Not exactly sure how or why this comment was apropos of the article it appeared under, which was a Washington Post (very bland) news piece about the unexpected retirement of Palin’s loyal and often deceitfully vicious spokesperson, Meg Stapleton. To support her favorite narcissist, Stapleton said some thoroughly nasty (and demonstrably untrue) things about a number of her fellow Alaskans–of both parties–hopefully rendering her unemployable in her adopted state (not very likely–she’s a rat and they always win the rat race). However, her unprofessionalism is not even mentioned in this article and I don’t see any serious effort to slam Palin either. Apparently some of her rabid followers are so accustomed to martyr mode, they are now unable to actually read. Here is the delightful insight of one such follower, followed by my response:
From ‘marilyn80’
Yep,you betcha all you liberals,Obamacrats
and dimwit Dummercrats are soooo totally
afraid of Sarah Palin that you foam at the
mouth and rabidly attack her insanely!…
And that alone tells me that we need to
elect Sarah Palin our next President in
2012! Take back America for Americans,
Arrest,Deport All Illegal Aliens,Starting
With Barack Hussein Obama and his Illegal
Alien Court Ordered Deported Aunt To Kenya!
My response:
“marilyn80,
It’s hard to know how to respond to such a well-thought out, cogent, articulate take- down of liberals, but let me try. As liberal ‘dummercrat,’ I personally am not afraid of Mrs. Palin. I am, however, afraid of the collective intellect of a country that could allow a person of such documented bad character, intellectual laziness and insignificant accomplishment rise to the level of serious contention for national office. It is people who believe that making up junior-high worthy names for their opponents is a legitimate political strategy and who consider ‘common sense’ to be spitting out a slew of platitudes disconnected from any real facts about the issues facing this country that I fear. It is the people who reject any form of serious discourse as ‘elitist’ and who demand proof of patriotism via shouting match; the ones who measure the value of a discussion by how often the terms ‘our freedoms’ and ‘our rights,’ (but never ‘our responsibilities as citizens’) are used–those are the people I fear. It is the people who arrogantly tout their citizenship rights while at the same time claiming to ‘hate’ the government of which they are citizens who frighten me. The people who will vocally proclaim the US government worthy of destruction without giving serious consideration to what that actually means–it is those people who cause me sleepless nights. It is the people who want government out of health care for everyone else, but don’t want their Medicare or Social Security benefits touched, those whose love of this country extends only as far as what they can take from it, not what they can give back to it–those are the people who scare the shit out of me. And it doesn’t matter whether they are ‘dummercrats,’ Teabagger’s or conservatives. Wherever they might be found, it is the arrogantly selfish and ignorant who are the biggest threat to this country, not a single foolish woman from Alaska.
It’s hard to know how to respond to such a well-thought out, cogent, articulate take- down of liberals, but let me try. As liberal ‘dummercrat,’ I personally am not afraid of Mrs. Palin. I am, however, afraid of the collective intellect of a country that could allow a person of such documented bad character, intellectual laziness and insignificant accomplishment rise to the level of serious contention for national office. It is people who believe that making up junior-high worthy names for their opponents is a legitimate political strategy and who consider ‘common sense’ to be spitting out a slew of platitudes disconnected from any real facts about the issues facing this country that I fear. It is the people who reject any form of serious discourse as ‘elitist’ and who demand proof of patriotism via shouting match; the ones who measure the value of a discussion by how often the terms ‘our freedoms’ and ‘our rights,’ (but never ‘our responsibilities as citizens’) are used–those are the people I fear. It is the people who arrogantly tout their citizenship rights while at the same time claiming to ‘hate’ the government of which they are citizens who frighten me. The people who will vocally proclaim the US government worthy of destruction without giving serious consideration to what that actually means–it is those people who cause me sleepless nights. It is the people who want government out of health care for everyone else, but don’t want their Medicare or Social Security benefits touched, those whose love of this country extends only as far as what they can take from it, not what they can give back to it–those are the people who scare the shit out of me. And it doesn’t matter whether they are ‘dummercrats,’ Teabagger’s or conservatives. Wherever they might be found, it is the arrogantly selfish and ignorant who are the biggest threat to this country, not a single foolish woman from Alaska.
Palin is a symptom, not the disease. The disease is ill-informed hysteria masquerading as legitimate grievance (not that there aren’t legitimate grievances–it’s just that so far the angry self-centered Teabaggers with Palin as their de facto leader have not managed to get the facts of any of them right). The primary symptom is the apparent inability of grown adults to distinguish between complete silliness and the sober, serious, adult deliberation that will be required to get things back on track in this country. But, hey, calling me a dummercrat has really opened my eyes. How can anyone argue with the brilliance of a zinger like that?”
She seems a bit fixated on others foaming at the mouth, which is just a tad ironic. Maybe Marilyn IS 80 and her verbal vomit is a sign of incipient dementia. After all (and speaking for myself), we are not all destined to be sweet little old ladies…
As for Mrs. Palin, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said “No change of circumstances can repair a defect in character.”
Prior Bad Acts 
That was a masterful smackdown. Well done!
Well said! Great post but I fear a lot of what you said was too “elitist” and may go completely over that poster’s head.
The thought that those on the left are afraid of Palin is laughable. I sometimes wonder if a lot of them use projection when making those ridiculous accusations against us.
