A: You don’t generally point and laugh at a pitbull.
— Oh, and maybe lipstick, too — though that’s just me speculating. Cole, writing for Salon:
[…] the values of [John McCain’s] handpicked running mate, Sarah Palin, more resemble those of Muslim fundamentalists than they do those of the Founding Fathers. On censorship, the teaching of creationism in schools, reproductive rights, attributing government policy to God’s will and climate change, Palin agrees with Hamas and Saudi Arabia rather than supporting tolerance and democratic precepts. What is the difference between Palin and a Muslim fundamentalist? Lipstick.
Wow. So much disingenuous idiocy packed into such a tiny paragraph, one hardly knows where to begin — though just to state the most obvious problems with Cole’s borderline insane indictment, Sarah Palin has rarely if ever financed suicide bombings, has not to my knowledge demanded that women be regarded as second class citizens, has never refused to allow other religions practiced inside her icy snow kingdom, and has never promoted the eradication of the Jews (though she did once wear a Buchanan button).
Add to this the fact that she was democratically elected — running against an entrenched old boy network and winning on a reform platform — and it becomes clear that, to believe Juan Cole, one must really believe that he believes Hamas to be a “reform movment” fighting against those entrenched government leaders who don’t kill Jews fast enough, and that Saudia Arabia is a free country run in a style that protects Constitutional liberties.
— Which, like, you know: cuckoo!
But Cole, bless him, was required to pad his “argument” a bit, providing us with the good fortune of a few extra chuckles — as well as the opportunity to take a closer look at the rhetorical strategies of the academic left, of which Cole is a member in good standing.
Argues Cole:
McCain pledged to work for peace based on “the transformative ideals on which we were founded.” Tolerance and democracy require freedom of speech and the press, but while mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Palin inquired of the local librarian how to go about banning books that some of her constituents thought contained inappropriate language. She tried to fire the librarian for defying her. Book banning is common to fundamentalisms around the world, and the mind-set Palin displayed did not differ from that of the Hamas minister of education in the Palestinian government who banned a book of Palestinian folk tales for its sexually explicit language. In contrast, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it.”
All so flowery and patriotic, Dr Cole.
Unfortunately, the facts tell a different story:
The worst one could infer is that Palin raised the censorship issue in an ill-advised effort to appease some constituents, met resistance and let the matter drop to pursue more mundane city business. Emmons and Palin’s political enemies are free to speculate and impugn motives all they want. But results matter. And the bottom line is, Palin didn’t ban anything. Not in 1996. Not in 1999 after the librarian resigned. Not in 2006 when she ran for governor.
“We have no records of any books being ‘banned or censured’ ever,†said current Wasilla Mayor Dianne M. Keller in a written statement last week. In fact, a review of city records found that just two books have been challenged in Wasilla since 1996  America (The Book) by Daily Show host Jon Stewart, and The Abduction by Mette Newthe. Both books remain on the library’s shelves.
[my emphasis]
Concludes NRO’s Ben Boychuk:
It’s a fantastic leap from “no books ever banned†to “little regard for the Constitution.†The Palin book-ban imbroglio dovetails nicely with the Left’s habit over the past eight years to claim the Bush administration is the most repressive and intolerant in U.S. history. Much like the mass round-ups of political dissidents, the widespread closures of opposition newspapers and TV stations, and the relentless prosecutions of anti-war spokesmen under the Espionage Act, Sarah Palin’s contempt for the First Amendment exists only in the fevered imagination of partisans.
For his part, Cole takes the false indictment one step further and connects a book banning that wasn’t with Islamic fundamentalists. Which, not to put too fine a point on it, is rather like comparing a hair cut to a videotaped beheading.
Rhetorically, Cole’s trick is to ascribe to Palin motives that he knows his readership, who’ve been conditioned to believe that Christian boogymen are out to replace the Constitution with the New Testament, will believe uncritically; from there, it is but a small step to suggesting a sinister cause/effect relationship — the suggestion being all that matters, else the facts would have received a place of prominence in Cole’s “investigation.”
But then, because the facts undercut the suggestion, and because the suggestion is what Cole hopes will have lasting power, Cole merely omits the facts. Academic rigor at its finest!
What Cole also fails to acknowledge is that, when it comes to book banning or bowdlerization, the real problem lies with PC progressives, who have, in recent years had problems with the “ageist” “Old Man and the Sea,” the “racist” works of Faulkner and Twain, the “insensitive to the differently abled” title, “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” and on and on and on — to the point where textbooks themselves are being “cleaned” of anything that might give “offense” or be construed as “hate speech” — foregoing historical context and intent for a more sanitized and “diversity-friendly” world of literature and learning.
The irony, it practically dazzles.
Continues Cole:
Palin argued when running for governor that creationism should be taught in public schools, at taxpayers’ expense, alongside real science. Antipathy to Darwin for providing an alternative to the creation stories of the Bible and the Quran has also become a feature of Muslim fundamentalism. Saudi Arabia prohibits the study, even in universities, of evolution, Freud and Marx. Malaysia has banned a translation of “The Origin of the Species.” Likewise, fundamentalists in Turkey have pressured the government to teach creationism in the public schools. McCain has praised Turkey as an anchor of democracy in the region, but Turkey’s secular traditions are under severe pressure from fundamentalists in that country. McCain does them no favors by choosing a running mate who wishes to destroy the First Amendment’s establishment clause, which forbids the state to give official support to any particular theology. Turkish religious activists would thereby be enabled to cite an American precedent for their own quest to put religion back at the center of Ankara’s public and foreign policies.
All very sinister sounding, until one finds out — and here, Dr Cole is baffling silently — that Governor Palin’s actual views on the teaching of “creationism,” which is the more religiously-charged, fundie-sounding iteration of what I’m assuming is Intelligent Design (as opposed to Biblical literalism) are perfectly consistent with the law. In fact, had Dr Cole bothered to do a quick Google search, he’d have doubtless stumpled across this from the AP:
Palin said during her 2006 gubernatorial campaign that if she were elected, she would not push the state Board of Education to add creation-based alternatives to the state’s required curriculum, or look for creationism advocates when she appointed board members.
