"These people don’t hate Palin because of the lies; the lies exist to justify the hate."

That from someone named The Reclusive Leftist who continues:

That’s why they keep reaching and reaching for something else, until they finally get to “she winked on TV!” (And by the way: I’ve been winked at my whole life by my grandmother, aunts, and great-aunts. Who knew it was such a despicable act?)

The only thing Palin is commonly accused of that is actually true is her anti-abortion stance, though, as I’ve pointed out several times, her political position is that “the will of the people” should decide the law. She has also expressed sympathy for women choosing abortion and has said that she is totally opposed to any woman ever being criminalized for it. I’m not pretending she’s anything other than what she is (an adamant “pro-lifer”), but I am trying to be as clear and honest as I can be about her actual stance.

...

I cannot figure it out. I look and look, and it’s like trying to see someone else’s hallucination. No matter how hard I squint, I can’t see whatever it is they’re looking at. What is so horrifying?

My own reaction to Palin’s convention speech was the polar opposite. I can honestly say that, aside from Nixon’s resignation speech, Sarah Palin’s address at the convention is the only Republican speech I have ever enjoyed. Or even been much interested in. I don’t agree with Republicans on politics — not by a long shot — but as a person, I found Palin charming in a Harry Truman, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Erin Brockovich kind of way. How could you not? Especially after the goons had spent the previous weekend in a misogyny fest of lurid speculation and grotesque sexual insults about her and her family. I was proud of her for her courage, as well as for her personal accomplishments as a working-class regular person who went into politics and succeeded.

Her speech also delivered some welcome punctures to the national gasbag known as Obama. And that’s another thing: it has not escaped my attention that many of the things Palin is accused of, falsely, are actually true of Obama. This is a guy who, as a U.S. senator from Illinois, didn’t even know which Senate committees he was on or which states bordered his own. (And don’t even get me started on Joe “The Talking Donkey” Biden, who thinks FDR was president during the stock market crash and that people watched TV in those days.) I’m not saying Obama’s a moron, but he’s sure as hell no genius. People say Sarah Palin rambles; excuse me, but have you actually heard Obama speak extemporaneously? As for being a diva, surely we all remember the Possomus sign and the special embroidered pillow on the Obama campaign plane. The fact is, Obama is an intellectually mediocre narcissist with a thin resume who’s lost without a teleprompter and whose entire campaign had all the substance and gravity of a Pepsi commercial. Yet people say Sarah Palin is a fluffy bunny diva.

So: are we back to Obama after all? Is this a transference thing? Are people subconsciously frustrated by the fact that Obama is an empty suit, and are they transferring that rage to Palin?

Seems plausible to me... but only the Palin haters can answer these questions.  You know the type, those that heap praise on Maureen Dowd for engaging in... well... Palin hatred:

Note to self: never piss off Maureen Dowd.

Ouch.

In her piece in today's NY Times, Ms. Dowd absolutely skewers Sarah Palin for her baffling decision to resign the governorship. When I grow up, I want to write as well as Maureen Dowd. For now, I'll settle for writing as well as Maureen Stapleton.

Sarah Palin showed on Friday that in one respect at least, she is qualified to be president.

Caribou Barbie is one nutty puppy.

Usually we don’t find that exquisite battiness in our leaders until they’ve been battered by sordid scandals like Watergate (Nixon), gnawing problems like Vietnam (L.B.J.), or scary threats like biological terrorism (Cheney).

When Lyndon Johnson was president, some of his staff began to think of him as “a sick man,” as Bill Moyers told Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Moyers and his fellow Johnson aide Dick Goodwin even began reading up on mental illness — Bill on manic depression and Dick on paranoia.

And so it was, Todd Purdum learned, as he traveled Alaska reporting on Palin for Vanity Fair, that the governor’s erratic and egoistic behavior has been a source of concern for people there.

“Several told me, independently of one another,” Purdum writes, “that they had consulted the definition of ‘narcissistic personality disorder’ in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — ‘a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy’ — and thought it fit her perfectly.”

The White House can drive its inhabitants loopy. So at least Sarah Palin is ahead of the curve on that one.

Praising Maureen Dowd makes tremendous sense when one values style over substance but in actuality, The Reclusive Leftist puts it best as she summarizes, categorizes and otherwise defines the Palin hatred:

Awhile ago I came up with what I think is the most plausible explanation yet when I said:

Sarah Palin is the Designated Hate Receptacle for self-described feminists. They know they’re not supposed to hate other women, but they do anyway because their feminism is not quite as strong as their patriarchal brainwashing. Sarah Palin is the culture’s designated Hate Receptacle.

I’m not entirely satisfied with that, but it’s the best I can come up with. If we add to that the subconscious Obama resentment-transference, perhaps on a kind of sliding rheostat thing, we may be getting close to a solution.

What’s alarming is that the need for a female Hate Receptacle exists, even with feminists. But that would explain why Palin haters are so reluctant to give up hating her. It would explain why they’re so resistant to the truth. They don’t want to find out that the lies are lies; they don’t want to be disabused. They need a hate receptacle, and so they need Palin to be the sum of all things they fear.

Comments

[reg]

in this pc age, hatred of the other isn't allowed, you can't hate people of other countries, races , religions etc.but while the morals may have changed humans haven't.the darkness that is in us hasn't gone away because the rules have changed.if you are frustrated with your life you can tolerate it if you have someone to vent your fury on.And that's what going on with Palin.

[allyHM]

Thanks for pointing me to The Reclusive Leftist. I've put it in my fave blogs file. As a conservative feminist (and, no, that's not an oxymoron), I really liked what I saw over there. THAT's someone on the other side of the political fence with whom I can have civil discourse: a rarity these days. :)

[Mina]

This is excellent, but the Recluse misses one really simple point: Bush is gone; the left needs someone to hate, call crazy and generally demonize.

It's all they know, and they are in love with their hate.

[tjproudamerican]

As a hater, i.e. a Liberal, I can say that only Democrats ever hate. Republicans and conservatives have generous and warm feelings for everyone.

Why do we hate Governor Palin? Who wouldn't hate a woman who is so smart, so accomplished, such a soaring intellect.

When the History of the World is written, there will be Number One Jesus, Number Two Sarah Palin.

She is beyond criticism!

I love the fact that she quits. She quit several colleges, the Alaska Oil Commission, her term as Mayor, and Governor.

Her children are already accomplished quitters and one hopes that Saddle Bag, or whatever her son's name is, can quit the service before his term is up. It is not just the Palin Way, Quit, Complain, Whine, Feel Sorry for Yourself, it is the Republican Way:

We Quit! We are Going Galt! We are The Republi-cant's: Can't do because Soros and ACORN and Obama's Birth Certificate and all those hateful liberals and comics.

well done, conservatives! Take a nice Loser's Lap around the Course because we would like to turn the lights off.....

[Sarah]

The teleprompter attack is pretty funny. Palin uses one most of the time. It's just not the kind most people recognize, so they think she's speaking extemporaneously.

She was using a teleprompter for her resignation speech, in fact. It was a camera-mounted one, which you can clearly see at the end of the unedited video where they panned across the cameras to the onlookers. And you can see the operator with his head and equipment under a baby blanket (probably to shield from the glare of the sun on his monitor):
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/large_photo.php?id=378

Here’s what the camera-mounted teleprompters look like:
http://www.prompting.com/

[buck]

You know what a hunter does when they hunt pray? Ya put out a little bait pile, when them critters come running to tear into the bait.
BOOM, 1 dead
BOOM, 2 dead
BOOM, 3 dead
BOOM, 4 dead
All head shots
Be careful around Sarah!
You might end up hanging on her wall.