Richard Cohen Gets a Clue

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I wasn’t going to write about Moosewoman again, but the event of Richard Cohen writing a good column was too remarkable to ignore. Today Cohen writes,

The Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin might conclude that she represents the exact moment important Republicans gave up on democracy. She was clearly seen as an empty vessel who could be controlled by her intellectual betters. These include the editorial boards of the Weekly Standard and the Wall Street Journal, neither of which would hire Palin to make an editorial judgment but both of which would be thrilled to see her as president of the United States. It does not bother these people in the least that the woman is a demagogue — remember “death panels”? — and not, on the face of it, very responsible. If she quit as governor of Alaska in the noble pursuit of money, might she quit as, say, vice president or president for the same reason? From what I hear, one can never be too rich.

My only quibble is with Cohen’s belief the Weekly Standard wouldn’t hire Palin to make editorial judgments. I mean, Bill Kristol. Please.

She has a phenomenal favorability rating among Republicans — 76 percent — who have a quite irrational belief that she would not make such a bad president. What they mean is that she will act out their resentments — take an ax to the people and institutions they hate.

Of course, if you honestly think government doesn’t do anything useful except bomb Iraqi weddings, if follows that you think the presidency is largely a symbolic office that anyone could do.

27 thoughts on “Richard Cohen Gets a Clue”

  1. Some missing pieces but a Manchurian Candidate for sure. Got to watch that film again. Must learn something fast!!

  2. “She was clearly seen as an empty vessel who could be controlled by her intellectual betters.”

    He’s got the right, you betcha! She is the better looking female version of Ronnie Raygun, the empty shell that will repeat without conscious anything the publicant puppet masters program for her. The dimwitted teabaggers wet dream!

  4. Hitch has a razor slice over at Newsweek for Moosearina. I know that guy is self is a self-absorbed anti-theist, but boy, when he takes the verbal blade out of the sheath he is one of the best.

  5. Richard Cohen, broken clock. He’s right twice a day by accident.

    I am going to stop paying any attention to SP now, and pay more attention to Johnny Depp, World’s Sexiest Man (again).

    Or maybe the crazy dude in soiled windbreaker who walks across the parking lot where I work, yelling at squirrels. Anyone but SP.

  6. Since I am not a professional psychologist I can say this with impunity – Ms. Palin exhibits the symptoms of someone with a boderline personality disorder. I’ve known a few (and fortunately no longer do) and aside from personality and behavoral similarities, most people who know them personally like them immensly for a while but after a while hate them with a vengence. Comments from Palin’s past associations indicate their similar reaction.

  8. Sadly for her “intellectual betters” who thought they could use her as a puppet, she’s too ambitious to be controlled, and it’s not entirely clear to me if she will end up serving their interests, or, in a frenetic quest to serve her own interest as she sees it, spattered across the media cosmos as she self-destructs and explodes before our eyes.

  10. Keep reminding the public how stupid she is and how dysfunctional her family is – lather, rinse and repeat…

  11. “Cohen ges a clue.”
    Yeah, but it’s a very lonely clue. Only the stupidest squirrel’s cross the road without getting a clue of how dangerous it might be with oncoming traffic. Cohen migt finally have gotten a clue of just how utterly stupid most of his last, oh, 300+ opinion pieces have been.
    Cohen: even a blind squirrell finds an acorn once in a while. I hope he keeps finding one, because years ago, he really WAS a very sharp commentator. That memory, of course, includes how much I loved baseball players and books that I now look at and think, “WTF were YOU thinking?!?”

  12. There’s something very spooky going on here. In a recent poll. 71% of Republicans said they would vote for Sarah Palin. I seriously doubt that those numbers will go down. Everyone has had a chance to get a good look at SP. Sarah Palin actually does hate ‘liberalism’ – it’s real, not feigned. That quality trumps all falults and deficiancies. The GOP has shrunk to about 20% of registered voters, but most presidential primary elections are ‘closed’, which means independent voters, many ex-republicans will NOT be able to select the GOP candidate. Suppose the GOP fields four candidates in the primaries, SP, Newt, Huckbee, and Romney. Do the math. If Sarah has a lock on 70% of the vote and the remaining 30% is split among the other three candidates, who’s Obama running against in 2012?

    The selection of SP is political suicide for the GOP, because 2 out of 3 voters overall have decided she’s not qualified. Those numbers ard not likely to go up – voters have has a chance to look at SP & what she stands for. However that fact won’t deter her backers who believe a miracle will happen in the GE. Just as significant is that the GOP may well put up a full slate of teabaggers in 2012.

    Let’s suppose. If SP is the GOP nominee, and there is a full slate of rabid teabaggers who hitch their campaign(s) to Sarah, the voyage of 2010 could be the biggest disaster since the Titanic. VERY hypothetically, we could have President Obama in his second term with solid Democratic majority in the House and Senate.

