"I thought, 'God, unless you know more than I do about all this, how in the world would I handle this?'"
Unless you (God) know more than I (Sarah Palin) do?
Do Christ-people really talk like that?
"I knew that the option was there. ... I thought again, for that split second, 'OK, now I know, too, why, when that fear strikes you, because of the unknown' . . . I understood then, too, why a woman would consider [abortion] an easier path . . . "
Subtext: I, Sarah Palin, am incredibly brave where many women are not.
Palin said she wrote the letter (to inform her family after Trig was born that he has DS) "as if it were the words of our creator."
Subtext: I, Sarah Palin, am not just incredibly brave, but it's as if I am God.
"My decision certainly wasn't a political decision."
What about carting Trig around to public events with lots of press and cameras? Is that a political decision? Are you trying to tell the world something by doing that, or are you just "bein' a mommy" (wink).
In response to accusations of using Trig as a polticial prop to remind the public of her incredibly brave, God-like decision: "I'm proud of this diverse and full and very colorful family that I'm a part of."
And finally, Palin explains why people like her oppose sound sex education of our kids and support abstinence only education (that has been proven to be ineffective):
So. Based on unscientific generalizations, Bernard Goldberg is likely a closeted homosexual, white collar crook, adulterer and lets just say, for good measure, child molester.
I truly don't understand how people like Bernard Goldberg don't get beat to death on the street. It's one of the great mysteries of the universe.
Why hasn't Bernard Goldberg been beaten, to death, on the street, in broad daylight, to the indifference of some fancy educated elitists on their way to get their babies aborted at the church of satan.
"She didn't go to an 'elite' college..." You know, it's that kind of dry understatement that I appreciate most about Fox News. It's like the perfect martini -- nothing but expensive gin, one olive, and the vague sense that, at some point, there might have been a little vermouth somewhere in the building.
Now if you'll excuse me, it's Friday; time to start drinking.
@ShanghaiLil: "It's like the perfect martini -- nothing but expensive gin, one olive, and the vague sense that, at some point, there might have been a little vermouth somewhere in the building."
Hahaha. Yeah, Bernie. Fucking Downs babies are the worst! I'm a liberal woman and a few months ago, I got pregnant and was going to keep the baby but then I found out that it was missing a toe and I was all like, "KILL IT DOCTOR!" Stupid 9-toed mutant. I'm gonna keep getting preggers and aborting the ones I don't like until I get a good one...
@Mediahohoho: Yeah, I mean it's that simple and that infuriating.
I've been watching all this Palin craziness over the past few days with probably too much fervor, but I've learned one really interesting thing:
It's completely OK to call people who trend toward the Left 'East Coast elites', and godless, and selfish, and out of touch, and mean, and snide, and (gulp) educated, and non-Americans. This kind of mass character assassination goes without question. But the minute anyone assesses ol' Prudhoe Bay Barbie based on her geoographic and, gulp, educational status, it's all vicious attack and slander.
And you know what? That's OK. Because we educated, forward-thinking, urban folks have already won. We won a lonnnnggg time ago. We're on the top of the hill. So it is probably pretty petty to lob insults down at the lowly shufflers too up their own asses to try and improve upon their own willful idiocy. We'll always read more books, see more plays, watch better TV, have bigger ideas, engage in more interesting conversation, meet more diverse people. We'll always die with a far greater wealth of stories and experiences than Palin's frothing, inward, inbred cult ever will. We're better at being alive. Plain and simple.
And of course there are people who do lead 'regular' and totally fulfilling lives in 'Middle America' with genuine class and smarts and integrity. It's just that those folks don't worry about these silly comparisons. They understand the spectrum of America, they're content with their lives and their choices. And bully to them! They are not the Urban Elites' enemy in the slightest.
It's these jealous, grasping simpletons who constantly complain about 'libtards' and their wine-swilling who we really ought to fear, but ultimately pity. What disappointments their lives must be. How embarrassed they must be by their own circumstances to keep tossing dog shit over the fence into the greener grass.
Sure we'll get angry at these fools when they say "Liberals are more likely to abort fetuses with Down Syndrome", but we really should mostly be pitying them. Because it's the only emotion they merit. And it's what irks them the most. And that's kind of fun.
@Richard Lawson: I agree with what you said, but please let's all keep in mind that if you want two very accurate definitions of east coast elites, you could do a lot worse than two late-middle-aged white dudes who have worked in front of a camera, almost exclusively in New York City, their entire adult lives. And that's a perfect description of Bill O'Reilly and Bernie Goldberg.