At a GOP presidential debate in May 2007 in Simi Valley, Calif., McCain said he believed in evolution.
“But,” he added, “I also believe, when I hike the Grand Canyon and see it at sunset, that the hand of God is there also.”
Palin’s children attend public schools and Palin has made no push to have creationism taught in them.
Neither have Palin’s socially conservative personal views on issues like abortion and gay marriage been translated into policies during her 20 months as Alaska’s chief executive. It reflects a hands-off attitude toward mixing government and religion by most Alaskans.
“She has basically ignored social issues, period,” said Gregg Erickson, an economist and columnist for the Alaska Budget Report.
Just so we’re clear: though Palin (and McCain, and a substantial percentage of the population of the US, including, if we’re to believe him, Barack Obama) believe in a diety that put into motion the material world, what Palin expressly did not do — despite her own personal beliefs in a higher power — was try to use government to insinuate those beliefs into the public school curriculum.
Contrast this to the beliefs of those who promote the secular magical “science” of global warming (or is it now climate change — and their efforts to equate those who remain skeptical over claims made by those who argue for the evils of AGW with Holocaust deniers — and it becomes clear that, should one really be interested in exploring the forced incorporation of “religious” beliefs into the public school system, one should be looking more closely at the Green movement; which, unlike proponents of ID — but much like the fundamentalists in Turkey and the middle east Dr Cole is fond of invoking — includes its very own fringe groups who engage in bombings, arson, and domestic terrorism.
Whereas the specter of a person who believes in Intelligent Design planting explosives in a gymnasium to “protest” the separation of their beliefs from the public school curriculum are not quite so well documented.
Nor have Governor Palin or Senator McCain ever tried to normalize those whose engaged in domestic terrorism — that honor going to the Democratic nominee for President, a fact quite studiously ignored by Dr Cole in his desire to tie Palin to extremists.
Curious that. Unless, of course, Dr Cole doesn’t find the Weather Underground to be an “extremist” group. After all, their methods may have been a bit gauche, but their hearts seemed to be in the right place. At least, from a “progressive” point of view…
Which, while all this may have occurred to Dr Cole, he decides, as a good doctrinaire academic is wont to do, that such trifles will only “problematize” his narrative — and so he carefully “brackets” it, preferring instead to aim his keen intellect at the supposed transgressions of the biblethumping hick Governor from Alaska, transgressions that, in the first two instances, he has been unable to prove, and so has relied solely on the suggestion of impropriety. Such a move is, as I’ve noted here often, a rhetorical staple of leftist attack — and so Cole is just doing what any good leftist does: attempting to attack the character and beliefs of a political opponent without having any evidence available to substantiate the attack.
And so he continues, again by carefully omitting facts, to weave his narrative without any concern whatever for its truth:
The GOP vice-presidential pick holds that abortion should be illegal, even in cases of rape, incest or severe birth defects, making an exception only if the life of the mother is in danger. She calls abortion an “atrocity” and pledges to reshape the judiciary to fight it. Ironically, Palin’s views on the matter are to the right of those in the Muslim country of Tunisia, which allows abortion in the first trimester for a wide range of reasons. Classical Muslim jurisprudents differed among one another on the issue of abortion, but many permitted it before the “quickening” of the fetus, i.e. until the end of the fourth month. Contemporary Muslim fundamentalists, however, generally oppose abortion.
As does, eg., Ron Paul. And Dr Jerry Pournelle. And roughly half the country. As for Governor Palin’s ability to “reshape the judiciary to fight” abortion, what, precisely, does Dr Cole think that entails? Putting Muslim extremists on the Supreme Court?
The fact is, many of those who are quite adamantly pro choice recognize that Roe v Wade was bad law. And even were McCain (not Palin) able, as President, to assign SCOTUS justices willing to forego stare decisis and overturn Roe, abortions wouldn’t suddenly become illegal. In fact, such liberal luminaries as Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Susan Estrich have even gone so far as to speak heretically on Roe from the perspective of liberal orthodoxy.
As I noted yesterday — though my own views differ substantially — Governor Palin’s views on abortion, based as they are on the idea (shared by Joe Biden) that life begins at conception, are completely consistent: if one is pro-life, and one believes that abortion is the killing of an innocent child, then it follows that killing an innocent child for the sins of its mother or father is wrong. Which is why Palin’s position is perfectly logical from her initial assumption. The one case in which she supports abortion — it being the one case where she is not forced to elevate “life” over “choice”, is in cases where the life of the mother is threatened. In which instance, she is then dealing with hierarchy of claims to life, giving preference to the claimant who first held the claim.
Again, I don’t believe as Palin does — but then, there is nothing logical about my position, either. The question of abortion is a difficult one, even for those of us who are not religious; and from a libertarian perspective, I’m not convinced, as many libertarians are, that “liberty” supercedes “life” in a country that claims its rights from natural law. Making the question of when does life begin an important one to consider before taking any intellectual position with respect to abortion. What the overturn of Roe would do would settle the abortion question in state legislatures, where the question legally belonged in the first place — at least, according to one widely held view of the decision.
I was yesterday chided for describing myself as reluctantly pro-choice — meaning, I support early term choice with a number of restrictions, and oppose late term abortion — by a libertarian who declared that I was carrying water for the religious right, an accusation that, to my longtime readers (particularly those who remember the battles I went through with social conservatives during the Schiavo affair) must have sounded quite nutty. But then, the abortion question — and more generally, questions of policy that redound to morals — tend to generate the most heat, so I’m willing to live with such simplistic indictments.
For her part, and as was noted earlier by economist and columnist for the Alaska Budget Report, Gregg Erickson, “Neither have Palin’s socially conservative personal views on issues like abortion and gay marriage been translated into policies during her 20 months as Alaska’s chief executive. It reflects a hands-off attitude toward mixing government and religion by most Alaskans.” In fact, she vetoed a Republican bill that would deny benefits to same sex partners, concerned that such a bill would be unconstitutional.
