint, MI? Will the free market fix it?
And how about the internal contradictions? Shouldn't the Freedom Caucus be fighting for legalizing marijuana, gay rights, freedom of choice, and to end mass incarceration for non-violent crimes? Shouldn't the Tea Partiers who want lower taxes cut the one thing that is breaking the bank - the military?
Everyone is riveted by the polls and the politics and the perceptions - strength, conviction, putting words to the anger-wing's forcibly suppressed racism. How about the nuts and bolts of actual policy? I'd like to hear them explain if Obamacare is repealed exactly how they will save the life of an uninsured, blond 27 year old American girl from the heartland with a fatal but curable disease - or will they let her die?
Repeal Obamacare? Are they ok with the 45,000 deaths per year caused by lack of insurance that preceded it? How exactly would they address that?
Shut down the EPA? How are they going to deal with the next Flint, MI? Will the free market fix it?
And how about the internal contradictions? Shouldn't the Freedom Caucus be fighting for legalizing marijuana, gay rights, freedom of choice, and to end mass incarceration for non-violent crimes? Shouldn't the Tea Partiers who want lower taxes cut the one thing that is breaking the bank - the military?
Everyone is riveted by the polls and the politics and the perceptions - strength, conviction, putting words to the anger-wing's forcibly suppressed racism. How about the nuts and bolts of actual policy? I'd like to hear them explain if Obamacare is repealed exactly how they will save the life of an uninsured, blond 27 year old American girl from the heartland with a fatal but curable disease - or will they let her die?
39
Spencer,
Duh. They'll let her die.
Duh. They'll let her die.
1
Saving the blond 27 year old from the heartland? Kickstarter.
1
Come on, no one is nastier than Hillary Clinton!! She's the one filled with rage, rage at cheating husband, rage at Pres Obama for "taking her rightful place" in line for the White House. Rage at all the women her husband abused.....Hillary is just a better educated and better dressed Sarah Palin.
Uh, no.
2
Project much, barb?
6
Please provide the link to the article or television station (legitimate ones) which prove - or even claim as you do - that Bill Clinton "abused" women. And, while you're at it, provide the link to the stories of the women who claimed they were "abused." Thank you.
6
She is the face of the worst and most destructive impulses of our democracy. There is nothing new or interesting about politicians who seek power and attention by dividing Americans against each other. I find this column, which has an almost apologetic tone about Ms. Palin, to be the equivalent of enabling a drunk or a drug addict.
16
Sarah Palin has used her fame to make much money for herself and her family. She quit the governorship to cash in on her new found fame. She and her followers are ignorant of the economy and how our system of government operates. Fox News has helped develop this anger against Democrats and the President. Their rage is directed at President Obama. Trump used this when he accused Obama of being foreign born and maybe not being a Christian. Now he claims Obama is stupid and has brought the country down. In the GOP debates the candidates are using fear and creating the false narrative that everything is terrible. Palin fits into this fake narrative.
21
The NY Times provides way too much coverage for this unintelligible babbling bimbo who needs her meds checked, yet offers limited and near nothing; nor do you press Hillary on her classified email issue. Over 1,300 are now said to have classified, top secret or super top secret info on them. Per the government's own statistics they fight off over 100,000 hack attacks a day. To believe that Hillary's server was secure and never compromised is naive. She acted irresponsibly in managing her emails and your silence is disappointing.
2
You may recall those emails originated with the State Dept.
Neither Sarah Palin or Donald Trump are political leaders. They are opportunists. Trump has simply floated trial balloon applause lines either in his speeches and on social media. Anything that gets a big response goes into the stump speech. The entire campaign is what to be angry about and who to blame. In the 19th century a presidential campaign could fire up this kind of anger, then get back to the business of governing due to the slow pace of information and the ability to control the press. Perhaps Mr. Trump believes he can win then do the same thing, but that seems more like fantasy than reality.
9
It's amazing to me that a woman who had such a direct hand in creating the Republican-driven train-wreck this country has become can write with no evident sense of remorse or regret at what she helped fashion.
Here is a person, after all, who worked hard in 2008 to put that lunatic from Alaska one heartbeat away from the nuclear (or is it "nuculear"?) codes. Now she marvels and the lunatic's ability to fire up "low-information voters" with anger.
Is any of this good for the country?
Here is a person, after all, who worked hard in 2008 to put that lunatic from Alaska one heartbeat away from the nuclear (or is it "nuculear"?) codes. Now she marvels and the lunatic's ability to fire up "low-information voters" with anger.
Is any of this good for the country?
24
Nicole, are you endorsing Sara Palin's discourse as a legitimate contribution to the electoral process? I am afraid you may have become a victim of the cable television reality mentality where you now make your living. John McCain's finest hours came long before he and you handed Palin a microphone.
17
What?! Palin would have to find a cure for cancer just to elevate her status to sideshow. Her credibility has so eroded, her remarks have become so rambling, and her personal life has become so white-trash that any suggestion that she can influence the race is downright silly. It takes special talent to get kicked off Fox News, and yet despite all of her vitriolic garble, she was still dismissed from the channel of hate. The days of Palin being able to sway the electorate are long over.
16
long over? they never were….the only influence she ever had was over a small group of low IQ disgruntled misfits…you know, tea party people. Beyond that the american people knew she was nothing more than a media clown and avoided her completely.
Sarah Palin is no "whisperer" she is a screeching banshee...if you saw her on the street screaming like this in downtown LA, NYC etc you would simply dismiss her as a crazy woman on the street.....she seems very crazy indeed and as an American woman I am personally embarrassed by her...the world is watching us and this is what they see...pure crazy, and she has little grasp on the English language which is her only language, geeze.....another sad example of our failing educational system....how did she ever graduate from any college?
22
I am still wondering: is the price Trump paid to gain the Palin endorsement tax deductible? It would have been cheap for him, but it is apolitical contribution.
4
Nicole Wallace has been caught lying about Palin: http://www.politico.com/story/2011/10/mccain-vet-black-wallaces-palin-cl...
2
OK. Read the link. Sounds quite plausible to me that there was internal discussion in the McCain campaign as to Palin's suitability of being sworn-in as VP. Where's the lie?
I'm frankly amazed that much of McCain's staff didn't quite in protest after he selected Palin.
I'm frankly amazed that much of McCain's staff didn't quite in protest after he selected Palin.
1
That article doesn't give the slightest proof: it gives a claim by another staffer, presented without evidence.
And by the way, anybody who DIDN'T seriously question installing Palin as VP would be an idiot, or nuts.
And by the way, anybody who DIDN'T seriously question installing Palin as VP would be an idiot, or nuts.
I'm not usually one to quote scripture but here goes: "Those who sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind." I paraphrase a bit, but Republicans have been sowing the wind since the days of Nixon and southern strategy. I only hope it is they who are devoured by the whirlwind, and not us.
8
Shouldn't Senator McCain have reminded the audience that even had Obama been a muslim that the constitution does not require a religious test for holding office? This was a moral failure on his part, which he could have restored had he the courage to repudiate in public his selection of Palin, when it quickly became clear that she had no qualification to hold higher office. It's not that he lacked evidence of her mindless, semi-literate rantings. And, since you were a senior advisor to his campaign, didn't you also fail him and the nation by failing to remove her from the ticket? Of course, that would have taken some courage.
12
I think Sarah should get her own house in order first. But that undoubtedly would dispel most of her anger. Still she is hot, make no mistake about that, although one would be safer to mention the n-word than point out the obvious.
1
This is one of the most delusional, self-affirming opinion pieces I have seen in recent years. Pretty much anyone alive without brain damage knows that Sarah Palin is a loud, ignorant dumb person, and yet, Ms. Wallace suggests that she could help Mr. Trump's candidacy, and that Ms. Palin herself could have possibly been a strong candidate. Wow! At best, Ms. Wallace has really low standards for leadership. At worst? Fill in the blanks.
12
I suspect that all of the advisors that "helped" McCain by bringing Palin to the ticket continue to try and explain away their career damaging stupid move. I suspect this is just another one of those attempts.
I enjoy watching you on MSNBC and The View. You seem so intelligent and down to earth and real. Saying that I am completely befuddled on how you can still be a republican. The GOP has shown no support to the 99% and has denied there is even a problem. They have obstructed and insulted President Obama for 7 years and they have no alternative plan other than to try and stop any progress. The Republicans have no ideas and no policy agenda to support jobs, infrastructure, a livable wage or growing business in the US. The Republicans are sticking with lower taxes for the wealthy and trickle down and war
If the Republicans really want to lead, they need a plan and they have to tell their donors that the path to redemption is to tax all revenues on the same rate structures....Not a flat tax but a fair tax which begins by taxing capital gains and carried interest as ordinary income and limiting all deductions to 30% of ordinary income. The US has a revenue problem...they no longer collect enough in taxes to pay for our basic services and maintain our infrastructure...
If the Republicans really want to lead, they need a plan and they have to tell their donors that the path to redemption is to tax all revenues on the same rate structures....Not a flat tax but a fair tax which begins by taxing capital gains and carried interest as ordinary income and limiting all deductions to 30% of ordinary income. The US has a revenue problem...they no longer collect enough in taxes to pay for our basic services and maintain our infrastructure...
5
Ms. Wallace, you were the senior adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign and you write this?
What is the point - that you now distance yourself from what you and Senator McCain "unleashed" in selecting Ms. Palin as his running mate?
What you were possibly thinking I can only imagine. But we do reap what we sow.
The "old" Republican Party hid its intent behind a veil of politeness, letting others do the dirty work. But that seems passe these days.
Meanwhile, the Democrats, Republican-lite since the Clinton years, are breaking out of that mold in a refreshing and positive way with Bernie Sanders running. I suspect that you and Senator McCain wish there was someone on the right with Sanders' eloquence, integrity, and grit.
What is the point - that you now distance yourself from what you and Senator McCain "unleashed" in selecting Ms. Palin as his running mate?
What you were possibly thinking I can only imagine. But we do reap what we sow.
The "old" Republican Party hid its intent behind a veil of politeness, letting others do the dirty work. But that seems passe these days.
Meanwhile, the Democrats, Republican-lite since the Clinton years, are breaking out of that mold in a refreshing and positive way with Bernie Sanders running. I suspect that you and Senator McCain wish there was someone on the right with Sanders' eloquence, integrity, and grit.
9
Ms. Wallace, in your telling it was McCain's finest hour to try to reason with the woman at the campaign event who called Obama a Muslim.
It was McCain abdicating his finest hour to not similarly restrain Sarah Palin when she accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists." Sorry, but your credibility in this regard is absolutely zero.
It was McCain abdicating his finest hour to not similarly restrain Sarah Palin when she accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists." Sorry, but your credibility in this regard is absolutely zero.
11
I kept reading this attempt at a serious analysis of Sarah Palin, but kept thinking, wait a minute, is Ms. Wallace talking about the same Sarah Palin, whose YouTube montage is funnier than George Carlin.
4
How is it that someone who will tell us all the 'truth' and explain everything and everyone that is wrong about this country, does absolutely nothing about it?
Palin quit on the Alaskan electorate halfway through her term and has done nothing since, except write books, give speeches and attends the occasional drunken brawl. What has she done to try to fix what she sees as wrong? What has she done to 'make America great'? Has she made any sacrifices of her own to improve America? Would she give up a book deal or speaking fee in order to make America better?
She has done zero. In this country it used to matter much more what one had done, rather than what one had said. 'Talk is cheap' as the saying goes and it is the truth.
Palin quit on the Alaskan electorate halfway through her term and has done nothing since, except write books, give speeches and attends the occasional drunken brawl. What has she done to try to fix what she sees as wrong? What has she done to 'make America great'? Has she made any sacrifices of her own to improve America? Would she give up a book deal or speaking fee in order to make America better?
She has done zero. In this country it used to matter much more what one had done, rather than what one had said. 'Talk is cheap' as the saying goes and it is the truth.
7
Could this be a sign that Trump is getting tired of all this and doesn't really want to win the Presidency? Isn't this why the republicans put Sarah Palin as VP in 2008?
5
The only remarkable thing about Ms. Palin is her ability to mix rank ignorance with dizzying incoherence. But perhaps that's just my nascent old age breaking through, as I recall a time when being a statesperson meant being able to communicate with clarity and eloquence.
Sifting through 20th century history, however, gives me a frightening pause when I listen to the hate and fear mongering rants of Mr. Trump (or perhaps Ms. Palin would call it that "hatey-feary thing"). There was another political outsider who rose to power on the wings of directed hatred and fear of the disenfranchised. I'm not saying that Mr. Trump is as purely evil as Hitler. However, our country deserves more from its leadership - at least it deserves a dialogue based in facts. At I know it deserves a message based on hope, not hatred. Without hope, there can be no progress other than toward decline.
Sifting through 20th century history, however, gives me a frightening pause when I listen to the hate and fear mongering rants of Mr. Trump (or perhaps Ms. Palin would call it that "hatey-feary thing"). There was another political outsider who rose to power on the wings of directed hatred and fear of the disenfranchised. I'm not saying that Mr. Trump is as purely evil as Hitler. However, our country deserves more from its leadership - at least it deserves a dialogue based in facts. At I know it deserves a message based on hope, not hatred. Without hope, there can be no progress other than toward decline.
6
The so-called "Republican base" isn't agitated, it's psychotic.
9
Time for Palin to retire to her tanning booth in the basement of her place in Alaska. For good this time. Forever.
Maybe work on teaching her kids how to find a mate, get married, have kids, raise them without all the drama: the old-fashioned order of things instead of blabbering about abstinence but having a bunch of kids with different people, hitting each other, pulling out guns, screaming matches, etc
Maybe book a nice session with Dr. Phil for the whole family and leave America alone.
Maybe work on teaching her kids how to find a mate, get married, have kids, raise them without all the drama: the old-fashioned order of things instead of blabbering about abstinence but having a bunch of kids with different people, hitting each other, pulling out guns, screaming matches, etc
Maybe book a nice session with Dr. Phil for the whole family and leave America alone.
10
"having a bunch of kids with different people, hitting each other, pulling out guns, screaming matches, etc" sounds more like typical democrat voters.
gathrigh: no, just the Palin kids. I forgot to add arrests for domestic violence and the bus episode that sent the son to the army. So add that.
1
No, gathrigh, it is the Palin clan and they are all Republicans.
And as clueless and useless as mommy.
And as clueless and useless as mommy.
1
Uh..... Disavowing the Arabic people and distinguishing them from good and decent family men and Americans is one of the "finest moments from one of the country’s finest men"?
Mr. Brooks, do you feel that Arabs cannot be good and decent? Do you believe that they can't be family men or Americans? Or are you saying that you are proud of Sen. McCain in that he didn't lump Barack Obama with the other folks he happily threw under the bus in a pretty racist and bigoted way?
Mr. Brooks, do you feel that Arabs cannot be good and decent? Do you believe that they can't be family men or Americans? Or are you saying that you are proud of Sen. McCain in that he didn't lump Barack Obama with the other folks he happily threw under the bus in a pretty racist and bigoted way?
2
Anger and disdain after a Black man was elected president and the total resolve of congress to make him a one-term president by neglecting to think of the country has propelled the Republicans even further right. Trump and Palin only listen to their own voices--and to get more attention--manufacture crisis after crisis to make their voices more and more shrill. Palin, so eager to regain a spotlight, is a perfect example of when to mute the sound.
4
I just read Axelrod's piece explaining why Trump appeals to the Republican base (he's white and not black) and now this, from former "senior" adviser to the former McCain campaign (I thought The Daily Show made that "senior" adjective more a term of derision than status).
They read like carefully crafted essays stapled to their applications to help run the eventual campaign of Trump/Palin. If so, my guess is they haven't got a prayer of being hired. They probably know it, but why not give it a shot?
Axelrod is a little sad, Wallace a little sly. He guessed wrong about Trump's staying power, but apparently knew all along if only he had listened to himself. (Huh?) She gets why the base gets Palin, apparently because both Palin and the base have no time for human decency: there's a black man on the loose.
I only hope that at some level these senior advisers achieve an awareness of the horror that awaits us if we decide to give our anxieties over to the likes of Trump and Palin. It is a nightmare from which we may not awaken.
They read like carefully crafted essays stapled to their applications to help run the eventual campaign of Trump/Palin. If so, my guess is they haven't got a prayer of being hired. They probably know it, but why not give it a shot?
Axelrod is a little sad, Wallace a little sly. He guessed wrong about Trump's staying power, but apparently knew all along if only he had listened to himself. (Huh?) She gets why the base gets Palin, apparently because both Palin and the base have no time for human decency: there's a black man on the loose.
I only hope that at some level these senior advisers achieve an awareness of the horror that awaits us if we decide to give our anxieties over to the likes of Trump and Palin. It is a nightmare from which we may not awaken.
1
Once again, Sarah Palin reminds us that, "you can't fix stupid".
11
Wow this is ironic. It's not that the writer Ms. Wallace has nailed Sarah Palin. She's right on about the First Lady of Anger. It is that Ms. Wallace was an advisor to Sen. John McCain -- who chose Sarah Palin for running mate. I always thought then that Sen. McCain's staff was out to lunch when they gave Palin the OK for Veep. I'm sure of it now. How ironic one of this advisors now knocks Palin. Oh and, I'm not a Republican and didn't vote for Sen. McCain. But he didn't scare me, either. (like the current line-up).
6
Out to lunch, in general, yes! But I'm fairly sure even his advisers knew that Sarah Palin was ignorant of knowledge on any major issue. Then the public got to meet her - she was singularly unimpressive and the advisers and McCain bailed on her. Sarah is just plain angry and her 15 minutes will be one of SNL's greatest triumphs. Thanks to Tina Fey for reprising her role in playing Sarah - why am I here - Palin.
5
So, Senator McCain is biting his tongue because Palin brought out huge crowds during the campaign? Rather shallow for such a "great man" don't you think?
5
Oh, we know exactly who to blame for the Sarah Palin phenomenon, Niccole. And we know exactly who has been stoking the politics of rage for decades now. We know whose fault this is. Apparently, you think we're too dumb to have figured it out. Donald may have Palin to thank for the catering to the lowest common denominator and stoking their rage, but America knows to thank the Republican Party's politics of division.
11
Better read Game Changer...
Sarah is bone stupid, just like the angry mobs she so famously whipped up.
fwa
Sarah is bone stupid, just like the angry mobs she so famously whipped up.
fwa
4
Of the Incoherent One you write a stunning understatement:
"The party bears some responsibility for her success."
Your party is ENTIRELY responsible for unleashing Palin on the rest of us.
Own it.
"The party bears some responsibility for her success."
Your party is ENTIRELY responsible for unleashing Palin on the rest of us.
Own it.
13
Trump's salient ancestor was George Wallace, the poison pill imbibed by the Republicans of Nixon's 1968 campaign. Racism, federal government as redistributor, President as cheer leader of Two Minutes of Hate. Nicolle, you are too soft on Trump, Palin and McCain.
2
So, the way we measure a politician's success is knowing which candidates they endorse? That's it?
2
Of course this is a little take-off on The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Milan, who could establish his authority in the pack by calm authority and respecting the way animals' heads actually work. So your metaphor is not working.
With Palin, you probably need to change the idea to someone who is more like those weird animal hoarders who tease unfed, unfit animals that are running around crapping everywhere but not allowed to actually be wild animals or real pets either one.
With Palin, you probably need to change the idea to someone who is more like those weird animal hoarders who tease unfed, unfit animals that are running around crapping everywhere but not allowed to actually be wild animals or real pets either one.
4
"But it was also an early warning that the Republican base was profoundly agitated." Or, an early warning that a large part of the Republican base was profoundly ignorant.
4
I look at the citizens of Flint, with their long history of economic horror, and degradation by government. Then I look at the right wingers, many of them on social security. Which group has the greater right to be angry? These Palin followers, what do they have to be so angry about? I keep asking them, they just mutter things about immigrants. Most of them wouldn't know an illegal immigrant if one bit them. This is mostly manufactured anger, the power of good propaganda. We need to acknowledge it as such.
12
Is the following rage or love?
World War I
Killed: 16 Million soldiers and civilians (all sides)
World War II
Killed: 60 Million soldiers and civilians (all sides)
Korean War
Killed: 1 1/2 plus Million soldiers and civilians (all sides)
Vietnam War
Killed: 1 1/2 Million soldiers and civilians (all sides)
World War I
Killed: 16 Million soldiers and civilians (all sides)
World War II
Killed: 60 Million soldiers and civilians (all sides)
Korean War
Killed: 1 1/2 plus Million soldiers and civilians (all sides)
Vietnam War
Killed: 1 1/2 Million soldiers and civilians (all sides)
This is the same Nicolle Wallace, I presume, who performed on The View. She struck me as an ingenue then and now.
1
Rather then everyone pontificating on the meaning of the trump and palin frenzy, we should all be ashamed and terrified that people like this, inciting hate, fear, racism and bigotry can garner the crowds and the cult like following that they have. Trump is a raging demagogue who is destroying this country and playing with fire as he continues to spew his venom. Palin is clearly deranged and neither of them are fit to hold any public office let alone the presidency. It is an outrage that he keeps getting away with his incessant craziness while everyone is afraid to confront him and call him out. And now he has added palin's insane fuel to the fire. Politics has sunk to the lowest base ever. One wonders how much lower it can possibly go without imploding.
7
What's the big deal?
Election campaigns are like used car sales shows, everyone tries to cater for the buyer who fits the profile.
And Palin is just doing that and in a great way.
She caters for the biggest slice in the cake of the voting audience:
Stupid people
Only those, and let us face it, they are the vast majority of voters, can connect with her and will follow her.
So, despite all the negative comments, she is in fact doing a great job.
You do not win elections by getting the votes of the intellectuals, you win elections by getting the larger number of votes.
So you need to connect to the largest part of the audience and that is stupid people.
All the better, if you have something in common with your audience like Palin has.
Election campaigns are like used car sales shows, everyone tries to cater for the buyer who fits the profile.
And Palin is just doing that and in a great way.
She caters for the biggest slice in the cake of the voting audience:
Stupid people
Only those, and let us face it, they are the vast majority of voters, can connect with her and will follow her.
So, despite all the negative comments, she is in fact doing a great job.
You do not win elections by getting the votes of the intellectuals, you win elections by getting the larger number of votes.
So you need to connect to the largest part of the audience and that is stupid people.
All the better, if you have something in common with your audience like Palin has.
2
Say what you will about Sarah Palin but she has not been under investigation for over a year by the FBI for slopping top secret government information to her cronies via a personal email sever. Stupidity or treason, you tell me.
1
Ms.Clinton has not been under investigation by the FBI for over a year, as you posit. That comes from Fake News. And how does one "alop government information to cronies?" As Secty of State, she had employees who had to receive information. It's called governing.
Take a basic civics class. Try to pass.
Take a basic civics class. Try to pass.
Having Sarah Palin's endorsement as a Presidential candidate is about like being put forward by the village idiot for membership in Mensa.
9
Sarah Palin's value to any cause has never grown beyond where she started out as cheerleader and beauty queen, brief appearances rallying the fans in the one and opening supermarkets in the other. Such a person would never either think of playing on a team or actually consider running a supermarket.
Nicolle's speculation about whether or not Palin considered running for president mostly reveals her own unwillingness to see what drives Sarah. Palin doesn't know much but she at least understands that she would never become president, or was ever really driven to seek the presidency. It's too much work and not great fun. Remember, she grew bored with the job she had as governor of Alaska.
The infuriating thing we see in this article is that after the all the damage hate and anger politics has wrought, neither McCain or Wallace appear still unable to recognize and with any real great force condemn the rot that such as Trump and Palin have brought to the Republican Party.
Nicolle's speculation about whether or not Palin considered running for president mostly reveals her own unwillingness to see what drives Sarah. Palin doesn't know much but she at least understands that she would never become president, or was ever really driven to seek the presidency. It's too much work and not great fun. Remember, she grew bored with the job she had as governor of Alaska.
The infuriating thing we see in this article is that after the all the damage hate and anger politics has wrought, neither McCain or Wallace appear still unable to recognize and with any real great force condemn the rot that such as Trump and Palin have brought to the Republican Party.
7
You nailed it. It is To The Bone.
3
All I can think of are the lyrics of Stealers Wheels:
Trying to make some sense of it all,
But I can see that it makes no sense at all,
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor,
'Cause I don't think that I can take anymore
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you
Trying to make some sense of it all,
But I can see that it makes no sense at all,
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor,
'Cause I don't think that I can take anymore
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you
2
So true. And now we have The Donald AND Sarah in the front seat of the Republican Party's clown car.
2
Trump is taking power away from the donors that control both parties. He is free to do what his base wants. Can he win? Who will be the Democrat candidate? I don't think it it will be Hillary. She is getting buried under her baggage.
There are several explanations for this Trump-Palin phenomenon and why working-class whites in particular gravitate to such angry, demagogic, non-solutions to our growing problems in the U.S.
Downward mobility: those who see themselves slipping economically and socially readily blame minorities, women, and ethnic groups that they view as taking their jobs (but not the corporations that took jobs abroad & fight raising the minimum wage here)
As technology increases, decent jobs require a college education, but those who had a difficult time with education are left behind (plus we don't make much in this country anymore and so no longer need skilled and unskilled labor like we used to). Hence the rampant intellectualism among Trump and Palin supporters.
Social and cultural change is coming faster and faster, which scares traditionalists (men are in charge) and fundamentalist religious types. Some of this is urban-rural as well. So, the displeased and displaced embrace reactionary politics (not unlike Iranians did in the Iranian revolution).
Politics has a strong emotional component, and charismatic leaders are able to resonate with deep, primitive, emotional parts of the brain that require no thinking (I head this explanation decades ago at a conference--the psychiatrist was explaining Reagan's appeal).
Or maybe it's simpler than that. As someone said, Americans don't like to vote for anyone smarter than they are.
Downward mobility: those who see themselves slipping economically and socially readily blame minorities, women, and ethnic groups that they view as taking their jobs (but not the corporations that took jobs abroad & fight raising the minimum wage here)
As technology increases, decent jobs require a college education, but those who had a difficult time with education are left behind (plus we don't make much in this country anymore and so no longer need skilled and unskilled labor like we used to). Hence the rampant intellectualism among Trump and Palin supporters.
Social and cultural change is coming faster and faster, which scares traditionalists (men are in charge) and fundamentalist religious types. Some of this is urban-rural as well. So, the displeased and displaced embrace reactionary politics (not unlike Iranians did in the Iranian revolution).
Politics has a strong emotional component, and charismatic leaders are able to resonate with deep, primitive, emotional parts of the brain that require no thinking (I head this explanation decades ago at a conference--the psychiatrist was explaining Reagan's appeal).
Or maybe it's simpler than that. As someone said, Americans don't like to vote for anyone smarter than they are.
1
I don't see the point in NOT voting for someone smarter than me. If I wanted to vote for someone like me for President, I'd vote for me. I want someone smarter, better qualified, and certainly calmer than me in the White House.
4
"it was also an early warning that the Republican base was profoundly agitated."
"Early warning sign"??? Anyone who has listened to right wing radio these last 20 years knows there's nothing 'early' about the rage being stoked up by Limbaugh, Levin, Ingraham etc...day after day after day.
"Early warning sign"??? Anyone who has listened to right wing radio these last 20 years knows there's nothing 'early' about the rage being stoked up by Limbaugh, Levin, Ingraham etc...day after day after day.
7
The nuclear-armed superpowers' greatest fear is that a country with unstable leadership acquires nuclear capabilities or other weapons of mass destruction. I can only assume that citizens of the world trust that the leadership of the country with most frighteningly powerful weaponry will always be the most stable, cautious, and wise. I must also assume that the Trump/Cruz, and now Palin spectacle is viewed with great fear rather than amusement.
6
Why are Trump's and Palin's supporter derided as "angry" and "resentful" while Bernie Sanders' crowds are not, even though he inveighs heated rhetoric against the wealthy and Wall Street? Sanders' crowds are always "passionate" and "eager" and "enthusiastic" -- but Trump's people are "angry." This ideological lens distorts factual reporting.
The difference between being 'angry and resentful' and the ones that are 'passionate, eager and enthusiastic' is that the former crowd thinks with their guts instead of using the little gray cells of their brains.
How come that the enthusiasts of the Sander's crowd are quite young, college educated and diverse, while the angry and resentful ones of the Trumpists are much older, uneducated and vast majority white?
In addition, this article by a former McCain campaign manager is an opinion piece. You not being able to know the difference between an op-Ed and 'factual reporting' puts you smack into the Trump crowd.
How come that the enthusiasts of the Sander's crowd are quite young, college educated and diverse, while the angry and resentful ones of the Trumpists are much older, uneducated and vast majority white?
In addition, this article by a former McCain campaign manager is an opinion piece. You not being able to know the difference between an op-Ed and 'factual reporting' puts you smack into the Trump crowd.
2
The difference is why.
For the Trump/Palin crowd, theirs is a very personal hatred based entirely on fear and stupidity. It's about their perceived lack of control and irrelevancy.
For the Sanders' crowd, it's the philosophical issue of the (im)balance between the governed and those governing.
For the Trump/Palin crowd, theirs is a very personal hatred based entirely on fear and stupidity. It's about their perceived lack of control and irrelevancy.
For the Sanders' crowd, it's the philosophical issue of the (im)balance between the governed and those governing.
2
Bernie's supporters don't beat up people at his rallies. Simple as that.
1
"The party bears some responsibility for her success. Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who, despite historic victories in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014, seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda or asserting themselves in the country’s foreign policy debates."
"Reversing President Obama's policy agenda" is precisely the problem here. Reversal is not the point in divided government, but shaping and voice is. The ACA is really a bit of a mess, but it's the best thing to come along in decades, and it would be a lot better - and America a lot better off - if the GOP took its governing responsibilities seriously.
Foreign policy is much the same. No one on either side of the aisle wants our kids standing in the middle of Syria with guns pointed at them from every direction. There is an immensity of common ground here. All the GOP has to do is acknowledge the legitimacy and intelligence of the commander in chief, and all sorts of things become possible.
"Reversing President Obama's policy agenda" is precisely the problem here. Reversal is not the point in divided government, but shaping and voice is. The ACA is really a bit of a mess, but it's the best thing to come along in decades, and it would be a lot better - and America a lot better off - if the GOP took its governing responsibilities seriously.
Foreign policy is much the same. No one on either side of the aisle wants our kids standing in the middle of Syria with guns pointed at them from every direction. There is an immensity of common ground here. All the GOP has to do is acknowledge the legitimacy and intelligence of the commander in chief, and all sorts of things become possible.
9
No one wants to acknowledge what's so obvious to me: a large reason for the Palin phenomenon is her Caribou Barbie image. Try a thought experiment: If she were identical in every way and word but looked like Angela Merkel how much time and attention would she draw?
5
she is a thing that thrives on hate and like a mother hen calls in the ones that hate their world because of it
2
Trump and Palin are what you reap when your education system fails. It is not astounding that an "intellectual fly-weight" like Palin can capture the allegiance of so many other intellectual fly-weights.
She and Trump speak to these people in language they can understand, that is to say, emotion. They offer no analysis of the problems underlying those emotions and they offer simple solutions that belie the complexity of those problems and their solutions. Those might be hard to understand.
Their listeners want their anger validated. Period. The anger started rising with the civil rights movement of the 60s and continues to today. The anger comes from the belief that the world is changing in ways that are threatening to them. While the rest of us see the changes wrought over the last 50 years in the social fabric of America as evolutionary and positive, the right sees them as eroding the standards that once lent their lives some semblance of stability. And superiority, over all the folks who now enjoy an overdue equality.
The world has turned its back on them, they feel, and they're mad as a sumbitch about it. And now they have a spokesman. And a leather-clad, hottie spokeswoman. Both shouting into the mic everything they've been angry about for a long time. They don't want rationality and they don't want solutions. Like 15 year olds they don't want to discuss things, they simply want to scream that they hate you and you are ruining their lives.
