As we all know by now, Sarah Palin wrote some notes on her hand during her speech at the Tea Party Convention on Saturday. Apparently, the left has found this to be a big deal. I guess it continues the narrative that she is stupid. I am not sure how one makes that leap, but ok. Maybe she just didn't have a piece of paper handy.
Bloggers from both sides of the aisle pick things that may not be really relevant to how our government is run. For example a lot has been made about Michelle Obama's work on childhood obesity. I personally find this to be a good cause.
Obesity is a real problem in our society and needs to be dealt with. Teaching children healthy eating habits is something that they will carry with them for the balance of their lives. It will allow them to be healthier as they grow into adults. For purposes of disclosure here, I have battled with an eating disorder for decades. I spent the majority of my life fighting battles with food; in my case, the lack of it. So for me, I think she is doing the right thing by giving attention to teaching kids to eat right. I want to pull my hair out when I see kids that are still in strollers drinking soda and eating candy bars. But, many on the right have been critical of her choice to highlight this issue.
Sarah Palin has more than her fair share of criticism; some of which has come from me. I don't like some of her recent decisions, stumping for Rand Paul and John McCain as two examples. I happen to have my own view points on her making a run for the presidency that many conservatives don't agree with. I don't want her to get the nomination. I don't think that she can win for one. Another reason that I am becoming more leery of her is that it seems to me that she is getting the same type of blind loyalty and rock star status that President Obama receives (or at least did receive). It isn't healthy for any politician in America to have that type of following. To me, that isn't what America is about. As citizens of this country we are free to criticize and protest. It is our responsibility as citizens to question, not to follow blindly. That being said, I am a blogger. My words aren't showing up in living rooms across the world.
Andrea Mitchell, a "reporter" for NBC was on the morning show at MSNBC and was mocking Palin with notes written on her hand. Had Olbermann or Chris Matthews done this it would be a different thing. They are commentators, they are paid to give opinion and obviously mock. Andrea Mitchell is "journalist"; one that I had felt had a reputation of being a hard worker. She is personally liberal; fine. She is an American and has a right to her opinion. But her job is to give facts; she is not paid to give opinion or to mock.
So today, I guess Bagdad Bob Gibbs wanted to get in on the joke and showed up in the press briefing room today with his pre-snow storm grocery list written on his hand. This is even worse than what Andrea Mitchell did. He is the public face of The President of The United States. His briefings are shown all over the world. He is paid tax payer funds to perform a job that gives information to American public in regards to what the administration is up to, not to mock private citizens. This should be considered below the standards of the white house. Oh, by the way, many of us are looking for that Hope and Change too.
Rule 5 Sunday: Merry Christmas!
4 hours ago
5 comments:
I agree with most of what you say here except for the obesity stuff. It is all fine and good to tackle the "problem" on the side-lines as a first lady but she must be honest about it.
You claim that it has nothing to do with how government is run but Michelle does not. First she claimed (not verbatetim)"We have all the tools we need already, we need no program as we we know what to do", I agree there. So what in the hell does she want $10 BILLION for?
That $10 BILLION comes from taxpayers. Who are taxpayers? US. Who is US? We are the government.
Hence involving how GOVERNMENT IS RUN!
Palin and M.Hussein Obama cannot nor ever will be compared.
Christopher:
I was not comparing Michelle Obama and Sarah. My point was about bloggers and the commentary you hear on TV and see around the blogosphere.
I am not aware of any request about money for her pet project, but again the commentary that I have seen around the blogosphere is in regards to the topic in and of itself and has nothing to do with money. If it were about money, than you are right, it is a topic of discussion about our government. What I have seen is just simply ridicule of the topic that she has chosen to embrace.
I agree, she doesn't need $10 billion for anything.
I guess Palin does not understand satire and she complains about telaprompters, what a hypocrite. Palin’s hand job just shows all of us what kind of dullard we are up against, I have not seen this since junior high. She is so perfect for "Fake News". WOW and some call her a leader….please.
Milton:
Satire shouldn't be coming from the spokesperson of the president. That isn't his job. As far as I know, Palin has not said a word about what Gibbs did.
You don't like her policies fine, then argue on that. What I am saying is to stop the personal attacks. They are unbecoming coming from the public face of the President.
A person who is as stupid as the left makes her out to be doesn't accomplish what she has accomplished. If they felt that she was so stupid, they wouldn't have done what they did.
I don't see anything wrong with using a teleprompter, notes, etc. when speaking publicly. However, Sarah Palin comes off as hypocritical for taking shots at President Obama for using a teleprompter (something that presidents have been using since at least the days of Ronald Reagan) and then using a cheat sheet written on her hand. I also find it odd that she would even need to refer to what was written on her hand to help her with what was basically a softball question.
As for Robert Gibbs, I cringed when he took his dig at Sarah Palin during the press briefing. I think he did it as retaliation to Palin's teleprompter pot shots at Obama. Whatever his motives were, it still doesn't make it right. I felt that much of Palin's speech at the Tea Party Convention was sophomoric. However, Gibbs has to be smarter and more mature than he was during the briefing. After the groans he heard from the press corps after his joke, I wonder if he regrets doing it.
By the way, props to you for acknowledging that bloggers from both sides of the political aisle are guilty of nitpicking irrelevant points.
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