Hardly the calling card of a zealot. In fact, what is shows me is that Palin can govern in accordance with the Constitution — even when she happens to have personal disagreements on some of the issues protected by law.
Which, if anything, has the effect of sticking a finger in the eye of all those on the left AND right who have tried to make personal opinions on certain controversial issues a kind of litmus test for fitness to govern.
For her part, Palin is honest about her beliefs — and yet she is able to govern in a way that refuses to foist her personal beliefs on those she governs. In that respect, she governs from libertarian and federalist principles.
And it is this — more than the misdirection and scare tactics people like Cole like to raise about Palin’s “fundamentalist” religious convictions — that truly scares progressives, particularly those that recognize in Palin a walking rebuke to the idea of a “Living Constitution.”
In fact, so frightened are they by Palin that professors like Dr Cole, writing for prominent online journals in an effort to advance a progressivist cause, are willing to append their names to poorly sourced lies and smears with the hope that somewhere, someone might actually be fooled.
And if that one misinformed vote gains the progressives power, well, all for the greater good. Which, in Cole’s mind, makes him a hero to the commonweal — rather than the academic sellout and ideological hack he nearly always proves himself to be.
(h/t Carin)
****
BECAUSE OF THE HYPOCRISY update: Writes Salt Lick in the comments:
Palin wants to ban books? Cole is more ambitious than that:
“I think it is outrageous that Fox Cable News is allowed to run that operation the way it runs it,†he said in summarizing his view that Fox “is polluting the information environment.†He went on to claim that “in the 1960s the FCC would have closed it down. It’s an index of how corrupt our governmental institutions have become, that the FCC lets this go on.â€Â
See the clarification at the WSJ link. Evidently, Cole smells libel everywhere — well, except in his own articles.
Priceless.
I would try to say something that would make Dr. Cole look stupid, but he seems to have taken all the good lines. Maybe an updated quote from Napoleon:
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is in the process of beclowning himself.”
Oh, lookie: just 29% of Obama supporters think that Supreme Court decisions should be decided on Constitutional principles. Those Evangelicals are so radical.
I don’t agree with Dr. Cole’s premise, but he gets at least half a point for trying to be clever.
Be ye not as the Left, and lose capacity to laugh at yourself.
You know, I had forgotten about Dipshit Cole (not to be confused with John “Douchebag” Cole), Jeff. Which might explain why he typed up that gargantuan pile of shit.
Just a theory…
Sorry to go OT-Just saw Sashal over at neoneocon, in the class war discussion, going after another guy with a Russian name, warning of bombs away on Iran if McCain wins. I wondered where he’d went. I guess his work is never done.
Oops. Here.
– Sarah’s new non deplume:
– “Political Viagra!”
Oh, lookie: just 29% of Obama supporters think that Supreme Court decisions should be decided on Constitutional principles.
71% believe that feeeeeeeeeelings are more important than the Constitution. Presumably, the one that President Bush shredded.
Precisely and well done, again proving the inherent moral asymmetry of the L v R political divide. This phenomenon is so blatant, so overt that surely it finally deserves its own definition.
False prophecy, maybe.
I don’t want to know Juan Cole, Goldstein, but you, sir, are no Juan Cole.
Q: What’s the difference between Dr Juan Cole and a pitbull?
A: Teeth.
Oh, and when a pitbull goes for the groin, it doesn’t normally wind up with only a mouthful of shoe for its troubles.
What’s the difference between Juan Cole and a pit bull?
Hmmm.
The pit bull’s less likely to be a nasty little bitch?
– New, hot of the toy store shelfs…
“Sarah Palin action dolls” – Featuring mini skirts, lots of decolage’, and packing heat.
– Yowza.
– “shelves”, shelfs are where they keep Santa’s helpers.
When both political parties figure out that Palin is a Constitutional Originalist, THAT’s when things will become truly interesting.
Certainly the rhetoric will, Bonesteel…
Difference between Juan Cole and a pitbull? We can get the pitbull spayed or neutered.
Dunno how tall Steve Clemons is, but Juan only comes up to his collarbones. You’ve got to wait a few minutes for Steve to stop enthusing about what a wonderful, knowledgeable and all-around useful guy Cole is before they actually switch places at the lectern.
otoh, I think he’s saved us the cost of the operation.
I just went and read firedoglake aka manbearpig or the primordial oozing cesspool. They are trumpeting the article about Palin taking per diem dollars. They apparently quit reading when that article, within the scope of the original article, debunks itself. They really do hate women.
So let me see if I get the arguments herein, Sarah Palin sent her hicktown’s librarian a letter asking if the librarian would approve of removing books from the library, and when the librarian said she would not remove books of Palin’s request the librarian was sent a letter by Palin asking for her resignation. But no books were removed! The librarian refused to resign! So that scenario in its totality exonerates Sarah Palin?
I ask that all here remove Barack Obama’s books from your personal libraries, but since none of you own or have read these books I’m not really asking, and the tree really didn’t fall in the forest.
[ed — as was made clear in the linked piece and its excerpt, the librarian in question resigned in 1999; no books have been removed to this day. So you see, when you begin a comment with the rhetorical “let me get this straight” — then proceed to refuse to do so — it undercuts all that follows.]
Shut up, thor.
So we go from “Bush is Hitler” to “Palin is an Isalmic extremist”? Seriously, Juan Cole is beyond parody. The sheer amount of bending this way and that to stake out a position that can hurt Palin is a testament to their desperation and their knowledge the Chosen One may not be chosen in November (YOU RACISTS !!!)
I see you used “your” correctly this time, thor. Improving.
What’s the difference between Juan Cole and an asshole?
Trick question!
I betcha dollars to doughnuts that any problem with books in the library stemmed from a reluctance to stock any conservative books after repeated requests.