She and Trump speak to these people in language they can understand, that is to say, emotion. They offer no analysis of the problems underlying those emotions and they offer simple solutions that belie the complexity of those problems and their solutions. Those might be hard to understand.
Their listeners want their anger validated. Period. The anger started rising with the civil rights movement of the 60s and continues to today. The anger comes from the belief that the world is changing in ways that are threatening to them. While the rest of us see the changes wrought over the last 50 years in the social fabric of America as evolutionary and positive, the right sees them as eroding the standards that once lent their lives some semblance of stability. And superiority, over all the folks who now enjoy an overdue equality.
The world has turned its back on them, they feel, and they're mad as a sumbitch about it. And now they have a spokesman. And a leather-clad, hottie spokeswoman. Both shouting into the mic everything they've been angry about for a long time. They don't want rationality and they don't want solutions. Like 15 year olds they don't want to discuss things, they simply want to scream that they hate you and you are ruining their lives.
7
Palin is just an old timey inciter.
She is comfortable stirring the pot for the attention apparently, but once again does nothing to actually get real change. She gets paid for things NOT to change at the emotional expense of a base exasperated about real problems. She is the guy offering a stone when asked for bread. At some point it won't play.
She is comfortable stirring the pot for the attention apparently, but once again does nothing to actually get real change. She gets paid for things NOT to change at the emotional expense of a base exasperated about real problems. She is the guy offering a stone when asked for bread. At some point it won't play.
3
How can someone who worked on a campaign that was decimated by Sarah Palin then turn around and say that if Trump wins, it's due to Sarah Palin? (I guess there are only so many coattails to ride in the GOP and Ms Wallace needs to justify the bad choices she played a part of?) Astonishing. This logic shows us why the GOP candidacy resembles an old-time carnival's freakshow.
7
I would really like to know just what drug Sara is on this time.
3
Callout for Steve Schmidt...the McCain consultant that desperately foisted Palin on the United States. You Sir damaged the political fabric of your party and your country by placing political brand above decency and common sense. Sleep well.
9
"The growing furor in the Republican Party was something that we, as a campaign, failed to address, but to the crowds, Sarah Palin proved the more satisfying politician on the ticket because of it."
In other words, you let someone pander to bigotry and ignorance, and therefore tacitly endorsed that bigotry and ignorance, and now our nation is paying the price for the contagion that you unleashed.
How do you sleep?
In other words, you let someone pander to bigotry and ignorance, and therefore tacitly endorsed that bigotry and ignorance, and now our nation is paying the price for the contagion that you unleashed.
How do you sleep?
10
Let's put an end to this moron once and for all. She is an idiot and has no clue what she is saying. She literally has no business getting any attention whatsoever. If you watched the ENTIRE speech, if you call it speech, you will have seenough one of the most illiterate, moronic individuals ever to grace a TV screen. I would love to take her on one on one in a political debate. And I'm not even a politician. I would wipe the floor with this idiot and show the road just how stupid and out of touch she really is. Pleasee crawl back to the rock you came from.
2
Many of Donald Trump's statements have been outrageous and dumb. Throughout it all one could argue that maybe there is something behind those statements. "He couldn't be as dumb as that!" people said.
With his support of Ms. Palin, it seems that yes, he is.
With his support of Ms. Palin, it seems that yes, he is.
3
That she is here to endorse Donald in 2016 is because the Republican Party formally let her off the leash in 2012. They can't now bemoan, Who Let The Dogs Out? If it is voter Anger that is so firmly embraced by Republicans, the GOP cannot expect anything more than what they are getting this election.
2
The ice is very thin beneath the Republican Party.
2
An early warning that the GOP base was "profoundly agitated"? That has to be the understatement of the century thus far. That party has lost its freakin' marbles.
Looking at the footage of her Trump endorsement, it is clear toy me that Sarah Palin is psychologically unsound. I say this not with any sense of schadenfreude, but with pity.
http://tomdegan.blogspot.com/search?q=Sarah+Palin
Tom Degan
Looking at the footage of her Trump endorsement, it is clear toy me that Sarah Palin is psychologically unsound. I say this not with any sense of schadenfreude, but with pity.
http://tomdegan.blogspot.com/search?q=Sarah+Palin
Tom Degan
3
Ms. Wallace, you're being very disingenuous. All Ms. Palin is is a mercenary opportunist--one who cannot spell either of those words. Yes, she taps into the anger of the electorate but, rather than positing solutions, she merely justifies their anger--you're poor, uneducated, and it's unfair as hell that Hispanic woman with a college degree got that job instead of you? It's the only meal ticket she has ever known, other than her looks. In fact, she isn't "tapping" into their anger, she's stoking it. And, from her point of view, all that matters is that anger leads to more checks made out to her.
11
Sarah Palin is the result and symbol of the failure of the American educational system.
5
Sarah Palin's "speech" was like a caricature of a Donald Trump free association --- that such a thing was possible in a public forum where it would be broadcast around the world is hard to believe even if one actually saw it unfold.
John McCain will not be remembered so much for is time as a POW, his war-mongering (e.g. Georgia) or his meh!- inducing Senate record as for his calamitous misjudgment in loosing Mama Grizzly on the American body politic. If he has any integrity left (and I think he does) he must bitterly regret that he offered to place this deranged and cynical grifter within reach of the presidency, within reach of the nuclear codes.
And I am amazed that anyone who was a part of that shameful episode, like Ms. Wallace, can show their face in public let alone occupy, however briefly, some of the most valuable column space on Earth. Get thee to a nunnery, madame! You have all too much for which to atone.
John McCain will not be remembered so much for is time as a POW, his war-mongering (e.g. Georgia) or his meh!- inducing Senate record as for his calamitous misjudgment in loosing Mama Grizzly on the American body politic. If he has any integrity left (and I think he does) he must bitterly regret that he offered to place this deranged and cynical grifter within reach of the presidency, within reach of the nuclear codes.
And I am amazed that anyone who was a part of that shameful episode, like Ms. Wallace, can show their face in public let alone occupy, however briefly, some of the most valuable column space on Earth. Get thee to a nunnery, madame! You have all too much for which to atone.
11
I did not watch her speech. I only saw the pix and outtakes of Trump, standing off to the side, seemingly suppressing a smirk. Now he can float above the fray, let her throw the red meat to the rubes and act regal. Good for him, let a demigod whip up the turnout, then kick her out the door or give her throw away job like Commerce Secretary. So maybe he is a smart "bidnessman"(shades of JR Ewing)after all. Fun to watch the circus, but no thanks on the bread, it seems to stank of cow feces.
1
"Have you no sense of decency".. for those of us with any sense of history, it is unnerving the way history does in fact seem to repeat itself. Watching someone like Palin & Trump (or Cruz) point an angry finger at groups of people, stirring up voter rage while while blaming a select group for the collective unhappiness is scary and has happened time and again in history - with ugly results.
7
Sarah Palin is the latest politician to use the anger and frustration of blue collar voters as a leg up to visibility and popularity. Huey Long, Joe McCarthy, and more recently, George Wallace spewed vitriol and hatred with less charm than Ms. Palin, but with similar results. Sarah Palin may be a demagogue, but she is not our first, and undoubtedly, she will not be our last. Anger and hatred are some much more enthralling to so many than a calm and reasoned demeanor!
1
Pailin's only goal is to bask in the limelight and make money on it. She's a semi-literate jerk who's only talent is rousing people too stupid to know better. Perhaps it was a poor upbringing.
1
"Rage Garbler" is more like it. She doesn't whisper at all, she shouts out a random assortment of provocative catch phrases linked together by no particular grammar. And the catch phrases land in people's heads and, in the absence of any kind of frontal lobe activity, ignite outrage. She seems to have invented a new rhetorical form, analogous to impressionism, where the the individual brush strokes make no sense at all, but taken together deliver a pure jolt to the limbic system. It's fascinating, in a horrible way.
8
The Rage Whisperer is an opinion piece. It is not intended to be objective, rational, or truthful. Frankly, Ms. Wallace is correct regarding the rage felt by so many Americans. But she misses two crucial undercurrents: 1) rage emanates from both sides of the ideological/political spectrum; it is not exclusive to Republicans, tea party ideologues, Christian fundamentalists, capitalist fundamentalists. 2) The rage from the right is all about taking responsibility for nothing but oneself; it is up to individuals to get a job or three, to get their own education, to climb out of poverty and debt without help from the collective whole. The rage on the left is all about the collective whole. It is about all for one and one for all. It is about sharing, taking responsibility for the collective whole as well as for the individual. The right wing rage wishes to destroy the collective whole by declaring the burden of "the other" is not a shared responsibility. Left wing rage is constructive; it believes sharing the burden of "the other" is everyone's responsibility and that everyone benefits as a result.
8
A billionaire and a millionaire tell the have-nots how angry they should be. No way to fix it but BE angry.
Nikki Haley has demurred. Ted Cruz is thrust aside. Joni Ernst -- not yet decided.
Nikki Haley has demurred. Ted Cruz is thrust aside. Joni Ernst -- not yet decided.
1
McCain taking a loud-mouth supporter to task for her lies and vitriol was indeed one of his finest moments.
Palin refusing to do the same, after inciting her crowd, is the a sign of a new belief within faux-conservative America - that one need not be held responsible for ones actions.
Palin refusing to do the same, after inciting her crowd, is the a sign of a new belief within faux-conservative America - that one need not be held responsible for ones actions.
3
Sarah Palin, Queen of the Tea Party, has really refined her act over the last 7 years. You could see she made Tina Fey really stretch in her most recent SNL sketch. I actually believe Sarah has invented a new thing: #crackerrap!
2
Don't feel real great with Palen but, I would rather listen to her than a liar like Hillary Clinton. On Sunday I went to see 13 hours. I can't see how anyone in their right mind could vote for Hillary. I will always despise our President and Hillary for their lack of action that led to the deaths of those four brave American. Shame on them!
1
And therein lies the problem. You took a movie - made by Hollywood, the much maligned by the right Hollywood - as a historically accurate piece?
What ever happened to research?
Here is a bit of advice: Do not take any movie as accurate. When they say they are "based on a true story," read that as "very loosely based on some facts with artistic license thrown in to make it more exciting."
Sheesh
What ever happened to research?
Here is a bit of advice: Do not take any movie as accurate. When they say they are "based on a true story," read that as "very loosely based on some facts with artistic license thrown in to make it more exciting."
Sheesh
4
McCains finest hour? Check the tape, he may have said he was a family man but he never said he wasn't an Arab. Never.
2
"The party bears some responsibility for her success. Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who, despite historic victories in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014, seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda or asserting themselves in the country’s foreign policy debates." Well when the strategy for "reversing Obama's legislative agenda" means a scorched earth policy -- roadblocking every proposal, whether they believed in it or not, proposing no positive ideas of their own -- it's no wonder they failed in accomplishing anything. You reap what you sow.
4
I love the line from "gemli" about Ms. Palin creating an equal reaction on "sensible" people on both ends of the political spectrum, recognized as, well, read the litany of adjectives below - no need to be redundant.
The one - and only - thing that I am grateful for re the adoration and/or vilification of Ms. Palin that I have not heard or read before, is that no one, rabid fan or detractor, has resorted to the "sex card". I have been alert to allusions that could be construed to mean that any of her disqualifications for the position she finds herself in are due to her gender, but the closest I can see is to her "shrill" voice - and there's no denyin' that.
The only one who's put her gender front and center is Ms. Palin.
Remember her lightening quick makeover from Alaskan governor to short- skirted, low cut, high-heeled, leggy, bosomy, aallmoost tarty, titillating VP nominee?
When it became clear she didn't read and couldn't speak, her backstory became the story - special only because of her distaff status. A grizzly mama' in chief, gun totin', moose killin', man eatin' woman from the frozen tundra. She played the woman who could trounce a man in an election booth in the afternoon, and in the bedroom that night. No man could run on such a "platform".
The "sensible" know that she is so removed from any of us as candidate, person, mother, and woman, that she does not represent any of us, and any comparisons are moot.
There is only one Sarah Palin, thank god.
The one - and only - thing that I am grateful for re the adoration and/or vilification of Ms. Palin that I have not heard or read before, is that no one, rabid fan or detractor, has resorted to the "sex card". I have been alert to allusions that could be construed to mean that any of her disqualifications for the position she finds herself in are due to her gender, but the closest I can see is to her "shrill" voice - and there's no denyin' that.
The only one who's put her gender front and center is Ms. Palin.
Remember her lightening quick makeover from Alaskan governor to short- skirted, low cut, high-heeled, leggy, bosomy, aallmoost tarty, titillating VP nominee?
When it became clear she didn't read and couldn't speak, her backstory became the story - special only because of her distaff status. A grizzly mama' in chief, gun totin', moose killin', man eatin' woman from the frozen tundra. She played the woman who could trounce a man in an election booth in the afternoon, and in the bedroom that night. No man could run on such a "platform".
The "sensible" know that she is so removed from any of us as candidate, person, mother, and woman, that she does not represent any of us, and any comparisons are moot.
There is only one Sarah Palin, thank god.
2
Having come from the opposite end of the spectrum I never thought I would defend John McCain. Yet reading that "to the crowds, Sarah Palin proved the more satisfying politician on the ticket because of [the furor in the Republican Party]," makes me question the needs, hopes and values of the Republican electorate.
I simply do not understand. If McCain is such a decent man, how could he pick Palin? And since he did pick Palin, how can he be a decent man? He picked SARAH PALIN (!!!!!) to be Vice President of the United States and stand one heartbeat from being President. I wish someone like Ms Wallace could explain it to me, but no one ever has.
8
Donald Trump needs to go to the Republican convention with 1,140 first-ballot delegate votes in order to be nominated. Anything less will cede the nomination into the hands of the 437 at-large or "super" delegates.
Comprised largely of elected officials and party leaders who fear the negative effect Trump would have on down-ballot races, it is all-but-certain those 437 votes would NOT be cast for Trump.
Such an act by the "super" delegates will enrage the Tea Party/Trump wing of the party, creating an even-deeper schism between the leaders and the venom voters (See: Tea Party); a group the leaders themselves created and have exploited for years.
When the GOP congressmen and senators in that "super" group make it crystal clear they are not about to allow a Trump candidacy jeopardize their own reelection, things not only could get ugly, such an act of perceived betrayal by the Trump supporters could actually result in a third-party made up of the very base the Republicans have depended on for the last 30 years; a third-party led by Trump, Palin and others of similar ilk; a party promoted by the Limbaughs and Hannitys, who will find they have no other choice but to acquiesce to THEIR audience and follow them into Loony-land.
If Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, he will do serious damage to the party for years to come.
If Donald Trump is denied the nomination by party leaders, could very well destroy the Republican Party.
Comprised largely of elected officials and party leaders who fear the negative effect Trump would have on down-ballot races, it is all-but-certain those 437 votes would NOT be cast for Trump.
Such an act by the "super" delegates will enrage the Tea Party/Trump wing of the party, creating an even-deeper schism between the leaders and the venom voters (See: Tea Party); a group the leaders themselves created and have exploited for years.
When the GOP congressmen and senators in that "super" group make it crystal clear they are not about to allow a Trump candidacy jeopardize their own reelection, things not only could get ugly, such an act of perceived betrayal by the Trump supporters could actually result in a third-party made up of the very base the Republicans have depended on for the last 30 years; a third-party led by Trump, Palin and others of similar ilk; a party promoted by the Limbaughs and Hannitys, who will find they have no other choice but to acquiesce to THEIR audience and follow them into Loony-land.
If Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, he will do serious damage to the party for years to come.
If Donald Trump is denied the nomination by party leaders, could very well destroy the Republican Party.
50
Ms. Wallace describes Palin as "...the politician most fluent in American rage". Referring to Ms. Palin as fluent--in anything--is self-evidently ridiculous.
Ms. Wallace says Sarah Palin is able to "...wrap herself in the anger" of the American voter. Of course she can, just as a spoiled child can hold its breath, and scream and bang on the table.
The 2008 McCain bid committed a horrible offense against the American people by placing the dim-witted, absolutely unqualified Sarah Palin within plausible striking distance of the office of President of the United States.
It is past time that someone connected with that decision stand up and accept responsibility for this odious ploy.
Ms. Wallace says Sarah Palin is able to "...wrap herself in the anger" of the American voter. Of course she can, just as a spoiled child can hold its breath, and scream and bang on the table.
The 2008 McCain bid committed a horrible offense against the American people by placing the dim-witted, absolutely unqualified Sarah Palin within plausible striking distance of the office of President of the United States.
It is past time that someone connected with that decision stand up and accept responsibility for this odious ploy.
6
"It is past time that someone connected with that decision stand up and accept responsibility for this odious ploy."
That would be William Kristol, no? Wonder if he's proud of it now...
That would be William Kristol, no? Wonder if he's proud of it now...
1
Let's be clear. Ms. Palin is not the worst vice presidential candidate ever. Nor is she the worst in recent history. Palin is pretty and stupid. John Edwards was pretty and evil. Ms. Palin fits the stereotype of the dumb blonde. Edwards is the nightmare you wish you'd never met. Don't kid yourself. Demonizing the dumb blonde and treating her as worse that the evil pretty boy is sexist through and through.
Edwards, at long last, got out and stayed out.
How did John Edwards get into this? Let's accept the dummy because someone else is allegedly "evil"? That's as bad as "Yeah, but Clinton..."
3
Whisperer is hardly the word that comes to mind when I hear Sarah Palon braying.
But demagogue sure does.
But demagogue sure does.
5
Palin's speech was not rambling. If you read the transcript, it's quite cogent. So few slips in her delivery, but she did not ace public speaking in her Alaska high school. She screeches her speeches and that's where Tina Fey has her pinned. Follow the content though, and with a more able speaker, her thoughts will roust conservatives off the couch, think thrice about Trump, and defy the super educated class to understand the larger America they ignore.
If I didn't know better, I would think this nonsensical article was written by Sarah Palin using a nom de plume.
5
Let us not forget how John McCain's loyalty to Sarah Palin is being repaid. She is now sucking up to the very candidate - Donald Trump - who has so insulted and disrespected Sen. McCain's military record. Trump and Palin deserve each other. The rest of us deserve much better.
120
It's a sad state of affairs when someone with a loud, angry voice is held up on a pedestal. What has happened to civility, open-mindedness and willingness to work together to improve our nation. Regardless of the rhetoric, no one has all the answers, no one side is all wrong and everyone can share in some of the blame for what is going wrong with America today. We don't need Trump or Palin to rile the crowds and create a frenzy. We need calm, intelligent, insightful and cooperative candidates who are fixed on solutions, not grandstanding.
3
So Sarah Palin drew big crowds that John McCain could not attract., and they still lost the election. My guess is people were able to see through the cynicism of John McCain, picking someone wholly unqualified as a running mate, and John McCain himself. a military-centric senator with no platform for improving people's lives. Sometimes the people just get it right.
3
Fueled by their own delusions such as funding the Stealth Bomber and wars in the Persian Gulf and Iraq and Afghanistan, republicans spend billions on antiquated concepts akin to Reagan's Star Wars and theories such as bolstering the rich and powerful to Tickle Down upon the masses that have no sensible reason or consideration of the reality of their failures. Republican slander continues to slur and blur the issues of Solyndra or single payer health until slander is all that is left of the republican party.
4
Commenters express such surprise at the popularity of Palin's rants.
I live in Flyover country in one of the reddest of red states and challenging Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana in the race to the bottom.
I read comments in our local newspaper which baffle me-how could anyone believe that? and look at folks in the CVS and grocery store and recognize that they are likely Trump/Palin believers. And I live in an island of relative sanity, Charleston, unlike the rest of the state.
It's not hard for me to see the appeal of these haters among Confederate flag wavers, anti-science, gun lovers. It's a scary prospect.
I live in Flyover country in one of the reddest of red states and challenging Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana in the race to the bottom.
I read comments in our local newspaper which baffle me-how could anyone believe that? and look at folks in the CVS and grocery store and recognize that they are likely Trump/Palin believers. And I live in an island of relative sanity, Charleston, unlike the rest of the state.
It's not hard for me to see the appeal of these haters among Confederate flag wavers, anti-science, gun lovers. It's a scary prospect.
4
Given Trump's comment regarding McCain a few months back, "He was a war hero because he was captured? I like people who weren't captured," Palin's appearance alongside Trump demonstrates total disrespect for the man who made her what she is (which ain't much). Typical.
7
Ms. Wallace's previous credentials as a bonafide member of the McCain/Palin camp disqualify her for any objective discourse. Therefore, this article is nothing but a ridiculous attempt of the NYT at "political correctness". Palin's name should be erased, not praised.
8
Sarah Palin is a centerfold wrapped in designer clothes. It never fails to amaze that the media seems unwilling to state the fact that a great part of her appeal is sexual, and geared toward men. Whatever drivel poured from her mouth was, and is, secondary to the sexual heat she exudes, and male fantasies of sleeping with her.
Back in 1960, close as the election was, no one factored in JFK's sex appeal to women voters. It wasn't until much later that the pundits acknowledged the importance of the women's vote in electing JFK.
Conversely, while women candidates' appearance is still fair game for derision, no one discusses the unpleasant figure Chris Christie cuts, and how his weight and appearance might factor into votes. Were he to get the nomination, all the the Dems would have to do is use the picture of him in that Yankee uniform -- especially next to one of the bare chested Putin.
Finally, even though this isn't a column about ISIS -- although Palin screeched about Trump kicking their butts -- it's astonishing how little the guns-and-sex appeal of ISIS is examined. Joining ISIS is permission to play with guns, to rape, to force women into sexual slavery, to dispose of them if they become -- tiresome. The appeal of this to a certain segment of male psychology is enormous. It has nothing to do with "radicalization" or commitment to Islam.
Palin is a sexual dream to a segment of men. Her vitriol counteracts their sense of impotence. She's hot, and dumb. How perfect.
Back in 1960, close as the election was, no one factored in JFK's sex appeal to women voters. It wasn't until much later that the pundits acknowledged the importance of the women's vote in electing JFK.
Conversely, while women candidates' appearance is still fair game for derision, no one discusses the unpleasant figure Chris Christie cuts, and how his weight and appearance might factor into votes. Were he to get the nomination, all the the Dems would have to do is use the picture of him in that Yankee uniform -- especially next to one of the bare chested Putin.
Finally, even though this isn't a column about ISIS -- although Palin screeched about Trump kicking their butts -- it's astonishing how little the guns-and-sex appeal of ISIS is examined. Joining ISIS is permission to play with guns, to rape, to force women into sexual slavery, to dispose of them if they become -- tiresome. The appeal of this to a certain segment of male psychology is enormous. It has nothing to do with "radicalization" or commitment to Islam.
Palin is a sexual dream to a segment of men. Her vitriol counteracts their sense of impotence. She's hot, and dumb. How perfect.
8
She's the Whitney Houston of politics: a deeply troubled person with a large sycophantic entourage that is doing her no favors. What needs whispering is: "Governor, for the sake of your family, it's time to step out of the spotlight for a while and get some help."
9
Ms. Palin is no leader, but she is a fabulous rabble rouser. Like Trump, she knows how to push people's buttons, and the angry and downtrodden wake up when she takes the podium. She's a wing ding, only lacking a hat with a propeller on top, and she delivers. It is like she has a special pair of glasses with which she sees the world, and the things she says are catchy and kind of true, not exactly, but could be, perhaps, maybe, but all are presented as fact, and the people lap it up like it was candy, and it is. I watch the polls. We all know that they are inaccurate, but movement in the polls, usually is not, and Trump has moved up in Iowa and even in New Hampshire, if that was possible, after Ms. Palin pointed her little finger of fate at him. The downside, though, to Ms. Palin is her insatiable urge to farm the crops, as I like to call them, like a good medicine man but in this case, a lady. She disappeared for a while because of it. Her behavior got kind of old, so her shelf life is kind of limited, and I would suspect that the Palin Effect will last until March or so and then dissipate. Either it will have worked and is no longer needed, or it didn't. With all of this said, it does make you wonder about your fellow Americans, as one should, especially about their well being, but in this instance the wonder is more about their sanity than anything else, the ability to tell fact from fiction and the ability to hold two thoughts together that are not self contradictory.
4
Let's not forget that John McCain, who you call "one of the country's finest men" sold out that country (and some of his soul as well) by putting Sarah Palin in line to be president.
9
Shame on you, and shame on Senator McCain for not stopping her when she got started or calling out the angry protesters and identifying them for exactly what and who they were. There is no place for xenophobic, homophobic racist dialogues and rallies in America. Your silence while channeling this angry mobs anger into votes and campaign contributions in shameful and a disservice to America and all it stands for . We deserve better and saying it was in the name of winning and or votes is a sorry excuse for what it has fostered and left us on the precipice of!
7
When Sarah speaks, she sets back women's lib and women's rights by decades. Please do not give her the media spotlight and let her disappear back into the woods of Idaho (from whence she came) or Alaska.
3
there's a lot of talk about how Palin brought out all this hate and anxiety in the country.
But evidently there's a considerable group of people who are very very angry and scared and frustrated with life in 2016, and they can't very well go on a talk show to discuss it.
Yes, Palin is a nut job. So is Bernie Sanders. The bigger question is why noone is questioning what's gone so wrong with this country such that these two candidates are taken at all seriously.
But evidently there's a considerable group of people who are very very angry and scared and frustrated with life in 2016, and they can't very well go on a talk show to discuss it.
Yes, Palin is a nut job. So is Bernie Sanders. The bigger question is why noone is questioning what's gone so wrong with this country such that these two candidates are taken at all seriously.
Trump is a windbag. There is no substance. No plans. Nothing to back up his rhetoric. And that he would call on a shrill, painfully ignorant and proud no-nothing, to introduce him, shows his total lack of judgment for the American people as a whole. And don't even get me started on the voters that support either of these two - or any of the rest of the republican field.
And I have a few questions for Ms.Wallace - who in their right mind thought that Palin was a good idea for a running mate? Who was in charge of vetting her? Did anyone, anywhere, at any time, actually talk to this train wreck? It seems not. Had someone from the campaign done so, she would not have been on the ticket. Had you done your job before, there would be no need to be writing this piece now. Thanks a lot.
And I have a few questions for Ms.Wallace - who in their right mind thought that Palin was a good idea for a running mate? Who was in charge of vetting her? Did anyone, anywhere, at any time, actually talk to this train wreck? It seems not. Had someone from the campaign done so, she would not have been on the ticket. Had you done your job before, there would be no need to be writing this piece now. Thanks a lot.
8
Please no more articles about Plain. She looks for attraction because she may need sponsor for her new reality show, Track's domestic violence saga.
6
One has to hand it to the former abbreviated governor of Alaska, she has manged to take a failed run for Vice-President eight years ago, a lifetime in politics or show biz, and parlayed her shtick into celebrity status that would be the envy of a Kardashian. Don't know whether to laugh or cry.
And despite the abuse heaped upon her the record shows she has taken the blows and still does it her way, going rogue that is. Simply unbelievable. God Bless her perty lil' heart.
DD
Manhattan
And despite the abuse heaped upon her the record shows she has taken the blows and still does it her way, going rogue that is. Simply unbelievable. God Bless her perty lil' heart.
DD
Manhattan
2
Wallace is apparently still trying to find proof that Sarah Palin was right, and that Palin's blind frustration with life itself somehow constitutes a political agenda.
In 8 years, Palin's gripe has deteriorated from a vague resentment of government power, to rage at the unfairness of life under a black president. Which may explain why she yaps in rap lyrics.
Any fool can get a decent chant going at a keg party, and people such as Wallace, are supposed to be able to distinguish it from a call for political action.
In 8 years, Palin's gripe has deteriorated from a vague resentment of government power, to rage at the unfairness of life under a black president. Which may explain why she yaps in rap lyrics.
Any fool can get a decent chant going at a keg party, and people such as Wallace, are supposed to be able to distinguish it from a call for political action.
7
Everyone should have, as I do, a family member or close friend who believes that everything Trump and Palin say and supposedly stand for is admirable, worthy of listening to, and who intend to go vote for Trump.
Everyone should hear from a GOP voter's mouth why they believe that America is becoming a land of worthless and lazy immigrants who have, IF they work, taken jobs that employers are forced to give them because the government has made some law that says they must (haven't figured that one out yet myself), and who do criminal acts or intend to do jihad and force the Islamic laws on America.
They also believe that had Obama stayed in Iraq we would have seen peace in that country, that he has failed to go to war when war was necessary and that when Trump comes into power, EVERYTHING will change.
Thank goodness the family member only visits me and I don't have to live with him.
Everyone should hear from a GOP voter's mouth why they believe that America is becoming a land of worthless and lazy immigrants who have, IF they work, taken jobs that employers are forced to give them because the government has made some law that says they must (haven't figured that one out yet myself), and who do criminal acts or intend to do jihad and force the Islamic laws on America.
They also believe that had Obama stayed in Iraq we would have seen peace in that country, that he has failed to go to war when war was necessary and that when Trump comes into power, EVERYTHING will change.
Thank goodness the family member only visits me and I don't have to live with him.
2
Rage 'whisperer'? More like rage screecher... Palin sounds like a cross between a howler monkey and a cat caught in a food processor - and that's just her voice and tonal quality. The chaos of her words is alarmingly at once both utterly incoherent and agitating and inflammatory. "wearing PC like a suicide vest... slurping at that gravy train..." - What???
Palin does serve to make Trump sound like a resonant, coherent Shakespearean actor by contrast, instead of like a thuggish, bullying angry football coach like he usually does with his 4th grade vocabulary.
Here is a meeting of two of the most media-hungry narcissists in the country, both thriving on the anger, confusion and fear they incite. I'm waiting to see any semblance of spiritual or emotional maturity from either of them.
Oh, and the feeling of victimization - another Palin specialty. She never accepts responsibility. It's 'Obama's fault' that her son punched his girlfriend in the face, knocking her to the floor, and then kicked her? At least Palin showed concern for the girl's well-being. Oh wait - no, she didn't. Not a word. This is the same son that went into the military to avoid jail from vandalizing school buses.
And 'tough' Trump is afraid of Megan Kelley... he wants to be treated what he considers 'fairly.' Does he expect that if he does become President that he can demand anyone treat him fairly? Congress? The press? Putin, who has already punked him? Good luck with that.
Palin does serve to make Trump sound like a resonant, coherent Shakespearean actor by contrast, instead of like a thuggish, bullying angry football coach like he usually does with his 4th grade vocabulary.
Here is a meeting of two of the most media-hungry narcissists in the country, both thriving on the anger, confusion and fear they incite. I'm waiting to see any semblance of spiritual or emotional maturity from either of them.
Oh, and the feeling of victimization - another Palin specialty. She never accepts responsibility. It's 'Obama's fault' that her son punched his girlfriend in the face, knocking her to the floor, and then kicked her? At least Palin showed concern for the girl's well-being. Oh wait - no, she didn't. Not a word. This is the same son that went into the military to avoid jail from vandalizing school buses.
And 'tough' Trump is afraid of Megan Kelley... he wants to be treated what he considers 'fairly.' Does he expect that if he does become President that he can demand anyone treat him fairly? Congress? The press? Putin, who has already punked him? Good luck with that.
119
ruby - love the cat in the food processor image. so true,
Trump seems morbidly afraid that Megan Kelly will be "on the rag".
God knows how this hideous dark goddess of fertility with human skulls dangling type image would interfere with his sunny Make America Great spiel. He practically fainted acknowledging that Hillary Clinton might actually have peed during their pee break at the debates. Maybe he could be asked questions from an isolated menstruation hut, for his own safety. Germ-free. Putin would never use this phobia against him of course.
