You could almost forget that for well over a year, Republicans have ridiculed Barack Obama as lighter than a souffle, an inexperienced upstart who owes everything to arrogant presumption and a carefully crafted image. But Obama wrote a 375-page book, The Audacity of Hope, that shows a solid, and occasionally tedious, grasp of issues.

It is hard to imagine Palin (as opposed to a ghost writer) producing anything comparable. Almost as hard as it is to imagine that modern conservatives would expect it.

These lines need to be repeated and repeated ad nauseum until those who don't understand them begin to get a clue. Or shoot themselves in the head out of desperation. Either way, we're better off.

Palin needs to go, but I think she'll be her own worst enemy and will just become one of those problems that works itself out.

Pocket Ninja: You could almost forget that for well over a year, Republicans have ridiculed Barack Obama as lighter than a souffle, an inexperienced upstart who owes everything to arrogant presumption and a carefully crafted image. But Obama wrote a 375-page book, The Audacity of Hope, that shows a solid, and occasionally tedious, grasp of issues.

It is hard to imagine Palin (as opposed to a ghost writer) producing anything comparable. Almost as hard as it is to imagine that modern conservatives would expect it.

These lines need to be repeated and repeated ad nauseum until those who don't understand them begin to get a clue. Or shoot themselves in the head out of desperation. Either way, we're better off.

But dat wuz ritten by BILL AYERS HURRRRRRRRRRRR!

Precisely. I'll vote for Republican candidates straight down the ticket if we can have people who farking understand this bullshiat in office. Instead, we get Republicans who are only different than Democrats in where they want to spend my money, and how they want to interpret the Constitution to fit their needs- and their outright displays of intellectual dishonesty and farking cognitive dissonance.

You mean the party that is screechingly trying to equate new guidelines for mammograms with Democratic health care rationing? The guidelines put out by an independent task force created in 1984 when St. Reagan was president? That party?

Yeah, I have no idea what happened to them, but it's sad.

Holy shiat, someone from the right can see farther than their talking points. And on Reason of all places. Well, he can't see that far, he thinks Reagan was a great thinker, but he can see Sarah is a fake. It's a start.

Reagan was the original Palin.

That was a great commentary.

Conservatives have fallen, hook, line and sinker, into the cult of personality game. First with their favorite pundits, now they're moving onto actual politicians who are the same way.

Yet, they will readily deride liberals for playing this cult of personality game with Obama. Except that Obama has a longer record of actually pursuing liberal theories and policies, as well as being a likable politician.

Calmamity: You mean the party that is screechingly trying to equate new guidelines for mammograms with Democratic health care rationing? The guidelines put out by an independent task force created in 1984 when St. Reagan was president? That party?

Yeah, I have no idea what happened to them, but it's sad.

That was infuriating, because the docs I know, and a few of the medicos 'round here on FARK were trying to explain why it was a good idea, and the mouthbreathers were going "LOL OBAMACARE GRANNY D?IES!!1"- ignoring that the Liberals were the ones decrying those guidelines, and who the right has vilified recently for "consuming too much health care!" It's all reflex at this point- spouting and parroting the talking points instead of actually engaging in policy discussions and working to find a solution to problems.

Solving problems doesn't get you elected. Complaining about them does.

Sarah Palin is the natural end result of the shiat that Goldwater stirred up in 1964. The lefties on Fark like to give him a pass, but you can thank him for a good part of the rabid, social conservative wharrgarbl that continues to plague us in the form of Palin and her ilk.

make me some tea: Yet, they will readily deride liberals for playing this cult of personality game with Obama. Except that Obama has a longer record of actually pursuing liberal theories and policies, as well as being a likable politician.

You sound deathly afraid of Sarah.

ragekage: Solving problems doesn't get you elected. Complaining about them does.

Ain't that the farking truth.

Reagan would be teabagged into oblivion if he ran for office today.