This elderly dude at my Library appointed himself citizen library mayor after so many complaints that the Librarians would not stock popular bestselling conservative books despite overwhelming requests from the senior citzens who volunteered their time to the library
Librarian buyers are not much different than Barnes and Noble snobs.
Mayor of my library gets results.
They are trumpeting the article about Palin taking per diem dollars.
Senate Salary 2008 — $169,300
does not include per diem.
I’m just shocked that the good doctor, expert that he is on the subject — and given the opportunity it provides for talking about the American election like a Good Marxist, not as a reactionary partisan of the Actually Existing — doesn’t recognize in Palin’s evident philosophy of governance the precise opposite of “third-worldist” politics, where, as in today’s Muslim countries (his specialty, right?), a pretended-to religion serves primarily to justify the predations of the aligned “business” and political classes.
Rather like it does in, say, Chicago. For example.
…
SHOCKED, I SAY.
“I ask that all here remove Barack Obama’s books from your personal libraries, but since none of you own or have read these books…”
Would any of those books tell me how to parlay an empty resume into a major political party presidential nomination? How about how to manage a media blackout on the fact that one of my campaign officers was a former defense attorney for domestic terrorists? or maybe, how to get a sweetheart real estate deal with a convicted felon?
Because if not, I doubt they’d be very interesting reading, if his lameass speeches are any indication.
thor – What color is the sky in your world?
– The Left is in full flight panic, oblivious of the traps they are setting for themselves.
– Just off hand I don’t thing questions of “sources of income” is a area any of the Dems in Congress would want to touch with a magic broomstick.
– Chomp away on that Palin bone Lefties.
– Go team!
tsk9 – Given that Baracky has worked less than 170 days since being elected to the Senate, I suspect that the Dems would be well served to avoid the topic of salaries and per diem. It is kind of like how they ignored that Gov. Palin’s expenses were remarkably lower than those that held her spot before her. They are fucking immune to facts.
“Great, kid! Don’t get cocky!”
So let me see if I get the arguments herein…
If that is a question the answer is no.
And who might that someone be? Does this fool think that anyone not already having drunk the progressive Kool Aid is going to be moved by this libelous babble?
This is a comprehensive ass kicking, Jeff. My colon is twitching just thinking of the depth of your boot in his.
thor, read the fucking post. Then shut up.
– “Barrack Hussein Obama”, the great oreo cookie hope of the Left.
Need I point out that it is racist to point out that Baracky’s middle name is, in fact, Hussein. It is also racist to point out that he is the most inexperienced candidate for President in the history of our Republic.
– It is, in fact, racist to even mention that hes running for Preident, or even point out he exists.
– They’ll have to work on the “drawins, paintings, statues, cartoons, or images of any kind” as they go along.
Megan McArdle has a little post up, and the comments there are very interesting.
http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/09/coastal_privilege.php
The “ladies” at manbearpig are ripping Gov. Palin’s religion. I do not recall religion being an appropriate topic of conversation when it was shown that Baracky had been Rev. Wright’s faithful student for over 20 years.
#24 Dan:
There’s only one Juan Cole.
Above is the end result of an esteemed academic attempting to parlay his studies credentials into a pundit slot. The labyrinthine logic necessary to accomplish that big pile of crap only serves to expose his ignorance of conservative politics (and Palin for that matter) rather than burnishing his Middle Eastern Credentials.
Dr. cole does know his subject but if one reads his books one is immediately drawn to the Arab centric nature of his writings. He is all about the understanding and seeing the point of view and the cultural eyeglasses. It’s not ignorant so much as a reflected desire to lean heavily to a point of view just short of apologetic. One need only read Bernard Lewis or Charles Allen to receive a more sober minded exegesis, less concerned with making excuses than in explaining the clear facts of historical Islamic radicalism.
I, too, succumb to the desire (brought about by Jeff’s excellent analysis) to point and laugh but it is tinged with a sadness that such a distinguished scholar would pimp himself in such a manner.
BTW: My theory is that thor has Tourette’s Syndrome. How it manifests as the written word is a mystery encased in an enigma surrounded by the the bloody hides of Michael Vick’s dogs.
WOOF!
I imagine we’ll be hearing about Bristol Palin’s honor killing any day now…
[…] h/t Dan. More, from Allah and the fine elites at TNR, whose Josh Patashnik complains: this [poll] reflects […]
– JD, every angle they try to attack her from just showcases every weakness and scandal of their own empty suit candidate, and alienates them that much more with mainstream Americans.
– The “elites” are just too socially naive to “get it”. I see it as a laughable mass example of a giant “sending them with a bucket out to the woods to hunt for snipes” party.
– That sort of thing never ends well for them. Snobish social misfits, laughed at and sent home with a pat on the head before they suffer serious emotional/mental breakdowns.
– Something like thor is striving bravely to avoid.
“Is that a pun?” he asked suspiciously…
This phenomenon is so blatant, so overt that surely it finally deserves its own definition.
Give it a Name.
I propose Bernard
In an academic world where an actual spectrum of ideology existed, where people actually had to exert some concern over how their peers might view their veracity John Cole might not have so much to say.
BOLD!
Goldstein, you must be pinching yourself. Would you have ever thought that John McCain (of all people) would be the vehicle that delivered the progressive left to you on such large and consistent silver platters?
This election cycle has been something to witness, not only have we seen BOTH Clintons completely delegitimized and undermined by their own party, but now we have this once “darling of the liberal media” crushing the most fantastical tropes of the left with their own devices!
– Experience. Bad choice. Our #2 easily eclipses their #1. Her Governoral voting record on several multi-billion dollar legislative acts versus his 137 days of voting present.
– Job ability vs family. Another bad choice. Would they ask that question of any man? Really pissing off the women.
– Religion – Two words. Wright and Pfleger.
– Personal attacks on the family and her children. Total loser.
– Good luck Lefties.
