Entertainment - by Mike Vilensky on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 10:34 - 11 Comments
I Un-Ironically Like Sarah Palin (But Nobody Believes Me)
O.M.G. I’ve got to be kidding, right? Since I’m an NYU student and not visibly retarded, I can’t possibly think that John McCain’s media-hyped veep, Ms. Sarah Palin, the gun-totin’, flag-wavin’ hockey mom, is anything but a joke. Liberals are so quick to write Palin off on the basis of her redneck qualities alone (while also lamenting that real issues aren’t being taken seriously by the media), that they must find it sort of inexplicable that millions of Americans actually don’t hate her.
But such is the case: Palin is really only a joke to isolated placed like New York City, where a domino effect allows residents to convince each other that they’re right. The real issue with New York’s reaction to Sarah Palin’s candidacy doesn’t cement that she’s a bad candidate for vice president, it just shows that somewhat self-righteous New Yorkers are a bit out of touch with the United States and its needs, values, and visions.
I take no real issue with the liberal stances of New Yorkers: pro-choice, anti-war, and free condoms for everybody! I take issue with New Yorkers not realizing that willy-nilly orgies and that sort of “anything goes” attitude might be good and fine for this city of self-discoverers, but should it really anchor this country, especially when a vast majority of said country doesn’t want to live that way?
Additionally, economic Robin Hood dreams might feel nice in class at NYU (somewhat ironically), but it’s not what this country, or even this city, is actually built on and its not where it has found real progress or positive change.
I’m not suggesting that Barack Obama would not make a better president than John McCain, but it might be time for Democrats—fighting just as bitterly as Republicans—to think a little bit more realistically and a little bit less condescendingly. Liberals—you guys, NYULocal readers—are turning millions of middle American voters off with elitist, excessively progressive attitudes, only to once more be one-upped by those Americans in poll numbers.
The “I could have a beer with him/her” excuse for a preferred candidate is real and not so ridiculous. Americans want a President who would listen to them, not one who would judge and ridicule them for wearing glasses and maybe liking guns and living in Alaska and changing their minds every now and then, but believing in their country all the way through. Especially in a time of crisis, it might be preferrable to have a “comforting candidate” rather than a Jesus figure swooping in to take advantage of our nervousness.
You may now attack me in the comments section, but that staunchly partisan attitude will get you guys nowhere. And no, this is not a joke, but your consistent belief that anyone who doesn’t fall into your liberal heading is somehow kidding might be the real issue with the party’s inability to solve its problems.
11 Comments
Kate Ray
Nope, don’t believe you
Jon McDonald
I agree; I wish the rest of the world worked like this, too. I mean, why can’t our Marines be more like us and less like the elitist jocks they are? How come they’re all built like the Terminator instead of wearing belts of fat around their pants? I want a “real” soldier I can have a beer with and then comfort me in my bed by moonlight.
Chris Maggio
Mike fuck the haters let’s go shopping this weekend!
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dene chen
She mentioned the possibility of going to war with Russia over NATO membership of Ukraine and Georgia. She mentioned the POSSIBILITY of going to WAR with RUSSIA.
Anyone who knows ANYTHING about Russia knows that we can’t afford to go to war with them. she referenced the Cold War in her interview with Gibson- well, the reason there was a Cold War was because world leaders knew that getting into a nuclear altercation was not something the world could handle.
But yea, I don’t dislike her because she’s a hockey mom, or a moose hunter. I dislike her immensely because she is terribly, painfully unqualified to be a VP candidate, and she had the hubris (Gibson was right to use that word) to think she could handle. And woman couldn’t even wikipedia the Russia/Georgia conflict before going on a national interview.
Hannah Caporello
Mike, you comment on the fact that there’s a liberal domino effect in New York, but what about the stance of millions of extremely conservative Americans - would you say there is no domino effect there either? Don’t get me wrong - it doesn’t matter what you say you believe, jumping on a bandwagon is jumping on a bandwagon, but while New York City (and perhaps, therefore, NYU) is a place where minority opinions are tolerated and even encouraged (such as the call for right-leaning pieces on this site), there are many places in the country with extremely conservative voters that hardly do so.
Unfortunately, the educated voters are mixed in with the uneducated voters in both extremes. However, I consider myself quite moderate, and I would still prefer to live in a place with the people who write Palin off as a redneck because their conservative counterparts might not even give me the chance to speak.
Chris Kennedy
Why do candidates have to appear stupid for people to want to have beers with them?
I would love to have a beer with Obama. I’m still not going to vote for him though.
*sigh*
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First off, check this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/oct/03/sarah.palin.debate.feminism
So, you support Palin because you think it’s condescending to “most of America” to speak against her? Your argument seems to have good intentions, since it attempts to take into account the position of “most people”, but you are making fairly large assumptions in your portrayal of the ideas of average Americans. You maintain your supposed “New York” view even after you try to acknowledge the perspective of most people, who you seem to assume are ignorantly conservative. It seems that you realize Palin’s follies but refuse to believe them, I guess, because you seem to believe her appeal needs to be acknowledged, but you don’t realize that the aspects of the majority you are putting forth are in fact as condescending and insulting as those that take offense to Palin because of her overwhelming ignorance and conservatism. You assume that no one else, including the “New York liberals” and the “Heartland Conservatives” can see things three-dimensionally, but that is a dangerous assumption. The idea that Palin can (and partisan politics can’t ) solve problems because of her appeal to the worst sides of people is astounding, because the fact is she is painfully inept and everyone should, at least, have that inkling, and her supporters are dangerously disregarding this ineptitude and ignorance as not important. Her vast disqualification for any place of power must be pointed out.
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I love Sarah Palin. No, I don’t think she’s ready to lead–and I’m not just saying that because she’s a conservative from not-the-Northeast, but because, well, look at her interview with Charles Gibson, not really the “Bush doctrine” part but the part where she doesn’t and perhaps can’t answer any of his questions in a straight-forward, non-platitude-ridden way–but yes, I would totally love to like get smashed with her and then have her tell me stories about shooting moose from the air.