Friday, July 10, 2009

The inexplicable rise of mediocrity II


On WSJ Online today Peggy Noonan cuts deep into the myths of Sarah Palin. Ms. Noonan is deeply concerned by the lack of thoughtfulness of not only Gov. Palin but also of the irrational support that the Gov. has in many parts of the republican party.

Here are a few tastes of Ms. Noonan's pungent column:

On the thoughtfulness of Sarah Palin:

"In television interviews she was out of her depth in a shallow pool. She was limited in her ability to explain and defend her positions, and sometimes in knowing them. She couldn't say what she read because she didn't read anything. She was utterly unconcerned by all this and seemed in fact rather proud of it: It was evidence of her authenticity. ... She wasn't thoughtful enough to know she wasn't thoughtful enough. Her presentation up to the end has been scattered, illogical, manipulative and self-referential to the point of self-reverence. "I'm not wired that way," "I'm not a quitter," "I'm standing up for our values." I'm, I'm, I'm."

On Sarah Palin's impact on the party:

"She makes the party look stupid, a party of the easily manipulated."

On the believe that Sarah Palin can learn to be a viable candidate:

"Now she can prepare herself for higher office by studying up, reading in, boning up on the issues." Mrs. Palin's supporters have been ordering her to spend the next two years reflecting and pondering. But she is a ponder-free zone. She can memorize the names of the presidents of Pakistan, but she is not going to be able to know how to think about Pakistan. Why do her supporters not see this? Maybe they think "not thoughtful" is a working-class trope!"

Ms. Noonan begs that Gov. Palin supporters, including the republican intellectuals, regain conscientiousness and understand that , "it's not a time to be frivolous" with our future.

The resignation of Sarah Palin hopefully is the end of the story of the rise and fall of the outstanding mediocrity that is the soon to be former governor of Alaska. I hope this is true even though I will miss the fune of Governor Palin's, "rhetorical jabberwocky."

Goodbye Gov. Palin.

Link to my previous post on Sarah Palin.


Photo is from Field & Stream.

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