Letterman gives Gov. Palin’s Top 10 excuses for interviewing in front of Turkey slaughter.
Eddie Roth writes about education, social justice, public safety, transportation, legal affairs and historic preservation. He joined the Post-Dispatch editorial page in 2008 after six years as an editorial writer with the Dayton Daily News. But he is not new to St. Louis. Eddie grew up in Webster Groves and south St. Louis County. He's a lawyer who for many years practiced with a downtown firm, and was active in civic affairs, including serving a term on the St. Louis Police Board. He and his wife, Jeanne, and their three daughters, Emily, Julia and Alice, live in the Shaw Neighborhood.
When it comes to community organizing, he endorses Quentin Crisp's advice: Rather than keeping up with the Joneses, it's better to pull them down to your level. 
That should have been `the chauvinist.’
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Sorry, Joey, but the fact that Palin is a woman is not the overriding factor in my attitude toward her. So maybe it’s you who is being chauvanist. I will admit it is `a’ factor, because I believe she has used her physical attractiveness to get where she is today. I suspect she also used it to her advantage in college to get decent grades. No. It has more to do with the fact that I don’t think Palin is either intelligent or educated — and that is not someone I would want in the White House, regardless of gender. I’ve been critical of Dubya in this same regard. Where was your animosity regarding that? I don’t like Ted Kennedy. Does that make me prejudiced against really good swimmers? I’m sorry, but I give no quarter to ignorance — not in today’s society, when so much information is available for the pickings on the internet, not to mention all the libraries out there with their stores of information. Now, if someone lives in a jerkwater community, with no internet access or libraries, then that’s different. That’s a mitigating factor.
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EJ,
Thanks for proving my point. Hillary Clinton considers herself a Christian, however that’s okay with you because everyone knows she’s not a threat. She does whatever the man in charge of her tells her to do. That’s why she didn’t dump her lying scum of a husband out on the street after he publicly humiliated her by sleeping with multiple other women.
In the end, it doesn’t matter what Sarah Palin believes or doesn’t. There are hundreds of men in politics today that believe the same things she does, but none of them are treated like she is by all of you sexist pigs. You don’t draw these men in cartoons as fat sows like her, you don’t make nasty, sexually explicit comments towards them, and you hate her with a vehemence that shows just how scared you really are of having a woman in the white house.
And as far as my A game goes, I think I brought it. However, I understand that the only A game you think a woman has is her A-bility to bend over and take it up the you know what by you and your piggie friends. So, in that case, I will keep my A game to myself, thank you very much!!!
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Joey… I don’t know how Palin is free-thinking when she goes to church (and thus accepts dogma), her handlers wanted her to be handled with kid gloves by the media and she had to be educated about basic items of knowledge that one should have learned in grade school. I think you’re getting a back-stabbing, conniving opportunist mixed up with a strong, free-thinking woman. It’s not the same thing. Please, do bring your A-game.
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Tim, you do a disservice to the voters of Alaska and seem to know more than they do. Congratulations on your brilliant mind.
I sure didn’t see the type of furor surrounding the beheading of Nicholas Berg. Sad.
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Bill, I think your obsession with Sarah Palin is way off base. Palin is not smart, strong or tough. If Palin were smart, she wouldn’t make so ridiculous statements, like her role as Veep. If Palin were strong, she would have actually faced the American public and media outside of places where she “receives proper respect.” If Palin were tough, she’d just admit that she and McCain didn’t have a real message to offer other than four more years of W.
Palin wasn’t a victim of a “sexist” media, she was the victim of her own ambition and hubris.
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Letterman didn’t do so well this time.
But I still haven’t figured out what happened with Palin this time. Did she figure that this would only be seen by Alaskans and they would not be bothered by dying birds? Since she studied television journalism, it hard to think that she didn’t know what was happening behind her.
Joey, hostility towards Palin also has to do with her being Christian, working-class and provincial.
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People, (namely, men), pick on Sarah Palin because she is a strong woman, and that scares the heck out of them. The U.S. isn’t racist, it’s sexist, and that has definitely been proven during this last election cycle.
They don’t mind Hillary Clinton because her husband cheated on her and she took it on the chin like a good little girl should. They know that they can keep her in her place.
Women who don’t like Palin are only parroting what the men they know say because that’s what they do, they pander to men to get attention.
They are still making fun of her because they want more than anything to squash the idea of a strong, free thinking woman in any kind of power. They will do anything to accomplish this, from making sexually explicit references about her to drawing her as hugely fat in cartoons (Doonesbury) when she is obviously not in the least bit overweight. This is how men deal with women who dare to stand up and speak their mind about something. It is not a shock to me, it is what it has always been.