“Need I point out that it is racist to point out that Baracky’s middle name is, in fact, Hussein. …”
It is perhaps worth remembering that early in his campaign for the Presidency, Barack “Not from Central Casting” Obama himself touted his middle name Hussein as a sort of spiritual unguent sure to be useful in healing the injured relations between America and the rest of the world.
I haven’t heard him saying this sort of thing lately though.
Nor exclaiming his trip to Pakistan when he was younger as an example of precisely the thing qualifying him to command the US Foreign Policy apparatus.
Palin wants to ban books? Cole is more ambitious than that:
“I think it is outrageous that Fox Cable News is allowed to run that operation the way it runs it,” he said in summarizing his view that Fox “is polluting the information environment.” He went on to claim that “in the 1960s the FCC would have closed it down. It’s an index of how corrupt our governmental institutions have become, that the FCC lets this go on.” WSJ, April 24, 2006.
“…..he said in summarizing his view that Fox “is polluting the
informationfar-Left propaganda environment.‖ There. Fixed that for him.
More excited about the GOP ticket than I can remember… but when do I get worried that we are peaking too early?
Roadkill or Juan Cole?
You decide.
“#Comment by JD on 9/9 @ 12:32 pm #
thor – What color is the sky in your world?”
Shit brown.
Sarah Palin is scaring the shit out of the proggs. She shines the sunlight on their idiocy, simply by her existence.
rather than the academic sellout and ideological hack he nearly always proves himself to be.
THis is much prettier than what I would’ve used, which is “lying sack of shit”. But, then again, you gots the sheepskins and I gots the Sergeants stripes. Bravo, sir.
The Lost Dog: “Sarah Palin is scaring the shit out of the proggs. She shines the sunlight on their idiocy, simply by her existence.”
Their thoughts scattered like cockroaches in the light, as demostrated by their inability to respond effectively.
I’m wondering what the proggs will come up with next. Whatever they are doing now, it ain’t working.
The whole librarian kerfuffle is just becoming funny as hell to me, it is like trying to argue with a lolcat:
OMG SHE ALMOSE BANDED TEH BOOK!!!
I once asked Better Half’s parents what it was like to live in a totalitarian Communist country. By the standards applied to the book banning bullshit meme, I am an advocate of totalitarian communist regimes.
I have the story straight, very straight as a matter of fact, since this has been written about for days, posted a link on it yesterday. After Palin sent the librarian a letter asking her if she would remove books if instructed to do so, the librarian responded “no,” that she’d refuse to do so.
Fairly easy to understand scenario, time line and all. Maybe you need re-read my post and straighten out your thoughts on the intentionalist aspects of persons who’d ban books iff they could.
Did anyone see how Barak’s “moral compass” Rev Wright is now involved in a scandal in Texas, where his affair with a married woman has cost the woman her marriage.
Barraky’s pastor and moral compass, getting some on the side with a married woman. Methinks the compass points south when it should point north.
I read it. Fuck you.
You sound just like Sarah barking at li’l Trigger.
So thor you’re worried as Vice President, her platform is going to be book banning ?
Your argument is lacking significantly. The left is going to have to do more than throw out these sound bites “PALIN SPEAKS IN TONGUES” “PALIN ABUSED HER POWER” “PALIN HATES JEWS” etc. The irony is, moderate voters, who the left needs very very badly, will not find Palin’s alleged actions as outrageous as the Left thinks they are. The Obama voters, well they were content to smear her the first day with completely false allegations.
The left made a major miscalculation the last two weeks in going after Palin and her kids- its made them look incredibly hypocritical and mean spirited, PLUS shined the light on the way the left really looks at abortion- ie if you have a child with problems, its a burden and the child must be aborted. Its going to cost them the election. You can take that to the bank thor.
No, counselor, I’m not. I’m certain one former small town hick mayor would be in for a surprise is she attempted to exercise her extremist beliefs in such a manner. Dumb question, counselor, don’t ya think, first amendment and all.
Read my arguments, counselor, then reply.
Try reading for comprehension, ya zero.
OMG!! It’s the KISS OF DEATH!!!!!lebenty1!!
BTW: these guys need a new name. Let’s help ’em out.
My suggestion: “Who? The band.”
Read my arguments, counselor, then reply.
You make no arguments, thor. You suck Mike Vicks donger, you bathe in Baracky love spunk. You call names. You act like an idiot. Making arguments is not amongst the list of things that you do.
My suggestion for most bands is “This Isn’t Our Regular Drummer.”
I think thor just doesn’t like strong, independant, women.He’s intimidated by em. And kids. I’m sure he doesn’t like the kids. And he reads stuff into things that aren’t there. And comments on it. And I’m pretty sure he has BO.
You stay classy, Thor.
Or not, as is most likely.
Can’t find them. How about you read some more Figaro d’Lebeaver and finally justify leftism in detail.
Palin, yes. Putin, not so much.
Uh huh. And the librarian later left. And Palin was still in power. And no books were banned. And none have been removed from shelves.
You really don’t understand intentionalism at all, judging by how often you aim it at me in scenarios where it has no bullets.
Well, I see you addressed Cole’s article properly. I was at work and didn’t get to play, but I heard about the article (and then looked it up) because he was interviewed on local radio (WJR) … my husband /boss made me turn it off before the segment ended because Cole was such a tool.
And, not one of those good tools, like a hammer or a screwdriver.
Dr. Cole, I thought “Muslim fundamentalist” is a term similar to those used by Rethuglikkkans to tar a glorious world religion by the actions of a few justly provoked by America.
Or is that only when you aren’t trying to grind an ax?
*Read my arguments, counselor, then reply.*
First please put “arguments” in quotes, second, explain to me how this alleged attempt to ban books has any real bearing on the vice presidency- something tells me she’ll have more important things to do and one thing I damn well know this lady can do its prioritize and manage (imagine running a state and 5 kids and being successful at all of it). Its a tough world out there right now so kinda don’t think they’ll have time to be complete facists.