Now, that these two dickwads figured out long ago that there was good money to be made in riling up the rubes by pretending to bite the hand that fed them (the *sigh* liberal media) is the supreme irony here, because they both know full well that every word proceeding from their mouth is a lie designed to inflame the suckers in front of their seedy carnival tents, rubes they'd no more share their $100 Kobe steaks with than a beggar on the street.
They're cynical. They know everything they say is a lie. They appeal to people's basest fears. They're dangerous.
@Mediahohoho: Well, yes, of course. Any of the barkers on Fox News who claim to represent some sort of populist regular Americanism are complete fucking liars.
I just think that in Palin's case, she doesn't really get that she's a complete liar. She doesn't seem to see that going on some national book tour and being on 'SNL' and all the myriad things she's done and is, shudder, likely to do that earn her millions of cynical dollars immediately place her in a completely different strata than those she's cheaply identifying with.
Palin is rabidly and perilously-blindly obsessed with fame and power, but only has this one shaky pedestal of JoePlumberism to stand on. It can't hold her for long. The look of shock on her face when it all crumbles is going to be priceless.
@Richard Lawson: I knew plenty of ladies like this growing up. My "Charismatic" minister dad, an elf, actually, all of 5'3" and cute as the dickens drew these bitches to him like moths. They thought they could push him around and they were right.
Sarah Palin believes that her success is her just reward from Gawd for giving him a shout out when they took second at states in basketball and later at the pageant. She is sure of every word she speaks, even when she's not quite sure what it means. She speaks a completely coded language known to few who aren't part of a "prayer chain."
I despair for these people. They got one of their own in the White House, finally, in 2001 and now it's the End Times when someone who is clearly not one of them -- not even the same religion as them, they insist on claiming, as if that were up to them -- holds the office. And yet they seem completely divorced from the actual meaning of the doctrine they supposedly espouse.
Just like Jesus putting GWB in charge in time for 9/11, He has a destiny for His special barracuda, Sarah. And if that plan happens to include a few houses and some little luxuries, she's earned it. If she fails politically (governing is hard!), she can just rack that up to her favorite shibboleth, the liberal media, and make a second, third and fourth career out of bitching about that. And all the while, the media will follow her like a desperate, horny dog.
@Richard Lawson: @Mediahohoho: I comfort myself in the knowledge that these mouth breathers, while extremely loud, constitute a very small minority. It is utterly mind boggling to see how simplistic, how black/white, their world view is that you are almost certain they haven't matured past the age of 5-6. Bill O, Goldberg and Palin exploit their naivete, tribalism and baser instincts for ratings and money. It's a fucking shame that this is legitimized by the mass media.
Anyway I liked this thread. You both are warmly "hearted" for awesomeness.
@Mediahohoho: I almost wish that one of us was friends with Sarah Palin so that we could help her come up with great ideas that she should try, like that friend who totally thinks that you can grind your skateboard all the way down 3 flights of stairs and will grab you a pair of elbow pads just in case.
Because to be honest, I kind of just wanna help her get her own talk show, let her taste what it's like to have that kind of success, and then convince her that the money and influence she has from that show is "real" power and that she should stay as far the fuck away from politics as possible.
I mean, why run for president, Sarah? The pay sucks, people hate you all the time, and you don't get to talk nearly as often as you would on your own show!
Plus it would give conservatives solace in the argument, "Oh, if Sarah had only run in 2012 things would be different," and banter amongst themselves that they wish she would. Luckily she could just say something like "I'm not running because I have a more important job than bein' president: keepin' the president in check!" and the crowd would freak out and then she gives away snowmobiles with boxes of guns inside them or something.
Meanwhile, everyone here at Gawker (read: important people) gets fresh material to mock every day.
But seriously, he picks a set of criteria that possibly the single most emblematic liberal family in America specifically violates, point for point. You suck at this, Bernie. Really.
I didn't finish watching the O'Reilly clip because I didn't want to throw up.
@Mediahohoho: I'm taking a standup comedy class right now (don't worry, I'm not good) and there's this odd young man who constantly talks about how gross women's genitals are. We think it's because he's:
a) scared of them
b) never seen them before
c) homosexual, which wouldn't be a problem, he just chooses strange subject matter for his arguments
@Richard Lawson: Oh, Richard. I'm bookmarking this post and will read it every time Palin and her supporters start getting on my nerves.