God knows how this hideous dark goddess of fertility with human skulls dangling type image would interfere with his sunny Make America Great spiel. He practically fainted acknowledging that Hillary Clinton might actually have peed during their pee break at the debates. Maybe he could be asked questions from an isolated menstruation hut, for his own safety. Germ-free. Putin would never use this phobia against him of course.
1
Oh if only his hapless rivals were so clear in describing the pouty one, this insanity might have been nipped in the bud. Every time I hear Trump bleat that HE must be treated fairly, I see a thirteen year old (maybe younger) stamping his feet as he rushes to slam his bedroom door is Mom 's face. The Republican Party deserves this mayhem, they rode the Palin train in 2008, ignoring/denying the obvious racism and hate exhibited by her crowds, which she encouraged. The official Republican Party of Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, and the anointed one Paul Ryan, have done the same without protest since then.
Now I see some, including Ms.Wallace (Bill Maher Show), musing that they can work with the Donald if he prevails. Still in denial, if official G.O.P. world thinks they can control him, they have learned nothing.
Now I see some, including Ms.Wallace (Bill Maher Show), musing that they can work with the Donald if he prevails. Still in denial, if official G.O.P. world thinks they can control him, they have learned nothing.
1
Why would Trump choose Palin, unless he really did not want to be POTUS?
Is he really this blind and ignorant?
Could Trump really deny the ultimate demise Palin brought to the McCain campaign?
Is this Trump's fatal flaw exposed?
Is Palin on drugs???
Why isn't she home attending to her domestic issues?
Trite but:
if (the) DT(s) gave her lots of money for wardrobe, then at least send
her to Barney's or Bergdorf's etc. for appropriate sartorial selections.
Put some lipstick on that piggy.
--------------
I wish it were Nov. and this election cycle was over.
Unfortunately, this will only get worse before it gets better.
After almost 250 years of working to create a democratic republic the USA
is having a collective nervous breakdown reaping the karma of sowing bad seeds
all over the world.
This country is so polarized it as though we are in Civil War Part Two simultaneously
combined with The American Revolution Part Two.
Hopefully the muskets will stay in the closets and this will be without blood shed.
But who knows what will transpire when you have more guns then people and people
who GLADLY even GLEEFULLY lead to incite hate, rage and violence (verbal and physical)
and LOVE guns.
Thank you.
Is he really this blind and ignorant?
Could Trump really deny the ultimate demise Palin brought to the McCain campaign?
Is this Trump's fatal flaw exposed?
Is Palin on drugs???
Why isn't she home attending to her domestic issues?
Trite but:
if (the) DT(s) gave her lots of money for wardrobe, then at least send
her to Barney's or Bergdorf's etc. for appropriate sartorial selections.
Put some lipstick on that piggy.
--------------
I wish it were Nov. and this election cycle was over.
Unfortunately, this will only get worse before it gets better.
After almost 250 years of working to create a democratic republic the USA
is having a collective nervous breakdown reaping the karma of sowing bad seeds
all over the world.
This country is so polarized it as though we are in Civil War Part Two simultaneously
combined with The American Revolution Part Two.
Hopefully the muskets will stay in the closets and this will be without blood shed.
But who knows what will transpire when you have more guns then people and people
who GLADLY even GLEEFULLY lead to incite hate, rage and violence (verbal and physical)
and LOVE guns.
Thank you.
1
Nicole Wallace helped to sell the Iraq War, sell ruinous tax cuts for the rich, sell torture as policy, sell Sarah Palin to the nation, and now she tells us that Palin led to Trump.
Sorry, Nicole Wallace should be in exile in Montana doing penance for wwhat she help do to the country.
Sorry, Nicole Wallace should be in exile in Montana doing penance for wwhat she help do to the country.
9
Nicole and Jennifer Granholm, her equivalent on the Democratic side. The Simple Life Sequel ...
Jennifer's disastrous governance of Michigan left the state literally in shreds, which somehow uniquely qualified her to be at the top of Hillary's campaign. Figure.
Jennifer's disastrous governance of Michigan left the state literally in shreds, which somehow uniquely qualified her to be at the top of Hillary's campaign. Figure.
If I recall that idiot woman in the McCain crowd spoke about the president not as
an arab, but a "Muslim". That belief has prevailed in your party, since a large
percentage of Republicans think Pres. Obama IS a muslim. The only Republican
who spoke out on this was McCain. The rest of the group stayed mum, displaying the most disrespect I've ever seen toward an American president. They lived the lie. Your rambling display in this op ed reflects the same mumbly
words you espouse on Morning Joe, inarticulate for the most part, giggly and
loud. Palin did Trump no good, Ms. Wallace, and neither did you in this commentary.You should be ashamed that you brought the dysfunctional Palin to
McCain, a decent man, and that you continue to tout this very sick woman.
an arab, but a "Muslim". That belief has prevailed in your party, since a large
percentage of Republicans think Pres. Obama IS a muslim. The only Republican
who spoke out on this was McCain. The rest of the group stayed mum, displaying the most disrespect I've ever seen toward an American president. They lived the lie. Your rambling display in this op ed reflects the same mumbly
words you espouse on Morning Joe, inarticulate for the most part, giggly and
loud. Palin did Trump no good, Ms. Wallace, and neither did you in this commentary.You should be ashamed that you brought the dysfunctional Palin to
McCain, a decent man, and that you continue to tout this very sick woman.
3
Having witnessed Palin's words after being introduced by Trump, how did anyone know what she said? There was not a coherent two word phrase in the whole tragic performance. I have seen angry people. How could anyone understand what this person's screech was all about? The crowds that gather must be not unlike a drunken lynch mob who hear the shouting and want to kill someone but have no idea why they are there.
2
There is nothing "whispering" about the incoherent shrieks of the barking stark raving mad Caribou Barbie!
It's shocking enough that any people at all would give her credibility and actually listen in rapture to her senseless ramblings. Her "endorsement" of a presidential candidate should have no more value than an endorsement coming from any other boondocks redneck. Yet people listen to her and take her seriously. Is mainstream America really that DUMB?
It's shocking enough that any people at all would give her credibility and actually listen in rapture to her senseless ramblings. Her "endorsement" of a presidential candidate should have no more value than an endorsement coming from any other boondocks redneck. Yet people listen to her and take her seriously. Is mainstream America really that DUMB?
2
It would be an accomplishment if Palin's Tea Party actually did something positive for states where their favorites were elected. But all one has to do is look at the Rick Snyder's Michigan, Sam Brownback's Kansas, former governor Bobby Jindal's Louisiana, and Phil Bryant's Mississippi where these states' TP favorites have wrecked the economy, or in the case of Michigan, gave Flint a lead poisoned water supply to drink.
The Tea Party people believe that government doesn't work and then work to
insure that government can't work.
The Tea Party people believe that government doesn't work and then work to
insure that government can't work.
4
It is somewhat ironic that Mr.Trump would be compelled to enlist a quitter and loser to bolster his 'I'm the worlds greatest candidate' campaign. Arguably, if McCain had selected ANYONE other than Caribou Barbie as his VEEP, we would not have elected a guy named Obama with a nasty habit of voting 'present' way too often during his very brief tenure as a U.S. Senator.
1
I know of no one who has attended a Palin "thing", but my observation from the media is that she is incompetent as a parent & worse as a political leader.
All I can say, Nicole Wallace, is nice try, but I don't buy any of the claptrap of yours. I saw you try to spin this on Rachel Maddow's show the other night, and all I could utter was 'yuk,' what a bunch of garbage. You might think you're immune from being thrown in with the GOP crazies, but you're NOT--immune, that is. The GOP has sunk low in the pig pen, and you have done nothing but get yourself covered in the smelly mud.
4
Wallace defends Pailin's astonishing lack of credentials, coherence or awareness by basically saying she appeals to the lowest common denominator and puts "cheeks in the seats." Yeah, that's some rousing endorsement. She also cherry picks a couple of Palin endorsements that went her way, ignoring the far greater number that didn't. In fact, Palin has almost no affect whatsoever on the 2012 elections. And the idea that Trump would owe an Iowa victory to Pailin is laughable. He already leads by a sizable margin in that state.
4
The whole rage campaign has the rough feeling of adolescents at the Dairy Queen hopped up on hormones and angry at not knowing much. Palin gives hopeless voice to a segment that has benefited from a rising economy, better health coverage, and fewer war deaths. Why, one has to ask, the anger except that it speaks from an inner inadequacy at not having deserved any of this. There is, as Tina Fey makes clear, no thought or policy in the emotion--it is anger at doing well.
2
SARAH PALIN Her predecessor was packaged a very different way. But he engaged in incoherent shouting and let his nation down the path toe World War II. Yes, it was Adolf Hitler. While he did, indeed, follow a sentence from time to time, his mad rantings about defective humans, especially minorities, such as the Jews, gypsies and others, was eradication. Sarah has never said anything remotely approaching Hitler's horrific rants. She doesn't have to. By speaking incoherently, she gets people to experience intense feelings so that they are not reasoning with the prefrontal cortex, where higher brain functions happen. Rather they're functioning in a reflexive fight or flight state of mind via the amygdala. That blocks access to the prefrontal cortex and results in people reacting to emotions such as rage and fever, emotions that have survival value. So those who follow her do so out of pure emotion, devoid of most reason. Sarah is, indeed, a rage whisperer, able to engage humans' base instincts. Those needed for survival, not to solve complex problems. Watch out! Sarah's angry mama grizzly will bite you every time. Every single time.
2
Trump-Palin for 2016! O yeah! And Track Palin for SecDef! Please God, make it so!
Not so much Beverley Hillbilllies as WhiteTrash Whitehouse...
Not so much Beverley Hillbilllies as WhiteTrash Whitehouse...
1
This opinion article points out that Sarah Palin can tap the pulse of people and then assume the role most likely to achieve her goals.
Eerily similar to the workings of a psychopathic mind with one crucial difference: psychopaths are often hard to detect and usually appear "normal" to others at first blush - Ms. Palin has been unable to master that trait.
Eerily similar to the workings of a psychopathic mind with one crucial difference: psychopaths are often hard to detect and usually appear "normal" to others at first blush - Ms. Palin has been unable to master that trait.
2
'As a senior adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign . . . ' -- it is amazing that anyone would admit that they were involved in any way with that train wreck of a campaign --
5
To treat either Mr. Trump, a rich fascist bombast who has actually said he could shoot people and still win in the poles or Ms Palin, an ignorant foolish person who rants as if she is truly insane, as serious leaders of this country who have answers to our problems , without derisive criticism by this paper is an insult to the American People
6
The other day, I clicked on the recording of Ms Palin's endorsement of Mr Trump, but I had to stop it a couple of minutes later. I was deeply embarrassed for her - she seems to have no idea of how she comes across to anyone of even moderate intelligence with a modicum of information about the world today, let alone some command of the English language. I felt that watching her was like making fun of the village idiot.
p.
p.
2
Wait... What? This person shares the blame for loosing the half-term demented word salad slinger on the rest of us. I think she's saying that was a good thing? Is this an Onion piece accidentally printed at NYT?
4
Wallace writes about all of this as if pushing this nation toward fascism was and is merely a game. Do these allegedly educated "strategists" not understand the bigger picture of what they are doing, or do they simply have no morals?
6
I think Sarah's appeal come from being ridiculed by the elite media. The lower class of people love an underdog.
3
The "historic" elections for the GOP were due entirely to gerrymandering. Their policies are not endorsed by the majority of Americans, which is why they never get anywhere. Inchoate rage and mindless anger, fed by ignorance, false assumptions and half-remembered facts is not much of a party platform. But the GOP doesn't have a choice now: it's all they've got left.
3
"Despite her shortcomings"... "Her legacy lies in her innate ability to wrap herself in the anger those voters felt". Ms. Wallace, Sarah Palin's "shortcomings"were a level of ignorance and borderline instability never before reached in a candidate aspiring to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. "Game Change"chronicles your own concerns about her mental state and lack of knowledge.Her "legacy" is that her name is already a metaphor for candidate ignorance and unfitness.John McCain, who still hasn't gotten over his crushing defeat by Barak Obama, indelibly tarnished his historical legacy, by choosing her as his running mate. Every time he criticizes Obama's foreign policy his opinion and judgement are compromised by two words, "Sarah Palin".
8
Yes, Palin supporters are angry, but nothing is said about why they are so angry. Their anger is that of people who continue to believe a lie, even when reality conflicts with that lie.
They have been told that America is the greatest nation on earth. Then why do they have to struggle so hard to get by? Why is healthcare in the US more expensive than any other country on earth? Why do medications and education cost twice as much in the US than in any other country? Why is be best predictor of future financial success in the US the wealth of one's parents?
These hard realities do not conform to the lie. When this happens people have two options. Either they can reject the lie (Democrats), or they can hold onto it even more strongly (Tea Partiers).
When faced with the choice between image and reality, the Tea Party movement has chosen image. That's why they like Bush and Trump - both projecting the image of "tough manhood", even though they are both profoundly "lacking in substance, incurious, and of low information"--to use the necessary euphemisms.
And that's also why they worship Palin. Like Bush and Trump, she is "lacking in substance, incurious, and allergic to information", but she looks good. And therefore to those who favor appearance over reality, she must be good.
The choice of appearance over reality leads naturally to two outcomes: xenophobia (people who look different) and totalitarianism (the savior who will save us from people who look different).
They have been told that America is the greatest nation on earth. Then why do they have to struggle so hard to get by? Why is healthcare in the US more expensive than any other country on earth? Why do medications and education cost twice as much in the US than in any other country? Why is be best predictor of future financial success in the US the wealth of one's parents?
These hard realities do not conform to the lie. When this happens people have two options. Either they can reject the lie (Democrats), or they can hold onto it even more strongly (Tea Partiers).
When faced with the choice between image and reality, the Tea Party movement has chosen image. That's why they like Bush and Trump - both projecting the image of "tough manhood", even though they are both profoundly "lacking in substance, incurious, and of low information"--to use the necessary euphemisms.
And that's also why they worship Palin. Like Bush and Trump, she is "lacking in substance, incurious, and allergic to information", but she looks good. And therefore to those who favor appearance over reality, she must be good.
The choice of appearance over reality leads naturally to two outcomes: xenophobia (people who look different) and totalitarianism (the savior who will save us from people who look different).
99
and of course all hope that Nicolle Wallace also has a family to go back to and care for, or some useful and legitimate equivalent activity, after this shill wears thin
1
Sarah. Palin. Is. Irrelevant. To. Everything.
3
Yet another self-serving, half-hearted mea culpa from another engineer of ignorant rage as an election strategy. Have you not noticed that when you play with fire, you get burned? Did you think that you could manipulate violence and anger without blowback? Or were you thinking at all? It's too late Ms. Wallace. You are Sarah Palin.
4
"But it was also an early warning that the Republican base was profoundly agitated."
Um... no. It was an indication that the base was profoundly uninformed and bigoted. The woman couldn't even distinguish between Arabs and Muslims. A moot point, since it's neither wrong nor illegal to be either, or both, except in the world of right-wing xenophobia. Let us now join hands and sing Onward, Christian Soldiers.
Um... no. It was an indication that the base was profoundly uninformed and bigoted. The woman couldn't even distinguish between Arabs and Muslims. A moot point, since it's neither wrong nor illegal to be either, or both, except in the world of right-wing xenophobia. Let us now join hands and sing Onward, Christian Soldiers.
3
i prefer another campaign staff member's view of sarah palin: 'she doesn't know anything'. thank you, steve schmitt.
6
This piece is an attempt to imbue legitimacy on Sarah Palin's dumbed down neurotic housewife act. She's just plain folks people, the salt of the earth who represents all those hard working real Americans just trying to get by in life.
Her son's wife beating is simply a frustrated reaction from an unappreciated soldier who was out their fighting squirmishes for America despite not receiving support from President Obama.
The silent majority has finally stood up and spoken out with a voice that can only be understood by all those other frustrated Americans who can't construct a normal sentence either but whose heart is in the right place.
Her son's wife beating is simply a frustrated reaction from an unappreciated soldier who was out their fighting squirmishes for America despite not receiving support from President Obama.
The silent majority has finally stood up and spoken out with a voice that can only be understood by all those other frustrated Americans who can't construct a normal sentence either but whose heart is in the right place.
5
Palin's 15 minutes of fame ran out long ago. She never had broad appeal for Americans and is pathetic now that she's out of the limelight.
Her political career evaporated after America witnessed a host of unintelligent remarks and gaffs as McCain's running mate. Everyone recalls her clueless Thanksgiving interview with turkey beheading in the background. Or when pressed to name a news source she reads, her vacuous "I read all of them." was laughable. Her political career truly ended when she quit as Alaska's Governor in mid-term.
Ms. Palin then tried her hand as a Fox News commentator but after a short time even Fox Entertainment let her go from their cable syndications. Her stint as a reality TV personality didn't fair much better as her baffooning mannerisms bored viewers and the show was cancelled.
Her latest bill paying effort been releasing an occasional book (not sure that she writes them?) that aims at hard right TeaPublicans. The popularity of this political subgroup, like Palin's books themselves, are in steady decline.
Palin is a sad, pathetic shell of any of her former selves. Trump's accepting Palin's endorsement is merely his like-minded reality TV self trying to acquire some kind of TeaPublican endorsement but Ms. Palin insane speech blew up in the Donald's face, not that he cares.
Trump failure involves the vast majority of American voters, who Trump needs to reach. They've seen Palin at her worst and now that stigma is attached to Trump himself.
Her political career evaporated after America witnessed a host of unintelligent remarks and gaffs as McCain's running mate. Everyone recalls her clueless Thanksgiving interview with turkey beheading in the background. Or when pressed to name a news source she reads, her vacuous "I read all of them." was laughable. Her political career truly ended when she quit as Alaska's Governor in mid-term.
Ms. Palin then tried her hand as a Fox News commentator but after a short time even Fox Entertainment let her go from their cable syndications. Her stint as a reality TV personality didn't fair much better as her baffooning mannerisms bored viewers and the show was cancelled.
Her latest bill paying effort been releasing an occasional book (not sure that she writes them?) that aims at hard right TeaPublicans. The popularity of this political subgroup, like Palin's books themselves, are in steady decline.
Palin is a sad, pathetic shell of any of her former selves. Trump's accepting Palin's endorsement is merely his like-minded reality TV self trying to acquire some kind of TeaPublican endorsement but Ms. Palin insane speech blew up in the Donald's face, not that he cares.
Trump failure involves the vast majority of American voters, who Trump needs to reach. They've seen Palin at her worst and now that stigma is attached to Trump himself.
58
Let's keep it simple. Based on Palin's past records, she will bring nothing
to the table for Donald Trump. Of course she will attract attention but so
does the circus when it comes to town. She would be an intellectual
disaster in any national G.O.P. platform. You can't fix dumb.
to the table for Donald Trump. Of course she will attract attention but so
does the circus when it comes to town. She would be an intellectual
disaster in any national G.O.P. platform. You can't fix dumb.
7
Who keeps putting a microphone in her hands? I thought her 15 minutes of fame was up years ago.
6
John McCain is now "one of the country's finest men"? The man who slipped the Oak Flat/Rio Tinto into a *defense* bill - because they must pass - at the last minute because he knew that it wouldn't - yet again - get approval in Congress?
(http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/opinion/selling-off-apache-holy-land.h...
The Arizona Maverick has compromised too many time to deserve the characterization as one of the country's finest men; he's so compromised that even the Maverick family don't think he should be allowed that sobriquet.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/weekinreview/05schwartz.html)
He's just another politician, and not even a standout one at that.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/opinion/selling-off-apache-holy-land.h...
The Arizona Maverick has compromised too many time to deserve the characterization as one of the country's finest men; he's so compromised that even the Maverick family don't think he should be allowed that sobriquet.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/weekinreview/05schwartz.html)
He's just another politician, and not even a standout one at that.
4
Sarah Palin : the face of what's wrong with America today.
9
Along with Caribou Barbie, the Twit from the Tundra, Half-Baked Alaska, and so many of her other sobriquets, please allow me to add -
Sarah "beyond the Pale-in." Thank you.
Sarah "beyond the Pale-in." Thank you.
5
Nicolle Wallace is the one who sent SP to Katie Couric so that Katie C could take snippets from two days of interviews and create an anti-Sarah Palin presentation. Nicolle Wallace never challenged the hit piece Game Change as it portrayed Wallace. Does Nicolle harbor some jealously of SP?
1
Thankfully Ms Palin was not elected VP of the US , a scary thought .....................
1
Tonight I listened to Hillary Clinton at a town hall in Ames, Iowa, and President Obama is right, she is "wicked smart". There is no contest there. So after listening to the quality presentations of the Democrats, it's difficult to listen to the less than mediocre offering from the other side. Palin's mindless screeching in tongues, Trumps megalomania, Cruz and his hate, on the right, we appear to be suffering from an epidemic of stupidity. It defies belief that an American presidential election has come to this.
12
The truest word in this article is "inflamed" because Sarah Palin and Donald Trump don't tap into existing voter resentment as much as they manufacture anxiety (remember death panels?) and then feed on what they've created. To simplify to story by suggesting that Sarah Palin "gave voice to" fear/anxiety/discontent is to let her off the hook for fabricating fires and then fanning the flames. All to the detriment of our country.
8
It says a great deal about the Republican party and its base that this incoherent woman who blames her son's behavior on President Obama is considered an asset and not a liability.
Sarah Palin did not even finish her term as governor of Alaska because she was too eager to make money at Fox and in a reality show. Now that those things have not worked out as she planned, there she is again talking pure nonsense and endorsing Trump trying to recapture the spotlight.
Sarah Palin and Donald Trump are both opportunists and unfortunately for the country they are being hailed as heroes by people too ignorant or too angry to know better. They are prone to advocating violence and disruption and should not be a part of the platform of a major political party.
Sarah Palin did not even finish her term as governor of Alaska because she was too eager to make money at Fox and in a reality show. Now that those things have not worked out as she planned, there she is again talking pure nonsense and endorsing Trump trying to recapture the spotlight.
Sarah Palin and Donald Trump are both opportunists and unfortunately for the country they are being hailed as heroes by people too ignorant or too angry to know better. They are prone to advocating violence and disruption and should not be a part of the platform of a major political party.
13
What I find most exasperating in these lies is that I remember what really happened.Sarah Palin was the choice of the self styled intellectual base of the party. She was the dream candidate of Paul Wolfowitz, American Spectator, AEI, and The National Review. Sarah was the darling of Neocons, Paleocons and Theocons. Sarah was the stake they were going to drive into the heart of those east coast liberal intellectuals that doubted the economic credentials of Laffer and the foreign affairs acumen of Cheney and Rumsfeld.
Sarah Palin was going to be the proof that Bolton and Pipes and the rest of the fascist intelligentsia were better game players and most astute politicians than any liberal PhD in Political Science, Economics or Humanities who submitted research to peer review journals.
Sarah was the darling of those Republicans in need of affirming that their wisdom and understanding of America and her people was superior to anyone else.
Sadly they may have been correct. The intelligentsia of the GOP may have unleashed forces that no outside enemy could ever set against the USA a force that may soon destroy the greatest nation this world has ever known.
It is not enough that the USA has a Supreme Court that no one should ever trust. It is not enough that the the USA has a legislative branch that does not believe in government. It is not enough that the GOP has a constituency that believes government of the people is their enemy. We may soon see a alternate reality executive.
Sarah Palin was going to be the proof that Bolton and Pipes and the rest of the fascist intelligentsia were better game players and most astute politicians than any liberal PhD in Political Science, Economics or Humanities who submitted research to peer review journals.
Sarah was the darling of those Republicans in need of affirming that their wisdom and understanding of America and her people was superior to anyone else.
Sadly they may have been correct. The intelligentsia of the GOP may have unleashed forces that no outside enemy could ever set against the USA a force that may soon destroy the greatest nation this world has ever known.
It is not enough that the USA has a Supreme Court that no one should ever trust. It is not enough that the the USA has a legislative branch that does not believe in government. It is not enough that the GOP has a constituency that believes government of the people is their enemy. We may soon see a alternate reality executive.
10
Thank you Ms. Wallace for admitting the Republican party bears "some" responsibility for the current state of Republican politics. Seems kind of a tautology, but hey, admitting you have a problem is the first step in figuring out how to fix it.
But you didn't offer any solutions here. You did go on to say that even now John McCain won't speak out against Palin, because she brought so many more voters to his tent.
But don't you see this is exactly the problem? You can't fill your tent with rational people (that would require rational policies), so you are content to it with xenophobes, homophones, science deniers, liars, land vigilantes, tax evaders, anti-intellectuals, evangelicals, and sundry other "low information" voters. The only common trait to your rainbow of tent dwellers is that everyone in it just wants a strongman to validate their fears, ignorance, and hatred. Hence Trump and Cruz. This really isn't a good strategy long term, for either your party or our country.
So here's a plan: Go back to trying to govern. Admit that science can tell us much that we need to know about reality. That taxes are required to fund a government. Citizens require living wage jobs and healthcare. Admit that diplomatic solutions are always better than unjustified wars.
If you admit these obvious truths, you won't have to worry, you'll shed all the crazies overnight. You won't have to lie or cheat or steal to win elections. You'll just have to come up with policies people want.
But you didn't offer any solutions here. You did go on to say that even now John McCain won't speak out against Palin, because she brought so many more voters to his tent.
But don't you see this is exactly the problem? You can't fill your tent with rational people (that would require rational policies), so you are content to it with xenophobes, homophones, science deniers, liars, land vigilantes, tax evaders, anti-intellectuals, evangelicals, and sundry other "low information" voters. The only common trait to your rainbow of tent dwellers is that everyone in it just wants a strongman to validate their fears, ignorance, and hatred. Hence Trump and Cruz. This really isn't a good strategy long term, for either your party or our country.
So here's a plan: Go back to trying to govern. Admit that science can tell us much that we need to know about reality. That taxes are required to fund a government. Citizens require living wage jobs and healthcare. Admit that diplomatic solutions are always better than unjustified wars.
If you admit these obvious truths, you won't have to worry, you'll shed all the crazies overnight. You won't have to lie or cheat or steal to win elections. You'll just have to come up with policies people want.
7
The Republicans who cheer for Donald will, I must assume, only vote for a Republican. How sad! The very leaders of the GOP and Donald or any other candidate will not depart much from supporting the upper class while giving little to the middle, lower middle and poor of this country. No wall will be constructed - Mexican labor is needed by the wealthy. No major tariff will be assessed against China. And on it goes ... Palin and Trump may sense and express some of the frustration of some Republicans, but they have no intention of doing what Sen. Sanders would like to do. A very core and sincere Republican base is hurting and unwilling to recognize it is their leaders who have harmed them for decades. Trump & Palin have no intention of raising the minimum wage or providing national health care or supporting renewable energy or .... This Republican base knows not how much they are taken advantage of and given little to no support. They have reason to be mad, unfortunately it is misdirected.
2
I'd be embarrassed to be a part of John McCain's campaign where he picked someone totally unqualified to be vice-president. This act single-handedly destroyed McCain's reputation as being a patriot. To put the country at so much risk for personal gain. will likely be how John McCain is remembered in the history books. And to this day he refuses to admit it was a mistake, saying it was one of his best decisions he ever made.
6
"Her legacy lies in her innate ability to wrap herself in the anger that those voters felt."
No, it doesn't. Her legacy lies in her single-minded devotion to Sarah Palin.
No, it doesn't. Her legacy lies in her single-minded devotion to Sarah Palin.
7
The GOP's years-long vilification of and hatred for President Obama (aka the Kenyan/socialist/Muslim/anti-American/deceiver/anti-Christ) is almost wholly responsible for the rise of Trump and Cruz, two extremists who might very well drive the country into a national catastrophe. The GOP's politicos and insiders who now face the unpalatable choice between Trump and Cruz, whose rise they unwittingly facilitated, will bear heavy responsibility for the disastrous consequences likely to ensue if one of them somehow becomes president. My hope is that Trump and Cruz will destroy the GOP, whose cynical, nihilistic cultivation of fear and hatred has brought the party to this sorry impasse. Good riddance!
11
[[When the politician most fluent in American rage roars.]]
She is none of those things…not a politician, not fluent in anything.
She is a thin, fifty year old woman with a pretty face, nice hair, fetching glasses, white teeth and a nice rack. (Don't censor me, NYT. I'm not being crude, I'm getting to the point.)
She is also dumb as a bag of hammers.
It has been seven years since McCain unleashed her on America. If I asked her right now which newspapers she reads, her answer would again be “Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.”
She knows nothing about America, not its struggles, not its sorrows, not its hopes, not its potential.
She is not "the politician most fluent in American rage," she is a comic figure in the back of a newspaper she doesn't read.
She is none of those things…not a politician, not fluent in anything.
She is a thin, fifty year old woman with a pretty face, nice hair, fetching glasses, white teeth and a nice rack. (Don't censor me, NYT. I'm not being crude, I'm getting to the point.)
She is also dumb as a bag of hammers.
It has been seven years since McCain unleashed her on America. If I asked her right now which newspapers she reads, her answer would again be “Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.”
She knows nothing about America, not its struggles, not its sorrows, not its hopes, not its potential.
She is not "the politician most fluent in American rage," she is a comic figure in the back of a newspaper she doesn't read.
207
Think about what it's like to have a narcissist for a boss, now magnify that a million times. Both of them are shallow narcissists, they are double trouble.
8
"Should he come out on top in Iowa, he has her to thank." Perhaps. But will the rest of us be able to thank him for reigniting her otherwise fading star and extending her lease back into the national consciousness? It was painful enough in 2008 for those of us not seduced by her folksy charm, now, who knows how long we'll have to endure her again? And endorsements are not often made without a quid pro quo. One reads of possible positions from VP (again), to Secretary of the (Drill, baby, drill) Interior. The place of maximum saturation and torment to the body politic would be as White House Press Secretary. Nothing like being able to stick it to the media on behalf of the President! You betcha!
49
If Mr. Trump is elected President, having Mrs. Palin fill any of the positions you've enumerated will be the least of America's problems.
"Folksy" charm??? I think not. Send her and Trump packing.
If Nicolle Wallace was a genuine patriot, she would have resigned from the McCain campaign to warn America about the senator's frightening choice to be the potential 45th president.
Instead she rode it out to cash in later on the gasbag circuit and the Times op-ed page.
I see no value in her opinions now.
Instead she rode it out to cash in later on the gasbag circuit and the Times op-ed page.
I see no value in her opinions now.
11
I have a significant problem with an opinion piece that equates racism and Islamaphobia with agitation. I will be honest I was seeing red when I read that line about agitated voters. I also had a hard time finding a coherent thought in this piece. If McCain was the person you claim he was, he should have shut Palin down within a week of her being on the national stage, reset the tone and tenor of the campaign, and set policy rather than permit the hateful and fear-mongering rhetoric that essentially set the tone of Obama's Presidency and permitted Trump to take center stage this election cycle. Palin and Trump need to be forced off the political stage by the saner members of the Republican Party (and you won't find those people in the media).
7
Ms. Wallace was a conservative voice I would at least listen for a coherent appraisal of the movement. Giving Ms. Palin any credibility for delivering anything but a lunatic fringe to the Republican Party's run for The White House lowers my opinion of her talent. The fact that Ms. Wallace does not see Ms. Palin as anything but a bigger narcissist than even Trump lessens her chances for me to take her seriously as a conservative pundit.
7
Palin went Full Metal Jacket
6
Hey nothing quite like an angry inarticulate flirty hottie. It's the GOP of our day.
7
Sarah Palin is a grimy hustler ruthlessly playing on the fears and anger of the Republican voters. She dispenses with the subtlety and patience of your party leaders, McCain among them, who always understood the value of the long con. Palin wants to break the casino now, regardless of the damage and the costs.