I really appreciate both the content and the delivery….and profoundly
wish it were not so vitally important. How can one make this blog
‘go viral’?
Thank you for your comments. I really am the least tech ‘savvy’ person in the world (e.g. can’t even figure out how to change the moderation setting on my own blog this morning!), but certainly feel free to share it with anyone you think would be interested.
Tracy J,
Sadly, I suspect you are right. I’ve gotten so frustrated by stupid at this point, I really don’t even address it directly. The poster at WaPo is hopeless, but maybe someone else will get it (fat chance)?
I have not been very public with my blog in the past (had it for years for private rants), so didn’t actually even know I had set the comments thing to ‘moderate.’ Sorry for the delay in your comments appearing. I have to figure out how to fix that…
No problem, I totally understand! My comment posted fairly quickly anyway.
By the way, great forum. You are an excellent writer and I have now added you to my bookmarked favorites. 🙂
dear Mickey,
love your blog. very nice post.
Thank you, Mickey, for setting the fears of progressive, rational persons into the proper perspective. There is no reasoning with proud ignorance. This mindset has always been around, but with the advent of mass communication opportunistic Media snake oil merchants have seized upon these feelings of being “left behind” by those who strive for understandings, and who have given it ferocious amplification. We now have a “movement” of inarticulation other than invective of the lowest common denominator.
Rupert Murdoch has absorbed the writings of Ian Fleming (and possibly George Orwell) to guide his ambitions and transformed himself into a real-life, rather frightening manipulator on an international scale. He and his international news media networks are some of the “powers-that-be” we have to keep fighting if individual and intellectual freedoms are to survive in this rapidly increasingly intolerant political and social climate.
What I find so incredibly ironic about the Murdoch takeover of American media is that he is ‘ferriner.’ Not that I expect ideological consistency from this group, but shouldn’t they be outraged that a non-native American has so much influence over ‘our freedoms?’ Does anyone know if Murdoch ever became a US citizen? If not, maybe we could take a page out of the rightwing fear-mongering textbook and start a movement suggesting that foreign nationals are out to take over America via propaganda spread through Fox News :-). We could suggest that ‘some people say’ Australia wants to make America its colony, just like the Fox News pundits do without providing a stitch of evidence for who these ‘some people’ are or why they are ‘saying’ these things. It would be entertaining if nothing else.
But the faces on Fox News look like they do. They don’t associate their favorite and only “news” source with the actual owner and manipulator.
I have read that at some point he did become a US citizen… but I cannot believe his citizenship came via the green card lottery… His empire truly does span continents and his and his hired minions’ influence is felt internationally.
I like your thinking on how we can tie Fox and related media into Murdoch’s cynical efforts to take control of nations. Mind you, he probably is a hired tool of the Multi National Crporations. If I sound like a nutty conspiracy theorist, just boot me from your site.
But before I go, permit me just one update from the old saying: He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.
He Who Lives By The Media, Dies By The Media.
Somehow I find this reassuring.
Geez… got excited and am not making much sense, I am afraid!
That sentence should read: inarticulation “and” invective…
Guess I began a thought and did not quite discard it before moving on. Sorry!
One thing we know for sure, our friends in the Teabagger party never have to worry about their brains working faster than their fingers. That is an occupational hazard known only to us ‘elites.’
Thanks for your Vote of Confidence! 🙂
Excellent post. I too think it’s unlikely to penetrate the minds of those who need to hear it most. There seems to be a deliberate effort on their part to remain uninformed and just focused on being angry. There’s nothing wrong with being angry when you see things that you think aren’t right, but the step that should follow closely is doing something constructive to change whatever it is you don’t like. Those, like that rabid poster (I think she’s the one foaming at the mouth), seem to think that just yelling and throwing out whatever policies we have will make things better. That’s the mentality of a 4 year old. And that’s the problem in trying to talk to them in a rational and intelligent manner.
Pat: I posted a comment but lost it. Talk about computer illiteracy!
Anyway, to recap: There are way too many 3-1/2 year olds in the ranks of the right, for wont of a better word. You know, the “I got mine, F*ck you” movement.
To give credit to toddlers and their parents/teachers, most learn to share as they grow into responsive, responsible members of society.
Not so these (what do I call them without invective) beings.
Very good response to Marilyn80. I am sometimes amazed at the dimwittedness that appear in the WaPo comments section.
“Maybe Marilyn IS 80.”
I vote for IQ of 80, but then again, dyslexia makes that “80” into an “08”.
Hi, Mickey, followed you here from Mudflats. Very well said. I’m troubled that we’ve come to the point that an educated person feels the need to respond to something on the level of third-grade schoolyard taunts and barely above bathroom graffiti. I suppose if the leaders are at Palin’s level, this is what the followers are like, God help us.
I know you can only have one closing line, but I’ll bet the runner-up to Emerson’s “No change of circumstances can repair a defect in character,” was the equally apt, “You can’t fix stupid.”
A cynical answer to the Emerson quotation: you have revealed yourself as, ahem, a conservative. To speak of “a defect in character”is so 19th century. Since the 1920’s and the popularization of psychology, Americans have been concerned with “personality” rather than the moral term, “character,” and since the 1980’s merely with “lifestyle,” something readily repaired by a change of circumstances. Why repent and reform when you can be repackaged and rebranded?