Men like their women barefoot, half/naked, sporting a black eye and most of all, QUIET.
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EJ,
I think you would do better going long “pork” in tis environment.
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Also, anyone know how I can go about buying futures in tofu turkeys?
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Actually, now that I think about it, I should be praising Palin for this interview. She’s probably unwittingly added quite a few more vegans/vegetarians/pescatarians to the ranks. Most people can’t handle the brutal truth about their meat delivery process. Thanks, Sarah.
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What bothers me about this interview is that Palin was not sharp enough to avoid it.
Though Palin in this video seems indifferent to the death of birds, she has shown the purest opposition to the killing of kids through abortion. Obama would have been too smart to do this interview, but I still prefer Palin and her compassion for humans.
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Coupla points: 1) I don’t think there’s anything about the video that makes Palin appear worse or better than she ever has. Her advisors, however, must be total flat-liners. Ever heard of setting up a shot? Palin, herself, did TV news and weather for a bit after college, so she must have some idea of what “composition” means. Unfortunately, her acquiescence to making an otherwise bland holiday piece with that as the background re-emphasizes her tone-deaf liabilities. She wants to run in ‘12….how about starting today to lay down some background impressions that communicate “statesman,” “dignity,” etc.? No. 2, the comment from one of the posters about how Rahm Emmanuel is a pugnacious partisan has made me smile since it was first uttered on Fox. I suppose Karl Rove is a Ghandi-like middle-of-the-roader who encouraged Mr. Bush to listen to all sides of every dispute. I think chiefs of staff are *supposed* to be pit bulls, a tradition that started with Haldeman/Erlichmann, if I remember right.
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Talk about your non sequiturs, A Centrist.
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That’s it. No more turkey for me!
BTW – I heard Barack had a corned beef sandwich recently. Someone call PETA!
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….and I guess since McCain wasn’t elected he is not going to “get Bin Laden” like he promised. He knows where he is and he knows how to get him but now we’re just SOL.
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RHarnack, OK, Biden said that Obama’s youth, like JFK’s, will cause a crisis to be generated as a test.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIWZX9T5qNs
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I actually mis-posted earlier today. I should have written “Having Sarah Palin just shut her mouth: Utopia.”
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TFerguson… Personally, I wanted Richardson in the oval office, but, hey, I never get the person I want. I wanted Tsongas too, but we got Clinton.
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I did happen to notice I spelled `cappuccino’ wrong. Just wanted to correct it before I got called on the carpet about it by `Tick.’
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TFerguson… My point is that it wouldn’t be beyond her to have believed Africa was a country. I’m just glad moose don’t travel in herds. If they did, we probably would have heard her say again and again during the campaign how she likes to hunt `meese.’
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Bill Hannegan -
Your statement about Biden is inaccurate, he did not say that President Elect Obama would “generate an international crisis”, rahter he said that there would be a test/crisis in the first six months of the presidential term — a far cry from your misstatement.
Yes, poor Sarah Palin, she runs around for two weeks after the election pursuing all of the interviews she avoided prior to the election, only to have her folk back home mismanage something as simple as a turkey pardon. I was impressed when she said she wrote out the terms of the pardon herself. Now I know why she was kept from the interviews during the campaign.
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Cappucino at Wasilla 7-Eleven: $3.25. Hourly wage of a Wasilla turkey murderer: $14. Thanksgiving turkey with stuffing, cranberries and the rest of the holiday trimmings: $150. Hearing Sarah Palin babble in an interview: priceless. Having Sarah Palin just shut her mouth: even more priceless.
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Hey EJ, that story has already been proven false.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/arts/television/13hoax.html?_r=3&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
But hey, when you get your news from Jon Stewart, what can you expect? Palin seems a lot more real-world than you “Hope for Change”ers!
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Wow. You guys are really out to get her, aren’t you? Is it because she had the audacity to run against your messiah? C’mon, that stuff happens every day. Grow a pair, and quit picking on her.
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Bill… Haven’t you been following things? Palin doesn’t live in the real world. Listen to her interviews. It’s tragically apparent she’s chosen to live in an egocentric bubble. But, hey, maybe all she’s been through will force her to learn about the world outside of Alaska. I for one would encourage Obama to tap her for U.S. ambassador to the country of Africa.
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My household finally broke down and watched the video. It wasn’t so bad! I don’t like to kill anything, but what we saw is nothing one doesn’t always see when hunting or fishing. I like a gal who is used to living in the real world.
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Have to say I like the headline. But my guess is that glass breaks when Palin talks too.