Trump can’t “refine and recalibrate his proclamations in a general election or as president”, and if the GOP assumes anything else they—you—are insane. Trump has to destroy the GOP establishment or own it outright. He has to hold to his illegal, unconstitutional promises or he guarantees himself the redoubled fury of the swindled voters.
“The party bears some responsibility for her success.” Some? She’s all yours, for certain. Congratulations, Ms. Wallace. You helped the GOP surrender the moral authority that obliges a political party to lead its own supporters and to participate constructively in the process of American democracy.
Trump can’t “refine and recalibrate his proclamations in a general election or as president”, and if the GOP assumes anything else they—you—are insane. Trump has to destroy the GOP establishment or own it outright. He has to hold to his illegal, unconstitutional promises or he guarantees himself the redoubled fury of the swindled voters.
“The party bears some responsibility for her success.” Some? She’s all yours, for certain. Congratulations, Ms. Wallace. You helped the GOP surrender the moral authority that obliges a political party to lead its own supporters and to participate constructively in the process of American democracy.
11
"But it was also an early warning that the Republican base was profoundly agitated."
The word you're looking for, Ms. Wallace, is delusional. The Republican base is profoundly delusional. Fed by GOP leaders on a steady diet of Obama is a "Kenyan, socialist, Muslim, gay married, anti-Christ."
The word you're looking for, Ms. Wallace, is delusional. The Republican base is profoundly delusional. Fed by GOP leaders on a steady diet of Obama is a "Kenyan, socialist, Muslim, gay married, anti-Christ."
12
More like rats trapped in a sinking ship - and the first thing they'll do is start eating each other.
6
Nicolle Wallace seems to believe that Sarah Palin is the person responsible for transforming working class, slightly less educated Americans into the angry, hate-filled Republicans that they are today. However, the source for this hate -- this bigoted anti-intellectualism -- is right wing hate radio and Fox News, and this has been going on for more than two decades.
The Republicans have used the power and money from the narrowly selfish oligarch class, such as the Koch brothers, and coupled that to the power of the masses of uneducated, working stiffs (newly indoctrinated in hate by Rush and friends), to gain political power at all levels of government. The only problem is that they don't know how to govern, and the vision that they have of low taxes, more guns, less government and fewer regulations in general, coupled with more government and regulations specific to women's bodies and our religious beliefs, eventually leads to a country resembling Somalia or Afghanistan.
How would you like to live someplace like that?
The Republicans have used the power and money from the narrowly selfish oligarch class, such as the Koch brothers, and coupled that to the power of the masses of uneducated, working stiffs (newly indoctrinated in hate by Rush and friends), to gain political power at all levels of government. The only problem is that they don't know how to govern, and the vision that they have of low taxes, more guns, less government and fewer regulations in general, coupled with more government and regulations specific to women's bodies and our religious beliefs, eventually leads to a country resembling Somalia or Afghanistan.
How would you like to live someplace like that?
14
Sadly for our democracy, the main source of information accessed by a huge segment of our population is the entertainment network that dishonestly calls itself Fox News. This network has inflicted immense harm to the ethos of civil discourse and objective news reporting. It is the single greatest source of the anger, angst, and fear mongering targeted at otherwise uninformed and superstitious citizens of our heartland and bible belt. To them goes much of the credit for the popularity of characters like Trump and Palin.
I wish I knew how to counteract this baleful phenomenon. Regrettably, the disinformation, hate, and fear peddled by Fox is great entertainment. We all have to take our part in pushing back against this force. My response is that whenever I find a public TV tuned to Faux News I change the channel or lodge a protest with the management.
I wish I knew how to counteract this baleful phenomenon. Regrettably, the disinformation, hate, and fear peddled by Fox is great entertainment. We all have to take our part in pushing back against this force. My response is that whenever I find a public TV tuned to Faux News I change the channel or lodge a protest with the management.
7
This piece would have been an amusing read about an otherwise entertaining subject except for the seriousness of the business if it were not written by a former McCain adviser. Sarah Palin is really one of the Frankensteins that the GOP has created through the years via the Willie Horton commercial. Only that this time this one is coming back to haunt them.
But what I am more interested is as a senior adviser did she "advise" McCain that Palin was NOT a suitable choice or did she "advise" McCain that Palin was an excellent choice to boost his campaign?
But what I am more interested is as a senior adviser did she "advise" McCain that Palin was NOT a suitable choice or did she "advise" McCain that Palin was an excellent choice to boost his campaign?
7
Anyone who is considered less coherent and articulate regarding political policy than Sarah Palin would be a complete and total disaster as president. Matter of fact, it is barely even conceivable, given how impaired she is.
1
I keep thinking about the German industrialists and landowners of 1930-1933, who believed that they could control the savagery they helped empower. We know how that turned out. I am afraid for our country.
2
i take this piece as proof of all that the X files have shown on television: there is life on other planets, and with some kind of warp drive, the author of this piece, an obvious alien, is able to travel to and from her other planet to ours at will. truly - the author - is from - some other planet.
10
The Republican Party which in the past has had good ideas, has been taken over by the crazies. They are headed for the worst election defeat in decades.
Do you really want someone in the White House in any capacity who has had the cops called to a party because her family were beating the do-do out of each other? Do you want someone as President who in spite of his constant talk of being a winner has bankrupted thousands of people when projects with his name on them have failed and then he walked away?
The primaries are for zealots, the press is building this up for eyeballs. The American electorate is much more middle of the road than either the Democratic or Republican primary voters are. If the Republican Party makes a Trump - Palin ticket their nominee, Hillary will win in a landslide. It will also damage the down ticket races across the country.
This is the worst Presidential field I have seen in over 40 years of voting. If I have to choose between Trump and Clinton, I honestly don't know what I will do. I'm not sure I can hold my nose and vote for the lesser of evils. Alas for our poor country that it may come to this.
Do you really want someone in the White House in any capacity who has had the cops called to a party because her family were beating the do-do out of each other? Do you want someone as President who in spite of his constant talk of being a winner has bankrupted thousands of people when projects with his name on them have failed and then he walked away?
The primaries are for zealots, the press is building this up for eyeballs. The American electorate is much more middle of the road than either the Democratic or Republican primary voters are. If the Republican Party makes a Trump - Palin ticket their nominee, Hillary will win in a landslide. It will also damage the down ticket races across the country.
This is the worst Presidential field I have seen in over 40 years of voting. If I have to choose between Trump and Clinton, I honestly don't know what I will do. I'm not sure I can hold my nose and vote for the lesser of evils. Alas for our poor country that it may come to this.
6
Mr. Higgins, aren't you California dreamin'?
Instead of holding your nose and voting for the lesser of two evils, you could choose to vote for an independent candidate or another non-Rep/non-Dem candidate. They do exist and the only way a third or fourth party has a prayer is if we vote for them. The canard that if you don't vote for a D or R, you're throwing your vote away only serves to keep the Ds and Rs in power.
American presidential campaigns became self-parody long before Mr Trump's initial so-called candidacies. He wants to be president about as much as I do (which, if I here described in the words most descriptive of my opinion of the office and the country it represents would proudly land me in prison for treason). She isn't angry, she is an intellectually challenged buffoon with whom far too many of us have much in common.
Mr Trump, on the other hand, is perhaps the most prolific manipulator, self-promotor and showboater of all time, achievements that are tough to ignore notwithstanding the complete lack of critical thinking ability observed in his most ravenous fans. The rest of the world recognized this long ago and marvel at our addiction to outrageousness for its own sake.
Ms. Palin, poster child for the ugliest traits of narcissism, is too full of bologna to recognize she is nothing more than the sum of her parts: the most distasteful and carcinoginic bologna sandwich since her former running mate.
No surprises here. She drinks the koolaid and dies the death that is her only contribution to politics in America. The revelry with which she takes the dive for him would be pathetic if she were slightly less aware of it.
In the end, neither comes out ahead: one media whore plus one media whore equals two media whores. It's Fear Factor on Crack. An abomination.
Mr Trump, on the other hand, is perhaps the most prolific manipulator, self-promotor and showboater of all time, achievements that are tough to ignore notwithstanding the complete lack of critical thinking ability observed in his most ravenous fans. The rest of the world recognized this long ago and marvel at our addiction to outrageousness for its own sake.
Ms. Palin, poster child for the ugliest traits of narcissism, is too full of bologna to recognize she is nothing more than the sum of her parts: the most distasteful and carcinoginic bologna sandwich since her former running mate.
No surprises here. She drinks the koolaid and dies the death that is her only contribution to politics in America. The revelry with which she takes the dive for him would be pathetic if she were slightly less aware of it.
In the end, neither comes out ahead: one media whore plus one media whore equals two media whores. It's Fear Factor on Crack. An abomination.
10
The Republican party is merchandising fear. The candidates, all of them, not just Trump and Cruz, are selling the idea that America is threatened every day in everything. Its always the fault of some "they" - immigrants, Muslims, "radical Islamists", and the worst slur of all - "Liberals". If only, goes the spiel, if only we could throw them all over the border and then build a very high wall we'd be back to the paradise of happy times that never were. If only we give over our country's leadership to these paragons of security we'll have "homeland safety". I'm probably not old enough to really feel it, but to me all the continual blather about "homeland security" and "homeland safety" reminds me of talk in another time about "the fatherland". Republicans can't talk about their agenda for the future, because they don't have a progress-oriented vision. For them, 'progress' is going back to some illusionary days when the US stood alone and unmolested within its borders and needed little from the rest of the world. Those within our borders who came from outside knew their place and weren't 'uppity' about things like equal treatment under the law, equal opportunities, or their own civil liberties. Republicans promise to take us back to the day when things were "great" - if you are a white man, and your nearest immigrant kin are grandparents. Republican's message is an illusion, a 'reality' that never was, like the 'reality' TV shows its leadership comes from.
16
John McCain is a war hero and a patriot, yet he unleashed this vulgar beast upon the country.
12
But of course. He's a leader of the Republican party.
Exactly right. And why is the author of this piece not apologizing for her role in this cynical and destructive charade?
There were hints of it before with George W. Bush and likely others. But Sarah Palin's rise marked the point where anti/un-intellectual bordering on (intruding into) stupid--but on our side--got to be okay in U.S politics.
While I think there are many contributors to it, right wing entertainment radio, and press, it still shocks me that the U.S. electorate got engrossed by stupid and arrogant. Its say something fundamentally bad about the country. Do they just not trust people that seem bright?
While I think there are many contributors to it, right wing entertainment radio, and press, it still shocks me that the U.S. electorate got engrossed by stupid and arrogant. Its say something fundamentally bad about the country. Do they just not trust people that seem bright?
15
I know this was supposed to be about Palin but the writer lost me when she referred to John McCain as one of the country's finest men. Is she serious? John McCain is closely aligned with the Keating 5 scandal, wants never ending military intervention in the middle east, is close with ministers who blamed gays and abortions for Katrina, and has a legendary temper. There are even doubts from reputable, impartial sources like BBC on his POW years. This is not one of the country's finest men.
16
Palin endorsed a Presidential candidate who takes the position that a U.S. Navy airman flying ground attack aircraft from an aircraft carrier, shot down while on a bombing mission over Hanoi and seriously disabled for life, who thereafter spent six years as a POW while refusing an early repatriation offer because it did not include his co-prisoners, is not a “hero”.
AND further, the endorsed candidate is himself a lying DRAFT DODGER. Asked why he didn’t serve, Trump said, 'I had student deferments and ultimately had a medical deferment because of my feet. I had a bone spur.' But Trump said he did not recall which foot was injured and instructed reporters to look up his records.
AND further, the endorsed candidate is himself a lying DRAFT DODGER. Asked why he didn’t serve, Trump said, 'I had student deferments and ultimately had a medical deferment because of my feet. I had a bone spur.' But Trump said he did not recall which foot was injured and instructed reporters to look up his records.
15
"Bears some responsibility..." has to be the understatement of the century. The Republican Party bears ALL the responsibility for putting Ms. Palin and her awful ilk at the spotlight's focal point. Thanks heaps.
23
I don't think Trump supporters are angry because Congressional Republicans have failed to reverse Obama's agenda. Sarah Palin was their hero before Obama was even elected. The reason the GOP has "lost control" of its base was best encapsulated in a NYT article that quoted a 62 year old machinist waiting to get into a Trump rally. He said the Republican Party never did a damn thing for the working man even though they had supported the party for years. He hit the nail on the head. The GOP has given older blue collar voters nothing but lip service and dog whistles while crafting policies that outrageously favor the wealthy, banks, hedge fund managers, billionaire tax dodgers, companies that ship American jobs overseas, etc. But nothing for the working man. Oh -- "opportunity," and the "ownership society" that really means, "You're on your own, suckers."
22
Precisely. I toast you with lead tainted tap water.
1
Bush and now Obama have paved the way for Sarah Palin who is only the symptom of America's Decline.
1
The Republican Party has become all Sarah, all the time; all Limbaugh, all the time; all Beck, all the time; all Duck Dynasty, all the time. The Party was on a rightward tilt for decades, but Obama's election was the shot heard round the conservative world. Today's Republican Party combines the worst traits that a citizen can exhibit: racism, xenophobia, intolerance, violence, but, worst of all, it claims ignorance as a badge of honor. "I'm unwashed, stupid, and I'm proud of it."
The Palins, as a family, are on the predictable slide towards a crash of Biblical proportions. The only thing left to poor Sarah was a pictorial in Playboy, and now the Playboy-bus doesn't make a stop there to interrupt the route to oblivion for the manufactured idols. I wonder if she can even remember that two-hour foreign policy tutorial, that McCain set up in 2008, with Henry Kissinger?
Kissinger: "Vell, hello there."
Palin: "It's such an honor to meet you, Your Majesty."
Kissinger: "Could you fetch a bowl of vater for my dog here? He eez thirsty."
Palin: "Oh! Um, this is awkward. I'm not a hotel employee. I'm Sarah Palin? You know, the hockey mom? Pitbull with lipstick? Energy-policy expert? Drill baby drill?"
The Palins, as a family, are on the predictable slide towards a crash of Biblical proportions. The only thing left to poor Sarah was a pictorial in Playboy, and now the Playboy-bus doesn't make a stop there to interrupt the route to oblivion for the manufactured idols. I wonder if she can even remember that two-hour foreign policy tutorial, that McCain set up in 2008, with Henry Kissinger?
Kissinger: "Vell, hello there."
Palin: "It's such an honor to meet you, Your Majesty."
Kissinger: "Could you fetch a bowl of vater for my dog here? He eez thirsty."
Palin: "Oh! Um, this is awkward. I'm not a hotel employee. I'm Sarah Palin? You know, the hockey mom? Pitbull with lipstick? Energy-policy expert? Drill baby drill?"
11
I wasn't sure where this column was going, and then at the end, came a rhetorical question: what if Sarah Palin had run this time?
It's partly that complete lack of self-awareness why your party is in its current predicament. What on earth makes you think she would ever run for office again? She couldn't complete a single term as governor. She has extremely low approval outside the insulated, delusional core of the GOP. She's making a lot more money by being a demagogue-for-hire (which is easy) than she would being president (which is hard).
Trump called on Palin, certainly, to borrow her brand of disciples. But it was also just the latest in Trump's masterful manipulation of the media. It's him, not her.
It's partly that complete lack of self-awareness why your party is in its current predicament. What on earth makes you think she would ever run for office again? She couldn't complete a single term as governor. She has extremely low approval outside the insulated, delusional core of the GOP. She's making a lot more money by being a demagogue-for-hire (which is easy) than she would being president (which is hard).
Trump called on Palin, certainly, to borrow her brand of disciples. But it was also just the latest in Trump's masterful manipulation of the media. It's him, not her.
10
Is this it? Is it all about anger? And anger over what? Dissatisfaction over...over...? I'll tell you in the last two presidential elections I was furious. Furious that we have become the nation that celebrates a failure to educate, an insistence that the voting public abandon reason and for goodness sake - please abandon all your memories - and vote for the one who will guarantee loss of health care for all but those who happened to be on the correct side of the last NYSE movement. Forget that you lost your 401(k) in the last financial debacle. Forget that you were dragged into a war via flimsy data - the results of which eight years later are the evidence of ever new and more powerful enemies. Remember only that some years ago you were sent a check for $600 and as long as you continue to vote for deregulation, and the return of a health care system that will deny you coverage for a hangnail - then just maybe, we'll send you another one. Anger? I'll tell you about anger. I believe there needs to be a loyal opposition to any president, and any majority. That's what makes this country great - that we're not afraid to disagree. But at the end of the day we remember we are neighbors, we conservatives and we liberals, and we remember we share this land and it's abundance, and we attend each other's BBQs and dinner parties and play dates. We are together Americans. Lets us not forget that. This demonization of each other will destroy us. Anger. My eye.
17
Sarah Palin is a political genius and it's really kind of sad and funny to watch all the NYT commenters get so tied up in her absurd illogic that they don't recognize it.
You can counter everything she says. It doesn't matter. She has the charisma to rev up a crowd and generate intense loyalty.
In the end, politics is horserace. It doesn't matter if you are wrong or right (sorry folks!), it matters whether you win or lose. And until all of you commenters here figure that out, you will keep raging against all the wrongs and injustices you see happening in the political sphere, banging your heads against a brick wall.
You can counter everything she says. It doesn't matter. She has the charisma to rev up a crowd and generate intense loyalty.
In the end, politics is horserace. It doesn't matter if you are wrong or right (sorry folks!), it matters whether you win or lose. And until all of you commenters here figure that out, you will keep raging against all the wrongs and injustices you see happening in the political sphere, banging your heads against a brick wall.
1
what we need right now is not a political genius, but a genius at governing. We need less propaganda. We need less anger. We need less of all these things, which Sarah champions. Hence the distain for Sarah. She makes a nice show, she makes right wingers feel great. But she is bad for the country.
2
Hi Paul - I'm thinking if she were a political genius she might have more to show for it than a record of helping take down McCain's once-plausible candidacy, and serving part of a term as governor or Alaska - oh, and I guess she was a mayor for a while too - not really that impressive a record of accomplishments - she is certainly a rabble-rousing orator - given the right selected audience, she can work them up - and that is marginally related to politics, but it isn't one of the important political skills. This isn't to say that the limited success she has enjoyed on TV and with her selected crowds isn't important in its way - but it's not politics. Maybe that's the scary part.
1
SARAH PALIN IS A COGNITIVELY CHALLENGED NARCARCIST . . .
...as she used incoherent rage ... because that attracts the many ignorant persons in the electorate ... and represents a perfect complement to "the Donald" as they substitute celebrity reality campaigns ... and avoid substance.
This represent the worst mistake that Sen. John McCann has ever made ... as he has unleashed a destructive "new normal" into the political discourse ... which was never a trump card for the G. O. P. during the recent clown car primary battles.
This will lead to the destruction of the Republican Party as a viable national group ... and has the capacity to make them into a fascist faction ... which has the capacity to destroy our always fragile experiment in having a democratic republic.
Yes, Sarah Kardarshian is the "rage whisperer."
...as she used incoherent rage ... because that attracts the many ignorant persons in the electorate ... and represents a perfect complement to "the Donald" as they substitute celebrity reality campaigns ... and avoid substance.
This represent the worst mistake that Sen. John McCann has ever made ... as he has unleashed a destructive "new normal" into the political discourse ... which was never a trump card for the G. O. P. during the recent clown car primary battles.
This will lead to the destruction of the Republican Party as a viable national group ... and has the capacity to make them into a fascist faction ... which has the capacity to destroy our always fragile experiment in having a democratic republic.
Yes, Sarah Kardarshian is the "rage whisperer."
11
Soo... do any of those right wing think tanks that formulated this political ruse based on hate fear and ignorance to get a misinformed populace to vote against their own best interests have any solutions in mind? I think they're pretty aware by now that the nihilistic logic-free fire they started and stoked for decades will almost surely burn down their own party. It's becoming increasingly worrisome that they are intent on taking the rest of us with them.
The Republicans need to stop focusing on winning elections at any cost and start acknowledging that nearly everything they've been peddling and the means they've been using to promote it threaten our very existence as a nation. The last time this level of unthinking hate took hold of a country it took a world-wide conflict to stop it. Let's not let it get to that point.
The Republicans need to stop focusing on winning elections at any cost and start acknowledging that nearly everything they've been peddling and the means they've been using to promote it threaten our very existence as a nation. The last time this level of unthinking hate took hold of a country it took a world-wide conflict to stop it. Let's not let it get to that point.
14
but think of all the money the ruling classes would make in a world wide conflict. This is what they want.
I remember watching part of a speech of hers back in 2008. I forget where she was at the time --- somewhere in "real America," probably --- and she started talking about her wedding ring. Apparently people had noticed she didn't always wear it. She said that with all the handshaking, the ring became uncomfortable, so her husband kept it for her in his pocket during campaign appearances. Kind of a sweet story, and the crowd applauded.
Then she said something to the effect that "It's not important what my ring is made of, it's what it *means* that's important --- it doesn't matter what they say." And the crowd started booing. It was as if she had gotten them thinking that the "other side" doesn't believe in love, or marriage, or something. It was weird.
Then she said something to the effect that "It's not important what my ring is made of, it's what it *means* that's important --- it doesn't matter what they say." And the crowd started booing. It was as if she had gotten them thinking that the "other side" doesn't believe in love, or marriage, or something. It was weird.
4
How to massage the message? Sarah Palin gives incoherent voice to the inchoate resentments of the ill-informed. Nicolle Wallace sees it as kind of a good thing?
11
The people Palin appeals to are those who ask foreigners "do you have a 4th of July in your country", the answer of which is "yes, and a 5th and a 6th, in fact the whole month; we have the same calendar", or try to explain Columbus to a Spaniard - I've seen both being done, to what would be my embarrassment if I identified with such people, but I don't. Yes, there apparently are a LOT of those people, every bit as ignorant, nasty, unChristian and incorrigible as Palin. What more is to be said?
10
Palin isn't about anger. She's all about money. As in how much did this cost Trump? Between losing her gig on Fox and her reality program, she needs the dough. Besides, she doesn't want to have to give back this set of clothes.
15
Yes, Palin is pandering to the resentment voters in the Republican Party. She has always fed off the disenfranchisement of the middle class and the anger of finding themselves without the future they'd hoped for. Sadly, Palin herself has become the distaff send-up of Borat at the rodeo, urging the crowd to sing along, "Throw the Jews in the well!" She appeals to the segment of the population who are uncertain whom to blame for their reversals of fortune. Palin uses every public opportunity to inflame them with hatred and blame toward others, but she dare not point to the richest 1% who have gutted the middle class; instead, she foments dissent and anger among all the groups who have had their dreams collapse. Blame Latinos and minorities. Blame the media. Blame the President. Blame outsiders. In her shameless pandering to those who cannot tease apart how the plutocrats have seized our nation's power and money, Palin continues to roil the waters of hatred, urging "real Americans" to throw everyone else in the well. "Reload," and then throw them all in the well.
7
Sounds like someone's looking for a job.
8
Is showed that exchange between McCain and that woman who described Barack Obama as “an Arab” to my students only last week when showing how racism is implied in American election campaigns. referenced here I stood backstage at a rally in Minnesota in October 2008 where Senator McCain took the microphone from a woman in the crowd who spoke about her fears, including that Barack Obama was “an Arab.” Interestingly, far from striking anyone as "one of the finest moments from one of the country’s finest men", it had McCain responding “No, ma’am; he is a good and decent man” to the accusation that anyone might be an Arab. Can Arabs not be?
10
I think the surprise to many Democrats will be, a Trump-Palin ticket and how ridiculously popular it is. Things have changed during the past 12 years in a weird way. I think we have to realize and accept how many Americans are into this. But I think the left needs to play hardball too, like a Sanders-Warren ticket. Good luck to all!
The hubris of these editors and writers is astonishing. Democrats (Reid, Obama, Warren, Clinton) exemplify rage, anger, frustration and paranoia. They have floundered as leaders precisely BECAUSE they only work from anger. No plans, no vision and no goals for America.
Sad.
And sadder that America's greatest newspaper has sold out to these phonies.
Sad.
And sadder that America's greatest newspaper has sold out to these phonies.
1
I think this is called projection: projecting and blaming others for faults that are not theirs but your camp's deep-seated problems.
1
have you ever actually listened to Sarah Palin "speak"?
1
Pretty funny, PB, but I agree. The "Angry Progressives" you follow project on a regular basis. Describing Palin as a "Rage Whisperer" is a great example.
No honor, no decorum, no respect from the Democrat Left. Just OUTRAGE.
No honor, no decorum, no respect from the Democrat Left. Just OUTRAGE.
So much hypocritical ink spilled over the maunderings of a mountebank's zany!
No, Ma'am. You broke it. You own it. And spare us the feigned surprise that those at the mad haters' tea party would rather listen to the monkeys than the plutocrat organ-grinders.
No, Ma'am. You broke it. You own it. And spare us the feigned surprise that those at the mad haters' tea party would rather listen to the monkeys than the plutocrat organ-grinders.
4
The hatred and fear of this woman, Ms. Pain, expressed in each comment posted is scary.
The very first time I heard her name mentioned was when she came on the public scene. In a store, I overheard a woman talk about Ms. Palin so despicably that made me wonder if something else was at work here.
These outrageous critiques say more about the criticizers than Ms. Palin.
The very first time I heard her name mentioned was when she came on the public scene. In a store, I overheard a woman talk about Ms. Palin so despicably that made me wonder if something else was at work here.
These outrageous critiques say more about the criticizers than Ms. Palin.
2
My first thought at reading Nicolle Wallace's op-ed: "Sorry, not good enough."
Senator John McCain and his "senior" advisers like Nicolle Wallace are undeniably responsible for elevating Sarah "Mama Grizzly" Palin to the national stage and, thus, later unleashing the Tea Party fury on the American politics. Even certain Republican pundits at the time couldn't believe that McCain chose such a rural demagogue (ala William Jennings Bryan) to be his running mate. Yes, Palin energized the so-called Republican "base," all right, but McCain struck a deal with the devil by doing so. He wanted Palin's "fire," and he didn't care if that same angry "fire" would eventually burn down the GOP's own house.
Yes, Sen. John McCain and his advisers (like Nicolle Wallace) created a Frankenstein monster that was Sarah Palin in 2008 and, in turn, Palin and her rabid base swelled into the Tea Party in 2010. McCain, Wallace, and others cannot disavow their role in the crazy-ward shift of the Republican Party. McCain and Wallace loved Palin when she was attracting angry crowds to their rallies, but -- now -- they suddenly fear how Palin's increasing virulent politics might tarnish their -own- legacy. It's a little late for that.
John McCain and Nicolle Wallace soiled their bed and, now, they can sleep it... with the rest of the Republican Party.
Senator John McCain and his "senior" advisers like Nicolle Wallace are undeniably responsible for elevating Sarah "Mama Grizzly" Palin to the national stage and, thus, later unleashing the Tea Party fury on the American politics. Even certain Republican pundits at the time couldn't believe that McCain chose such a rural demagogue (ala William Jennings Bryan) to be his running mate. Yes, Palin energized the so-called Republican "base," all right, but McCain struck a deal with the devil by doing so. He wanted Palin's "fire," and he didn't care if that same angry "fire" would eventually burn down the GOP's own house.
Yes, Sen. John McCain and his advisers (like Nicolle Wallace) created a Frankenstein monster that was Sarah Palin in 2008 and, in turn, Palin and her rabid base swelled into the Tea Party in 2010. McCain, Wallace, and others cannot disavow their role in the crazy-ward shift of the Republican Party. McCain and Wallace loved Palin when she was attracting angry crowds to their rallies, but -- now -- they suddenly fear how Palin's increasing virulent politics might tarnish their -own- legacy. It's a little late for that.
John McCain and Nicolle Wallace soiled their bed and, now, they can sleep it... with the rest of the Republican Party.
222
Amen!
1
PALIN, "THE RAGE WHISPERER" FOR SURE (TO THE MAX)! . . .
John McCann's greatest error in his ambition to revive a failing campaign ... he ended up as the creator of the concept of the "celebrity" no -nothing politics which seem to have become part of the political landscape in this nation.
As McCann begat Palin ... Palin begat Trump and a shift in the G. O. P. that introduced the Tea Party ... labeled as grassroots ... wrong it was aided and abetted by the super wealthy and our friends at fox.
This kind of celebrity political approach has the capacity to destroy not only the Republican Party ... but poses a great danger to our two century experiment in forming our fragile democratic republic.
Danger waters!
John McCann's greatest error in his ambition to revive a failing campaign ... he ended up as the creator of the concept of the "celebrity" no -nothing politics which seem to have become part of the political landscape in this nation.
As McCann begat Palin ... Palin begat Trump and a shift in the G. O. P. that introduced the Tea Party ... labeled as grassroots ... wrong it was aided and abetted by the super wealthy and our friends at fox.
This kind of celebrity political approach has the capacity to destroy not only the Republican Party ... but poses a great danger to our two century experiment in forming our fragile democratic republic.
Danger waters!
6
The irony here is that the greatest threat to the US comes from within in the form of the Republican Party and the twisted and destructive policies that it advocates.
10
Could it be possible that this great country could succumb to the masses of voters who are not curious enough to look beyond their TV remotes and AM radios?
These same folks yearn for America to be great again, although they do not understand that greatness requires intellectual creativity and critical thought.
They need to understand that what temporarily feels good by adopting narrow-minded thoughts is similar to being addicted. These voters don't realize they are painting their own selves into an economic and intellectual corner, and in so doing are threatening the rest of us with their narrow-minded agendas which unfortunately have been constructed by "conservative" elites who have no interest in their welfare.
Those who sell drugs to their addicts don't care about their customers' collective welfare either.
It will close in on all of us, just like Germany in the 1930's.
These same folks yearn for America to be great again, although they do not understand that greatness requires intellectual creativity and critical thought.
They need to understand that what temporarily feels good by adopting narrow-minded thoughts is similar to being addicted. These voters don't realize they are painting their own selves into an economic and intellectual corner, and in so doing are threatening the rest of us with their narrow-minded agendas which unfortunately have been constructed by "conservative" elites who have no interest in their welfare.
Those who sell drugs to their addicts don't care about their customers' collective welfare either.
It will close in on all of us, just like Germany in the 1930's.
6
My sense of Nicolle Wallace is that she is the sort of Republican that I, as a liberal Democrat, could sit down and have a respectful conversation with on any political topic. In that spirit I note the following: While I am glad to see her acknowledge the responsibility that the Republican Party (and the McCain campaign) bears for Sarah Palin's "success," she now needs to be more honest about the Republican base, which she characterizes as angry, resentful, exasperated, etc. Let's be clear here, the Democratic base is angry, resentful and exasperated, too. But, there's one BIG difference. The Republican base is not just being driven by a rage of anger, it is a rage of hate. That's what the Palins and the Trumps and so many other Republican extremists are tapping into. I'm sure that what is happening is troubling to Republicans like McCain and Wallace. But, until reasonable Republicans stop enabling intolerance, it will continue. Step one is to confront what is happening with honesty and characterize it for what it is. Step two is to stand up and repudiate it. Wallace has admitted that she was so put off by Palin she didn't vote in 2008. While that was admirable, it was not honorable. The honorable path would've required her to be honest with Republican voters. The train wreck that is now the Republican Party will not end until moderate Republicans put the interests of country ahead of the interests of their political party.
248
Wallace has admitted that she was so put off by Palin she didn't vote in 2008...all that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
1
The term "hater"was not common until Palin arrived on the national scene.
Before then, people could disagree. There could be compromise. Not anymore. A difference of opinion is perceived as hate.
Before then, people could disagree. There could be compromise. Not anymore. A difference of opinion is perceived as hate.
Ms. Wallace, you must be so proud, as a prominent member of the Republican Party, that your party is represented by shrill, hate and fear-mongering, narcissistic, egomaniacs. But, you really should be ashamed of yourself.