Reason: [Palin's] new memoir, Going Rogue, fills up 413 pages, but it has less policy heft than a student council speech.

Limbaugh: "one of the most substantive policy books I've read."

Guess which interpretation will become gospel among Real American "conservatives."

Where's the party of Eisenhower? THAT is the Republican Party that we desperately need right now. THAT is the Republican Party that I would vote for. THAT is the one that I would tirelessly work for.

Lionel Mandrake: make me some tea: Yet, they will readily deride liberals for playing this cult of personality game with Obama. Except that Obama has a longer record of actually pursuing liberal theories and policies, as well as being a likable politician.

You sound deathly afraid of Sarah.

LOLZ

Lionel Mandrake: Reason: [Palin's] new memoir, Going Rogue, fills up 413 pages, but it has less policy heft than a student council speech.

Limbaugh: "one of the most substantive policy books I've read."

Guess which interpretation will become gospel among Real American "conservatives."

Yeah... I was going to send the link to this article out to my Palin-lovin' family but then I thought better of it, since Limbaugh et al have already weighed in on his subject and sealed the deal. I'll bet my mom already ordered her book off Amazon.

Lando Lincoln: Where's the party of Eisenhower? THAT is the Republican Party that we desperately need right now. THAT is the Republican Party that I would vote for. THAT is the one that I would tirelessly work for.

Ike would be a socialist appeaser (a taxpayer-funded highway network -- based on the German AUTOBAHN that HITLER built?) whose service record would be Swiftboated (Ike hid behind the front lines with his "private secretary") if he were alive to run today.

Lando Lincoln: Where's the party of Eisenhower? THAT is the Republican Party that we desperately need right now. THAT is the Republican Party that I would vote for. THAT is the one that I would tirelessly work for.

The same Eisenhower who, in his farewell speech, warned of exactly the political climate we have in this country now? He'd be laughed out of a Republican primary today.

make me some tea: Yet, they will readily deride liberals for playing this cult of personality game with Obama.

And, while there are some lefties that are willing to give Obama a pass on things he should be called on, I see an awful lot of Liberals that are willing to criticize him on some of his stands - IE Gay marriage, Detentions, His wavering on the public option, etc.

FuturePastNow: The same Eisenhower who, in his farewell speech, warned of exactly the political climate we have in this country now? He'd be laughed out of a Republican primary today.

Hell, I'm not sure he wouldn't be laughed out of a Democratic primary for being too liberal.

god i hope she runs for president.

-and then, in 2012, when she loses BIG to obama, i will laugh the laugh of the contented man.

zombie reagan will be dead.

run baby, run.

Another rehash of Reagan mythology. That's what's really wrong with Republicans. It's time to change, and they keep finding new ways to tell the same narrative of how they stomped Mondale.

FuturePastNow: Lando Lincoln: Where's the party of Eisenhower? THAT is the Republican Party that we desperately need right now. THAT is the Republican Party that I would vote for. THAT is the one that I would tirelessly work for.

The same Eisenhower who, in his farewell speech, warned of exactly the political climate we have in this country now? He'd be laughed out of a Republican primary today.shiat...he'd get sniped.

7of7: Reagan was the original Palin.

I came here to say this. Why are people so quick to label Regan as a "fiscal conservative." He was the father of bloated government, deficit, and overspending.

B-b-but she's a breath of fresh air....!

GAT_00: FuturePastNow: The same Eisenhower who, in his farewell speech, warned of exactly the political climate we have in this country now? He'd be laughed out of a Republican primary today.

Hell, I'm not sure he wouldn't be laughed out of a Democratic primary for being too liberal.

Sadly, this. Eisenhower proposed and approved things that would probably not pass the current Democratic controlled congress.

/the new face of the conservative movement

Old Testament God is the RANKING MEMBER, people!

It's never been truer to the Reagan vision, actually.