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Poor Sarah Palin, Biden can announce that Obama will generate an international crisis but the American public only notices the price of her clothes. McCain can say that being the governor of Alaska constitutes a foriegn policy qualification because “Alaska is right next to Russia”, yet remain a foriegn policy expert. When Palin says it, she is a dolt.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/03/mccain-russia-alaska/
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Eddie,
I believe my previous comment answered your question. That is step one and as I predicted, the market staged a big rally. Step two is some visibility on taxes next year. A good step three would be to name the SEC Commissioner and announce the end to several accounting rules that have ruined our country (see mark to market) and begin the process to repeal Sarbannes Oxley (also known as the accountant’s retirement act).
I still don’t understnd why she is so roundly jeered. She didn’t point the camera. Probably a member of the liberal media.
EJ,
If you don’t like the way we make turkey,you would hate sausage and lawmaking.
Hope for the best over the weekend.
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Personally, I believe everyone should have to watch something like this. I also believe anyone who wants to eat meat should have the backbone to walk into a factory farm. My guess is most people would choose not to eat meat after having gone inside. But then, there’s a reason we tuck away factory farms from the general public’s view. Borrowing from Al Gore: they are yet another inconvenient truth.
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jjk… Last I checked, Obama was already president.
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I saw this earlier today. Yet more proof Palin is an oblivious dolt.
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The Times reports Obama will appoint Timothy F. Geithner, NY Fed president, as Treasury Sec.
Does your earlier complaint still hold, jjk?
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Our current president understands there has been a vote of no confidence. He is doing the honorable thing by leaving the rest of the TARP for the new guy. About an hour ago, Obama named the Treasury Secretary and the market went up 450 points. The street does not care about the old guy. They care about what taxes are going to be like next year. If Obama makes a comment Monday regarding corporate taxes or the capital gains rates, or even better letting the tax cuts expire, the market will move 2000 points next week. This is no time for politics. Our way of life is at stake here. We can all snipe at each other in good times and say the rich are too greedy or the poor are too needy. But, right now, that stuff has to get shoved to the back burner. While the rest of us rake the leaves, or (as we are) go to a snazzy bar mitzvah and try to act like everything is normal, the fate of Citi will be decided in Washington and NYC. This is going to be another rough weekend. He needs to be clear on Monday. This is not a time to worry about polls or parsing words.
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Back to the video for a minute, are those “true american republican” turkeys left over form the Republican campaign and Governors Conference?
As to all of the “let’s blame President Elect Obama” for all of the ills brought on by the current administration, geez guys, you used to blame Bill Clinton for all of the problems suffered in this current admisnistration.
This reminds me of all of the spoiled cry-babies I had to listen to throughout my life. God forbid anything they did and had bad results because of their actions should actually be their responsibility. It was always something or someone else’s fault.
Sorry, but grown up accept responsibility and try to fix it or themselves. These conservative excuse makers are going to have to re-write a lot of history to make this administration’s messes someone else’s responsibility.
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Eddie, your byline says you write “about education and social justice.” So while the stock market, in which many have placed their retirement savings, has lost more than a third of its value since the end of August, you find a YouTube video of Sarah Palin and a turkey farmer to be newsworthy. Strange.
I must disagree with your offer of David Brooks as refutation of those who believe Obama’s nominations to be left-leaning. While Brooks was a McCain supporter, he called Palin a “cancer” on the Republican party, and has put forth the “McCain-Lieberman Party” as representing the majority of Americans. While there are many who may agree with Brooks, most conservatives would disagree with your characterization of him as a “conservative columnist.”
As to the nominations themselves …
Rahm Emmanuel – Bright guy, sure, but an aggressive partisan who will set the tone for the White House.
Eric Holder: Radical opponent of gun owners rights. Key role in Marc Rich pardon.
Tom Daschle: Advocates health insurance “reform” which goes beyond even Obama’s plans. Daschle believes the federal government should decide which treatments are best, and disallow payment for others – no matter what your doctor says.
Hillary Clinton: With all due respect to Senator Clinton’s many talents, I challenge you to find a less qualified Secretary of State in the entire 20th century. Ed Muskie is the only one who comes close – and he only served for the few months of a failed, lame duck Presidency. Clinton could be a good choice for other posts, but not State.
For a President who has inspired so much hope in so many people, these are not exactly inspiring choices.
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What do you propose we do with the president of the United States who happens to be in office right now, jjk? What’s the cause of the impasse?
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I think you can find a nicer, non-political Thanksgiving pix instead of filling the cornucopia of Palen bashing that is already overflowing in abundance. David Brooks is about as conservative as I am liberal.
This just ran, issued by Goldman Sachs which illustrates the point.