8
Sarah Palin reminds me of Michael Jackson near the end, babbling, and drug infused. I predict it will end tragically for Sarah
2
Fear is a very human emotion. When overcome with fear, humans often react with anger and hatred. That is the irrational way to react to fear -- and it's precisely what Palin peddles. Her manipulation of others' fear is really quite evil.
6
"This interaction will go down as one of the finest moments from one of the country’s finest men. But it was also an early warning that the Republican base was profoundly agitated."
This 2008 GOP "campaign adviser" sounds like the nervous advisers in the current GOP "establishment." They have all learned to speak of the "agitated" GOP base as if it were not their handiwork - not in their image. Sensing defeat they defensively clinically, intellectually and emotionally distance the base from the party leadership, as if the party leadership were simply an onlooker at the bile they had once proudly and deliberately inculcated and cultivated as the grass roots of a new GOP base - the Southern strategy indeed.
One beautiful attribute of the American system of governance is that barring actual force our system, over time, seems to have an innate ability to drown out venial political frauds - soon our modernly grotesque GOP will pass into history. Trump and Cruz are taking the GOP under for the third time. They will not be back but something new in the GOP will rise from the ashes. I can't wait.
This 2008 GOP "campaign adviser" sounds like the nervous advisers in the current GOP "establishment." They have all learned to speak of the "agitated" GOP base as if it were not their handiwork - not in their image. Sensing defeat they defensively clinically, intellectually and emotionally distance the base from the party leadership, as if the party leadership were simply an onlooker at the bile they had once proudly and deliberately inculcated and cultivated as the grass roots of a new GOP base - the Southern strategy indeed.
One beautiful attribute of the American system of governance is that barring actual force our system, over time, seems to have an innate ability to drown out venial political frauds - soon our modernly grotesque GOP will pass into history. Trump and Cruz are taking the GOP under for the third time. They will not be back but something new in the GOP will rise from the ashes. I can't wait.
5
The portion of the Republican base that expresses their anger at Trump-Palin rallies is largely the demographic that yearns for the old days when real Americans could celebrate their position in society and keep 'those others' in their place at cross burnings and lynchings.
The Republicans have been marketing to their racist base using their code words since Nixon adopted the 'Southern Strategy' and Reagan started his campaign promising 'states rights' near Philadelphia Mississippi most noted for the murder of 3 civil rights workers in 1964.
The Republicans have been marketing to their racist base using their code words since Nixon adopted the 'Southern Strategy' and Reagan started his campaign promising 'states rights' near Philadelphia Mississippi most noted for the murder of 3 civil rights workers in 1964.
5
"Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who, despite historic victories in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014, seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda or asserting themselves in the country’s foreign policy debates."
Good grief, I get that republicans are upset with not being able to reverse President Obama but you have to have a better idea not just more people without a glue.That base wants to discriminate, that base wants to ignore science, that base doesn't care if people have health care, that base is OK with our infrastructure collapsing around us, that base thinks carpet bombing is civilized or effective, that base wants to legislate (their) morality, that base is troubled by math and history. Anger is just not a successful platform to run on or govern on. Sarah is just there to tell the angry it's OK not to have a better idea, that anger is enough. Well it ain't!!!
Good grief, I get that republicans are upset with not being able to reverse President Obama but you have to have a better idea not just more people without a glue.That base wants to discriminate, that base wants to ignore science, that base doesn't care if people have health care, that base is OK with our infrastructure collapsing around us, that base thinks carpet bombing is civilized or effective, that base wants to legislate (their) morality, that base is troubled by math and history. Anger is just not a successful platform to run on or govern on. Sarah is just there to tell the angry it's OK not to have a better idea, that anger is enough. Well it ain't!!!
5
It's understandable that Wallace would want to airbrush away her role in this fiasco. McCain's "finest" moment - when he challenged the racism and ignorance of a rally attendee - came in October. The writing was on the wall at that point and it was becoming increasingly clear that the dog whistle campaign he and Palin had engaged in would not ultimately prevail. Only then, a few weeks before the election, and after months of vile attacks on Obama, did McCain summon such courage. How impressive it might have been to have heard from him earlier - that his campaign would tolerate no racism, no mocking of Obama's love of country, no questioning of his faith. Unfortunately that was not to be. The gutter politics we're seeing this year have some roots in the ugliness of the McCain campaign.
8
Sarah Palin and the Republican party work their white Christian faithful into a fever pitch of fear, hate and anger toward the Federal government and anyone who doesn't look like them. A mostly unintelligible, incurious former beauty queen looking and sounding vulgar and cheap doesn't whisper rage, she incites it in the gullible crowds she attracts. This is how the Republican party operates so Palin and Trump are following the same GOP playbook. Congressional Republicans plant seeds of doubt through embellishment and lies, dismiss and block all of President Obama's policy initiatives and then stoke public outrage because nothing is happening in government. You seem like a very smart individual, Ms. Wallace so how can you even marginally defend Palin or Trump. Train wrecks and bad automobile accidents draw big crowds, too.
122
"You seem like a very smart individual, Ms. Wallace so how can you even marginally defend Palin...?"
Defend her? She's the McCain staffer who promoted her as his running mate. Not very smart, IMO
Defend her? She's the McCain staffer who promoted her as his running mate. Not very smart, IMO
Her only shortcoming, Ms Wallace, was getting on stage with two unsalable Republican products, yours and green joblessness in the form of Arnold Schwarzenegger. As a hawker for John McCain I do however concede at least to your belief that Palin recognizes rage on observation. You both know McCain so how could you not?
1
Ms. Wallace mentions Trump's "vague and of questionable legal soundness" in his proposals, and earlier refers to how the Republicans, "despite historic victories in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014, seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda or asserting themselves in the country’s foreign policy debates."
I'd say the two are closely related. Congress has had no specific solutions for what they put forth as the problem, Obamacare, taxes, and over-regulation, so they have had no success getting anything done. Trump has the same vague angry thoughts, but once again, nothing to actually address any problems, real or imagined by the Republican base.
I think the main problem for the Republicans is that they don't know what to do about the real issues facing our country, and are now discovering that they cannot even solve the fake ones they have sold to their base, and Trump is able to use their own flawed and vague rhetoric against them, and seems certain to capture the Republican nomination.
I'd say the two are closely related. Congress has had no specific solutions for what they put forth as the problem, Obamacare, taxes, and over-regulation, so they have had no success getting anything done. Trump has the same vague angry thoughts, but once again, nothing to actually address any problems, real or imagined by the Republican base.
I think the main problem for the Republicans is that they don't know what to do about the real issues facing our country, and are now discovering that they cannot even solve the fake ones they have sold to their base, and Trump is able to use their own flawed and vague rhetoric against them, and seems certain to capture the Republican nomination.
5
Trump and Palin are publicity-seeking opportunists, nothing more. Neither would have the slightest idea how to govern if they got elected, and even less interest in actually doing so. You may be able to ride anger and resentment into office, but then what? Spend the next four years calling people names?
7
I bet Spock would freak if he did a mind-meld with Palin.
1
"The party bears some responsibility for her success."
Her 'success' in running against the establishment's own candidates is sort of a backhanded compliment to the establishment is it not? If the base that they depended upon for their 'historic' midterm victories is frustrated it's as much because people like Sarah Palin spew out a stream-of-thought grievance which only feeds the anxiety for which they have no solutions and are as vague as Mr. Trump's own stance on public policies except the idea of making Mexico pay for a wall. If fear mongering is good public policy then the GOP offers a golden age
of paranoia.
While they're wailing about grievances both real and preposterous, one can only look at the real-world consequences of those so-called Tea Party members who've actually taken office after inciting voter angst. Shall we begin with Tea Party fav Rick Snyder? Or Kansan Sam Brownback? Or Bobby Jindal of Louisiana? Or Mississippi's Phil Bryant? These guys are chips off the flake that is Sarah Palin's discontent and if you look at their states, your eyes will be filled with a veritable sea of red ink, and in Michigan's case, a toxic brew of ideological poison that is literally killing the people of Flint.
Republicans say government doesn't work and set out to ensure that it doesn't. It's one thing to successfully stir voter discontent. It is another entirely to govern with the public's best interest in mind.
Her 'success' in running against the establishment's own candidates is sort of a backhanded compliment to the establishment is it not? If the base that they depended upon for their 'historic' midterm victories is frustrated it's as much because people like Sarah Palin spew out a stream-of-thought grievance which only feeds the anxiety for which they have no solutions and are as vague as Mr. Trump's own stance on public policies except the idea of making Mexico pay for a wall. If fear mongering is good public policy then the GOP offers a golden age
of paranoia.
While they're wailing about grievances both real and preposterous, one can only look at the real-world consequences of those so-called Tea Party members who've actually taken office after inciting voter angst. Shall we begin with Tea Party fav Rick Snyder? Or Kansan Sam Brownback? Or Bobby Jindal of Louisiana? Or Mississippi's Phil Bryant? These guys are chips off the flake that is Sarah Palin's discontent and if you look at their states, your eyes will be filled with a veritable sea of red ink, and in Michigan's case, a toxic brew of ideological poison that is literally killing the people of Flint.
Republicans say government doesn't work and set out to ensure that it doesn't. It's one thing to successfully stir voter discontent. It is another entirely to govern with the public's best interest in mind.
7
Can "Joe the Plumber" be far behind?
3
I'm not voting for him, but Trump is the only Republican candidate to say he'll keep Social Security and Medicare and keep them "without cuts." It's interesting how the all the other GOP candidates continue to "touch the third rail" and threaten the life lines that keep so many Republicans from destitution. The Times and other institutions have rightly concentrated on race, but age maybe playing as large a role. As the Grand Old Party becomes whiter it also becomes older.
4
There is to both Trump and Palin a extraordinary amount of crassness, crudeness and rudeness; the distain for politeness and lack of shame you find in how a line crasher or a drunk treats a perfect stranger. Historically they remind me a lot of the Jacksonians of the 1830s.
1
Kudos for Nicolle Wallace for knowing that any report on Ms. Palin would not generate too many comments from the readership of the NYT that do not, in some obvious or in others more nuanced, direct Tine Fey character assassination against the woman. The smugness and self righteousness of the commentators about this individual really highlights why the rest of the country, LA and SF excluded, do not share NYC values in general, but do share the Southern Tier values of rural NY (you know, the rest of the State that your Governor generally ignores). That's ok, the bedrock of the country divorced from NYC a long time ago, and the same with the Hollywood/LA/SF cabal. Makes no matter for the majority, until election time, and then the hyperventilating sky is falling rhetoric spews around folks like Palin who are intentionally run down like regular road kill for the entertainment of the "intellectuals" of this greet City.
Divorced from LA/SF/NYC? I guess that's why they flock there by the millions. Oh, the resentment comes through in your post, Stephen.
1
A weird and rambling diatribe. Ms Palin is mentally unstable. As the McCain campaign realized, and then spent much effort covering up.
1
As I age, I am constantly reminded during my everyday routines how our bodies and reflexes slow down a little with each passing year. The very instant that Palin unleashed her shrill voice on TV last week, I snatched the remote and hit the mute button so fast that I'm impressed with the speed I demonstrated.
9
This boiling stew of rage and bigotry, fear and ignorance that Ms Palin and Mr. Trump so artfully electrify frightens me, saddens me. Poor Sen. McCain had grasped the tiger's tail and couldn't let go. Now his party seeks to ride the tiger. And while Trump and Palin attract national attention, the acolytes at the state and local levels eviscerate public services. As a veteran I wonder, is this what I fought for? As an educator I despair; were all those years teaching entirely in vain? As a citizen, I am terrified. Where can we go from here?
245
Do NOT be terrified
Speak rationally and thoughtfully to family and friends
Vote
Be a strong thoughtful citizen
Then simply let things unfold knowing you have done your duty as a citizen
Speak rationally and thoughtfully to family and friends
Vote
Be a strong thoughtful citizen
Then simply let things unfold knowing you have done your duty as a citizen
1
Though not as a veteran, but as an educator, I can only recommend your post. As a high school English teacher, I taught, among others, many AP and honors classes. It was at least 10 years ago that my former colleagues told me that I could no longer teach to the level at which I had been teaching. "As a citizen, I am terrified. Where can we go from here?"
Take heart, Chris Gibbs. At least you can rest assured of the certainty that nothing is ever so bad that it can't be made worse. Americans could decide to actually elect Mr. Trump. Then it will really get bad.
What, you don't find that consoling? Well in that case, Americans need to recognize bad ideas for the bad things they are, and work to ensure they don't take hold. And here's a hint: Every policy proposed by the Republican candidates so far are bad ideas.
What, you don't find that consoling? Well in that case, Americans need to recognize bad ideas for the bad things they are, and work to ensure they don't take hold. And here's a hint: Every policy proposed by the Republican candidates so far are bad ideas.
I'll have to admit the GOPer Clown Bus & Pony Show was missing something.....
- Large colorful Bus large enough to take on all comers - check
- To be driven by any particular Clown when it's their turn - check
- Careening wildly from side to side at breakneck speeds - check
- Roof-top cage with little doggy furiously yapping - check
- Mobile version of The Survivor as ejectees get tossed under the Bus - check
- The wild ride is better than where they're going - check
Sarah Palin's perfect! How could have she stayed away for so long!
Just lookit, John McCain was Not Her Style! No Way!
It is a marriage made in...ummm. well, somewhere and it couldn't have come too soon. The Donald and Sarah! It Is Too Perfect! SNL's butt is rescued, they'll prosper under Tina Fey's flawless reproduction of....The Sarah!
A Star Is Born! The Sarah!
- Large colorful Bus large enough to take on all comers - check
- To be driven by any particular Clown when it's their turn - check
- Careening wildly from side to side at breakneck speeds - check
- Roof-top cage with little doggy furiously yapping - check
- Mobile version of The Survivor as ejectees get tossed under the Bus - check
- The wild ride is better than where they're going - check
Sarah Palin's perfect! How could have she stayed away for so long!
Just lookit, John McCain was Not Her Style! No Way!
It is a marriage made in...ummm. well, somewhere and it couldn't have come too soon. The Donald and Sarah! It Is Too Perfect! SNL's butt is rescued, they'll prosper under Tina Fey's flawless reproduction of....The Sarah!
A Star Is Born! The Sarah!
2
Oh, what a world! What a world!
Tin Man Cruz - no heart
"When a mans an empty kettle, he must be on his mettle"
Trump The Lion - all bluster
"Put 'em up, put 'em uuuuuup! Which one of you first? I'll fight ya both together if you want. I'll fight ya with one paw tied behind my back! I'll fight ya standin' on one foot! I'll fight ya with my eyes closed!"
Scarecrow Rubio - straw for brains
"Pardon me, this way is a very nice way.
It's pleasant down that way, too.
Of course, some people do go both ways."
And introducing Sarah Palin as Dorothy
"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore"
"The wind began to switch - the house to pitch and suddenly the hinges started to unhitch"
Tin Man Cruz - no heart
"When a mans an empty kettle, he must be on his mettle"
Trump The Lion - all bluster
"Put 'em up, put 'em uuuuuup! Which one of you first? I'll fight ya both together if you want. I'll fight ya with one paw tied behind my back! I'll fight ya standin' on one foot! I'll fight ya with my eyes closed!"
Scarecrow Rubio - straw for brains
"Pardon me, this way is a very nice way.
It's pleasant down that way, too.
Of course, some people do go both ways."
And introducing Sarah Palin as Dorothy
"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore"
"The wind began to switch - the house to pitch and suddenly the hinges started to unhitch"
5
Geez, pretty much everyone in America with a brain thinks she is at best an ignorant joke, and at worst an extremely destructive hypocrite and liar. So...you GOP campaign types are proud of this individual..."despite her shortcomings"?
You should be ashamed of your willingness to sacrifice every human virtue for political power.
You should be ashamed of your willingness to sacrifice every human virtue for political power.
9
Was Nicole Wallace trying to say something coherent in this piece?
8
The woman who feared that Obama was an Arab was "profoundly agitated"? More like "profoundly stupid". And McCain's answer pandered to that stupidity by implying there's something wrong with being an Arab in the first place.
8
Thank you. The idea that McCain's response was acceptable is absurd: its implication that a good family man is not an Arab, and that an Arab could not be a good family man was, and is, ugly and stupid.
1
Ms. Wallace, you note in passing that the GOP " should have seen this (the deranged Palin rogue campaign in 2008)) coming." In truth, the GOP had plenty of time to understand her message was well before Sarah Palin was plucked from obscurity. Indeed, the GOP has ridden the Palin fury in varying tones since the Southern Strategy was sprung during the 1970s. It's no surprise that Palin's most adoring audiences were in the Old Confederacy and in rural areas such Minnesota where the Lady in Red gave McCain a chance to be presidential. Trump, the consummate marketer, test marketed his strength as a delusional tribune for the GOP vote when he launched his birther jihad several years ago. He noted the fractured GOP field going into the 2016 campaign, recognized that the GOP primary voters were ripe for his message and jumped in. Palin is just an opportunistic boost to gain the Iowa primaries and the southern vote.
4
I never knew weeping crocodiles were denizens of suburban Connecticut until I watched 'Morning Joe' this morning.
Huh? The only public service Sarah Palin performs by returning to the national stage is ensuring that Tina Fey will keep returning to SNL.
11
There is no point blaming Trump or Palin. They are what they are. The blame lies with the Republican establishment, who set the tone. Even faced with a crisis largely of their making, they did not work constructively with Obama to get things done in a bipartisan fashion. They withdrew support for the ACA, let a bipartisan bill in immigration reform die by inaction, blocked a bipartisan climate change bill, blocked a bipartisan grand bargain. They were content to use people like Palin and the Fox network to whip up a frenzy within the Republican base to win mid-term elections. They did not realize that such frenzies don't remain contained easily. They also faced a wily, determined and equal-to-the-challenge opponent in Obama, who mostly achieved his objectives anyway, which frustrated the base even more. Now, they can only hope that the self-destructive sentiments will die down once this election is lost. But the genie might be out of the bottle for a very long time.
147
Obama controlled both houses of congress for two years and nothing happened
Sorry. I'm not buying this backhanded defense of John McCain sticking America with this shill called Palin. The one quasi-presidential decision of John McCain's life; his one and only -- ever -- national-level executive decision; the most historic imprimatur of John McCain's presidential judgment . . . plucking Sarah Palin from relative obscurity to be his vice-presidential running mate. John McCain blundered horribly. He could not have done worse with the one-and-only executive-branch decision he will ever make.
9
You can put lipstick on Kodiak Barbie, but you can't make her utter an intelligible english sentence. One has to wonder what Trump was thinking,
letting her on the stage.
The only thing this circus parade lacks is the guys with the shovels, cleaning up the streets behind the elephant parade.
I can't wait for the conventions.
letting her on the stage.
The only thing this circus parade lacks is the guys with the shovels, cleaning up the streets behind the elephant parade.
I can't wait for the conventions.
2
As Trump said the other day, he believed he could shoot someone and not lose voters. With that mindset, why wouldn't he bring Palin on? It was a smart move for the primary. It dings Cruz in the tea party and stirs up the base he needs. Sure she wikl alienate a lot of people, but most of them wouldn't vote for Trump anyway
She's waving B'Bye to her political career. How anyone would take this woman seriously boggles the mind. She QUIT her elected post because she couldn't hack it. Zero credibility and zero intellect. Perfect fit for the GOP......
5
Ms Wallace , how do you conclude that if Donald Trump wins the Iowa caucuses , he has Sarah Palin to thank?
How do you know that ?
How do you know that the hypothetical win will not be the result of all the negative ads and insults or the so-called " Canadian " question ?
How do you live with yourself when you issued press releases after those rage rallies blaming the rage on Democrats ?
You might be an able writer of fiction as evidenced by this column
Your record as a political consultant and analyst is very questionable at best
How do you know that ?
How do you know that the hypothetical win will not be the result of all the negative ads and insults or the so-called " Canadian " question ?
How do you live with yourself when you issued press releases after those rage rallies blaming the rage on Democrats ?
You might be an able writer of fiction as evidenced by this column
Your record as a political consultant and analyst is very questionable at best
7
Wow. Just when you think the GOP train wreck couldn’t get any more surreal, someone goes and describes Palin as “fluent.” In print, no less.
I doubt those two words have ever before been used together in a sentence which didn’t also include the word “not” …
I doubt those two words have ever before been used together in a sentence which didn’t also include the word “not” …
7
Dress them up in jack boots and a uniform and they would be Mr. & Mrs. Mussolini.
5
Profoundly agitated? If only the "Republican base" would realize they have been played, duped by the Republican brain trust and it's still happening, having spun wildly out of control. Republican advisers and their enablers now must reap what they have sown.
2
'But it was also an early warning that the Republican base was profoundly agitated.' - And profoundly ignorant. There was a time America could afford this lack of education - it was so far ahead of the rest of the world materially it could ignore its own ignorance. No more - the world has caught up and now the proles are upset they can't think of themselves as No. 1 anymore. Trump is here to show them they have everyone to blame but themselves.
4
But she wears such inspiring leather jackets.....
1
Rage?
Rage by those who questioned the citizenship, religion and Americanism of the first African American president?!. Rage by those same cadre of buffoons who wrapped themselves around the Canadian born Rafeal Cruz, Rage?
Rage?, what Rage?, call it what is it Nicole, it is racism plain and simple.
and the " nincompoop ignominious pasquinade" Palin is an ignorant participant in fueling the flames of racism "rage".
Never will I vote for a party that questioned at the highest level the citizenship and patriotism of the president. Obama can take care of himself, I am enraged for three American born children.
Rage by those who questioned the citizenship, religion and Americanism of the first African American president?!. Rage by those same cadre of buffoons who wrapped themselves around the Canadian born Rafeal Cruz, Rage?
Rage?, what Rage?, call it what is it Nicole, it is racism plain and simple.
and the " nincompoop ignominious pasquinade" Palin is an ignorant participant in fueling the flames of racism "rage".
Never will I vote for a party that questioned at the highest level the citizenship and patriotism of the president. Obama can take care of himself, I am enraged for three American born children.
4
Anyone who takes Trump or Palin seriously is living in some kind of media driven alternate reality. Sure, they command support from a modest size minority, but in any general election, as Sarah would have to admit, they will get clobbered by a younger, less white, and far more progressive country than ever before.
Most Americans are not fools, and will never allow to clowns to run our nation.
Most Americans are not fools, and will never allow to clowns to run our nation.
59
You better hope so Laurence! I agree that Trump and Palin are bozo's without the red rubber noses but I am sincerely concerned that Trump can end up as the Republican nominee. Facing off against Hillary Clinton, it worries me that a wide swath of American voters will stay home rather than vote for either. The nightmare scenario - Trump wins and the next morning there's a big gold capital "T" on the south lawn of the White House - the "Trump White House".
That is what all liberals and probably quite a few true conservatives, wish. But don't bet on it. Vote.
They allowed the clown george w. bush to run the country for 8 years. What a disaster he was.
Since teaming with McCain, Pallin has never won an election. To argue that she is a Republican trail blazer ignores that fact. The Democrats have their own version of a disgusting VP nominee -- John Edwards. Edwards lied about almost everything and may have been the sleaziest husband in the history of mankind. Does that mean that Democrats are incorrigible liars and sleazebags, too?
Mainly it means you're trolling, Mishegas.
1
The loose wheels in Republican-think are aptly demonstrated in this amazing clunker in the op-ed:
"Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who...seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda..."
No, sir, your base has been taught, by you and many others, to expect the impossible, to disrespect and disregard the powers of the presidency, to fear govt. as an evil force, and to ignore not only the votes of a majority of American citizens, but the Constitution itself, which provides for measured powers for the Congress and the presidency, with intended checks on each other. Wallowing in Fox Faked News (FFN) propaganda and dinning daily on radical radio talkers and website pontificators who bear no responsibilities of actually making and implementing decisions, you and your followers have been busy digging your own grave for years, using a daily pill of discontent and anger as your vitamin supplement.
You have taught the voters who support you to expect the impossible, that they can take over the American system of govt. entirely and turn it to their beliefs and their needs only, disregarding the millions who see things differently. You have taught them that cooperation and compromise are not part of the plan and border on treason. You have taught them to disregard honest reporting, to expect to read or hear nothing that disagrees with their world view and to trust only biased sources. You will reap what you have sown.
"Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who...seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda..."
No, sir, your base has been taught, by you and many others, to expect the impossible, to disrespect and disregard the powers of the presidency, to fear govt. as an evil force, and to ignore not only the votes of a majority of American citizens, but the Constitution itself, which provides for measured powers for the Congress and the presidency, with intended checks on each other. Wallowing in Fox Faked News (FFN) propaganda and dinning daily on radical radio talkers and website pontificators who bear no responsibilities of actually making and implementing decisions, you and your followers have been busy digging your own grave for years, using a daily pill of discontent and anger as your vitamin supplement.
You have taught the voters who support you to expect the impossible, that they can take over the American system of govt. entirely and turn it to their beliefs and their needs only, disregarding the millions who see things differently. You have taught them that cooperation and compromise are not part of the plan and border on treason. You have taught them to disregard honest reporting, to expect to read or hear nothing that disagrees with their world view and to trust only biased sources. You will reap what you have sown.
326
I'm sorry, but you have the IQ of a pop tart if you think this woman is a politician. She represents the dumbing down of the American electorate. Thanks a lot senator McCain, you really harmed our country with this choice for VP.
12
While Ms. Wallace is careful to describe these crowds as merely "angry," I can think of far more accurate terms: willfully ill-informed, seriously self-deluded, easily manipulated, paranoid, and high on their own sense of entitlement.
9
"The growing furor in the Republican Party was something that we, as a campaign, failed to address, but to the crowds, Sarah Palin proved the more satisfying politician on the ticket because of it."
I come from an opposite spectrum of the political line than John McCain, but to read that Sarah Palin proved to be the more satisfying politician on the ticket is a tragic commentary on the republican electorate.
I come from an opposite spectrum of the political line than John McCain, but to read that Sarah Palin proved to be the more satisfying politician on the ticket is a tragic commentary on the republican electorate.
1
So, why have we heard so much about Palin's alleged unsuitability AFTER the 2008 election? Were there really so few principled consultants that everyone was unwilling to speak up during the 2008 campaign? If she and McCain had won, would anyone be speaking up today? Nothing succeeds like success, right? Had they won eight years ago, I assume she'd be the front runner for the nomination this year and everyone would be falling in line.
1
palin quit halfway through her only elected term. if elected president, trump might not even last that long.
1
Nicolle Wallace ought to be ashamed of herself for writing this disingenuous piece. Her boss, "one of the country's finest men," was the fool who brought this empty-headed bombastic know-nothing onto the national stage, along w/her irresponsible immature brood. The entire Palin family is nothing more than a bunch of grifters feeding off the reality-show atmosphere that the GOP has become, & thanks to the portion of the country's population that have been brainwashed by Fox "News" & other right-wing media, we all have to pay the price.
11
I will so miss President Obama.
12
Tell me Nicolle - were those angry crowds a representative cross section of today's United States? Or did it look more like a bunch of white, middle aged males longing for the good old days?
9
The problem with fomenting anger is that at some point, those you incite will turn on you.
2
John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate for the same reason that George H.W. Bush chose Danny Quayle: Impeachment Insurance!
Richard Nixon wasn't so fortunate; his Vice President had to resign before he did!
The same Quayle jokes can now be revived for "Kodiak Barbie:"
Q: What did Quayle and Palin's respective spouses do to put a gleam in their eye"
A: Shine a flashlight in their ears.
Q: What are Danny and Sarah's concept of Roe v. Wade?
A: Two alternative means of crossing the Potomac.
Q: How do Danny and Sarah turn on the lights after having sex?
A: Open their car doors?
Richard Nixon wasn't so fortunate; his Vice President had to resign before he did!
The same Quayle jokes can now be revived for "Kodiak Barbie:"
Q: What did Quayle and Palin's respective spouses do to put a gleam in their eye"
A: Shine a flashlight in their ears.
Q: What are Danny and Sarah's concept of Roe v. Wade?
A: Two alternative means of crossing the Potomac.
Q: How do Danny and Sarah turn on the lights after having sex?
A: Open their car doors?
1
Trump is a racist woman hater. Sarah Palin is skinny and has a good look. He is looking for a 4th wife. The 3rd one who appears to have little affection for his children from his first 2 marriages has a heavy slavic accent. Looking for Ms. Trump 4.
A truly cogent and superior piece of writing indeed.
I agree with Sarah 'Take-this-governorship-and-shove-it' Palin about one thing: the average Republican voter has every right to be angry. Their party's promise of free market prosperity has done nothing to improve the lives of Joe and Jane Sixpack, serving only the interests of capital - the larger the capital the better it's served. Crony capitalism indeed. But trying to get a coherent policy proposal out of Palin is like trying to unscramble an egg. All she can do is rant about what's wrong, with not a word about how to right it. She is the Right Wing's perfect storm: uneducated, misinformed, incoherent and clueless.
225
Maybe they should stop drinking all those six-packs, they would need less health care.
She is the eye of the Party's storm.
Trump will gladly ride the wave...but if he won, would he give her a post in his administration?
Nope, I didn't think so.
Nope, I didn't think so.
2
thank you. I have been saying this since August 2008, when Palin first gave us a glimpse of her attention-demanding faux "outrage" that consisted purely of hate and division. she is one of the most vile actors within the clown circus that calls itself the GOP today, and as a measure of vileness, that's pretty toxic.
10
What embarked the Republicans on the slippery slope toward Trumpism was their willingness in 2008, with a straight face, at least on TV, to nominate an imbecile to be a heartbeat away from the presidency if 72-year-old John McCain had been elected. How can a political party that would do that ever be taken seriously by intelligent citizens again?
189
I'm not a republican but i need to point out that John McCain (he's my age exactly) is still going strong. Bernie Sanders is just as strong and in no way too old. Let's hear a few cheers for maturity in our politicians.
This from the woman who tried to sell us Sarah Palin in the first place. I don't think her opinion carries any weight. How she gets a job anywhere providing analysis is beyond me.
5
On the contrary, she has been close enough to Palin to understand how she operates, and sometimes hindsight is 20/20. In some ways, I think it makes her more credible.
Rage is not limited to the political right. People on both sides of the political spectrum have become increasingly extreme and have become increasingly opposed to any sort of compromise. The anger on the extreme right is probably more destructive than the anger on the extreme left because it is hateful and often bigoted. But the rage on the left and the rage on the right both originate from a lack of imagination, critical thinking, and empathy. And both pose substantial obstacles to getting anything substantial done in this country in the near future. Can you imagine having angry, uncompromising Bernie Sanders for president - with an angry, uncompromising Republican Congress? Even moderate Obama was stymied at every turn.
35
Bernie has his personality, but it does not reflect any kind of extremism or stubbornness on the left. Certainly there is not an extremist element taking over the Democratic Party. You can't say that about the Republicans.
More importantly, if Bernie were to win the presidency, he would almost certainly get a Democratic Congress in the process (definitely the Senate, maybe even the House), just like Obama did. Then it's a matter, once again, of whether Democrats learned their lesson in 2010 and 2014 or whether right-wing astroturf-roots will be allowed to hijack more midterm elections.
More importantly, if Bernie were to win the presidency, he would almost certainly get a Democratic Congress in the process (definitely the Senate, maybe even the House), just like Obama did. Then it's a matter, once again, of whether Democrats learned their lesson in 2010 and 2014 or whether right-wing astroturf-roots will be allowed to hijack more midterm elections.
1
I would respectfully suggest that the "rage" on Left is at least fueled by very real evidence of growing income inequality, the concentration of wealth and political power in the hands of the 0.1%, and crony capitalism with big donors telling chiefly Republican legislators what legislation they want. The rage of the Right is fueled chiefly by the lies promulgated by Fox News, talk radio and the GOP, all of whom would have us believe unemployment hasn't changed, the debt is ballooning, Obamacare is a disaster, ISIS is an existential threat, climate change is a hoax - all of which are demonstrably false.