Which books did she want to ban btw thor ? I read on a couple of lib blogs, she wanted to ban the Harry Potter series when she was a mayor- how embarassing when it was learned the books had not come out during the applicable time period cited. Not surprisingly, it was a bold faced lie.
And my question to you now is, what’s your take on Jeff’s last comment, about Cole wanting to regulate Fox news ? Don’t you think conservatives should get their own news channel or do you guys get to corner the market on news ?
#44 BBH:
There is an old comedy staple where the city-slickers head out to the country, sneer at the local rubes, and end up with the rubes taking them for their last dollar.
thor … trust me on this … shut up.
#62 thor:
In about the space of a week, Jeff G. (our host – we are all guests at his sufferance) has edited at least three of your comments. I really do not remember him doing that before (it may have been done in one singular episode that the blogosphere remembers very well).
Think carefully about what you want to say, and then think carefully about how you want to say it.
Or carry on as usual – no skin of my nose.
Are you working on getting that NPR gig? “thor’s hammer-hour” would be a great title, and “thor’s greatest hits” would be a natural.
#64 thor:
You really need a wider audience than Jeff G. provides.
Blogspot is open for start-ups, and with your moxie and drive I bet you’ll exceed the readership this little site hosted by a home-bound academic has.
Don’t deny the world, share your gifts!
Tangentially related, but I believe I recall a few years ago Jeff P (of beautiful atrocities) kept requesting some new/popular conservative book. Which the library refused to get. Month after month after month.
Of course, there is a world of difference between flat-out refusing to put a book on their shelf and actually banning it. Right?
Anyone take a trip lately to their local library and check the over/under on conservative v liberal books?
I don’t know much about book banning, but years ago I bought ‘Closing of the American Mind’. Halfway through I found there were several pages missing from my volume. I went back to the store and got a new copy. (Good policy).
With two volumes I went to the head librarian at Fordson and offered to give the new volume to the library if I could xerox (for free) the missing pages. I got the pages, the library got a new book. Win-win.
Book banning? I don’t have time for that nonsense. If I don’t like a book*, I stop reading it.
*Most of the time it is ‘boring’; the rest of the time it is ‘bullshit’.
I wonder if that book is still there? I should stop by next time through town and ask.
For intent and purpose, book banning and absence by omission look the same to the person who wants to read a certain book.
I don’t know the ins and out of the Palin issue, but I do know that at times people have gone to lengths to keep smutty books w/in the reach of kids with a library card.
Is it “banning” if it gets moved from the Juv section to fiction?
Anyone take a trip lately to their local library and check the over/under on conservative v liberal books?
That gave me an idea, Carin:
https://proteinwisdom.com/pub/?p=1494
And Palin’s letter to the librarian was never really written. And the tree really never fell in the forest.
Sarah Palin authored the letter. What is your interpretatin as to the author’s intended message/narrative in the letter.
And this is what we run into all too often in today’s politics. Jeff would have me believe that every loose association that he can imagine of and about Barack Obama are dire and relevant. Yet with this nut, this kook from Alaska, nary a word from her mouth, or written by her hand, or any crazed thoughts in her head matter much, there were no books taken from the shelf, believe it! Thanks to Sarah as a matter of fact!
Willful partisan hackery is on both sides. But you’re not neutral, not even close; you’re clearly way-gone on one side, acting “wingered” as I like to call it. You find no flaw in word, action or deed of Ms. Palin? Surely she is an angel, maybe even Gabriel’s angel. So mystic!
I think thor should go to Alaska and get ON THE CASE.
I would go to Alaska, but based on my support for Obama I’d be fingered as a black liberation Marxist and therefore I’d run the risk of a witch burning at Sarah Palin’s church.
Of course, I guess I could just go up there and beat the ever-living crap out of ’em Armageddon snake rattlers, but that wouldn’t be Christian of me, now would it.
Now, thor is just talking to himself.
I suggest we let him enjoy the conversation in private.
Speaking of lipstick:
http://www.drudgereport.com
[also old stinky fish wrapped up pretty]
What is your interpretatin as to the author’s intended message/narrative in the letter.
She wanted to know what the library policy was on removing books her constituents found inappropriate or offensive, just like she said in the letter. That is not the same thing as “Palin tried to get the books banned!”
Is there anybody out there can translate this into French verse so thor can maybe understand it better?
Of course, I guess I could just go up there and beat the ever-living crap out of ‘em Armageddon snake rattlers, but that wouldn’t be Christian of me, now would it.
Heh. Delusions of grandeur. But, really, I think you should try to prove me wrong thor.
#91 Techie:
Heck no!
Get yourself to blogspot, thor, and share with the masses!
They need your insight!
It. Is. Your. Calling.
I guess I could just go up there and beat the ever-living crap out of ‘em Armageddon snake rattlers, but that wouldn’t be Christian of me, now would it.
That is a dandy idea, thor. I will donate toward a plane ticket so thor can fly up to the Mug Shot bar there in Wasilla and explain to them boys what a bunch or retarded ass hillbilly sluts they got in their town up there.
They love loudmouthed trustafarian. For breakfast.
Something like, “you supported my opponent. Let me get a handle on you before I decide whether or not I shitcan your ass.” And as BMoe said, “Oh, and by the way — what is the library policy on removing books my constituents find inappropriate or offensive?”
The librarian said the library doesn’t do that. That librarian kept her job until she left three years later, as I understand it. And there are no accounts of any books being banned or removed from the shelves.
So. What does that say to you?
As for my “wingered”-ness, well, I admit I like Palin (McCain? Check the record) — though this doesn’t mean I find no flaws. Just that her slappy labia, or her daughter’s sex habits, or her supposedly bad parenting, or her hick upbringing, or stance on abortion (in conjunction with her never having tried to legislate that stance) aren’t the kinds of things that I find problematic.
But your having even mentioned neutrality as if you consider it a virtue made me giggle. You’ve had Obama’s dick in your mouth so long you must think it’s your tongue.
I’ll tell you what Sarah Palin’s letter says to me: it says to me that she’s no magna cum laud from the Harvard College of Law.
