I had to switch it off. Sarah Palin's address disturbed me more

[denem]

than anything I have in seen the public square in a long time.

I feel a real antipathy towards Gov. Palin that goes beyond politics. Perhaps it is rooted in my love for animals and horrors I wish I had never seen, from the aerial slaughter of wolves to the 'Pardoning of the Turkey' interview. Perhaps there is something more: an instinctive recoil from a menagerie of personae that seem to drape something else; a formless "other" I don't have a name for.

There's a disconnect, a void between her pitch perfect RNC speech in 2008, the blithe good humor that carried her through the Alaskan Gubernatorial debates in 2006, the 'cute when cornered' scatterbrained interview with Katie Couric, and the poison she dispenses on the campaign trail.

Even so, her address on the Tuscon Tragedy was something else. Much of the text was Bill o'Reilly lite, adorned with the standards of American exceptionalism; After all, no other country on earth has a peaceful transition of power following elections. Reading through the text, it's pretty standard theme ghost-Palinesque: 'I'm so sorry, it's very monstrous, I had nothing to do with it, you absolutely must not blame me, shame on yous but anyways isn't THAT great, like free America the beautiful, we are so lucky.

No, it was not what she said. Listening to her speaking, I felt something of the void itself, a terrifying lack of empathy between her delivery and the text itself, let alone the human conditions that demanded such an address in the first place. Apart from a few pundit inflections she's picked up on Fox, I felt I was watching something like Tina Fey impersonation. Her sing song tone, punctuated by chuckle/giggle/smiles turned my stomach. When Tina's 'this is fun' routine returned to laud Gabriel Giffords reciting the First Amendment, I switched it off.

Enough. Take your dog whistles and flute somewhere else.

[davidpdx]

1. +1

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who was sickened by it.

[peekaloo]

2. I refuse to watch it.....but she giggles?

Wow.

for some very odd reason the movie 'Bob Roberts' springs to mind when she appears.

[tavalon]

3. She has Borderline Personality Disorder

When a person knows they have it and are actively working on it (it takes years of cognitive behavior therapy) then they can often function in society in a way that doesn't make people around them feel dirty. But an untreated BPD, especially with the narcissism and inability to have other empathy makes them horrible people to be around and sensitive people can actually feel the pall they carry around with them.

This is a generational disease so she doesn't carry all the fault, but she carries all the responsibility to cure herself. She has no interest so she will revel in her sickness. In the old days, she would be shunned from the community. If there were such a shunning ability now, it should be done poste haste.

[backscatter712]

18. Sarah Palin the Bunny-Boiler... n/t

[snappyturtle]

4. You should watch it with the sound off.....very interesting. The hatred

and lack of empathy still comes through!

[barbtries]

5. i haven't attempted to get through it.

i hate to even see her mug. i don't know if my antipathy toward her goes beyond politics but then i do believe that the damage she is doing to the country goes beyond politics.

i believe palin is very sick. i think our nation is sick. she's like an infection making everything much worse. hopefully more and more people are waking up to this reality.

[sellitman]

6. I didn't watch the whole thing either

Now compare what you did hear to what we heard last night from the President.

If they pick her then 2012 is over for them .....NOW.

[denem]

7. I sincerley hope the Repulican Party do not pick her for 2012.

Politically, it would be the worst decision they could make and ensure a resounding Democratic victory, but in choosing suicide they would be led down the path of hating life, human life itself, by a woman who revels in the role of victim to recharge her hatred and malice.

The message she would deliver to the fallen of her campaign debacle is simple: Evil has won, bequeathing an even more bitter and self righteous battle cry to those who would seek revenge.

[onecent]

8. As I watched the various reruns on MSNBC and CNN after President

Obama's speech, it was like I was hit by lightening. I couldn't get through her entire speech during the day yesterday but when I watched on these stations last night it looked to me like she WAS TALKING TO HER BASE ONLY. She kept saying something like "we"..."we did in the last elections, and "we" can in 2 years...blabbity blah...

BUt I was particularly struck by her anger of her mouth and her eyes...your description is truly "right on"...and you could sense her disturbance...wow

It clearly wasn't the SP that she was put out there for years now.

[PatSeg]

10. Each time I saw a clip of the speech,

she seemed to be more angry and defensive. I guess the first time I heard the words and later I started to noticed the body language. It looked like her anger had been festering and growing for days and she was finally letting it all out. Bet its been interesting in the Palin household the past week.

[onecent]

14. I've thought about that also.

I even went so far as to wonder if her marriage would survive this...kind of strange thoughts, I guess...cuz I don't care...

Also Bristol is moving to Arizona...damn!

[PatSeg]

16. I've known so many women like Sarah,

except they weren't famous. I can picture her throwing tantrums at home and everyone staying out of her way (they're used to it by now). As for her marriage, it will probably survive. He's dealt with this primadonna for many years and I'm sure he just tunes her out until the storm passes. Of course if they did split, she'd blame that on the media as well. This is a woman who has never taken responsibility for anything her entire life.

I'd forgotten about Bristol buying a house in AZ. Oh fun!

[lillypaddle]

19. BUT, she was soooooo "presidential"

doncha know? :crazy:

[mtnsnake]

9. K&R

awesome post, denem.

[seabeckind]

11. She has some personal mannerisms

that really turn me off so I'm a bit prejudiced to begin with. I really do not care for the way she does her mouth after making a statement so I can't even watch her with the sound off.

After that it is obvious that there really isn't too much to her. She's all marketing and marketing to a certain mindset.

The amazing thing is that she gets so much face time (ugh) in the media and so little analysis of her statements. Everything is slogan and bumper sticker. By the time I say "but wait!" They're on to a couple of other slogans. And nobody ever calls her on her statistics. Like scrubbing criticisms and conflating threats. Marketing.

This morning Guthrie(sp?) was spinning like crazy over it but even Todd was backpedaling a little from a while back. It should be interesting to see who she takes with her from the media. BTW, how much longer will we have to put up with Jansing and her pretend journalism?

I think overall Palin's pretty much done, tho. That 10% or so hardcore will stick with her but I think it's fork time.

[catbyte]

13. Her looks are also starting to go. She looked a little "over-ripe"

in that video. Yay! I'm convinced that when her looks fade, so will she. The only thing that's making her as popular as she is is the whole porn star librarian schtick she's got going. There will be conservative woodies all other the country deflating. Tee hee. Ick.

[catbyte]

12. She's a sociopath. I saw that during the VP debate when she

completely ignored Biden's emotional retelling of how hard it was to be a single father after his wife's death. She didn't give a damn and just launched in with canned talking points. It was stunning and absolutely telling. You can also tell by the way she treats her children as props rather than her kids. Who else would drag out her pregnant teen and handle her handicapped infant with all the love and care of a longshoreman unloading a sack of potatoes on a dock? I can't believe that others can't see it, but after that whole "blood libel" catastrophe, I think people are beginning to. Here's hoping...

Diane
Anishnabe in MI

[craigmatic]

15. Palin's address just exposed her for the unsympathetic person she really is. nt

[CitizenLeft]

17. I cringe at criticisms of women being "shrill" - but she's shrill

Ever listened to one of her speeches where she starts raising her voice? OMG. Nails on a chalkboard are music to my ears compared to the sound of that woman's voice. I can't stand it.