Goldwater as well, though in his later years he denounced religion to a small extent. Which of course makes libertarians treat him like some kind of god even though he was a prick for most of his career.

It is really sad that the deeply intellectual movement of William F Buckley has morphed into know-nothingism.

Palin will never go away. Her semi-retarded followers will not allow her to. And if she were to ever actually disappear it would be entirely blamed on the damn liberal media.

The Republicans have to dump Palin. They have to stop listening to Limbaugh, they have to tell their corporate buddies to STFU and they have to get back to their roots. Tax cuts alone WILL NOT save us. we have to cut spending, bring the troops home and repeal the f*cking patriot act. we have to stop letting RIIA and Disney write the copyright and intellectual property laws. We need to accept responsibility for our past mistakes and understand that the only way we're getting out of our current fiscal mess is to cut spending AND raise taxes. we need to phase out social security. we need to break up corporations that are 'too big to fail'.

But we're not going to do any of that. In my state, we've got judges who send kids to jail on trumped up charges because the private corporation running the prison system bribed them. And a LOT of the Republicans are under investigation for using public funds to campaign for office (so are a lot of democrats too, but it's mostly Republicans). And you know what? we still keep voting for the Republicans. Despite the fact that KNOW they're lying scumbags, everyone in this area still votes for that R after a candidate's name.

we can't keep going this way. sooner or later, all our bad decisions and terrible leadership is going to catch up to us.

What does Goldwater have to do with Reagan? Reagan made Republicans into the optimistic party, an inclusive party, the party that had a bright vision for America. Reagan made compromises. Reagan let the Soviets know that he was willing to stand down if they were willing to make concessions.

Goldwater (like Palin) is an old-school conservative whiner. Palin is what Republicans were before Reagan. She's a perpetual victim, a rabble rouser, and her brand of populism is exclusive (Real Americans) not inclusive like Reagan.

Goldwater won the 1964 nomination and even Nixon thought he was too extreme. His brand of populism led Jackie Robinson to say this:

That convention was one of the most unforgettable and frightening experiences of my life. The hatred I saw was unique to me because it was hatred directed against a white man. It embodied a revulsion for all he stood for, including his enlightened attitude towards black people.

A new breed of Republicans had taken over the GOP. As I watched this steamroller operation in San Francisco, I had a better understanding of how it must have felt to be a Jew in Hitler's Germany.


Palin 2012 is going to be a blast. Her convention speech is going to be more disastrous than Buchanan's 1992 convention speech. And she'll be none the wiser because she has shown no regard for history.

There's a reason Kennedy didn't worry about Goldwater. It's the same reason Obama doesn't worry about Palin.

Reagan at least realised that he was clueless and stuck to the scripts that he was given. Palin can't even seem to manage that.

Cagey B: Sarah Palin is the natural end result of the shiat that Goldwater stirred up in 1964. The lefties on Fark like to give him a pass, but you can thank him for a good part of the rabid, social conservative wharrgarbl that continues to plague us in the form of Palin and her ilk.

I thought Goldwater was pro-choice and pro-gay rights, no?

She referred to the presidency as

"executive administration"

That my friends, sums it up.

Harold_of_the_Rocks: It is really sad that the deeply intellectual movement of William F Buckley has morphed into know-nothingism.

intellectual dishonesty is common to both parties though.

Harold_of_the_Rocks: It is really sad that the deeply intellectual movement of William F Buckley has morphed into know-nothingism.

I think William F. Buckley looked at politics the same way Kaufmann looked a comedy. Conservatism was always his private joke. He seemed to regret that as he got older -- becasue it's clear as a young man he enjoyed the rhetorical games far more that results of his policy advocacy.

DarnoKonrad: Another rehash of Reagan mythology. That's what's really wrong with Republicans. It's time to change, and they keep finding new ways to tell the same narrative of how they stomped Mondale.

why do you hate joe scarborough and freedom?

i swear the man must jerk it to ronnies pic daily.

he cannot go two seconds without drooling his name, in comparison to obama.

yes joe, they're both presidents...and that's where it ends.

for you see joe...one man, obama, is trying to help fix the problems reagan created.