I can be neutral, when called on, and when not stylizing my guttural enunciations so savagely.
As mayor she really didn’t have much say when it came to abortions. And she’s only been a governor 18-months, so I’m really not interested in finding out whether she’ll try to influence abortion through court appointments or legislation. I say let her go nanny-state one of America’s least populated states for, oh, 30-years or more and then we’ll better find out whether that extremist Christian agenda in her head find its way into governance.
Ok. And I disagree.
#98
Which once again makes you intolerant and none too bright. Really,thor, you’ve become a parody. Now wipe your mouth and thank Mr. Goldstein. Thats a good boy.
There’s a black guy somewhere in Detroit, I’m sure you can find him if you ask enough black people. When you do find him, ask him about the grandeur of my right fist catching him square in the forehead. I’m open to teaching one Detroitian and Alaskan at a time not to grab my jacket!
I’m pretty sure that’s a picture of thor on wikipedia on the page for blowhard.
#66 thor:
That’s GOVERNOR Palin to you, bigot boy. And you expect any of your “arguments” to be taken seriously?
::swoon::
Hemingway, thor. That’s got to be it. Or maybe you lipsynching Rick Blaine, you sorry little poseur. You warm milk.
I can be neutral, when called on, and when not stylizing my guttural enunciations so savagely.
You’ve never attended or taught at Broome Community College in Binghamton NY, by chance?
Anyone else get the feeling thor’s really a skinny little twerp who has to hold onto things when the wind gets above 30mph?
Did you ever turn in a paper titled At The Foot of Lumberjacks?
I warned you, thor. Time you turned in. What would you like tonight? Teddy or Barney?
Y’know, thor, people do sometimes read your posts.
News flash: We, here, are not responsible for your issues with the lesbian gym teacher who stole your girlfriend in 11th grade, nor is anyone at Protein Wisdom interested in whether or not that really happened, or if the chick just just used that as an excuse to blow you off.
We are, however, waiting with bated breath for you to reveal just what incident in your misspent and largely imaginary youth inspired you to accept a good-looking Chicago ward-heeler as the Chosen Redeemer. Some incident behind the field house with a middle linebacker with good hands, perhaps?
Regards,
Ric
Well, thor, that “small-town mayor” could have done several things:
Parked cops across the street with cameras.
Announced that it was the duty of his police department to check anyone entering the clinic for possible illegal activities, no matter how long the lines got or how long it took. (The real world example was for rock concerts; there weren’t any held in this city for as long as he was in office.)
Sent a letter around to all the bookstores that unless they stopped selling adult magazines he would arrest the managers AND assistant managers on showing obscenity to minors charges, and then arrange the bail so they couldn’t get out of jail without incurring ruinous costs.
Those, BTW, are actual examples from Montgomery, AL from 1975-1985.
Or, of course, she could have emulated the Berkeley CA police department and arrested all the counter protesters and not Code Pink….
Calling thor dense is an insult to gravity….
# 101 A boxer who thinks its a good idea to punch someone in the forehead. I don’t think so.
“What is the difference between Palin and a Muslim fundamentalist?”
Cole isn’t scared shitless that Palin will behead him if he doesn’t propagandize enough on her behalf.
BTW, here’s thor’s link. And also, here’s proof that thor can’t read, perhaps because something is blinding him:
http://www.adn.com/sarah-palin/story/515512.html
Now let’s look at thor’s “argument”:
This is the first time since I can’t remember when that I’ve seen thor try to advance an actual argument. Given his ineptitude with facts, it’s little wonder he doesn’t try it much. He has the story straight, very straight!!! he tells us, while muffing the basic facts.
Take some good advice: Shut up, thor.
Pablo, you’re just fatal to reason.
Racist!
Do you suppose thor = reason? I’d be OK with that.
Did you ever turn in a paper titled At The Foot of Lumberjacks?
Nope. I rolled up in some papers with some pulp-wooders once. They had found some good shit out near a National Forest.
“There’s a black guy somewhere in Detroit, I’m sure you can find him if you ask enough black people. When you do find him, ask him about the grandeur of my right fist catching him square in the forehead. I’m open to teaching one Detroitian and Alaskan at a time not to grab my jacket!”
Hey, did I ever tell you guys about the time I beat the hell out of the entire Auburn University football team. You see, they looked at me wrong. Oh, it started with the punter, but then the fucking 3rd team left guard got involved and before you know it the starting middle linebacker got froggy. Fucking pups. I beat the shit out of every last one of them gimps. Afterwards, I found a biker bar and me and two-tone tommy knocked back some cosmos and got rowdy. I am a bad mother fucker.
Thor has far too many computer priveledges at the “home”.
Hey, did I ever tell you guys about the time I beat the hell out of the entire Auburn University football team
Shit, I once kicked the asses of a troop of Navy Seals and a Russian Spetsnaz team, using only my non-dominant pimp hand, which was tied behind my back at the time. Then I went home and fucked all their wives, girlfriends and mothers, who, between them, represented all 50 states, all inhabited U.S. territories, and every single nationality of the former Soviet Union.
Then I wrote the Great American Novel by simultaneously channeling Hemingway, Pynchon, Andrew Dice Clay, and Herman Muhfuckin’ Melville. In braille. On titanium. Using only my fingernails.
SPB…You’re my hero. Plus by fucking all those bitches, that makes you, like, an absolute expert on all those territories and anything having to do with all those territories. You da mufuckin bomb, beyotch!
“- The Left is in full flight panic, oblivious of the traps they are setting for themselves.”
Actually, things are looking tied. I just listened to my local conservative talk radio guy (with 1 million swing state listeners) try to explain to his listeners that even though Palin believes in the Rapture and not in evolution, that we should live and let live and support her anyway, saw in the paper the latest offering of our nationally renowned and much beloved editorial cartoonist suggesting that the nation has just spent two years selecting two outstanding candidates (O and McC), but all that good work is now endangered by a mad woman a heartbeat away, and read perhaps the most gently vicious hit-piece in the history of Henry Luce’s magazine. Evidently, they found every last one of the 20% who didn’t support Palin.
