September 3, 2008
The ferociously totalitarian response of the Left to Sarah Palin: Sexism, intolerance, and fear
Why the ferocious reaction by both the Left and the MSM to the Palin nomination?
The conventional wisdom is that it is sexism, a variation on what Hillary experienced during the Democratic primaries. That is certainly part of the explanation. When have you ever heard male candidates, such as Obama, asked about how they will handle their job given their young children?
But there is more going on here than sexism.
A second factor is how the Left is notoriously intolerant of women and minorities who don't tow their ideological line. Just like they react fiercely to blacks who wander off their plantation, women who hold different views are deemed as lacking authenticity. Can't be a real feminist if you don't think their left-wing way. (What is no less appalling is how overtly the MSM has fully joined the Left's insanity.)
A third factor explaining the intensity of the reaction to Palin is she is a direct threat to the existing culture of death. Whether it is Trig's birth or her daughter's pending child, there has rarely been such a direct challenge to the abortion culture. The culture war is alive and the Left is facing having to deal with a young, dynamic and contrary role model who has walked the life walk.
What is not lost on many of us is how tolerant the evangelical community has been toward Palin's daughter's pregnancy. One of the most striking comments in several articles below is how several people have said that it was a similar development in their family's life which drew them into the pro-life movement. And what a contrast they offer to the rabid anger of the Left.
So the Left has to try to destroy Palin out of the box because she appears to be a strong, capable and "regular" woman who offers, by her life example, an appealing alternative vision for the future. Again, we don't know her well enough yet to know if she can pull it off - especially given how committed the Left is to destroying her.
But, if Palin can pull it off, she could be one of the biggest threats of my lifetime to the cultural and political Left, someone who could potentially alter the political and philosophical landscape in the United States.
Which explains the ferocious response by the Left to her nomination.
More thoughts to come.
Jonathan Adler on Sarah's rough start?
Kathryn Jean Lopez on We’re Not Sisters with Her: Palin exposes the feminist Left
Kathryn Jean Lopez on Heart of the Matter: Sarah Palin and a new feminism
Rich Lowry on Hating Sarah: Partisanship at its worst
Byron York on Why the Palin Baby Story Matters: What it means to evangelical voters
Ed Morrissey on We have walked in the Palins’ shoes
Focus on the Family on Pastor doesn't preach
Richard Adams on A tale of two philosophies
John Pitney, Jr. on Go Ahead and Laugh: How Palin matters
NR Editors on Pregnant Pause: Trying to end the Palin candidacy before it begins
Thomas Lifson on Sarah Palin and the Two Americas
Jeff Jacoby on A stark choice on abortion
Michelle Malkin on The Four Stages of Conservative Female Abuse
Can you bloggers of this site honestly say that if Obama had a black, unwed, pregnant teenage daughter in high school, who posed for pictures wielding guns with her baby's daddy, that y'all would be totally cool with that?
Posted by: LOLcain at September 3, 2008 6:09 PMLOLcain,
When Obama was running against Hillary, numerous lies about him were being floated: Obama attended a madrassa in Indonesia, Obama's middle name is Hussein and he secretly was Muslim, etc.
These baseless lies were the equivalent of the drivel being put out on the Daily Kos and repeated on this blog.
Frankly, I don't recall anyone on this blog promoting those baseless lies about Obama.
Posted by: Anthony at September 3, 2008 7:40 PMUh, Obama DID attend a madrass in Indonesia and his middle name IS Hussein.
Other stories not reported by the Left media-
Biden's daughter arrested in Chicago-Daley machine fixes the case.
http://articles.latimes.com/2002/aug/04/nation/na-briefs4.1
2. Biden's muslim brother, George Obama, lives in utter despair on $1 a month in a Nairobi slum. His brother, the "3 chickens in every pot" man who made over $4 million last year does NOTHING to help him.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/us-election/obama-neglects-brother/2008/08/26/1219516421035.html
Some credit should go to Clinton '96 chief campaign adviser Mark Penn.
In today's New York Times, Penn points out the mainstream media's hypocrisy on Sarah Palin:
"On Tuesday, the mainstream media, which never looked into allegations against John Edwards that turned out to be true and might have affected the race, splashed the personal life of Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old daughter onto virtually every front page, including this paper’s — even going as far as to cloak the details in news articles about the vice presidential vetting process."
Penn concludes by saying:
"There are many legitimate questions surrounding Sarah Palin and her experience and qualifications — and it’s only natural that the press would be tracking down her story. But making Ms. Palin’s daughter the most famous child in the history of a vice presidential nominee is just plain wrong.
There are some big issues in this election, from war and peace to the deficit and finding enough energy for our economy. Maybe it’s time to talk less about the personal lives of the children of the candidates and more about the future of our children."
I never thought I'd say it, but I'm agreeing with the Clinton camp.
Posted by: Anthony at September 3, 2008 7:54 PMMike,
I should clarify. You're correct Obama's middle name is Hussein and yes, he attended a "madrassa" while in Indonesia.
My point was that the information was disseminated to convince voters that he was a radical Muslim--a lie.
In Arabic, any school is called a "madrassa", so yes he attended one. However, there is no evidence that he attended a radical madrassa nor was ever a practicing Muslim.
Posted by: Anthony at September 3, 2008 8:03 PMCan you bloggers of this site honestly say that if Obama had a black, unwed, pregnant teenage daughter in high school, who posed for pictures wielding guns with her baby's daddy, that y'all would be totally cool with that?
We wouldn't be able to notice the difference between that and the gangster culture that exists today.
Posted by: bobc at September 4, 2008 2:09 PMbobc,
I meant to tell you that I see your point. I suspect that if Obama or Biden had the same scenario Palin has, then there might be a post about how it is an example and subtle endorsement of the liberal culture they support in policy. Or about social ramifications when the family situation of our leaders doesn’t set a good example of family values. Or something along those lines.
This is a politically conservative website and considering that, I think the bloggers here do pretty good jobs of keeping the bias to a minimum. Having said that, it isn’t totally devoid of partisan hypocrisy. Good luck finding a political website that is.
Posted by: msteven at September 6, 2008 8:07 PM