I loved the last words of Jon Stewart from the extended Lous Dobbs interview. About he's tired of being called un-American just because he is from NY-NJ. I'm going to transcribe them and keep them close to my heart as well.
@Helio: Not only that, but most of them are OLD. That means in a few years, there will be fewer of them around to be loud, obnoxious, and stupid.
I still wonder how anyone got to the age of Medicare eligibility without acquiring at least as much wisdom as one might attribute to your average ninth grader.
Let's not forget this important fact: Sarah Palin is not religious and is not a conservative.
She is just doing all these things that are perceived as religious and conservative, because she is a politician trying to position herself into that slot. This is why it's OK for her to pose in skimpy clothing and wink during election debates. No conservative Christian would do any of that shit. The person trying to sell herself as one might, if she thinks it may sell.
So, it was not possible for her to abort her child, not because her beliefs are so strong, but because she'd have no way of selling herself if she did it.
Oh, I forgot: she is just a servant of the people of Alaska. Yeah, right.
@Niko Bellic: I actually think it's the polar opposite. She's a form of religious that you don't quite believe exists unless you've dealt with it up close. Not traditionally conservative by a longshot. I grew up in a secular household in the northeast, and the first time I came up against a true-blue born-again Pentecostal was one hell of an eye opener.
I think she's so deeply religious in a "magical thinking" sort of way that it's hard to believe she can operate that way. I don't think her mind actually conforms around reality -- she just skips across it like a stone, if the stone were thrown by Jesus.
My parents told me that too, and it never, ever worked.
Of course, when someone's right in your face on the playground calling your mother a whore, you can't really get away with pretending they don't exist. I think Goldberg could've let this one go.
That was his response? WTF? So if you're pro-choice you are a.) a non-compassionate person b.) will always abort your down syndrome baby. And why do conservatives keep bragging about the fact that Sarah Palin kept her baby? She didn't want it because she thought it was inferior and the only reason she didn't abort it is because she thought she would go to hell for doing so. Her decision was based on guilt not compassion.
@heywhat: If she gave a shit about that kid she sure as shit wouldn't be dragging him around on a book tour. What an asshole, especially on her parenting of Trig, this one is. What a hypocritical fucking douchebag.
When I was pregnant, with "Advanced Maternal Age" (the quaint official medical coinage for expecting a child after 35 [www.newsweek.com]) I had a moment of waiting for the amnio results when I thought, what if?
All the theories and arguments were suddenly very very real, in a way they had never been before.
There is only one answer to the question of what would you do when the amnio results come back, and the answer is choice.
@If_I_Had_a_Poodle: I tried wording this ten ways from Sunday, all while trying to remain reserved and protect myself from those who have never waited for these kinds of results, but sometimes people aren't as lucky. I'm glad it worked out for you.
@Magister: Well, yes, exactly, that's the point. I was lucky. Not everyone is. And that's why there must be choice. Also, choice goes both ways: people do choose to continue a pregnancy when there are issues. That's why it's called choice.
The special Olympics swim team pratices at the Y that I go to and I admire and respect their parents and coaches more than I can say.
@If_I_Had_a_Poodle: Being a sister "AMA", I know exactly of what you speak. I didn't have amnio, since my husband and I had CHOSEN ahead of time to continue any pregnancy of a fetus indicating DS. And that's what it is - plain and simple - choice.
I had other tests, such as the NT scan along with bloodwork and a level II u/s to check for possible spina bifida - a choice that may have gone differently for us. Like you, I had all standard results and my son has neither disorder.
Yet, throughout the period of time I had chosen to not have amnio, I'll bet you can take a guess as to the political leanings of every woman who tried to pressure me into it. They were loaded with advice that I had to "hurry", "before it was too late".
Too late for WHAT? We all know. Amnio must be performed between the 17th and 20th weeks. The test protocol was designed solely for that period in gestation.
What reason is there for amnio other than to make that very same choice? Why were these certain-politico leaning women pushing it on me when they should oppose the test altogether? Why did PALIN have amnio at all when any later stage Level II u/s could have told her the same thing about Trig's development? Operating in an environment of choice - all of them.
PS. To aid those unfamiliar with prenatal testing: Nothing amnio tests for can be cured. Only one disorder can possibly be treated in vitro, but at a much later stage. (Spina bifida). Amnio is not ideal for indicating it. You really need different tests.
@Mean_Ol_Liberal: Yes to all. The one reason for tests if you wouldn't consider termination is preparation -- so you know, and can deal. Some of the early ultrasounds can reveal surgically repairable issues. I had them all. I skipped the CVS but I had the NT.