K Street knows that they could be a sheet of molten glass should McPalin win the White House. They’re not going gently. Left, schmeft, its the money power stupid.
No shit, Infidel. We’re talking us some total cultural immersion there!
Take some real good advice: Fuck off, blubbering little waterhead.
She “asked,” she “sent a letter,” wow, you semantic sleuth you. Whoa! Step back, Burrito!
You’re so desperate you’re teetering on the edge of sanity. But I’d guess you’d have to be if you’re willing to pump up Sarah “Pig Eyes” Palin and her little lies.
Anyone else get the feeling you’re the type of twerp who’d run for his gun after I told you to go ahead and take a swing? I do. Just keep your moose gun and ammo close!
I also get the feeling that for reasons unknown you are a little jealous, a little something phony, a little dotted and a delicate little vestige of the outskirts.
So … it’s Barney. Whodathunkit.
I took my bicycle and powered it through the assholes of every European, Russian, and Post-Soviet super-doped-up athlete in the world as I conquered some of the highest peaks in France.
I gave an entire nation an identity crisis and watched it play-out in their media as I swilled the finest ferments of their vineyards and made love to all their women.
When I was done I told them I was a Miracle American, they didn’t believe me so I did it all again, and again, and again… six more times I would repeat this amazing feat with only my will and the thrust of my own legs.
I won the Tour De France 7 consecutive times and I voted Republican- I’m considering doing both again.
Diane … trust me on this … pie your hole.
Jeff,
Nice job on Prof. Cole – not for nothing is he known as Inspector Clouseau. My favourite posts at Tony Bey’s Across The Bay puncture his pomposity, although there hasn’t been a skewering as bad as yours for some time.
Genius!
I saw Sara Evans play in Tampa a few years ago, and recall hoping fervently that it wasn’t her regular drummer.
I think that’s more verbose a reply than thor normally merits, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Or, I actually have the story straight, very straight! and you have reading comprehension problems. Let’s go back to your devastating link:
No attempt was ever made to get any books banned. No complaint was ever made about such an attempt. No book was ever banned, nor was any book ever mentioned for banning. The librarian was never fired, despite it being in Palin’s power to do so. There is no there there.
The lies are yours, hammer boy, as is the desperation.
I’ll tell you what Sarah Palin’s letter says to me: it says to me that she’s no magna cum laud from the Harvard College of Law.
You know what it says to me, Thor? That Palin’s office-holding records exist, and Wasila city hall is busily and efficiently filling media requests for same. Contrast that fact with the, um, uh, missing records from the two terms your hero spent in the Illinois Senate. Contrast it also with the recent attempt to block access, by a public university library, to records that do exist: the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.
And the summa cum laude Harvard Law graduate — why won’t he release his school records? They must be awesome to achieve that honor, don’t you think? It would really help his image right now, since he’s taking such a beating on his “community organizer” persona. Let him elevate the discourse, and strut his intellectual prowess as contrasted with the Islamic fundamentalist with lipstick who graduated from a state university in Idaho. Frickin’ Idaho, Thor!
She’ll be toast — toast!! — when Barack trots out his Harvard Law transcript! Make him do it, Thor — urge him onward, so that the earth may heal and the oceans recede — for the sake of the planet and mankind!
Funny thing — if the O! trots out his transcripts and they are impressive, quite a few people are going to squint, look his supporters in the eye, and ask, “OK, but what has he done?”
I’m not wild about that whole “test of loyalty” bit, but that may just be an awkward way of saying she was shaking the tree to see what poorly committed souls detached themselves.
Obama was magna cum laude, not summa cum laude. Difference is summa cum laude goes to the top 25 or so, while magna cum laude goes to the next highest 25 or so.
Back on topic:
I’ve got a real bug when it comes to to Dr. Cole using the term “fundamentalist” when attempting to make obtuse comparisons with conservative Christians. The sorts of extreme Wahhabi/Deobandi sentiments that fuel 8th century wanna be’s reflect a radicalized Islam centered and promoted in Saudi Arabia. Even that repressive regime isn’t as draconian in their actions as the uber originalists running al qaeda, the Taliban, and various other nutcase fringe elements.
Comparing Islamist Wahhabi originalists to Christian fundamentalists is utterly without foundation and smacks of a deliberate attempt to equate conservative Christians with radicalized fringers. Hell, he can’t even get a good comparison to Phelps’s band of intolerant idiots as they have never done actual violence. The closest would be the hairier “Christian” militia groups and die hard KKK nutters and even then he’d be dealing with groups that largely twist, parse and contort Christian doctrine rather than radicalized mullahs looking at the plain meaning of the quran and deciding that nothing has changed in 1100 years, more or less.
All in all just a sad attempt by a distinguished scholar to burnish his political status with the sort of scholarly comparison that would have earned him a D- in a high school history class.
Hilzoy was nice enough to go through his accomplishments in the Senate. I haven’t really read it, but at least someone’s done the work to collect it all.
You forgot to debunk one of Cole’s main issues with Palin: the fact that she “declared that the war was a task from God.” Because when you say it that way, that sounds kind of like what a Muslim extremist would say, right?
Except she never said that the war is a task from God. What she said was, to a group of ministry students, that we should “pray that our national leaders are sending (our troops) on a task that is from God.” In other words, we should pray that our leaders are doing God’s will. But in the original AP article that reported this speech, they deliberately cut off the first part of the sentence, making it look like a declaration of fact rather than a prayer for guidance.
There’s a big difference between praying that we’re doing God’s will, and declaring that we’re doing God’s will, which is of course why they chopped those critical first few words off the sentence. Now being an AP story, it’s spread far and wide.
See here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/03/AR2008090303102.html
HuffPo of all places ran the full quote: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/palins-church-may-have-sh_n_123205.html
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