I was on Keven Cohen’s radio show again yesterday. Sorry I forgot to tell y’all in advance (or did I? I can’t remember; maybe I said something on Twitter…). But the phone lines lit up anyway, and we had a nice, lively discussion. He wants me on the show again before the election; I’ll try to give y’all a heads-up before then.
When I got back to the office, I got this from someone who DID listen in:
Dear Mr. Warthen:
I listened to you on Keven Cohen’s program on WVOC this afternoon and I was just wondering why an endorsement by Sarah Palin to Nikki Haley would embarrass you? Of course, you once said on Kev’s program that you despised Ronald Reagan so, that comment shouldn’t surprise me.
Do you fear Governor Palin because she has more of a spine than you and your other liberals do? Are you jealous of her success? Please don’t tell me that she is a “numbskull” compared to the current occupant of the Oval Office in the White House. She is “head and shoulders” smarter than that community organizer!
Anyway, comments like that are why you are no longer employed by South Carolina’s largest newspaper. One day, THE STATE will complete the trifecta and get rid of Cindi and Warren and replace them with people who don’t toe the Democratic Party line and print their talking points.
Sincerely,
Robert Owens
Lexington
Do you see why I tend to give trolls a lot of rope here on the blog before I give in to community opinion and ban them? I’ve gotten stuff like this my whole career. Par for the course. And unfortunately, being a never-say-die guy, I actually try to reason with them, to wit:
“Fear?” It never occurred to me to FEAR her. I just would be embarrassed to be endorsed by her. That’s what I said, and that’s what I meant.I think it’s a very great shame that my main man John McCain elevated her to prime time, for which she was most demonstrably not ready. If you’d like to read an elaboration on that point, you should check out my blog post the other day about what one of her former handlers had to say…
My effort to reach across the divide was rewarded thusly:
Well, I think that you do fear her. As far as John McCain goes, as a 20+ year USAF veteran, I respect his military service and what he went through as a prisoner of war; he is an abject failure as a politician. He and Lindsey Graham were totally against a border fence between the US and Mexico a few years ago. When The Maverick figured that he might have a tough time winning the Arizona GOP earlier this year he was all for the fence. I about puked when I saw the commercial of him walking with an Arizona sheriff and he was telling McCain about the problems they were having with illegal immigration and then Big John looking at the camera and saying, “Build the dang fence!” What a damn hypocrite! I held my nose and voted for him in November 2008 because I knew what a disaster the community organizer would be. It would have been so much better if the ticket had been Palin/McCain instead of the other way around though.Of course, some of these former handlers are going to say stuff about her because she had some ideas to save the campaign and they had no gonads and let the Dems take the election!You can have McCain, he is a disaster! I hope that the next time that he reaches across the aisle to help the Democrats that he locks arms with Graham, Snowe, and Collins and takes them with him. Also, do you really think that Obama is ready for prime time? What an idiot and our country is paying the price for it. He is still blaming Bush yet when he was running he was The One with all of the answers.Anyway, here is you to getting a spine someday!RLOLexington, SC
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I fear Sarah Palin because she is undereducated and ignorant and dang proud of it; because she is charismatic and can sway a lot of others to believe that it is okay to Know Nothing and make things up; because she does not seem to care about the objective truth, but rather what is a good sound bite; because she’s a cutie-pie (insert wink here) who has disproportionate influence with a certain sector of the electorate because of that; and on and on.
I think you have a spine, btw.
Wasn’t John McCain a Navy veteran, not a veteran of the USAF? Funny how folks like this can’t even get basic facts right.
Just one of the many amusing schizophrenic aspects of the Teahadists is this vacillating between portraying Obama either as this hapless out-of-his-element mere “community organizer” who is not “ready for prime time,” as Mr. Owens put it, vs. their portrayal of him as some kind of evil mastermind of a gigantic and seemingly long-plotted takeover and transformation of America into a socialist state under Sharia law.
Mr. Owens’ “talking points” seem mainly to consist of who has “more spine,” who is “jealous” of whom, and a discussion of “gonads.” Seems like Mr. Owens has confused governance with a reality show. He seems lost in the world of the latter, with Sarah Palin as his reality show heroine.
