Soon-to-be-former Gov. Sarah Palin, quoting the Bible as she makes her ostensible exit, seems to have pulled off a neat trick: sticking to the script [the ultimate one, in this case] and, at the same time, departing from it [being unpredictable]. It’s highly likely that she doesn’t really appreciate the irony involved, but it doesn’t matter; what she has done is established that she will conduct the next phase of her political journey as a drama queen. This is the reverse of Nixon in ’62.
Obviously, the Republicans will need an electoral guinea pig in 2012. The choice Republicans face is whether an upcoming 2012 debacle will resemble Barry Goldwater’s 1964 loss to LBJ—which, for all intents and purposes, eventually became the starting locus for a four-decade conservative ascendancy—or, George McGovern’s 1972 trouncing at the hands of Richard Nixon, which did not do the same thing for the Democrats.
Neither the ’64 nor the ’72 scenario will deter Palin. This is likely because she’s self-delusive enough to think that she can win even with the current American political zeitgeist being what it is. However, she may vaguely senses that she has an opportunity to become a more salient historical figure, as opposed to the intellectually challenged cipher that sank John McCain.
There remain two other possible positive outcomes from Palin’s obvious early hat-toss, at least as far as conservatives are concerned. The first is that a debacle can be avoided if, like other chimerical early front-runners [see: Ted Kennedy in 1980, Gary Hart in 1987, Paul Tsongas/Jerry Brown in 1992, Howard Dean in 2004] she flames out soon enough for a more viable candidate to be presented, resulting in a more salient contest in 2012.
The second involves the aforementioned possibility of things getting so much worse than they are now [a cataclysmic economic collapse approaching 1930’s levels or a terror attack on American soil approaching the scale of 9/11] to the point that Obama’s administration is perceived to be even less competent than W.’s. If that happens, Palin might become the perfect candidate: any notion of conservative/Republican moderation will go right into the trashcan and we would be looking at an administration headed by a W.-Quayle hybrid.
And with Rush Limbaugh in the role of both Karl Rove and Dick Cheney.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Sons Of Equivalences
[…because some equivalences are more equivalent than others, equivocally]
ITEM: GOV. SANFORD SAYS ARGENTINIAN MISTRESS HIS “SOUL MATE”
One has to admire Gov. Sanford’s non-repentant approach as almost refreshing in its chutzpah, particularly after the Clinton’s mess of denials and Spitzer’s wife-by-side mea culpa. One wonders [though certainly not too overly] how much of it can be directly attributed to his religious conservatism.
What it does further prove, however, is that conservative hypocrisy will always be more deserving of moral opprobrium than liberal hypocrisy. This is specifically because conservatives claim their principles are timeless and absolute, if not Divinely ordained, and therefore universally applicable; hence, betrayals are more trenchant. As much as liberals and progressives try to deify Marx, Hegel and their ilk, it will always be easier to chalk up a betrayal of said principles as a disagreement among men rather than a true “non serviam”.
ITEM: ANOTHER TRIUMPH OF SAIDISM
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06292009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/columbia_tenures_an_israel_basher_176594.htm
Much has been written about the case of Joseph Massad; it doesn’t surprise me that Columbia would resort to such under-the-table tactics to get his back on the faculty. However, this item really stands out:
In a recent work, "Desiring Arabs," Massad claimed to expose yet another plot against the Muslim world -- the "Gay International." He describes how a vast conspiracy of gay activists descended on Arab countries and endangered the lives of "practitioners of same-sex contact" by transforming them into "subjects who identify as 'homosexual' and 'gay.' " Nor is Massad fond of the women's rights movement, or "colonial feminism," as he calls it. He bristles at the attention paid to the Muslim practice of honor killings, which he likens to "crimes of passion," accusing women's groups of ignoring "rampant Western misogyny."
It just goes to show; you can be overtly homophobic and misogynist, but if you are an anti-Semitic non-Caucasian academic, all is forgiven. You can only expect so much. Somewhere in Hell, Edward Said must be smiling in between floggings.
ITEM: MADOFF GETS 150 YEARS
Consider that even if he lives to be 100, his sentence will be worth no more than 20% of what it originally was. Not quite the poetic justice anyone had in mind.
ITEM: JUSTICE THOMAS ONLY DISSENT IN STRIP SEARCH CASE
I hope no one is surprised; anyone remember what almost sank his nomination in the first place?
ITEM: GOV. SANFORD SAYS ARGENTINIAN MISTRESS HIS “SOUL MATE”
One has to admire Gov. Sanford’s non-repentant approach as almost refreshing in its chutzpah, particularly after the Clinton’s mess of denials and Spitzer’s wife-by-side mea culpa. One wonders [though certainly not too overly] how much of it can be directly attributed to his religious conservatism.
What it does further prove, however, is that conservative hypocrisy will always be more deserving of moral opprobrium than liberal hypocrisy. This is specifically because conservatives claim their principles are timeless and absolute, if not Divinely ordained, and therefore universally applicable; hence, betrayals are more trenchant. As much as liberals and progressives try to deify Marx, Hegel and their ilk, it will always be easier to chalk up a betrayal of said principles as a disagreement among men rather than a true “non serviam”.
ITEM: ANOTHER TRIUMPH OF SAIDISM
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06292009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/columbia_tenures_an_israel_basher_176594.htm
Much has been written about the case of Joseph Massad; it doesn’t surprise me that Columbia would resort to such under-the-table tactics to get his back on the faculty. However, this item really stands out:
In a recent work, "Desiring Arabs," Massad claimed to expose yet another plot against the Muslim world -- the "Gay International." He describes how a vast conspiracy of gay activists descended on Arab countries and endangered the lives of "practitioners of same-sex contact" by transforming them into "subjects who identify as 'homosexual' and 'gay.' " Nor is Massad fond of the women's rights movement, or "colonial feminism," as he calls it. He bristles at the attention paid to the Muslim practice of honor killings, which he likens to "crimes of passion," accusing women's groups of ignoring "rampant Western misogyny."
It just goes to show; you can be overtly homophobic and misogynist, but if you are an anti-Semitic non-Caucasian academic, all is forgiven. You can only expect so much. Somewhere in Hell, Edward Said must be smiling in between floggings.
ITEM: MADOFF GETS 150 YEARS
Consider that even if he lives to be 100, his sentence will be worth no more than 20% of what it originally was. Not quite the poetic justice anyone had in mind.
ITEM: JUSTICE THOMAS ONLY DISSENT IN STRIP SEARCH CASE
I hope no one is surprised; anyone remember what almost sank his nomination in the first place?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)