3
Bernie is not angry. He is a grandpa who has had it so enough is enough. He is at that stage in his life where he has seen too much nonsense and wants to make it better for grandchildren and their children. (Jimmy Fallon does a wonderful monologue about how Bernie goes grocery shopping and lets loose at 1% milk on the dairy shelf, where is the rest of 99% fat!! Why is it only 1% fat...or something to that effect).
2
The writer believed Sarah Palin was an asset, but she turned out to be an albatross ensuring McCain's presidential bid would fail. So if your republican and make a really dumb decision, what do you do? Double down.
2
This is the most contagious and insidious kind of anger, all the more powerful because it is incoherent and unfocused.
You know what I mean.
It's the rage targeted at those people (those people over there,you know who they are)
who want to take away everything (nothing specific, just anything you don't want to get rid of)
from those of us (everyone but them, and if you still aren't sure who they are, find the nearest little swarthy person)
who are taking away (asking for the most basic equity)
all the things that we earned fair and square (everything we earned without any oppressive, strings-attached subsidies from "guvmint" like funds for public transportation, highways, bridges or anything else.)
This is rage as versatile template.
You know what I mean.
It's the rage targeted at those people (those people over there,you know who they are)
who want to take away everything (nothing specific, just anything you don't want to get rid of)
from those of us (everyone but them, and if you still aren't sure who they are, find the nearest little swarthy person)
who are taking away (asking for the most basic equity)
all the things that we earned fair and square (everything we earned without any oppressive, strings-attached subsidies from "guvmint" like funds for public transportation, highways, bridges or anything else.)
This is rage as versatile template.
3
Rage is bad for blood pressure.
1
There should be anger among the poorly educated, FOX news brainwashed supporters of Ms. Palin and Mr. Trump. They should be angry about stupid wars wasting our youth and our wealth. They should be angry about lousy public education. They should be angry about wealth inequality, but if they think the GOP gives a damn about their problems, they are delusional. As the bumper sticker says, "a working person voting Republican is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders. Would better vote for the other Sanders.
215
Yes they should be and are angry about all hose things....but they blame Obama.
1
They'll never get it because as you say they are "the poorly educated, FOX news brainwashed supporters".
Or voting for Hillary.... Please give her a chance. She is intelligent, deeply cares about the USA, and experienced.
This woman's brain has been frozen. Maybe she can thaw in Puerto Rico and start thinking like an American.
We should be concerned as a people about the ripeness of the populace to be swayed by a (perhaps semi-consciously, which is even more dangerous) manipulative demagogue. Such widespread misfocused anger and fear show the spread of the "What's the Matter with Kansas?" syndrome to the farthest shores. While this country's economic woes and shaken identity are nothing close to those of 1920's Germany's hyper-inflation and unemployment under the yoke of the Versailles Treaty, the parallel impetus to be rescued by a voluble, accusatory, xenophobic and charismatic savior is very disturbing.
3
This piece is trying to make an intellectual argument where there is none; let's not kid ourselves; this is quid pro quo and nothing more sophisticated than this. Trump promised Palin something in return for her support and Palin of course rose to the occasion. It's Trump allowing Palin to bask in the spotlight one more time. Of course Trump will not become president and in the end they both will be rewarded with yet another TV show.
1
if Ms Palin were seen in the emergency department of any hospital, the content and characteristics of her speech: paranoid ideation, echolalia, flight of ideas, etc., would be interpreted as representing ingestion of intoxicants or hallucinogens or a major psychosis.
How can her most recent performance be considered as anything but entertainment by Americans of voting age?
(retired) Professor of Psychiatry
How can her most recent performance be considered as anything but entertainment by Americans of voting age?
(retired) Professor of Psychiatry
11
I'm interested to know how many people now plan to vote for Trump just because Sarah Palin endorsed him. It really can't be that many. She was embarrassed and exposed as an ignoramus of hilarious and frightening proportions. After that, I thought she was discarded by the "base" like all the other flash-in-the-pan "leaders" of the conservative movement who turn out to be squishes or dumb or (surprise!) racists.
I think this endorsement is nothing more than a publicity stunt that will fall flat. The right is still searching for the champion that only talk radio dreams are made of and who's not an embarrassing disaster.
I think this endorsement is nothing more than a publicity stunt that will fall flat. The right is still searching for the champion that only talk radio dreams are made of and who's not an embarrassing disaster.
46
She has 5 million enthusiastic pals on Facebook and well over a million Twitter followers. How many of them actually vote and rely on her advice to make their choice? I don't know, but it is not hard to imagine that she can stir up enough action to swing some state primaries.
1
Hey, wait a minute there. Sarah Palin was never embarrassed, and she was exposed as an ignoramus of hilarious and frightening proportions only in the eyes of thinking adults. That is a minority considerably smaller than the audience for right wing hate speech radio. These people care not a whit about the truth, logic or even a substantive notion of what it means to be "fair and balanced." They believe themselves vindicated by your embarrassment. It's a vicious circle, but don't ever deceive yourself, Sarah's and The Donald's constituency KNOWS they are right in their hatred. It is not possible to engage them. In fact, the best approach to such rank stupidity is to ignore it and get involved in voter registration. We need to beat these people, and let them take the Republican Party to perdition, a fate it so richly deserves.
We can only hope that Palin crashes with The Donald right beside her. Her endorsement performance was absolutely disgusting. Please---let there be no more attention paid to her.
"Whisperer"? If only!
3
The "gracious" Senator McCain owes America an apology for his part in elevating what used to be called the lunatic fringe to become the new soul of the Republican Party.
Now that Palin has embraced the man who called McCain a loser for being taken prisoner, I wonder if the senator will finally understand the Pandora's box he opened.
Now that Palin has embraced the man who called McCain a loser for being taken prisoner, I wonder if the senator will finally understand the Pandora's box he opened.
9
Trump: "I'll show you my imaginary plan if I win."
Palin: - Domestic crime committed by my son is Obama's fault.
- Drill baby drill!
Palin: - Domestic crime committed by my son is Obama's fault.
- Drill baby drill!
3
Ms. Palin gave us a preview eight years ago of what a political crazy person looks like in the 21st century. America has had them before, but the power of Mass Media amplifies the effect in ways not imaginable twenty years ago. Mr. Trump is a vile, despicable but harmless media clown of the "good old days" where he should have remained. Ms. Palin, unwittingly with her entry into national politics, demonstrated the degree which the American public is willing to accept first the outrage of misstatement and lack of critical thinking in evaluating their leaders and then begin to accept it. She was the Stalking Horse who proved the theory. The statements of most of the Republican field of candidates insult the intelligence of the vast majority of the public, but silence is the response because of the fear of social ostracism by a vocal, ignorant minority. In the case of the perfect storm and a Republican victory, America's problem may not be as Mr. Trump bellows, immigration, but emigration.
7
Plain and simple the GOP has lost it's base ,,,,because it's incompetence it belongs to these pathetic individuals, God help the Republicans,,, their base has simply turned their backs and,,,, and ,,, and still try to blame Barack Obama,,, go figure that one out still with their heads in the sand
5
Totally agree with one exception, don't let god save them, let'm rot.
1
It's utterly astounding that an intellectual fly-weight such as Palin can command even one on-thousandth of the attention and fandom that she does. So let's be 1000% percent honest here; were Palin not even the least bit attractive, and something of a sex symbol to the right wingers who salivate over her, no one, not even the mainstream media that she pretends to loathe so much, would give her so much as a fractional second of air time or fractional inch of column space. And that's it. That's the whole thing.
8
The flames of rage among Republican base have been fueled and fanned not only by Mrs. Palin but also by both the Republican establishment and by the right-wing media for years, using outrageous lies and misinformation -- at the same time they denigrated responsible media sources. Unfortunately, the base has been very gullible. I hope some reasonable politicians -- Republicans or Democrats -- will be able to break through to them with the truth and a positive way forward.
7
It's not just rage. It's white rage. No need to be politically correct about this, right? A shrinking knot of angry white voters. Trump with an assist from Palin has consolidated and isolated this group. His wall divides them from the other tribes of the Republican Party. And divided they fall?
4
Uninformed and uneducated white folks have fallen for the misinformation that best suits their bigotry and fear. It could of happened without Palin or Trump, but these people are thrilled to have heroes they can relate to. Luckily other voters have heroes like Sanders and Warren. May the side with reason and compassion as their guide win.
6
Excuse me, but if John McCain's finest moment was taking the mike away from the elderly white lady calling Obama an Arab, his lowest moment was picking a clearly incompetent and dangerous running mate.
McCain, like other GOP Establishment figures (Nicole Wallace?), are now reaping what they sowed eight years ago.
McCain, like other GOP Establishment figures (Nicole Wallace?), are now reaping what they sowed eight years ago.
24
This woman was elected governor of an American state. That means that somewhere out there are people that said to themselves 'this is a good woman, she should Be in charge.'
What a terrifying reality.
What a terrifying reality.
15
Anger is the cheapest, basest emotion, and it is always an appeal to the lowest common denominator. Americans enamored by the Trump/Palin duet might ask themselves a simple question: What, exactly, does Donald Trump have to be so angry about? Is he suffering in this depleted America he rails about? Why is Sarah Palin so angry? Is her life in the USA in any way intolerable, aside from the affront of seeing Mr. Obama in office?
The fact is, their lives are abundant and supremely comfortable. Nor do they particularly care about the obstacles that working class Americans face in our lives. These two politicians are just doing the basic math that will keep them in the spotlight or put Trump (God forbid) in the White House.
It is very sad -- and genuinely infuriating -- to watch people being so baldly and effortlessly manipulated by this pair of self-serving hypocrites.
The fact is, their lives are abundant and supremely comfortable. Nor do they particularly care about the obstacles that working class Americans face in our lives. These two politicians are just doing the basic math that will keep them in the spotlight or put Trump (God forbid) in the White House.
It is very sad -- and genuinely infuriating -- to watch people being so baldly and effortlessly manipulated by this pair of self-serving hypocrites.
29
So while Sarah palin is enjoying her moments in limelight, who is taking care of her son Trig who was born with Down's syndrome? Is she relying on paid help or government/state resources of special Ed, special services? Why doesn't she talk about how we can constructively improve the system rather than get angry about it?
3
Yes. These two have no reason to be angry.
1
If Trump had any idea of how difficult and exhausting being president is, he would be holed up in his Tower counting his billions. That he surely does not is a true measure of how little reality impinges on his self-constructed bubble of narcissism, and shows how dangerous he would be if he had authority over the nuclear codes.
1
The Republican base is exasperated and angry, driving them to latch onto the likes of Trump and Palin, because Republican candidates displayed a breathtaking lack of candor regarding their ability to "reverse" President Obama's policies and legistative agenda. Unfortunately, unless the party opposing the President holds a veto-proof majority in the House and Senate, the numbers and the Constitution simply don't permit the legislature to impose its will on the executive (who, in this case, was elected twice by voters). Perhaps if Republican candidates more forthrightly explained this reality to their constituents, the aggitation and anger would not have risen to the levels we see today.
4
Sarah Palin does not speak for me but the issues she speaks about resonate regardless of her hyperbole - immigration, jobs, healthcare. But I find myself instantly skeptical of anyone describing themselves as from the 'republican establishment'. To me they are about billionaires, bombs, big business and buffoonery on FOX News. No trust remains and nothing I can relate to. Looking around though I don't find anyone in any party that really relates anymore to reality. It's a sad state at the moment.
10
Change parties. Come into the real of reality!
1
That 37 minute rambling does not constitue endorsement of any kind, just the evidence of how crazy Republican primary voters are. That purile nonsense has been elevated to the level of adult speech just shows the role media has played in creation of Sarah Palin, who is nothing more than a money grubbing reality show actress. There are no political principles in her except chasing money and fame. Trump has asked her endorsement for the same reason. McCain does not have the guts to admit the reason he selected her as his choice of VP: a female Dan Quale, to counter star power of Barack Obama. n
31
Getting tired of those like Nicolle who helped give the likes of Palin all the oxygen in the room and still glibbly comment about it. It's been said many times but for McCain to name her his running mate showed a total disrespect for the American people and yet Nicolle still idolizes the man and still shows no utter repulsion that this vile, ignorant woman would have been one heart failure away from being commander-in-chief.
34
Palin is testament to the power an old recipe: mix one part of ignorance with two parts of pure stupidity, bring to a boil, serve.
America the Greatest was built, first and foremost, on WWII, which destroyed to a large extent the most powerful industrial powers of Europe and Asia (i.e. Japan), leaving the United States essentially untouched and the stronger for having lead the recovery from the Depression. The USSR was our only standing foe, but the depth of its power essentially stopped at the military.'
Now the other long-standing economic powers have fully recovered and returned to the stage. Collectively the EU is bigger and stronger than the U.S., in part because it was spared the cost of maintaining a giant military establishment, which has remained as America's main government economic stimulus since 1940.
The real anger should be directed at the diversion of wealth into the pockets of the plutocracy, but that concept is too abstract for third-rate (4th rate?) intellects such as Palin. Yes, she speaks for the disenchanted, but also for the ignorant and the passed-by. Her popularity has nothing to do with a "decline" of the United States; she is merely a manifestation of what too many hours spent watching the TeeVee, where fantasy advertising mixes with fantasies based on sex and violence, will do to the national psyche.
Those who feel passed by are right in that one respect: they are. Their day is done, gone the sun.
America the Greatest was built, first and foremost, on WWII, which destroyed to a large extent the most powerful industrial powers of Europe and Asia (i.e. Japan), leaving the United States essentially untouched and the stronger for having lead the recovery from the Depression. The USSR was our only standing foe, but the depth of its power essentially stopped at the military.'
Now the other long-standing economic powers have fully recovered and returned to the stage. Collectively the EU is bigger and stronger than the U.S., in part because it was spared the cost of maintaining a giant military establishment, which has remained as America's main government economic stimulus since 1940.
The real anger should be directed at the diversion of wealth into the pockets of the plutocracy, but that concept is too abstract for third-rate (4th rate?) intellects such as Palin. Yes, she speaks for the disenchanted, but also for the ignorant and the passed-by. Her popularity has nothing to do with a "decline" of the United States; she is merely a manifestation of what too many hours spent watching the TeeVee, where fantasy advertising mixes with fantasies based on sex and violence, will do to the national psyche.
Those who feel passed by are right in that one respect: they are. Their day is done, gone the sun.
38
Oh please. Sarah Palin is dumb as a box of rocks. That she can reflect the racist rage of 20 percent of Americans -- the terminally angry, ignorant, aging white rubes mainly from the deep south and flyover country -- says nothing about her supposed vision. There is no there there.
There's this gem in the article: "Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who, despite historic victories in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014, seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda or asserting themselves in the country’s foreign policy debates."
Republicans are incapable of reversing Obama's agenda (despite attempting to repeal the ACA about a hundred times) because they have no agenda of their own. Lowering taxes is all they have. They are the party of NO, otherwise known as the party of STUPID. Asserting themselves in the country's foreign policy debates? They want to see if the sand in the Middle East will glow from all our carpet bombing. No, Nicolle, your Republican party has turned into a dangerous garbage fire. And Ms. Palin isn't the only one throwing gasoline.
There's this gem in the article: "Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who, despite historic victories in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014, seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda or asserting themselves in the country’s foreign policy debates."
Republicans are incapable of reversing Obama's agenda (despite attempting to repeal the ACA about a hundred times) because they have no agenda of their own. Lowering taxes is all they have. They are the party of NO, otherwise known as the party of STUPID. Asserting themselves in the country's foreign policy debates? They want to see if the sand in the Middle East will glow from all our carpet bombing. No, Nicolle, your Republican party has turned into a dangerous garbage fire. And Ms. Palin isn't the only one throwing gasoline.
60
They are called the STUPID party by REPUBLICANS because of their uncanny ability to loose elections that they should have won. By all political analysis they should win the presidency this year so we're waiting for them to find a new way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
1
Dumb as a box of rocks, Marcos59? Dumber. Make that dumberest. No self-respecting container of limestone and granite I ever met thought itself suitable for even the position of dog-catcher, although it is eminently capable of chocking the wheels of a car to prevent it from rolling away. I'm confident Sarah's brain would fulfill that function, too. Even without its bony wrapper.
2
Don't slander rocks.
1
I'm compelled to admit, I take a rather depraved bit of pleasure in watching longtime Conservatives like David Brooks, Ross Douthat, Nicolle Wallace (and many others) try to explain the dysfunction that has taken hold of the Republican Party.
Why did it take so many so long to see and understand what some of us have known for years: Ignoring science in favor of dogma, espousing religion in a nation built on freedom from that very thing, playing the blame game against any group, large or small, that doesn't fit their image of a white, Christian supporter of the 2nd Amendment ... this has been coming for decades and they only see it now, in the shadow of Trump, Cruz and Palin?
Such shortsightedness may be understandable given the reality of right-wing politics, but it's still sad.
I wish the newly informed pundits all the best, though. Perhaps their voices can sway a few of the confused and angry voters who don't know where to turn.
Why did it take so many so long to see and understand what some of us have known for years: Ignoring science in favor of dogma, espousing religion in a nation built on freedom from that very thing, playing the blame game against any group, large or small, that doesn't fit their image of a white, Christian supporter of the 2nd Amendment ... this has been coming for decades and they only see it now, in the shadow of Trump, Cruz and Palin?
Such shortsightedness may be understandable given the reality of right-wing politics, but it's still sad.
I wish the newly informed pundits all the best, though. Perhaps their voices can sway a few of the confused and angry voters who don't know where to turn.
46
This kind of response illustrates the anxiety of the Left. Realize there is a larger awakening rising than in the takeover of Congress in 2014. The fear of the Trifecta is unhinging those who can't believe there is another America just beyond their neighborhood.
Nicole Wallace remains completely oblivious to the possibility that her "base," who grew "increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans" despite two consecutive mid-term election routs, and remained "incapable of reversing President Obama's legislative agenda" or hijacking foreign policy debates, failed because the right --as in correct-- action prevailed.
What is really remarkable is that the Republican fundamentalist right has not yet stumbled onto the realization that their Lord does, at times and indeed, work in mysterious ways.
What is really remarkable is that the Republican fundamentalist right has not yet stumbled onto the realization that their Lord does, at times and indeed, work in mysterious ways.
14
Ms. Wallace seems to speak admiringly about Palin's success with fear-mongering, and her characterization of hateful accusations based upon blatant lies as "voter anger" is troubling, To me, Palin symbolizes everything that threatens the greatness of this country, with her know-nothing air of certainty that she is superior and general extreme nastiness towards anyone who disagrees with her. Nevertheless, I remain hopeful that the majority of Americans do not have the same level of "voter anger" and will reject this sort of mean-spirited ignorance, just as they did in 2008. I don't think Trump is dumb like Palin, but I do think he will do or say just about anything to get the Republican nomination, hence the Palin endorsement. I predict that this, in the long term, will prove that he has finally gone too far and eventually wind up being part of his undoing.
13
I think Palin is more likely Trump's way of trying something ... anything ... to get out of being nominated. He's also talking about shooting people on 5th Avenue and retweeting Nazis. I don't think it will get him out of the nomination, but it sure could destroy the GOP brand in the general election. Of course, when he loses, he's got to go back home and refurbish the global business brand he's tarnished.
A little distance, a little time, a little perspective, and you won't be able to find a soul, other than avowed white supremacists, who will admit they were ever a Trump supporter. They were just at the high school gym or the Town Hall checking out the show.
A little distance, a little time, a little perspective, and you won't be able to find a soul, other than avowed white supremacists, who will admit they were ever a Trump supporter. They were just at the high school gym or the Town Hall checking out the show.
Wait. Is the author saying that Ms Palin has ANY redeeming value?
10
I'm not sure if the phrase Rage Whisperer best describes Sarah Palin as much as being known as John McCain's Folly does. I can only imagine what the Senator must think of his choice he contemplates in the quiet private moments with his conscience. What must he think of the Rage Whisperer's protege Donald Trump and his analysis of McCains's war record. Sweet Jesus, McCain must be muttering.
Fast forward to 2016: Is the elevation of blokes Trump and Cruz really what a whole lot of Republicans want to be now known for? The GOP love reminding US they are the "Party of Lincoln". Can you imagine? After Lincoln, they need to jump more than a century to find its next hero by idolizing, mythologizing and sanctifying a nearly infallible Ronald Wilson Reagan, while his harshest critics took to noting the 666 reference in his name. It's either feast or famine.
I'm old enough to remember Republicans Eisenhower, Nixon, Goldwater, Ford, and Bush 41, and though I never voted for any of them I respected their knowledge, their attention to governing, their pride in performing public service. Yes, even the paranoid self-hater Nixon. He may be our most dastardly president of late but no one would dare think he was a dunderhead. One would never think about probing Nixon with supposed "trick" questions. Nixon knew who the Presidents of Afghanistan to Zambia were.
Rafael Cruz comes closest to evoking the Nixon persona. One hopes he doesn't also embrace his dark side.
DD
Manhattan
Fast forward to 2016: Is the elevation of blokes Trump and Cruz really what a whole lot of Republicans want to be now known for? The GOP love reminding US they are the "Party of Lincoln". Can you imagine? After Lincoln, they need to jump more than a century to find its next hero by idolizing, mythologizing and sanctifying a nearly infallible Ronald Wilson Reagan, while his harshest critics took to noting the 666 reference in his name. It's either feast or famine.
I'm old enough to remember Republicans Eisenhower, Nixon, Goldwater, Ford, and Bush 41, and though I never voted for any of them I respected their knowledge, their attention to governing, their pride in performing public service. Yes, even the paranoid self-hater Nixon. He may be our most dastardly president of late but no one would dare think he was a dunderhead. One would never think about probing Nixon with supposed "trick" questions. Nixon knew who the Presidents of Afghanistan to Zambia were.
Rafael Cruz comes closest to evoking the Nixon persona. One hopes he doesn't also embrace his dark side.
DD
Manhattan
6
Cruz has already embraced the dark side.
1
Cruz is much, much more dangerous than Nixon.
1
Dear Chip and Lee: I don't know if you were around when Nixon was President, I was, but your comments say a lot. My comparison is more to do with Nixon's and Cruz's intelligence not their ethics. Nixon, even after his death, has proven historically to us all what a paranoid self-hating man he was. I don't know, and really don't need to know, if Cruz has similar psychic maladies. That's a job for psychiatrists to ferret out. My vote is based on policy proposals not personality. When it comes to what Rafael states he is for I find myself diametrically opposed to everything. Maybe that has something to do with his colleagues int the Senate hatred for this guy.
DD
Manhattan
DD
Manhattan
This is yet another interesting but shallow piece that seems to address an alarming phenomenon in American politics, but really doesn't. I'm tired of reading about the contagion of anger that supposedly sums up the dumb-and-dumber Republican base. What is this anger based on? What drives it? Surely, what Trump is saying counts for more than the way he says it. And Palin, too. Note to Times op-ed page editors: Please urge contributors like Nicolle Wallace to address the substance that resonates with voters, not simply the style.
8
What substance can you possibly be referring to? Where is it? What Republican candidate is proposing anything substantial? Answer: maybe only John Kasich and he has a snowball's chance in hell for winning. Why? Because Kasich appears to be serious, smart, and knowledgeable. A person such as that poses as the Antichrist for most of the Republican base.
1
Yes. Where are the columns on the dumb and dumber republican elites that planted the seeds for this unseemly harvest.
When will the "responsible elites" (Nicole Wallace, Pete Wehner, Ross Douthat, etc.) take on the root rather than the branches. When will they address the ugliness and hate-mongering of talk radio, the bizarre rantings of people like Anne Coulter, the flat-out lies of Fox News. When will they stop trying to have it both ways ... attacking the liberal media one day ... and then asking for op-ed space the next to issue vague mea culpas in an effort to mitigate the damage they have been richly rewarding for doing.
When will the "responsible elites" (Nicole Wallace, Pete Wehner, Ross Douthat, etc.) take on the root rather than the branches. When will they address the ugliness and hate-mongering of talk radio, the bizarre rantings of people like Anne Coulter, the flat-out lies of Fox News. When will they stop trying to have it both ways ... attacking the liberal media one day ... and then asking for op-ed space the next to issue vague mea culpas in an effort to mitigate the damage they have been richly rewarding for doing.
1
Rage? I'll give you rage. Here's the cause of MY rage. Ms. Wallace and everyone associated with the McCain/Palin ticket should be deeply, deeply ashamed of the part they played in putting this incoherent, incompetent, dishonest grifter on a national stage. It is unconscionable that they thought it was acceptable to place her in the number 2 position behind a presidential candidate of McCain's age and with his health issues.
Can any of them honestly say they think Ms. Palin is or was qualified in any way to run the most powerful nation on earth? Isn't that a priority with a potential Vice President? Can any of them honestly say they thought she was better qualified than other possible candidates? No -- some of acknowledged years ago that they were so focused on drawing crowds to rallies that they willfully overlooked her many flaws, her ignorance and her insane family.
And now the same GOP has brought us Donald Trump, alleged associate of mobsters, proven misogynist, now on his third wife (known mostly for posing nude and semi-nude in men's magazines) as their top choice to date. Classy.
I used to work for a Republican politician many years ago. He was a fine man, honest and intelligent, married to his first wife, an intelligent, educated lady, for decades. I could weep for what the GOP has become and the anti-virtues they embrace, but I'm too disgusted and angry.
Can any of them honestly say they think Ms. Palin is or was qualified in any way to run the most powerful nation on earth? Isn't that a priority with a potential Vice President? Can any of them honestly say they thought she was better qualified than other possible candidates? No -- some of acknowledged years ago that they were so focused on drawing crowds to rallies that they willfully overlooked her many flaws, her ignorance and her insane family.
And now the same GOP has brought us Donald Trump, alleged associate of mobsters, proven misogynist, now on his third wife (known mostly for posing nude and semi-nude in men's magazines) as their top choice to date. Classy.
I used to work for a Republican politician many years ago. He was a fine man, honest and intelligent, married to his first wife, an intelligent, educated lady, for decades. I could weep for what the GOP has become and the anti-virtues they embrace, but I'm too disgusted and angry.
82
For some reason, people continue to praise Senator McCain for saying that President Obama was a "good and decent family man" when a woman called him "an Arab." McCain should have pointed out that Arabs can be "good and decent family men" as well.
36
i'm sorry, Ms. Wallace, but mccain telling that woman that Barack Obama was not an Arab because he was a decent man, was not McCain's finest moment. i don't know what was, but insulting Arabs is not fine.
30
Again:
Her only shortcoming, Ms Wallace, was getting on stage with two unsalable Republican products, yours and green joblessness in the form of Arnold Schwarzenegger. As a hawker for John McCain I do however concede at least to your belief that Palin recognizes rage on observation. You both know McCain so how could you not?
Her only shortcoming, Ms Wallace, was getting on stage with two unsalable Republican products, yours and green joblessness in the form of Arnold Schwarzenegger. As a hawker for John McCain I do however concede at least to your belief that Palin recognizes rage on observation. You both know McCain so how could you not?
2
What?
2
Sarah Palin is what the dumbing down of our citizens education has brought us. It's not just about our public education system but also the media, owned now by a few corporations tied directly to other major corporations. The information is owned and directed towards the ends of creating more profit, not for public service. The people have been led down this path, by selfish ignorant Mr. Potter types who have no conscience. But their are enough people who remember, and who have bothered to learn more. They are supporting Bernie Sanders who is not only the least offensive candidate, but actually presents an uplifting and inclusive message of democracy. The elites don't like this, because they don't really care for democracy. It tends to stand in the way of their profit. Profit is good, but not at the expense of everyone else. This is the main point of his campaign, and is resonating with the people once they have a chance to hear it. Why? Because Bernie Sanders speaks the truth. If people actually listen to Sanders, Sarah Palin and Trump haven't a chance.
44
" Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who, despite historic victories in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014, seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda or asserting themselves in the country’s foreign policy debates."
uh....maybe because they have no alternative plan, no plan at all, to offer? Shouldn't the Republican base be exasperated that their party, once one with a solid interest in creating a strong country, now can't come up with a cogent idea to save its life? Can't even back a plan, like the ACA, that is essentially a Republican idea, first proved by a Republican governer, just because a Democrat got behind it and actually passed it? Instead, the Republican party has turned into a group that puts party ahead of everything from their own constituents to the country as a whole; one that is consumed with tearing things down and fanning the flames of hate (using a full assortment of demonstrable lies - which none of the Party powers-that-be even dare to correct now)? Maybe the base should spend less time baying at Palin rallies, and more actually listening to, and evaluating, what their "leaders" are actually saying.
Palin can barely utter a rational sentence, let alone formulate a rational idea. If this is all the Republican party base wants to follow.....
uh....maybe because they have no alternative plan, no plan at all, to offer? Shouldn't the Republican base be exasperated that their party, once one with a solid interest in creating a strong country, now can't come up with a cogent idea to save its life? Can't even back a plan, like the ACA, that is essentially a Republican idea, first proved by a Republican governer, just because a Democrat got behind it and actually passed it? Instead, the Republican party has turned into a group that puts party ahead of everything from their own constituents to the country as a whole; one that is consumed with tearing things down and fanning the flames of hate (using a full assortment of demonstrable lies - which none of the Party powers-that-be even dare to correct now)? Maybe the base should spend less time baying at Palin rallies, and more actually listening to, and evaluating, what their "leaders" are actually saying.
Palin can barely utter a rational sentence, let alone formulate a rational idea. If this is all the Republican party base wants to follow.....
48
Any citizen can stand on a soap box and yell a plethora of buzz words, none in a complete sentence, though; as is typical of Sarah Palin. How can anyone seriously consider Sarah Palin for anything connected to government? Sarah Palin is an insult to America and a money-maker for a huge part of our media that seems not to care about ethics and competence in handing out information to the public. Like Donald Trump, Palin is the drunk at the end of the bar. No one in their right mind would pay attention. They certainly would avoid eye contact. Trump and Palin are selling snake oil. Sadly, there is always a segment of the public that will buy a bottle of snake oil in the belief, however separated from fact and reality, that it will cure all their ills. Sarah is laughing all the way to the bank, while people who are actually working on legitimate issues are practically ignored by the media.
44
Hey, as long as the drunk's buying . . .
1
Is there really a leader in a (criminally) insane asylum? That is the real question. By definition, sociopaths don't follow; but they may choose to have a de facto leader to concentrate the rage and anger to do maximum mayhem to the world they see beneath them. Then there are the masses for them to manipulate. That's it. Whether Trump is the mirror of Palin or the latter the mini-me of the former, they are just using each other to get what they individually want.
7
Puh-leeze -- Sarah's a nitwit, but am I the only person here who sees the same thing in Bernie Sanders? The man's all about speaking to rage and envy. Of course, already anticipating the flaming this post will get, it's all about the right kind of rage...
2
Will you be upset if you don't get "flamed"? Bless your heart.
6
Check the policy proposals of Bernie Sanders, and then check the policy proposals of Donald Trump or of Sarah Palin. What policy proposals do Trump and Palin have, you say? Why none, of course.
And thus, you discover the difference between inchoate rage and activism.
And thus, you discover the difference between inchoate rage and activism.
4
Well yes, TMS. It IS about the right kind of rage.
3
Wallace is a shrewd political observer (and on TV a star who is even more attractive than the actress who played her in the movie about the 2008 election, Game Change). Here she identifies the basis for Palin's appeal, but fails to lay out Palin's shallowness and no-nothingism. Sure, father Coughlan and Hughie Long stirred up passionate followers who were alienated from the traditional parties, but I wouldn't want to meet any of them in a dark bar. Come on Nicole, this woman couldn't keep her own house in order as governor, nor has she since -- I would hope family values constituents could see that, Mr. Trump too. Palin is seeking to maintain her lifestyle as a celebrity without a regular job, but she is less coherent than, for example, Khloe Kardashian.