@Magister: You are right. It's not a serious news analysis and it's not a comedy show either. It's actually designated as an hour of pointing out how a comedy show does not measure up to the standards of serious analysis. It's a fucking gem!
@Niko Bellic: If Fox can use "designated news hours" to inoculate themselves against the daily rantings of Beck or Hannity devoting a full hour toward the pre-election "Obama is a radical and a Muslim" meme, then it should allow for thirty seconds from Bernie Goldberg.
The rest of the news media and blogosphere find themselves constantly responding to Fox's fake news program, and adding Jon Stewart to the mix makes it even more meta.
He really lives in a universe where liberals don't have children with Downs Syndrome and where his failure to work on real TV has to do with overwhelming liberal bias and not his resounding lack of talent.
11/20/09
11/20/09
Unless you (God) know more than I (Sarah Palin) do?
Do Christ-people really talk like that?
"I knew that the option was there. ... I thought again, for that split second, 'OK, now I know, too, why, when that fear strikes you, because of the unknown' . . . I understood then, too, why a woman would consider [abortion] an easier path . . . "
Subtext: I, Sarah Palin, am incredibly brave where many women are not.
Palin said she wrote the letter (to inform her family after Trig was born that he has DS) "as if it were the words of our creator."
Subtext: I, Sarah Palin, am not just incredibly brave, but it's as if I am God.
"My decision certainly wasn't a political decision."
What about carting Trig around to public events with lots of press and cameras? Is that a political decision? Are you trying to tell the world something by doing that, or are you just "bein' a mommy" (wink).
In response to accusations of using Trig as a polticial prop to remind the public of her incredibly brave, God-like decision: "I'm proud of this diverse and full and very colorful family that I'm a part of."
And finally, Palin explains why people like her oppose sound sex education of our kids and support abstinence only education (that has been proven to be ineffective):
"Oh gosh, bring on the grandkids. I can't wait."
11/20/09
I truly don't understand how people like Bernard Goldberg don't get beat to death on the street. It's one of the great mysteries of the universe.
Why hasn't Bernard Goldberg been beaten, to death, on the street, in broad daylight, to the indifference of some fancy educated elitists on their way to get their babies aborted at the church of satan.
11/20/09
Now if you'll excuse me, it's Friday; time to start drinking.
11/20/09
Will you marry me ?
11/20/09
11/20/09
#tips
11/20/09
#tips
11/20/09
#tips
11/20/09
In the words of Jon Stewart, "Go fuck yourself."
11/20/09
a) don't have big families
b) aren't religious
c) aren't compassionate
d) abort Downs Syndrome children
He's an ignorant fucking bigot. Like O'Reilly.
11/20/09
I've been watching all this Palin craziness over the past few days with probably too much fervor, but I've learned one really interesting thing:
It's completely OK to call people who trend toward the Left 'East Coast elites', and godless, and selfish, and out of touch, and mean, and snide, and (gulp) educated, and non-Americans. This kind of mass character assassination goes without question. But the minute anyone assesses ol' Prudhoe Bay Barbie based on her geoographic and, gulp, educational status, it's all vicious attack and slander.
And you know what? That's OK. Because we educated, forward-thinking, urban folks have already won. We won a lonnnnggg time ago. We're on the top of the hill. So it is probably pretty petty to lob insults down at the lowly shufflers too up their own asses to try and improve upon their own willful idiocy. We'll always read more books, see more plays, watch better TV, have bigger ideas, engage in more interesting conversation, meet more diverse people. We'll always die with a far greater wealth of stories and experiences than Palin's frothing, inward, inbred cult ever will. We're better at being alive. Plain and simple.
And of course there are people who do lead 'regular' and totally fulfilling lives in 'Middle America' with genuine class and smarts and integrity. It's just that those folks don't worry about these silly comparisons. They understand the spectrum of America, they're content with their lives and their choices. And bully to them! They are not the Urban Elites' enemy in the slightest.
It's these jealous, grasping simpletons who constantly complain about 'libtards' and their wine-swilling who we really ought to fear, but ultimately pity. What disappointments their lives must be. How embarrassed they must be by their own circumstances to keep tossing dog shit over the fence into the greener grass.
Sure we'll get angry at these fools when they say "Liberals are more likely to abort fetuses with Down Syndrome", but we really should mostly be pitying them. Because it's the only emotion they merit. And it's what irks them the most. And that's kind of fun.