All reminds me of a great joke I heard on Bill Maher last week, from the conservative/libertarian PJ O’Rourke: in discussing Ohio GOP House candidate (and Nazi-re-enactor) Rich Iott: “We conservatives believe that government is bad, and we have got the candidates to prove it.”
And by the way, Kathryn, (and Mr. Owens): there is nothing at all to fear about Sarah Palin. With all the problems we’re facing as a country (and a few of the President’s own missteps) Obama’s approval rating is in the low to mid-40’s (where Reagan was at the same point, BTW). Palin’s approval rating is half that, at 22%. She is passionately loved by a small minority (Mr. Owens included) but most rational conservatives do not view her as a serious presidential contender. Talk show host, maybe. I do have to say, though, part of me would like to see her be President, just out of morbid curiosity to see what would happen and how fast it would happen. (I’d have my bags packed already for Canada, just in case.)
I agree with Kathryn. Palin is the grease on the slippery slope of the dumbing down of America. To steal a line from a Bill Bryson book, she doesn’t suffer from ignorance, she rejoices in it.
” Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.
H. L. Mencken”
I fear people who think she is smart, brave, etc. more since their perception of reality is so distorted and/or delusional.
Also, what world does this guy live in that he considers you and Cindi to be democrats???
I don’t fear Palin. I fear a political atmosphere that could lead to her being elected to national office.
@Phillip–
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DIc8jdra0o
During my sojourn in glorious Canada this summer, this song kept running through my head.
I don’t know that Palin is electable, but she is alarmingly influential. See Haley, Nikki.
Mr. Owen is not alone. Far from it.
I was struck by the “community organizer” dig. Isn’t that what the Tea Party is all about? Is that bad?
Interesting that he does not reference Nikki Hailey. Wonder why…
As someone that leans Conservative (but will vote for Sen Sheheen) Palin is simply a distraction. She’s a nice lady I am sure. She’s best in the role of Governor of a state like Alaska (where she was popular for working with Democrats and Republicans) before John McCain elevated her without fully examining her closely.
The reason she is popular with a lot of Conservatives is that – she’s a Conservative and the media rips her. That’s all most of them need to defend her.
Brad, you ignored rule 14. This is just as true in real life as it is on the internet.
“Do not argue with trolls — it means that they win.”
I can’t think of anything out of WVOC that isn’t troll ready.
Brad: I think you’d find FAR MORE Dems who would be “embarrassed” (your word) to be endorsed by Obama than Republicans embarrassed by an endorsement from Palin.
I don’t expect you to understand the Palin phenomenon any more than I would expect Dems to understand what the Tea Parties are all about.
But in three weeks time we’ll see just how much good a Palin endorsement can do.
I don’t fear Palin, unless she’s in a helicopter with a rifle over my house! 😀
(emoticon just for Brad)
The Oracle of Lexington has spoken! All hail Queen Sarah! Seriously, it’s folks like Mr. Owens that make me wonder whether SC will ever be ready for self-government, should we happen into it.
Palin has so much steel in her spine she served a whole half term as governor before she resigned to rake in the big bucks! That’s why you lib-bats fear her.
Was it even a whole half term?
John McCain apparently doesn’t fear Sarah Palin. From Andrew Sullivan today:
“Speaking at the 2nd annual Tucson Tea Party rally Saturday, McCain was greeted with a warm reception. And he proceeded to compliment the right-wing base for “changing America.” McCain also proudly celebrated the Republican accomplishments of obstructionism, borrowing a line from his former running mate Sarah Palin. “You know the President says that, quote, we’re the party of no,” McCain told the tea partiers. “No, we’re not the ‘party of no.’ We’re the ‘party of hell no.’” In his opening remarks, McCain also thanked Fox News for its strong support of Republican causes, endorsing Fox as “the best place to get your news.””
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/10/for-the-record.html
Is this the same guy you endorsed, Brad, less than two years ago? I’m glad I jumped off his bandwagon in 2000 when he demonstrated he wasn’t really all the hype said he was. It’s been a downhill slide since leaving all dignity behind. Bob Dole lost with grace, McCain is going down as a caricature of the consummate political animal.
Aw, he’s just hot for teacher. He’s never been able to see her straight.
@Mike: that does seem to be the case, yet with all his problems, Obama would—today—trounce Palin in a presidential race:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/123741-poll-obama-leads-palin-by-16-in-test-of-2012-matchup