17
It's hard to tell if Ms. Wallace is proud to have worked with the monster McCain created.
She gives Palin too much credit.
Palin represents a popular but destructive movement in American politics. Her endorsement may help Trump get the nomination, but it may hurt him too, especially in a general election. After all, Palin and McCain lost.
She gives Palin too much credit.
Palin represents a popular but destructive movement in American politics. Her endorsement may help Trump get the nomination, but it may hurt him too, especially in a general election. After all, Palin and McCain lost.
19
McCain's reaction was certainly fine in his reaction. Yet it should be reminded that "arab" is not an insult and that many arabs are fine family men
6
You really don't get it. Palin is an uneducated dolt tapping into an anger that neither she nor you nor the base itself really understand yet. Yes... they are mad at the Republican establishment, but right now they think it's because they aren't conservative enough. And your establishment better hope they keep thinking that. Fox News is certainly doing its parts to help keep 'em dumb. Because if the base ever figures out that trickle down is a gigantic hoax and tax cuts are the reason their wages are stagnant and the middle-class is essentially gone, they'll be voting for Bernie. Or they'll be headed to Washington with the gazillion guns you've let them buy.
52
Sarah Palin is just reflecting the rage that most Americans feel over a President that appears to be trying to destroy our country. Let's wake up and put a man in the White House who can lead us back to greatness.
2
Really Gator, destroy our country? If McCain and Palin had come to power you would certainly see a country as the laughingstock of the worls and destroyed it would be Yoda. Just tell me how has Pres Obama "destroyed" our country. No made up sound bites. Actual facts and/or statistics.
2
Texas again. Always Texas.
1
Define "Greatness," please. I suspect your definition will be substantially different than mine. And once you define this "Greatness," please sketch out the path to achieving it (and tell us how much money and how many lives it will cost).
3
As much fun as it is castigating Palin, I think the real concern is that there is support for her and Trump's rantings. What logic can be applied to reverse this sour, adversarial perspective? And to those who (understandably) say we are in a logic-free zone, what path leads to some level of cooperation? There needs to be a bridge or there will be a warring chasm.
1
I live in Oklahoma, and I love some of the people who are gone to this madness. I'm sorry to tell you that there is already a warring chasm. They are armed against argument and full of bristles. They are too far gone to reach.
Ah, Ms. Wallace, if I recall 2008 correctly, you held the clipboard on John McCain's sideline while Sarah Palin usurped his game plan. He selected her to run with him; I don't recall your disavowing any of the awful things she said, of the awful pull of hate that she threw out to her audiences (lynch mobs?) who returned her "love" with the fervor of beer hall patrons in 1930's Munich. Your good senator wasn't going to beat Barack Obama in 2008. You now, in a smirking revisionist way, applaud the senator for putting right the terrified old woman who saw in Barack Obama "an Arab" behind every tree. Gov. Palin Bogarted the 2008 GOP ticket and ruined the high regard his country cherished for his long sacrifice. She did not go quietly, and, like a recurring cancer, has returned with even more malevolence, if that were even remotely possible. That she invented a new language in the process to reinvent her profitable brand of hate in the service of her new master is quite in keeping with current Republican and Tea Party orthodoxy. Ms. Wallace all you've written here is a press release for Sarah Palin who came close, in the abstract, of destroying America. She would destroy decency in the name of polemics. She is a woman of great physical beauty and seductive evil charm. She's still topical because your party is as un-American as it is possible to be. It has always made a welcome for those of singular rigidity and uncaring dismissal of the greater good.
34
What the fans of Trump and Palin share is a deep anger and fear because a dignified black man and his family are living in the White House.
1
Lest anyone forget in the movie Game Change it is the Nicolle Wallace character who first realizes that Caribou Barbie did not know:
What the Federal Reserve IS.
Did not know there are two Koreas.
Thought Africa was a country not a continent.
It was also Nicolle Wallace who admitted to McCain's campaign manager that she, Nicolle, could not bring herself to vote for McCain/Palin.
What the Federal Reserve IS.
Did not know there are two Koreas.
Thought Africa was a country not a continent.
It was also Nicolle Wallace who admitted to McCain's campaign manager that she, Nicolle, could not bring herself to vote for McCain/Palin.
51
And we all know that face-saving fictionalizations are never inserted in movie scripts.
2
LI,
Oddly enough the exact same set of facts appears in the non fiction book "Game Change", about the 2008 election, that the movie is based on.
Oddly enough the exact same set of facts appears in the non fiction book "Game Change", about the 2008 election, that the movie is based on.
1
Sarah Palin was the most unqualified VP candidate in my lifetime, which is 68 years. She makes Dan Quail look positively intellectual. The woman appeals to the stupid vote. She is not a "Rage Whisperer," she doesn't whisper anything. She is a shrieker. She shrieks. She is shrill, rude, disrespectful, ignorant and stupid. She appeals to the worst in people. She has a lot in common with Trump, except he has a modicum of intelligence. Anyone involved in picking her as a VP candidate shouldn't be advertising it in a column in the Times. Steve Schmidt has all but apologized for the pick of Palin, and has documented how stupid and self-centered she is. Of course the Republican base is angry. They have been exposed to years of angry and crazy propaganda by the right-wing echo chamber. They can't stand that President Obama was elected and reelected, despite Republican efforts to stop anything he was proposing. He was presented as a foreign Muslim who was not eligible to be President. The birther-in-chief was Donald Trump, who won't talk about it anymore since everything he said about birtherism was a lie. The President was called a communist, as socialist, and a fascist. He "wants to take your guns away." The racist dog whistles were flowing from Fox and the right-wing talk shows constantly, except when they were just said directly. The Republican base gets its "news" from the echo chamber. Sarah appeals to their ignorance.
89
Palin is stupid. John Edwards was evil. Evil is worse than stupid. You'd think that 68 years would buy you some wisdom.
I am sure, as Ms. Wallace states, that bringing out Sarah Palin was as much about cynical politics now as it was when McCain put her on the ticket in 2008. What I (still) don't get is rage at what? The Republicans owned the three branches of government throughout most of the 2000's and what did we get? Wars. Katrina, and the worst financial crisis since the great depression. If Republicans should be expressing rage at anyone it should be at their fellow Republicans and not Obama. President Obama has spent the last 7 years cleaning up the mess he was left with and while I don't agree with all his policies he's definitely moved our country in a positive direction. What I really think is happening here is a case of 'projection' whereby politicians like Trump, Palin, and Cruz project their own failings onto the 'other'...
42
I'm sorry to inform you that Katrina was a natural event created in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. No political party was involved in its creation. Now, if you wish to blame someone for the aftermath of its effects on the people of the Gulf coast, start with the democrat mayor of New Orleans, a man who went to prison for corruption. He had the means to call for an evacuation and did not. I lived in a town that accepted thousands of evacuees and endured the dumbing down of our fine school districts as their children were enrolled, not wanting to return to the horrors they escaped. We filled trash cans with weapons as they emerged from the buses.
Despite saving a city that exists below sea level, the Bush administration committed billions to shoring up and continuing the Big Easy lifestyle so Brad Pitt can live there and think he is really making a difference. Google crime rates in New Orleans and tell me who failed who.
Despite saving a city that exists below sea level, the Bush administration committed billions to shoring up and continuing the Big Easy lifestyle so Brad Pitt can live there and think he is really making a difference. Google crime rates in New Orleans and tell me who failed who.
What does she have to rage about? When is the last time she had a real job? She had one, governor of Alaska, where she barely showed up. Then she saw the bright lights and promptly quit. She then proceeded to get quite wealthy spewing her particular brand of nonsense. While the rest of us are worried about protecting investments, getting to work every day, getting our kids into college and figuring out how to pay for it, she's flitting about and talking gibberish. None of her children have been anywhere near college. How can any one, angry or not angry, acutally believe that she "speaks" to them and for them? As loathsome as Donald Trump may be, at least he's worked and educated his children.
26
For months everyone, including the GOP establishment, thought Trump would flame out. Now most commentators are eating their hats, and the GOP is beginning to wonder if he really would be that bad. Let me be the first to see into the future with a more accurate if not terrifying prediction: Trump & Palin in 2016! Why not? They entertained McCain & Palin for 2012.
29
Why not?, indeed. It would be fine with me, because that would ensure across-the-board losses for Republicans in 2016. Capturing the nomination is one thing. The GOP establishment understands that you can't win a general election by appealing to white anger and frustration. This isn't your grandfather's electorate anymore.
1
Yes, they did entertain McCain and Palin for 2012 and it may have been far better than the Obama & Biden comedy team we came up with.
1
yes, and lost. you might as well wrap an anchor around Trumps neck if he picks Palin as a running mate because he's going down….
Of course, the great Ambrose Bierce was advising individuals when he said it, and furthermore he was assuming his audience had a capacity for self-reflection, but I still think "Speak when you’re angry and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret" is applicable to the current Republican Party. They may not admit it, and their anger may indeed be feigned or misdirected, but one day they're going to regret allowing the angry to speak for them...one day this year as a matter of fact.
27
Thank you for mentioning the junior senator from Iowa. Has anyone seen or heard from Joni Ernst lately. She hosted a motorcycle rally last summer. I've been following the Iowa Caucus race, and she's never mentioned. Her annual salary is $174,000. Has she done anything to earn it?
26
Joni led the fight to overturn the clean water act even as other Republicans poisoned Flint. So Republicans are against clean water. Obama vetoed it.
1
It's one thing to tap into voter frustration with our politicians and angst about the direction of the world these days. It's another to be narcissistic, rude, and ugly, which defines Sarah Palin's existence. She's too dumb to notice that whether it's Fox News, the RNC, or Trump, she's nothing more than a loony side show. She's never had anything to offer, not in 2008 and not now. Perhaps she should retire to Alaska and cleanup the dysfunctional mess that's become her family.
44
I take French classes. Part of the assignment routine is document translation. Considering this, I have attempted to translate a transcript of Sarah Palin's endorsement speech for The Donald into her favorite language: French. I chose her transcript because in English, I did not understand any of it. Not one single word. Zilch.
This just in. The French translation didn't help.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
This just in. The French translation didn't help.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
21
Whenever I look at a photograph of Sarah Palin I do a double take. Is it she or Tina Fey? Only the cast of Saturday Night Live knows for sure. Watching the opening skit the other night and then comparing it with the actual C-Span piece, it was hard to separate the two. The melding of Reality with Reality TV is now complete.
What does this say about the state of politics in America? Well, it's hard to say. Are we headed into a downward dismal spiral which will end only when we have reached catastrophic proportions? Or will it turn out to be just another passing phase this country has endured for two centuries with a reprise light beginning to faintly glow at the end of the tunnel? I think it's still too soon to tell.
The proliferation of a saturated carpet bombing media has been both a blessing and a curse. It has blown every nuanced move out of proportion, it has galvanized supporters and and demonized opponents. It's as if the McCoy - Hatfield feud has exploded and gone nationwide. Does that make us modern day hillbillies or just a bunch of hapless losers who will search mindlessly for the next supposed savior until we realize the enemy is US, an apathetic highly misinformed electorate?
When one witnesses The Rage Whisperer mocked now by even those who only two elections ago chant her name in adoration, maybe there is still hope after all.
DD
Manhattan
What does this say about the state of politics in America? Well, it's hard to say. Are we headed into a downward dismal spiral which will end only when we have reached catastrophic proportions? Or will it turn out to be just another passing phase this country has endured for two centuries with a reprise light beginning to faintly glow at the end of the tunnel? I think it's still too soon to tell.
The proliferation of a saturated carpet bombing media has been both a blessing and a curse. It has blown every nuanced move out of proportion, it has galvanized supporters and and demonized opponents. It's as if the McCoy - Hatfield feud has exploded and gone nationwide. Does that make us modern day hillbillies or just a bunch of hapless losers who will search mindlessly for the next supposed savior until we realize the enemy is US, an apathetic highly misinformed electorate?
When one witnesses The Rage Whisperer mocked now by even those who only two elections ago chant her name in adoration, maybe there is still hope after all.
DD
Manhattan
23
Tina Fey was terrible in her attempt to portray Ms. Palin. Flashy jacket notwithstanding. It was inevitable that SNL would throw Tina up there. Not her best performance.
Dear G.: I see there is still a little hankering tugging at Ms. Palin's heartstrings here. I understand. She is quite the gal. Out there, going rogue, quitting midway into her term, a media hog willing to expose every facet of her sordid family's indiscretions for the world to see just for the sake of staying in the celebrity spotlight. That definitively takes a lot of chutzpah, a Jewish expression. That's "gumption" for you Texans.
DD
Manhattan
DD
Manhattan
As a senior advisor to the McCain-Palin campaign, Ms. Wallace owes us all an apology for helping to give Sarah Palin a national platform in the first place.
81
True, McCain during the 2008 election never once confronted Plain for all sorts of lies and venom she was spewing against then Senator Obama.
Palin brought out larger crowds of crazed people than McCain did is supposed to explain why to this day he can not bring himself to acknowledge his profound disservice to the country by giving someone as profoundly unqualified as her the national stage? Does not compute.
29
Hate, Fear and Outrage, the dark side, have been employed incessently in campains. Either by the candidate himself or by his attack dogs. The young Ms Wallace of yesteryear must have displayed a big IQ to have been chosen as a senior advisor in 2008 with her IQ compensating for historical perspective. Good for her. Also good for Ms Palin, who can make a buck (she's lost her job at Fox and has to sell one of her houses in Arizona...) and who was simply chosen for conservative and evangelical credentials in Iowa by Mr. Trump, who lacks both but must win in Iowa if he wants to deal Mr. Cruz a deadly blow.
3
If Ms. Wallace and her team had properly vetted Ms. Palin as they should have, we would not have been subject to this dangerous nonsense for the past eight years. Heck of a job, Ms. Wallace.
66
I've said it before and I'll say it again. She gets her audience and their rapt attention because of how she looks.
6
I see nothing appealing about her appearance. Sarah Failin attracts a certain type of supporter who sees in her the "common" person they identfy with.
1
Yep. If she looked like Bella Abzug it would take brains -- even as a Republican.
It's no accident that all today's Republican women are hot to the 60-year-old white-guy's eye, and a lot of them blonde.
It's also no accident they are dumber than a rock.
If you go back aways there were some smart ones: Collins hangs on and Snowe was smart enough to call it quits and not watch this show. Christine Whitman and Nancy Kassenbaum come to mind.
But today it's Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham. All ditz, anger and hair.
Nikki Haley is the only woman they've got, and as one of my buddies puts it "still a taco short of the combination plate."
It's no accident that all today's Republican women are hot to the 60-year-old white-guy's eye, and a lot of them blonde.
It's also no accident they are dumber than a rock.
If you go back aways there were some smart ones: Collins hangs on and Snowe was smart enough to call it quits and not watch this show. Christine Whitman and Nancy Kassenbaum come to mind.
But today it's Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham. All ditz, anger and hair.
Nikki Haley is the only woman they've got, and as one of my buddies puts it "still a taco short of the combination plate."
Everything that Donald Trump has done to date has been to the benefit of Donald Trump. Anything that may have benefitted any one else has been simply a by product of what has been beneficial to Donald Trump. And the only example I can think of is the Central Park skating rink. So vote for Donald Trump. But I simply do not believe there is any trickle down for the rest of us.
2
Sarah Palin, Rage Whisperer? Howabout Sarah Palin, Nonsense Screamer? How can Nicolle Wallace analyze the Sarah Palin phenomenon (which she helped create) without mentioning the phonemic jumble erupting from her mouth? Isn't that the main thing the rest of us have noticed--the fact she speaks in word salad so indecipherable that it has been described as "speaking in tongues" or "like she has a brain injury"?
32
I guess that a lot of angry people find what she says reflects what they feel but what she says consists of short zingers which really do not reflect any deep consideration of any kind, and I do not think that she is doing more than telling people what she has already heard them say, pretty much just parroting those to who she is speaking. Whenever she elaborates, she speaks a lot of silliness that reveals a lack of having thought it through, or worse a misunderstanding of that about which she is speaking. I am not even sure that she feels any rage but just likes all the attention she receives. If the audience suddenly did not laugh or applaud, I suspect she would totally change what she says to get that attention back.
7
The measure of the rage Palin speaks for is that her malapropisms and non-sequiturs, her sermons about family values despite her own messed-up hillbilly clan, her disgraceful quitting on the people of Alaska to cash in on her celebrity--none of that detracts one iota from her magic with her demographic. On the contrary, they love her more for being such a faithful reflection of their own stumbling efforts to comprehend and cope with a country that slid off the tracks in the 1960s.
11
The country "slid off the tracks" in the 1960s? Why, because a few kids briefly challenged the Military-Industrial Complex? Because people of color, women and gays finally started asserting their rights?
I'll admit if you're a white, straight, Christian, wealthy male, there is no longer an unquestioned assumption of your superiority and that all control should belong to you alone, but I'd hardly call that "sliding off the tracks." But, then again, I'm not a straight, white, rich Christian male.
I'll admit if you're a white, straight, Christian, wealthy male, there is no longer an unquestioned assumption of your superiority and that all control should belong to you alone, but I'd hardly call that "sliding off the tracks." But, then again, I'm not a straight, white, rich Christian male.
This commentator ignores the point that McCain may very well have won the presidency had he not exhibited such spectacularly poor judgement in selecting Ms. Palin as his running mate. She may give Trump a bump in the primaries, but in a general election she will be poison. Bring it on.
18
I don't mind angry. Sometimes anger is the only logical response to a situation ( 7-17k deaths due to Rep. Governors blocking medicaid expansion in their states). Sometimes anger can displace frustration (over 400 filibusters obstructing the will of the people). And there is the anger over willful stupidity ( the entire Republican roster). What I don't get is the misplaced anger of the right. Believe me, this President is maddeningly moderate. You're anger is misplaced. The people selling you this anger are not your friends. You are their commodity. Your anger is their profit. If they can push you into paranoia they don't even have to make sense anymore. Palin and Trump aren't the nadir of this phenomenon they are climax.
24
This.
More like PT Barnum's circus and freak show. Trump, Mr. Barnum of Modern days, just try to see more tickets on an old and boring political freak. But hey, as Barnum said, "a sucker is born every minute."
It is befuddling that we are still sticking with the outdated electoral college voting systems forcing us and the world to listen to the same irrelevant issues that only people in the "swing" states care.
It is befuddling that we are still sticking with the outdated electoral college voting systems forcing us and the world to listen to the same irrelevant issues that only people in the "swing" states care.
9
The party bears SOME responsibility for her success?? I would like to know who in the party chose this woman to be one heartbeat away from a possible presidency. I doubt it was John McCain but he bears a great deal of the responsibility. Let's not forget he approved her joining his campaign. What a Pandora's box he opened up in his desire to win.
16
Sarah Palin, whisperer? WHISPERER?
Seriously?
Seriously?
28
That Palin owes her celebrity and millions to McCain, yet endorsed a draft avoider who equated McCain's heroism with losing, tells you everything you need to know about Palin.
19
The day that John McCain named Ms. Palin as his running mate was the day that I lost all respect for him. Prior to that, he always seemed to be a decent person at his core, but the fact that he was willing to risk our country by putting Palin within reach of the Presidency is utterly unforgivable. I have literally had nightmares in which Trump chooses Sarah as his running mate. And when I awaken, my first thought is, "Can this really be happening in the United States of America in 2016?"
22
How quickly those who love PR moves forget! Palin, the politician = Loser. Mr. Trump's evident discomfort at someone else basking in his spotlight... he must be praying that it doesn't rub off on him too much. Her fanning the flames reminds everyone the potential danger of having her allies in power.
2
Women can be the worst anti-feminists, and I'm speaking about both Sarah Palin and Nicolle Wallace. I have to question why Palin is called out for her "mama grizzly" anger. Wallace has to know that Palin did not set a new course in right-wing politics. She entered the field many years after the likes of Tom Delay, Newt Gingrich and countless others. Moreover, the current presidential field is filled with angry men (none of whom are referred to as "papa grizzlies").
Anger, per se, is not the issue; clearly, anger can be a positive force and has been the driving force of every movement fueling social change, including abolitionism. The issue is what we're angry about. And that's the problem with Palin.
Anger, per se, is not the issue; clearly, anger can be a positive force and has been the driving force of every movement fueling social change, including abolitionism. The issue is what we're angry about. And that's the problem with Palin.
8
all this analysis, and not a word about the damage that the GOP embrace of these loonies has done and is doing to America
17
Sarah, oh queen of rage
your majesty bless Trump
in the eyes of every chump
despairing for a working wage
We thought that you favored Cruz
The angriest man in Texas, no friends.
What more could bring such recommend,
for you to choose?
"Right-winging, bitter-clinging, proud clingers of our guns,"
No others see these in Trump's soul
"our God, and our religion, and our Constitution"
on your vision runs ... and runs ... and runs
and to what goal?
Your party's wreck and diminution.
your majesty bless Trump
in the eyes of every chump
despairing for a working wage
We thought that you favored Cruz
The angriest man in Texas, no friends.
What more could bring such recommend,
for you to choose?
"Right-winging, bitter-clinging, proud clingers of our guns,"
No others see these in Trump's soul
"our God, and our religion, and our Constitution"
on your vision runs ... and runs ... and runs
and to what goal?
Your party's wreck and diminution.
9
As one of the people responsible for loosing Sarah Palin on the lower 48, the least you could say is "I'm sorry."
17
Obama and Bush paved the way for Trump.
Anyone who likes Trump has themselves to blame.
What I once thought was only bazaar has now morphed into bazaaro. I mean, what can possibly be next in this carnival side show?
4
Nicole, you are being kind. Too kind.
2
I love it: "a more successful foreign policy based on his personal strength and immigration reform that is based mostly on building a wall." Thanks for making laugh. That was to die for hilarious. You would think he wouldn't embrace her since she has proven to be the death of all other candidate's campaigns.
7
.
.
Ms. Wallace, I always enjoy your television commentary.
But here you write: "Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who, despite historic victories in ... 2010 and 2014, seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda or asserting themselves in the country’s foreign policy debates."
DESPITE? Ms. Wallace, in the elections of 2010 and 2014, your party's supposed "base" sent to Congress men and women without regard to the candidates' interest in crafting a legislative agenda and/or ability to assert themselves in the country's foreign policy debates. Joni Ernst? David Brat? Scott Brown? There was never any reason to suspect that such people would craft constitutional legislation, nor that they would be interested in making the compromises necessary to pass it.
And asserting themselves in foreign policy debates? Did your party's candidate recruitment program even glance at whether these people had the requisite global knowledge to assert themselves in those complex debates? Who among your party's recent electees can convincingly debate John Kerry or Hillary Clinton?
Trey Gowdy?
The only reason I know Sarah Palin has self-awareness is that she has never run for Congress. Put people in jobs they cannot do, Ms. Wallace, and your base will experience disappointment. Everyone will get exasperated and frustrated, and your Speaker of the House will quit.
How many Ev Dirksens or Howard Bakers has the GOP sent to DC lately?
.
Ms. Wallace, I always enjoy your television commentary.
But here you write: "Our base has grown increasingly exasperated with Washington Republicans who, despite historic victories in ... 2010 and 2014, seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda or asserting themselves in the country’s foreign policy debates."
DESPITE? Ms. Wallace, in the elections of 2010 and 2014, your party's supposed "base" sent to Congress men and women without regard to the candidates' interest in crafting a legislative agenda and/or ability to assert themselves in the country's foreign policy debates. Joni Ernst? David Brat? Scott Brown? There was never any reason to suspect that such people would craft constitutional legislation, nor that they would be interested in making the compromises necessary to pass it.
And asserting themselves in foreign policy debates? Did your party's candidate recruitment program even glance at whether these people had the requisite global knowledge to assert themselves in those complex debates? Who among your party's recent electees can convincingly debate John Kerry or Hillary Clinton?
Trey Gowdy?
The only reason I know Sarah Palin has self-awareness is that she has never run for Congress. Put people in jobs they cannot do, Ms. Wallace, and your base will experience disappointment. Everyone will get exasperated and frustrated, and your Speaker of the House will quit.
How many Ev Dirksens or Howard Bakers has the GOP sent to DC lately?
12
As a daily watcher of Morning Joe, and as a liberal thinker, without much respect for the so-called conservative viewpoint, I must add that I truly admire Nicolle and Joe Scarborough as smart, articulate and willing and able to express views that have been well thought through ( whether or not their conclusions are liberal or conservative, and whether or not I agree with their conclusions). However, I do have a problem with Nicolle's column - it gives too little discussion of the fact that, substantively, almost everything that comes out of the mouths of Palin (assuming that what she says can be understood by the average person - certainly I can't) and Trump is not only wrong, but, as well, crazy and even dangerous. I simply cannot believe that someone as intelligent as Nicolle believes otherwise.
2
Here's a Sarah Palindrome:
Reviled? I? No, Obama, I am a boon. I deliver!
Reviled? I? No, Obama, I am a boon. I deliver!
7
"Mr. Trump, can you envision anyone who might serve in your administration if you're elected the next president?"
"I'll tell you, Carl would make a great trade negotiator."
"Carl?"
"Carl Icahn. Nobody does negotiations better than Carl. He'd be such a tough negotiator with the Chinese, they wouldn't know what hit 'em. And Carl understands -- we've got to bring our jobs back from China, and we have to build a wall to keep the illegals out. I've known Carl for a really long time. He's one of the few friends I have because he's only one of a few people who actually has more money than I have."
"You just mentioned jobs. Do you favor raising the minimum wage?"
"No, you can't do that. No way. The Chinese are killing us right now at less than $2 an hour. They're just killing us. I think the only way you're going to bring all those jobs back from China is to lower our minimum wage to less than $2 an hour. Look, I want to make things again. I want us to build things like we used to. The Chinese -- they built the Great Wall over 2,000 years ago, and the Egyptians built the pyramids over 4,000 years ago. Neither of them paid their workers $2 an hour.
"We have no leadership in Washington. They're all such incompetent losers. President Obama -- what a joke. He's a total disaster. I want us to start winning again. I want us to have some victories. If you elect me the next president we're going to be having so many victories that your head's going to be spinning."
"I'll tell you, Carl would make a great trade negotiator."
"Carl?"
"Carl Icahn. Nobody does negotiations better than Carl. He'd be such a tough negotiator with the Chinese, they wouldn't know what hit 'em. And Carl understands -- we've got to bring our jobs back from China, and we have to build a wall to keep the illegals out. I've known Carl for a really long time. He's one of the few friends I have because he's only one of a few people who actually has more money than I have."
"You just mentioned jobs. Do you favor raising the minimum wage?"
"No, you can't do that. No way. The Chinese are killing us right now at less than $2 an hour. They're just killing us. I think the only way you're going to bring all those jobs back from China is to lower our minimum wage to less than $2 an hour. Look, I want to make things again. I want us to build things like we used to. The Chinese -- they built the Great Wall over 2,000 years ago, and the Egyptians built the pyramids over 4,000 years ago. Neither of them paid their workers $2 an hour.
"We have no leadership in Washington. They're all such incompetent losers. President Obama -- what a joke. He's a total disaster. I want us to start winning again. I want us to have some victories. If you elect me the next president we're going to be having so many victories that your head's going to be spinning."
5
It's an incredibly sad commentary on American politics that Ms Palin gets near a political stage let alone an article on her in the respected NYT.
Can we please get to the issues and the candidates specific plans to solve our problems and build on our opportunities
Can we please get to the issues and the candidates specific plans to solve our problems and build on our opportunities
8
All Republicans appeal to the most ignorant of Americans. The only difference with Sarah Palin is that while most Republican politicians do so cynically, she is actually as ignorant as the people she panders to.
9
Actually, she has nothing to do with Trump's success. She is an afterthought in this cycle. First of all, she is incomprehensible, incoherent and probably nuts. Secondly, if you asked Trump privately, he might agree. Thirdly, things have certainly changed for the worse since 2008- more out of control everything- wars, immigration, pollution, you name it. The government unable to solve anything except shutting down once in a while. The dumbing down of the English language, following the law, driving at a safe speed, even the size of helpings in a restaurant -huge ! Music? You call that music? And Germany? From one extreme to the next! Even the news on tv- everything is a "breaking news" crisis. And it isn't . And even this paragraph. Poor grammar ! Ouch.
3
So what is the difference between "riding the wave of anxiety" and preaching to the peanut gallery? I am not a politically engaged person. I watch all this drama and nastiness from a distance (increasingly, with dread and horror). But up until this Palin thing I thought I understood what Trump was doing. And as much as I think he is a dangerous clown, I would have had to admit -- if pressed -- that he is shrewd. I'm reminded of a song with the lyric, "She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly, off the coast and I'm heading nowhere." I think McCain may have been singing that in the shower, after he took Palin aboard. The woman is a brick, and dumb as. I hope she sinks the ship.
7
Saying that the Republican base was "profoundly agitated" by referring to Mr. Obama as "an Arab", and otherwise pawning off these voters as angry simply whitewashes the fact that large parts of that base are "addled" and have a little grasp of basic facts. That the uninformed Palin was their spokesperson in 2008 is not surprising. And that Trump, who never met a fact-checker that he didn't keep fully employed, is the champion of a plurality of the same base in 2016 just shows that the Republican Party is more fully embracing being, as Bobby Jindal put it, the "stupid party".
8
Palin provides testimony to what motivates each Trump supporter:
a pleasurable feeling of empowerment that their candidate knows better than most how to give them.
a pleasurable feeling of empowerment that their candidate knows better than most how to give them.
The next Civil War will make our first look like old home week at ISIS...
I appreciate the warning that there may be a price to pay for ignoring the anger Sarah Palin channels and feeds off of. I'm sure that's true, but perhaps not to the extent the author would have us believe. If she's not as willfully ignorant as she appears, then she's pandering. But the people she's pandering to still make up a pretty small slice of general election voters, and the group includes few blacks and Hispanics. I thought Obama established fairly effectively that you can't win the election by depending on old white voters alone. If Trump gets the Republican nod, can he unite enough strange bedfellows to have a shot? I wouldn't bet on it.
115
You're exactly right. What's missing in the "Trump could be our next president!" hysteria is an analysis of what it takes to win a general election. It requires building coalitions, including constituencies that Trump has done a fine job of alienating these past few months.
The Republican leaders who are now so alarmed at the prospect of Trump as GOP nominee seem to understand this. They know that it would likely lead to an electoral wipeout across the board for their party.
The Republican leaders who are now so alarmed at the prospect of Trump as GOP nominee seem to understand this. They know that it would likely lead to an electoral wipeout across the board for their party.
1
Does Palin get a free pass for endorsing Trump even after he slandered McCain's war record? Trump swiftboated Palin's earliest backer in national politics and she rides the coattails of Trump' and
his disgusting remark, all from a blowhard who has never served his country, let alone suffered as a POW.
his disgusting remark, all from a blowhard who has never served his country, let alone suffered as a POW.
7
She helped lose the election for the GOP in 2008 (with all due respect to President Obama, who deserved to win, and did).
She can help them lose it again in 2016.
I'm a betting man. Let's hope she sticks around.
She can help them lose it again in 2016.
I'm a betting man. Let's hope she sticks around.
8
Any version of the word 'fluent and Palin do not belong on the same page. As far as convincing us she is onto something, let's not forget 'lipstick', 'pig'.
2
Sarah Palin is loved by millions of Americans and it kills folks that hang out here to know that. These same people are so obsessed with power they wish they can make her go away. They can't.
She will around a long time.
She will around a long time.