    Go Sarah go!

  13. Doug Hughes said:

    If Sarah has a lock on 70% of the vote and the remaining 30% is split among the other three candidates, who’s Obama running against in 2012?

    Let us hope that Obama decides not to run in 2012. Intentional or not, I fear that he is setting us up for an economic train wreck. And that will create an opening for the GOP. If it’s Obama vs. Palin, I wouldn’t count on American voters making a wise choice (a wise choice might be voting for a third party candidate, which unfortunately seems to be a recipe for disaster).

  14. ozonehole said –

    “Let us hope that Obama decides not to run in 2012. Intentional or not, I fear that he is setting us up for an economic train wreck. And that will create an opening for the GOP.”

    First, if you are uncomfortable about the economy, you are in good company. I don’t know any economist who’s printing an optomistic forecast. In his most recent interview in China, Obama talks about avoiding a double-dip recession.

    But I disagree with the suggestion that ‘Obama is setting us up for an economic train wreck’. President Obam is reacting to an economic train wreck cause by 8 years of conservative economic prinicles in action. I don’t agree with all the proposals

  15. excuse me – previous comment continued –

    all the economic proposals of the Obama administration, and I do see a long haul getting us out of the effects of the recession (whether it’s over or not). The idea of blaming the Obama administration or predicting a ‘train wreck’ is like blaming a clean-up pitcher who takes over in the 9th inning 5 runs down.

    Changing pithers isn’t always an answer. What kind of ‘pitches’ do you think we should be throwing? The only 2 pitches the GOP has is ‘low taxes’ & ‘pitiful oversight’. That’s what got us 5 runs down. Anything you propose that requires congressional approval has to be something that would get through congress.

  16. Every time the republicans hold a majority, the financial fiasco they hand over to the democrats is stunning. Don’t you remember we were trillions in debt when Clinton took over? The difference this time is their timing was off and the economy bombed BEFORE they could get out of town. The republicans always give tax cuts to the rich. That isn’t considered spending, but the results are the same. Less money for the programs that need funding and more taxes for the poor. Every time the democrats hold a majority, they spend their time trying to work their way out of the financial fiasco the republicans have created and the republicans scream tax and spend. The next time the republicans are in office we need to make it clear to everyone that giving tax cuts to the rich is the same as giving more taxes to the poor.
    I hope Obama ignores the deficit. I hope he spends as much as the republicans would give in tax cuts to the rich. Most of all, I hope he gives us a great healthcare bill and too bad for the republicans that would ignore basic human needs while slipping a wad of money in their buddies’ pockets.

  17. if follows that you think the presidency is largely a symbolic office that anyone could do.

    I used to believe that up until George Bush was elected President. I didn’t realize how much damage an idiot in the Oval office could do. Once I saw the the result of not giving proper attention to who we place in office…I could only say, “Holy shit America, you better pay attention if you want to survive as a nation”!

  18. if follows that you think the presidency is largely a symbolic office that anyone could do

    Uh…yeah, sure. And budget surpluses and financial meltdowns just happen, sort of like the weather. Good times and bad times have nothing to do with who’s in office…who we elect.

    It’s like one Bush insider said We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. Why wouldn’t those who elected them take that same luxury themselve?. After all they’re just following in the foosteps of the leaders they elected. What a lesson they learned — that one can ignore the consequences and pull explanations for their screw-ups out of thin air.

  19. I fear that [Obama] is setting us up for an economic train wreck.

    You mean in addition to the one we’re already in? There isn’t any aspect of our economy that didn’t already collapse under Bush’s regime.

    I’m fine with Obama running in 2012, but I sure hope he “Throws Geithner Off the Train.” Or under the bus, if you prefer. Before the 2010 elections would be best.

  22. Stephen Colbert did a review of Palin’s book which really ought to be watched. It zeroes right in on the core of the Palin schtick. My favorite phrase: “snatching victimry from the jaws of defeat.”

    http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/256441/november-18-2009/the-word—grand-old-pity-party

    (It makes a good antidote to the NPR Morning Edition story about people lining up in Grand Rapids to see her sign books, and the sound bites of how wonderful they think she is.)

  25. Cohen gets a clue: just proves the old proverb, every fool is occasionally blessed with luck.

  26. My thesis:

    – Obama is doing the best he can with the mess he was handed. Some things will turn out well by 2012, others will not. By 2012, he will be seen as someone who at least tried and in some ways succeeded to make things better. Some things will be perceived, rightly or not, as being much worse.

    – Palin will divide the GOP. She will run either as a Republican or as a 3rd Party, spoiling the conservative vote.

    – Net result, Democrats win in 2012, even though they will do so with a weak hand, due to ambivalance about Obama.

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