“We have marked down our forecasts for US real GDP in response to continuing signs of falling domestic and foreign demand, labor market deterioration, renewed tightening in financial conditions, and an apparent impasse in fiscal policy pending the transfer of power to the Obama administration in late January,” economists led by Jan Hatzius said.
As I mentioned, you won the election. With victory comes responsibility. He needs to show it.
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Eddie, I haven’t seen the “change” Obama ran on. He has chosen mostly Clinton cronies and it is appearing to be Clinton’s third term. I have never been a Clinton fan HOWEVER, with Clinton AND a Republican Congress, the economy chugged along until the end of Clinton’s term when he left Bush with a recession. Obama will have a Clinton cabinet but a Democratic Congress so I can’t see him getting anywhere near the middle during his presidency and just can’t find any signs that he and his Clinton Cabinet will change anything to help the economy. Smart appointments? Perhaps. Change? No Way.
The markets are crashing because there is a genuine fear that the Clinton Cabinet and Democratic Congress will kill business with high taxes and continued bailouts (although it IS a good sign that the Democrats actually sent the Big Three home to come up with a business model that will work).
This Palin story is yet another non-issue. I think a better story would be to show the execution of Nicholas Berg in the background with Barack Obama juxtaposed with his statements saying he will talk with our enemies and close Gitmo.
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Consider the Palin video a seasonal piece, jjk.
Also, here’s conservative columnist David Brooks in today’s Times on the Obama transition so far:
“Believe me, I’m trying not to join in the vast, heaving O-phoria now sweeping the coastal haut-bourgeoisie. But the personnel decisions have been superb. The events of the past two weeks should be reassuring to anybody who feared that Obama would veer to the left or would suffer self-inflicted wounds because of his inexperience. He’s off to a start that nearly justifies the hype.”
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Eddie,
I was watching Jack Welch this morning on CNBC and he said the same thing as did just about everyone who came on the show. I switched to Joe Scarborough on MSNBC and the entire panel with the exception of the Washington reporter who obviously was sticking up for Obama said the same thing. Yes, in normal times it wouldn’t matter. These are not normal times. The market doesn’t work without visibility. He knows full well all those tax promises he made have gone out the window and he has a fiduciary responsibility to this country to make these moves now before more people are hurt. Paulson has already said he is leaving them half the TARP. Jack Welch related the FDR story of how (back then there were 4 months between election and inauguration) he failed to make his intentions known hoping the economy would sink further so he would look like a bigger hero. Obviously, that made the depression deeper. Amidst all this, I just don’t get the continued fascination with Palin. She ran. She lost. She isn’t my first choice next time, but the constant needling is really not productive. I wrote elsewhere here this morning that 24 hour news has begotton 365 day campaigns and the country will remain paralyzed as all this does is highlight our differences. We all have one common objective right now and that is to save our economy and way of life. Everything else needs to wait. Obama should immediately appoint a Treasury Secretary and at least announce that he will let the Bush tax cuts expire. Those two things would calm the markets. He can figure out the Secretary of Transportation, etc. later.
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I’m thinking tofu, jmas, (but maybe with a little giblet gravy if no one is looking!).
That’s one heck of a short honeymooon, jjk, 17 days after the election and about 2 months before he takes the oath of office.
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I’m guessing you won’t be having turkey for Thanksgiving dinner this year Mr. Roth?
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You just can’t give it a rest. Your pal won the election, but you are still mocking this woman. Meanwhile, Obama is hiding in Chicago while Rome burns. He is purposely not calming the markets by naming a Treasury Secretary and having the courage to admit he won’t be able to raise the capital gains tax. Just those two things would calm the markets, however, he is content to try to run the market as low as possible so his scoreboard starts with a lower score to overcome. While you may smugly find this politically astute, it is MORE OF THE SAME. It is not leadership. It is irresponsible.. The market tried to warn us about this guy and the market is down over 30% since he was elected. That’s on him. Abe Lincoln? More like Herbert Hoover.
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I avoid meat because of Scully’s book. Interesting that Scully wrote Palin’s Republican Convention speech.
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Being there was fun for Palin? Very Strange.
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I’m kind of a city boy. This shocked me. I thought turkeys were brought to grocery stores by storks, all ready to go.
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Yea, that’s how turkeys get to your table. I don’t understand the problem here. Ever lived on a farm?
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I am a big fan of Sarah Palin’s pro-freedom and pro-life philosophy. But I also agree with Matthew Scully’s indictment of America’s treatment of animals.
http://www.matthewscully.com/
Thank you for your warning about the video, Mr. Roth. I am glad I didn’t watch it. It probably would have ruined my evening.
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