We watched Sara Palin's endorsement in horror & amazement. Her voice was shriller than we remembered, and she went beyond incoherent to incomprehensible. We seriously wondered if she was on some sort of speed.
Tiny Fey on SNL made more sense the ''real" Sara Palin.
Tiny Fey on SNL made more sense the ''real" Sara Palin.
7
Trump and Palin...from 3,000 miles across the Atlantic I hope you can feel my sympathy for all rational Americans. I am embarrassed on your behalf that such a pair of clowns are lauded and liionized by so many of your countrymen.
13
Ms. Wallace lost me at "fluent." The only thing Sarah Palin is fluent in is incoherence.
11
John McCain is 'gracious' toward Sarah Palin because he's scared of her. Why else would she feel it's perfectly acceptable to endorse someone who criticized McCain for being a prisoner of war? McCain needs to apologize for unleashing this angry, resentful woman on the country and then failing to rein her in.
10
whisperer? no. that shrillness will never qualify as whispering. but she is perhaps something like an ancient greek pythia, spewing impenetrable mysteries we think we must be able to understand because we recognize a word here and there. maybe that inarticulateness is best, because when we are able to understand her, what she has to say is pretty ugly. when vets hit back at her for trying to blame her son's criminal behavior on ptsd and the president, you know she has been understood and the ugliness has finally been recognized for what it is.
8
I think Sarah has a drinking problem based on the word salad she came up with when she endorsed Trump and the slidey-voiced singsongy way she delivered it. (See also her commentary on Paul Revere and his defense of our Second Amendment rights, which of course hadn’t even been written when he made his famous ride.) Sarah reminds me of a college friend who spoke in the same manner just before slumping into unconsciousness. Of course, the things my friend said were loving. No one likes a mean drunk.
6
Wallace is trying to help stop Trump. But it's only so some equally terrible candidate can get in. She's still a Republican operative.
People on a sinking ship do not murmur to each other about how drowning isn't really a bad way to go. They scream and cry and try to comfort each other.
People on a sinking ship do not murmur to each other about how drowning isn't really a bad way to go. They scream and cry and try to comfort each other.
4
As far as McCain's response to the woman who thought Obama was an Arab...
Colin Powell rightly pointed out that the correct response should have been "What difference does it make?"
Colin Powell rightly pointed out that the correct response should have been "What difference does it make?"
7
Mrs. Palin is the original victim of the war on women, waged relentlessly by the democrats.
What ever wounds Ms Palin may have suffered in this war on women are solely self-inflicted.
Hm, who won the 2008 presidential election? She'll do Trump as much good as she did McCain.
4
Her only shortcoming, Ms Wallace, was getting on stage with two unsalable Republican products, yours and green joblessness in the form of Arnold Schwarzenegger. As a hawker for John McCain I do however concede at least to your belief that Palin recognizes rage on observation. You both know McCain so how could you not?
Nicole Wallace is a rational person. However, her idea that the Republican Party first went rogue in 2008 with Sarah Palin ignores Barry Goldwater in 1964.
He is the only radical far right politician to have been given the Republican nomination. We know how that election worked out. Trump and Cruz are only the most extreme of all the Republicans, all of whom are pandering to the Tea Party types.
The idea that Trimp can move back to the middle seems mistaken. He will be tied to his most extreme pronouncements in ad after ad if he is the Republican nominee. The videographers will make a ton of money for video clips. If he moves too far to the center, the extremists will all feel that they have been "had" by yet another politician.
He is the only radical far right politician to have been given the Republican nomination. We know how that election worked out. Trump and Cruz are only the most extreme of all the Republicans, all of whom are pandering to the Tea Party types.
The idea that Trimp can move back to the middle seems mistaken. He will be tied to his most extreme pronouncements in ad after ad if he is the Republican nominee. The videographers will make a ton of money for video clips. If he moves too far to the center, the extremists will all feel that they have been "had" by yet another politician.
Sarah Palin embodies everything that is wrong with American politics: blithe ignorance, xenophobia, denial of science, religious zealotry, and the coarsening of American culture with reality television. She is a prime example of being famous for being famous, not for any particular accomplishment. Blatant lies, stupidity, obfuscations, and pursuit of money are her hallmarks. She avoids facing up to the behaviour of her children being the precise opposite of what she preaches. Family values Christian style do not include abuse of women or having multiple children by different fathers out of wedlock. The woman cannot form a sentence that can be parsed, but she probably doesn't know what that means. She had her fifteen minutes in 2008 and brazenly is seeking more with this endorsement, conveniently forgetting that Trump disparaged McCain, her running mate. I doubt her IQ exceeds her body temperature in Fahrenheit, though it might match it in Centigrade. Tina Fey doesn't need to script her SNL takeoffs of Palin. All she has to do is read transcripts of any Palin appearance. She appeals to the worst in people with no conscience. Please someone give her a one-way ticket to Alaska so she can bone up on foreign policy by watching Russia from her house.
13
I have always assumed that Sarah Palin sells her endorsements. I certainly could be wrong. It's just that her brand of political opportunism would lead you to think so coupled with the fact that you would think that she needs the money these days. Has this ever been looked at?
2
Ms. Wallace basks in the obvious.
Voter rage? Sure, why wouldn't they be mad? The post WWII America that their parents enjoyed and they thought would last forever has disappeared.
In its place these voters find themselves in an America they can't understand. Even though it looks the same on that shiny, chrome polished surface. They have been permanently disenfranchised economically, and they know it. They have no idea how that happened, but that's where the anger comes from. Why wouldn't it?
Do they have the makings of a revolutionary mob, capable of violence against those who aren't like them? As Palin would say, even incite, "You betcha!" That's the thin ice she repeatedly skated on and toward during the '08 campaign.
It would have been constructive if Ms. Wallace and Senator McCain had spent a minute or two trying to decide why folks wanted to hear Palin's rants. What it meant, and how they could turn it into constructive political action.
Sadly, that apparently didn't happen.
Regrettably it suggests a lack of political awareness on the part of Senator McCain that is noteworthy, as decent a man as he probably is.
Palin? She knew her good fortune once she struck gold, and slithered her way toward becoming a political celebrity. Even if short lived.
She betrayed her country with her seditious rants, and deserves to forever find herself in a deserted political rest area in the years to come.
Good riddance to her and her kind.
Voter rage? Sure, why wouldn't they be mad? The post WWII America that their parents enjoyed and they thought would last forever has disappeared.
In its place these voters find themselves in an America they can't understand. Even though it looks the same on that shiny, chrome polished surface. They have been permanently disenfranchised economically, and they know it. They have no idea how that happened, but that's where the anger comes from. Why wouldn't it?
Do they have the makings of a revolutionary mob, capable of violence against those who aren't like them? As Palin would say, even incite, "You betcha!" That's the thin ice she repeatedly skated on and toward during the '08 campaign.
It would have been constructive if Ms. Wallace and Senator McCain had spent a minute or two trying to decide why folks wanted to hear Palin's rants. What it meant, and how they could turn it into constructive political action.
Sadly, that apparently didn't happen.
Regrettably it suggests a lack of political awareness on the part of Senator McCain that is noteworthy, as decent a man as he probably is.
Palin? She knew her good fortune once she struck gold, and slithered her way toward becoming a political celebrity. Even if short lived.
She betrayed her country with her seditious rants, and deserves to forever find herself in a deserted political rest area in the years to come.
Good riddance to her and her kind.
9
And if Trump shot her with a tranquilizer gun, would she still endorse him?
1
How can Ms. Wallace side-step the looney tunes quality of Palin's talk? Maybe the angry base & tea party extreme only hears tone, not content. What makes Palin notable has been the consensus that she has a shrill voice that with no cogent meaning yet gets any cred from the GOP at all. Rather than be a total laughing stock & embarrassment- she is given status...like Honey Booboo or Jerry Springer...or beanie babies.
9
Ms. Wallace, I assume you are an educated person. Sarah Palin is the least coherent and incomprehensible politicians to take a national stage, since Dan Qualye. She takes the word ditzy to new levels.
"As a senior adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign in 2008, I understand why, to this day, Senator McCain remains gracious toward Ms. Palin. Despite her shortcomings, she brought out the largest crowds "
As a senior advisor to McCain you should be eternally embarrassed at his choice of such an unqualified and yes stupid person to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. And the fact that you praise her for bringing out large crowds just burnishes your reputation as a shallow political operative who does not have the welfare of the country at heart. Steve Schmidt, Head campaign advisor to McCain, admitted on many occasions that once he saw Palin and heard her speak, he realized selecting her for VP was the worst mistake of his career. He was and continues to be mortified by her presence in the Republican party. You actually sound enthusiastic about Palin's draw. Wow just wow.
"As a senior adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign in 2008, I understand why, to this day, Senator McCain remains gracious toward Ms. Palin. Despite her shortcomings, she brought out the largest crowds "
As a senior advisor to McCain you should be eternally embarrassed at his choice of such an unqualified and yes stupid person to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. And the fact that you praise her for bringing out large crowds just burnishes your reputation as a shallow political operative who does not have the welfare of the country at heart. Steve Schmidt, Head campaign advisor to McCain, admitted on many occasions that once he saw Palin and heard her speak, he realized selecting her for VP was the worst mistake of his career. He was and continues to be mortified by her presence in the Republican party. You actually sound enthusiastic about Palin's draw. Wow just wow.
17
These facts should serve as a scathing indictment of the Republican party. Politicians stirring up hate -- preaching to and encouraging the lowest common denominator -- have not been historically benevolent, and the citizens subjected to hate-mongers-in-power have not faired well either.
Ms. Wallace, do you think your party bears some responsibility in shutting this down? What if the politics of hate succeed in America? What then?
Ms. Wallace, do you think your party bears some responsibility in shutting this down? What if the politics of hate succeed in America? What then?
9
Nicolle Wallace, a well-regarded GOP talking head, is now the latest party pundt to refuse to blindly accept the ill-conceived rhetoric spewing from the field of GOP candidates and their sponsors and she should be applauded for it. But, like Nikki Haly following her balanced and well-reasoned response to the State of the Union, she will probably instead be excoriated for it in one form or another. As long as there are the uber-extremists, like Ann Coulter, out there to wave the flag of single-minded intolerance, and blindly adhere to and suppoort the rantings of the Sarah Palins of the world, there will indeed be no room for balanced discourse in our system. It's going to be long year, folks.
2
I really didn't understand the author's message. Is he endorsing extremism? Is he belatedly trying to justify his own advisory role in the farcical McCain-Palin ticket?
Is he trying to deny Palin's negatives, on a national basis, that totally overwhelmed the positives she generated with the Tea Party faithfuls?
Exactly what is the message? The last paragraph gives a clue: If Trump wins in Iowa he has her to thank. And if he loses ......?
So what. The message is as obvious as it is meaningless.
Is he trying to deny Palin's negatives, on a national basis, that totally overwhelmed the positives she generated with the Tea Party faithfuls?
Exactly what is the message? The last paragraph gives a clue: If Trump wins in Iowa he has her to thank. And if he loses ......?
So what. The message is as obvious as it is meaningless.
1
All I can say is, politically speaking, these are fearful times.
8
Even my Tea Party Step-Mom in Dallas told me the vets in her city were LIVID at Palin for speaking condescendingly about PTSD and using it as an excuse to justify her political gain and her son's illegal behavior (which was a problem before Track ever went into the Military).
If Dallas Vets (mostly Republicans Vets) are mad at Palin, she is in deep trouble politically nationally.
If Dallas Vets (mostly Republicans Vets) are mad at Palin, she is in deep trouble politically nationally.
10
I hope that Governor Chris Christi will totally eclipse the rest of the debaters "who would be president." Governor Christi stands "head and shoulders" above them all. He was a Federal Prosecutor and will be able to render speechless the two leading bloviators, Trump and Kruz, if he gets enough chances during the Thursday Debate.
Who writes this drivel? And who reads it?
It's ironic that the hypocritical Times writes about 'Republican Rage' when they demonstrate that same emotion whenever they write about the GOP. The Times editors are full of scorn, anger, paranoia and frustration. And from the SAME authors you see glowing daily tributes to old frauds like Hilary and Obama.
The only difference between this and their other attacks? At least this was on the 'Opinions' page.
It's ironic that the hypocritical Times writes about 'Republican Rage' when they demonstrate that same emotion whenever they write about the GOP. The Times editors are full of scorn, anger, paranoia and frustration. And from the SAME authors you see glowing daily tributes to old frauds like Hilary and Obama.
The only difference between this and their other attacks? At least this was on the 'Opinions' page.
1
I would be fine with Palin and Trump leading the GOP if the people they were enraging had the ability to accurately see what was causing them their problems. Unfortunately the enraged GOP is 180 degrees off in their analysis, and is preparing to double down on the very things that caused their rage in the first place.
3
Um, what? Did we watch the same endorsement of Donald J. Trump?
Surely, you mean fluent in incoherence.
Surely, you mean fluent in incoherence.
8
I am no fan of Palin, but it seems that the NYT seeks out nominal conservatives to attack Republicans.
Will any of these nominal conservatives ever be allowed to publish a column that similarly attacks on Democrats? Of course not. Only one set of views are allowed in this partisan echo chamber.
Will any of these nominal conservatives ever be allowed to publish a column that similarly attacks on Democrats? Of course not. Only one set of views are allowed in this partisan echo chamber.
I am very disappointed to see the Times printing this piece as an Op-Ed. This is exactly the kind of pandering to the crazies that got us in this mess in the first place. If the press had not given undue prominence to destructive people like Palin in their relentless attempt to spice up politics and sell more papers we might be talking about actual issues - something most Americans, Republicans & Democrats alike, would prefer. Palin brings nothing of value to the conversation and the fourth estate has lost its voice as the objective arbiter of "facts." Many of our problems in understanding each other are really based on the difference between fact and fiction. Regardless of what Palin and Fox et al. think, many of our disputes are easy to resolve by simply turning to facts. That is Palin's legacy, the final destruction of the concept of objective facts in the public dialogue.
9
Ms. Wallace,
Last I remember it was your boss Sen, McCain who brought this incoherent, hate filled, raging, "hot" woman into the national discourse. Not many of these family values Christians have called her on her instigating hatred towards the President and other non "real Americans." Neither have they called her on the hypocrisy in her own family. The rage is mainly about race. Period. End of.
Last I remember it was your boss Sen, McCain who brought this incoherent, hate filled, raging, "hot" woman into the national discourse. Not many of these family values Christians have called her on her instigating hatred towards the President and other non "real Americans." Neither have they called her on the hypocrisy in her own family. The rage is mainly about race. Period. End of.
5
McCain couldn't contain her, the campaign was scurrying to clean up after her, smooth things out before her, and like Trump, wincing as she spoke. As Ms. Williams knows all too well, the genie of gibberish has once again been let out of the bottle, and it's no easy feat to get her back in. She will capitalize on this resurgence, monetize anything and everything she can for it's duration, and probably make Trump rethink his strategy. Fortunately he can afford to pay her to go away, if it comes to it. I'm not sure if she'll trot out the family any more, now that some inconvenient truths have been told about them, but she's not above it by any means, you betcha. After all, bar brawls and domestic violence are woven into the very fabric of America, right? Well, maybe her America, the one that's besieged by the wars on Christmas, the constitution and apple pie.
I'm only 60 miles from the Mexican border and get by in Spanish ok, so if she's on a ticket that gets elected I have options. I'm also near decommissioned missile silos if all else fails.
She draws crowds, no doubt. So do circuses and high profile police chases. She's too radioactive for Trump to consider her as a running mate, but think what else he might have to give her. Any position she holds will diminish, until she quits. But I don't think either one really wants the job, it would involve disclosures neither would be comfy with. They just want to whip up attention, ratings if you will, and then cash in on them.
I'm only 60 miles from the Mexican border and get by in Spanish ok, so if she's on a ticket that gets elected I have options. I'm also near decommissioned missile silos if all else fails.
She draws crowds, no doubt. So do circuses and high profile police chases. She's too radioactive for Trump to consider her as a running mate, but think what else he might have to give her. Any position she holds will diminish, until she quits. But I don't think either one really wants the job, it would involve disclosures neither would be comfy with. They just want to whip up attention, ratings if you will, and then cash in on them.
5
Whispered Rage? No. Babbling incoherent hate, delivered at the level of a shriek. Sarah Palin isn't funny, she's mean. She's the embodiment of kitsch. Not the kitsch of plastic pink flamingoes and alabaster BVM's. The kitsch of Milan Kundera and Morris Berman. That which appeals to the lowest human impulses, the most common, mean, and least in value, the opposite of art.
14
It's funny- Four years ago she had no qualms running on the "establishment" GOP ticket with McCain; now she pivots 180 degrees to stump for Trump. Like Trump, she's an opportunist and looking for any way to stay relevant. There is so much angst in the voting public and their contempt for establishment politics- Trump could just have easily used Putin to campaign for him and his loyal followers wouldn't have batted an eyelid.
5
Exactly right that Palin paved the way for Trump. And the mainstream Republican Party in the form of McCain adopted her and promoted her.
Trump and Palin are as much the Republican Party as Bush and Rubio. It is all dangerous junk.
Trump and Palin are as much the Republican Party as Bush and Rubio. It is all dangerous junk.
8
Thanks, at least, for reminding us of Sen. McCain's "no, ma'am" remark about Pres. Obama. As much as we disagreed with him (especially about his naked militarism), he was at least a sensible, straight-up type of person.
When will someone who wants to distinguish himself now (perhaps Kasich, Bush, or Christie?) say, at a debate, that Pres. Obama is a thoughtful, analytical, capable politician who has presided well over difficult times? Perhaps he would say that he disagrees with the President on particular issues, but that he did lead the nation in avoiding financial meltdown, made us safer and more respected among all the nations (allies and enemies), made efforts to improve a terrible health care system, pursued improvements in education, energy, and gun safety, and that he is at least trying to deal with climate change.
Hey, why not try it? Notwithstanding all your attempts, you're not going to get to the right of Ted Cruz! Why not be rational and forward-looking?
When will someone who wants to distinguish himself now (perhaps Kasich, Bush, or Christie?) say, at a debate, that Pres. Obama is a thoughtful, analytical, capable politician who has presided well over difficult times? Perhaps he would say that he disagrees with the President on particular issues, but that he did lead the nation in avoiding financial meltdown, made us safer and more respected among all the nations (allies and enemies), made efforts to improve a terrible health care system, pursued improvements in education, energy, and gun safety, and that he is at least trying to deal with climate change.
Hey, why not try it? Notwithstanding all your attempts, you're not going to get to the right of Ted Cruz! Why not be rational and forward-looking?
8
In spite of the NY Times valiant attempt to translate Mrs. Palin's political speaking-in-tongues endorsement of a few days ago, I am still puzzled to understand her. It is reassuring that Mr. Trump's awesomeness and his followers' high intellect can figure out what she said.
3
Ms. Palin is barely fluent in English never mind rage roars. She is the sum of many GOP parts likely beginning with the Southern Strategy. She is the embarrassing result of a cynical plan to manipulate the hoards and plunder their wealth while pointing at the shadowy villain and encouraging them to chase him down.
What fun it will be when one by one they give up all critical thought and act on their increasing personal misery. Palin will lead them off a cliff.
What fun it will be when one by one they give up all critical thought and act on their increasing personal misery. Palin will lead them off a cliff.
3
Nicolle Wallace says of Palin and voter anger "... we all should have seen this coming." I agree. The GOP got what it asked for. Every outrageous position taken by whichever candidate has proposed it, is matched, not challenged, by all the other candidates. Not one of them now, will go against conservative GOP orthodoxy on climate change denial and a handful of other outlandish positions. And yet Wallace says, "..... I understand why, to this day, Senator McCain remains gracious toward Ms. Palin." Spoken like a true political pundit. McCain and the party "establishment" have never challenged the Tea Party wing of the GOP, because they created it - starting with Reagan - by adopting an irrational anti-government stance. They got the base all excited, and then as pragmatists charged with governing, had to make a very few compromises along the way. Unfortunately, they have moved the needle, so we now think of the GOP establishment as benign, when in fact for the last 30 years at minimum, they have been promoting an agenda that has stymied progress and prosperity for most Americans. Ms. Wallace, you own this.
9
I would like to ask this "senior adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign in 2008" one question:
Were you and McCain on Acid when you chose to put this lunatic potentially a heart beat away from the Presidency?
That I could excuse.
Were you and McCain on Acid when you chose to put this lunatic potentially a heart beat away from the Presidency?
That I could excuse.
9
" seem incapable of reversing President Obama’s legislative agenda"
Does it occur to the author that the purpose of governing is not to reverse but to find common cause to improve? I rather expect not.
The 'agitated' base is a creation, made of whole cloth, steeped in right-wing noise machine. A better example of this noise machine could not be found than the complete fabrication of slurs against Planned Parenthood, further trumpeted by the current GOP candidates. Well the wheels just finally came off that wagon today in Houston.
There is no legitimacy to the rage of the 'agitated base' and there has been nothing 'whisper-like' about how that rage has been stoked. It has been an unending shrill and shriek of dog whistles and disrespect to the highest office in the country for the last 7 years.
The question of course is whether the sane majority will shake off the lethargy, vote, and take our national narrative back from the crazies flocking to the banners of first unfurled by 'mama bear'.
Does it occur to the author that the purpose of governing is not to reverse but to find common cause to improve? I rather expect not.
The 'agitated' base is a creation, made of whole cloth, steeped in right-wing noise machine. A better example of this noise machine could not be found than the complete fabrication of slurs against Planned Parenthood, further trumpeted by the current GOP candidates. Well the wheels just finally came off that wagon today in Houston.
There is no legitimacy to the rage of the 'agitated base' and there has been nothing 'whisper-like' about how that rage has been stoked. It has been an unending shrill and shriek of dog whistles and disrespect to the highest office in the country for the last 7 years.
The question of course is whether the sane majority will shake off the lethargy, vote, and take our national narrative back from the crazies flocking to the banners of first unfurled by 'mama bear'.
8
The idea that republicans support veterans issues is pure unregurgitated barf. It was President Obama who took the limited resources in the budget deals to reduce waiting times on applications and expand services to veterans. The republicans control the 18 committees with their fingers in the VA pie. If they wanted to do something about it they could.
Remember the Veterans living in the filth of Walter Reed. George Bush never visited the hospital to personally examine the filth.
I have been waiting 3 and a half years on a appeal to a shoddy medical examination and disability rating. It takes time to gather information. But when you have three people in Virginia handling a stack of appeals the height of the Washington Monument and a congress which would rather give tax breaks to those who want to send our troops to war and forget them when they come home with nothing more than a "thank you for your service", my stomach wants to revolt.
Palin is a liar. She does this for the money. She is the clown princess of an incoherent right wing. She is a performance artist. The people who think she has anything to say are idiots.
Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel who was in Vietnam and Bosnia.
Remember the Veterans living in the filth of Walter Reed. George Bush never visited the hospital to personally examine the filth.
I have been waiting 3 and a half years on a appeal to a shoddy medical examination and disability rating. It takes time to gather information. But when you have three people in Virginia handling a stack of appeals the height of the Washington Monument and a congress which would rather give tax breaks to those who want to send our troops to war and forget them when they come home with nothing more than a "thank you for your service", my stomach wants to revolt.
Palin is a liar. She does this for the money. She is the clown princess of an incoherent right wing. She is a performance artist. The people who think she has anything to say are idiots.
Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel who was in Vietnam and Bosnia.
27
The Republican party is now undeniably the party of Trump and Palin. The party of bigotry and hatred. The party that whips the Trumpen proletariat into a frenzy of fear and outrage to get their votes. Its cheap and easy to do if you have no moral center and no real idea of what to do if you win. So get in line with Bob Dole and Chuck Grassley to kiss Donald's ring. At least he isn't rude to your buddies in the Senate like that mean, old Ted Cruz
3
I find this a little funny. McCain, and his advisers, were responsible for this ludicrous and dangerous pick for the Vice Presidency. Their lack of owning up to it--as evidenced in Ms. Wallace's article--remains an ongoing outrage, a sign of the radicalism of a party that has long lost its way. Ms. Wallace has zero moral authority to be weighing in here, however intriguing her insider's perspective is. As I see it, she's part of the problem.
14
If only Sarah Palin herself and her family lived up to the same strict "American" values that she rails against Democrats for not having.
But like all other Republicans, it's "do as I say, not as I do".
But like all other Republicans, it's "do as I say, not as I do".
8
I'm sorry these two have a political platform and so much media attention. Makes me afraid for America's future. They feed on lies, anger, rage, discontent and stoke America's anger and frenzy.
She is more like a shrieking banshee, her voice grates like nails dragging down a chalkboard. This may be nit-picky but even her choice of wardrobe, the black leather pseudo biker jacket, seems out of place for a campaign event in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Just not polished, professional, smart or a classy choice for the occassion. Kind of sums up Ms. Palin.
She is more like a shrieking banshee, her voice grates like nails dragging down a chalkboard. This may be nit-picky but even her choice of wardrobe, the black leather pseudo biker jacket, seems out of place for a campaign event in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Just not polished, professional, smart or a classy choice for the occassion. Kind of sums up Ms. Palin.
8
If Sarah Palin was a white male governor from Alaska, McCain would not have chosen her. In 2007, McCain was looking to appeal to women voters who at that time overwhelmingly supported Obama. The fact that his choice was an uninformed, unintelligible individual did not seem to factor into his decision. McCain paid the price in 2008 and, given Palin's endorsement, is paying still.
6
If Palin gives voice to "anger," then anger needs to read a book or open a dictionary from time to time. An ESL course might be in order as well. "Anger" is difficult to comprehend, because Palin-speak is breathtakingly incoherent.
Sarah should go "squirmish" offstage, her "anger" pales in comparison to a compulsive love of the spotlight (a la Trump). McCain can never be forgiven for foisting her on the electorate. I wonder how much mileage she got out of the $150K clothing budget last time? Has Donald upped the ante?
Sarah should go "squirmish" offstage, her "anger" pales in comparison to a compulsive love of the spotlight (a la Trump). McCain can never be forgiven for foisting her on the electorate. I wonder how much mileage she got out of the $150K clothing budget last time? Has Donald upped the ante?
9
When I see the media pandering to a certified psychopath disguised as a politician the only other "celebrity" who has gotten as much attention in recent times is Bernie Madoff. They both have deceived and diminished the American public, yet Palin gets the bully pulpit along with the treasonous Donald while destroying the very core of our democracy. We have all been robbed.
8
'...one of the country’s finest men." I don't know about that but I do know Senator McCain is responsible for giving Palin a national platform and Palin was a demagogic threat right out of the gate.
8
After the 2008 election, I thought good, now she's gone. After she resigned as Governor of Alaska, I thought good, now she's gone. Now I know that people like her are never gone. It's all about them. But, one thing I didn't realize in the 2008 election was just how unhinged the Republican base really is. They are a clear and present danger to our republic, no hyperbole. Now they want to sign on with Trump who is fantasizing about shooting people in the street.
8
Watching Palin, I almost thought they she was doing an impression of Tina Fey impersonating her. Those who think Palin's support will ultimately be detrimental to Trump fail to consider that, in this crazy political climate, Trump can get the support of any lunatic fringe group and, if anything, climb in the polls, so an endorsement by Palin will do no harm. He and Palin have a curious simpatico: They speak in utter generalities. The only difference is that he is occasionally lucid, with or without the teleprompter.
123
Please. Her seven-year-old message was repetitive, whiney and pathetic.
6
I wish Ms Wallace would also write about the machinations the McCain campaign engaged in, such as Ms Palin's dubious "pregnancy". Ms Wallace was one of the enablers of Sarah Palin. I don't now how she sleeps at night, knowing what she helped unleash on the American people.
9
I just find her incoherent and cannot believe she is taken seriously.
4
While reading this column I kept waiting for Ms. Wallace to mention the fact that Ms. Palin was wildly unprepared to assume the vice presidency and was put on the ticket in a vain attempt to attract women voters and men who thought she was attractive. She also doesn't touch on Ms. Palin's incoherent ramblings and that blaming the media and Democrats for everything under the sun is her one and only trick. I expected more from Ms. Wallace but, like every other Republican, she dissapoints.
8
My mom doesn't let me watch her on TV anymore, she thinks I might become full of rage amidst hope and maybe become a "Silent Beacon" that would stop me from driving our new Buick to the mall so often as she has said on numerous occasions but she feels she gets no response or sympathy for all she had to do for us kids since dad left us in September.
3
As was said during Trump's demand to see Obama's birth certificate: "we'll give you Obama's birth certificate when you show us Palin's High School diploma!"
3
So what is Ms. Wallace's position? Is she a supporter of Ms. Palin or Mr. Trump? Of course, she is a major supporter of W. What does that tell
us?
Senator McCain totally embarrassed himself and the Republican party when he selected Ms. Palin as his running mate in 2008. What does that tell us?
W, McCain, Trump, Palin are all a national embarrassment. What does that tell us about the GOP?
us?
Senator McCain totally embarrassed himself and the Republican party when he selected Ms. Palin as his running mate in 2008. What does that tell us?
W, McCain, Trump, Palin are all a national embarrassment. What does that tell us about the GOP?
8
Whisperer? Did you actually watch her?
5
The Republican Party is the minority party. Less people voted for their congressional candidates than did those who voted for the Democratic candidates in 2014. Yet, by gerrymandering (and they are not alone guilty here), surpressing minority voters, seeing the value to their party in off presidential year gubernatorial elections, and by making sure that there base is so angry it will get out and vote no matter what, they have managed to secure a solid hold on Congress. And Nicolle, when good people like you wait eight years to speak up about the unsubstantiated invectives hurled around (the birther argument, the president is Muslim, he is going to take our guns, etc.), you are part of the problem. I have listened to the gross disrespect that the President has had to put up with and never once did any Republican call out any of those doing it for fear of losing support. Well, Trump has your base energized and now you are lamenting that they want dump the party that got them there. No sympathy here. When you light a fire and don't take steps to control it, it becomes a conflagration.
9
Sarah Palin, Rage Whisperer. I think that that gives her some substantial ability to reflect the views of a big proportion of voters who are pretty upset with the way the country is being lead. The trouble is, I do not think that she has that kind of insight. I think that she repeats what she hears somewhat like what Trump does but with a lot less understanding of it, She craves the attention and the applause, and that's what fuels her. I think that Sarah Palin is a professional celebrity, now, who lost interest in what politics is all about, finding the Governor's office too unexciting after her exposure to the mass media to finish her term. She and Paris Hilton, fellow media darlings who never really did anything special besides being media darlings.
174
sarah and paris, fellow media darlings who never did anything 'really special' except for who they did it with...
1
While I didn't watch Ms. Palin's entire rambling endorsement of Mr. Trump, and while I have found her family's troubles very sad, I must take exception to one thing here. As I understand it, Ms. Palin was effectively driven from office by a plethora of largely baseless lawsuits leveled at her by Democratic enemies. She could not afford to defend against them and resigned office as a way of either getting out of the lawsuits or, by taking the Fox gig, as a way of paying for her defense.
I mention this because Democrats regularly disparage her as a "quitter," but those same Democrats created the conditions that forced her to quit. It was quit or face bankruptcy.
I don't agree with all of her choices, either politically or in reading material, but I pray that her family finds the healing it so obviously needs.
I mention this because Democrats regularly disparage her as a "quitter," but those same Democrats created the conditions that forced her to quit. It was quit or face bankruptcy.
I don't agree with all of her choices, either politically or in reading material, but I pray that her family finds the healing it so obviously needs.
Even Chair Yellen indicated it is time for Congress (R) to do something about
the economy. We have yet to see it.
the economy. We have yet to see it.
This may be laziest bunch of ne'erdowells ever assembled. Without Kasich they are just a bunch of grifters and self entitled blowhards. If I couldn't beat Trump, I might quit all and quilt.