-joe is not amused at this truth telling.

Dinki: make me some tea: Yet, they will readily deride liberals for playing this cult of personality game with Obama.

And, while there are some lefties that are willing to give Obama a pass on things he should be called on, I see an awful lot of Liberals that are willing to criticize him on some of his stands - IE Gay marriage, Detentions, His wavering on the public option, etc.

Yup, I'm becoming one of em.

Weaver95: And you know what? we still keep voting for the Republicans. Despite the fact that KNOW they're lying scumbags, everyone in this area still votes for that R after a candidate's name.

But weaver...At least they're not liberals.

make me some tea: That was a great commentary.

Conservatives have fallen, hook, line and sinker, into the cult of personality game. First with their favorite pundits, now they're moving onto actual politicians who are the same way.

Yet, they will readily deride liberals for playing this cult of personality game with Obama. Except that Obama has a longer record of actually pursuing liberal theories and policies, as well as being a likable politician.

Personality politics and propaganda are all they seem to understand, and when confronted with this just tirelessly scream "NO YOU."

I like Obama. I do not worship Obama. I think he has been wrong on a few big things, starting with the AIG bailout.

Try and get a Palin supporter to disagree with anything she has said. It's difficult, first because Palin doesn't have any coherent positions beyond whargarrbl, but also because of the hero-worship.

GAT_00: FuturePastNow: The same Eisenhower who, in his farewell speech, warned of exactly the political climate we have in this country now? He'd be laughed out of a Republican primary today.

Hell, I'm not sure he wouldn't be laughed out of a Democratic primary for being too liberal.

Yeah, if a Democrat gave the Military-Industrial complex speech or said the following, they'd be considered to be in the same boat with Dennis Kucinich.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."

TFA and headline clearly need some more concern trolls. Perhaps more posts on how you miss the good old days of conservatism now that the GOP is dead.

7of7: Reagan was the original Palin.

This.

Well, he was Palin+, as he was also a treasonous criminal, and should have died in prison.

/ Selling missiles to Iran.
// Funding an illegal war in Central America
/// Treason

make me some tea: Lionel Mandrake: Reason: [Palin's] new memoir, Going Rogue, fills up 413 pages, but it has less policy heft than a student council speech.

Limbaugh: "one of the most substantive policy books I've read."

Guess which interpretation will become gospel among Real American "conservatives."

Yeah... I was going to send the link to this article out to my Palin-lovin' family but then I thought better of it, since Limbaugh et al have already weighed in on his subject and sealed the deal. I'll bet my mom already ordered signed up for her free book off Amazon Townhall.

Fixed.

Lionel Mandrake: make me some tea: Yet, they will readily deride liberals for playing this cult of personality game with Obama. Except that Obama has a longer record of actually pursuing liberal theories and policies, as well as being a likable politician.

You sound deathly afraid of Sarah.

I'm afraid FOR Sarah.

You see, as long as she is out spreading the HURR DURR, conservatives are marginalized, and have no power. Impotent old white guys. Good!

I want her to continue to be loved forever by these dim bulbs, so we can all point and laugh and make Sarah threads while the Democrats continue to go about fixing this country.

Unfortunately, she's courting a fickle bunch. If she says one thing they consider out of line, she'll be another apostate RINO.

Rapmaster2000: There's a reason Kennedy didn't worry about Goldwater.

Because he had a bunch of lead lodged in his brain?

It's the same reason Obama doesn't worry about Palin.

Lets hope not.

John Kerry's Daughter Charged With DUI

Begin the trashing of Pol Kids!

Oh, that's right, Kerry's a Dem.

Shove it under the rug!

/no hypocrisy like Lib hypocrisy