Us: 1, Them: 0. Forever.
11/20/09
Now, that these two dickwads figured out long ago that there was good money to be made in riling up the rubes by pretending to bite the hand that fed them (the *sigh* liberal media) is the supreme irony here, because they both know full well that every word proceeding from their mouth is a lie designed to inflame the suckers in front of their seedy carnival tents, rubes they'd no more share their $100 Kobe steaks with than a beggar on the street.
They're cynical. They know everything they say is a lie. They appeal to people's basest fears. They're dangerous.
11/20/09
11/20/09
11/20/09
I just think that in Palin's case, she doesn't really get that she's a complete liar. She doesn't seem to see that going on some national book tour and being on 'SNL' and all the myriad things she's done and is, shudder, likely to do that earn her millions of cynical dollars immediately place her in a completely different strata than those she's cheaply identifying with.
Palin is rabidly and perilously-blindly obsessed with fame and power, but only has this one shaky pedestal of JoePlumberism to stand on. It can't hold her for long. The look of shock on her face when it all crumbles is going to be priceless.
11/20/09
Sarah Palin believes that her success is her just reward from Gawd for giving him a shout out when they took second at states in basketball and later at the pageant. She is sure of every word she speaks, even when she's not quite sure what it means. She speaks a completely coded language known to few who aren't part of a "prayer chain."
I despair for these people. They got one of their own in the White House, finally, in 2001 and now it's the End Times when someone who is clearly not one of them -- not even the same religion as them, they insist on claiming, as if that were up to them -- holds the office. And yet they seem completely divorced from the actual meaning of the doctrine they supposedly espouse.
Just like Jesus putting GWB in charge in time for 9/11, He has a destiny for His special barracuda, Sarah. And if that plan happens to include a few houses and some little luxuries, she's earned it. If she fails politically (governing is hard!), she can just rack that up to her favorite shibboleth, the liberal media, and make a second, third and fourth career out of bitching about that. And all the while, the media will follow her like a desperate, horny dog.
11/20/09
Anyway I liked this thread. You both are warmly "hearted" for awesomeness.
11/20/09
11/20/09
Because to be honest, I kind of just wanna help her get her own talk show, let her taste what it's like to have that kind of success, and then convince her that the money and influence she has from that show is "real" power and that she should stay as far the fuck away from politics as possible.
I mean, why run for president, Sarah? The pay sucks, people hate you all the time, and you don't get to talk nearly as often as you would on your own show!
Plus it would give conservatives solace in the argument, "Oh, if Sarah had only run in 2012 things would be different," and banter amongst themselves that they wish she would. Luckily she could just say something like "I'm not running because I have a more important job than bein' president: keepin' the president in check!" and the crowd would freak out and then she gives away snowmobiles with boxes of guns inside them or something.
Meanwhile, everyone here at Gawker (read: important people) gets fresh material to mock every day.
And balance is restored to the universe.
11/20/09
But seriously, he picks a set of criteria that possibly the single most emblematic liberal family in America specifically violates, point for point. You suck at this, Bernie. Really.
I didn't finish watching the O'Reilly clip because I didn't want to throw up.
11/20/09
a) scared of them
b) never seen them before
c) homosexual, which wouldn't be a problem, he just chooses strange subject matter for his arguments
Maybe the same could be said of Bernie Goldberg.
11/20/09
11/20/09
I loved the last words of Jon Stewart from the extended Lous Dobbs interview. About he's tired of being called un-American just because he is from NY-NJ. I'm going to transcribe them and keep them close to my heart as well.
11/20/09
I still wonder how anyone got to the age of Medicare eligibility without acquiring at least as much wisdom as one might attribute to your average ninth grader.
11/20/09
11/19/09
She is just doing all these things that are perceived as religious and conservative, because she is a politician trying to position herself into that slot. This is why it's OK for her to pose in skimpy clothing and wink during election debates. No conservative Christian would do any of that shit. The person trying to sell herself as one might, if she thinks it may sell.
So, it was not possible for her to abort her child, not because her beliefs are so strong, but because she'd have no way of selling herself if she did it.
Oh, I forgot: she is just a servant of the people of Alaska. Yeah, right.
11/20/09
I think she's so deeply religious in a "magical thinking" sort of way that it's hard to believe she can operate that way. I don't think her mind actually conforms around reality -- she just skips across it like a stone, if the stone were thrown by Jesus.
11/19/09
Of course, when someone's right in your face on the playground calling your mother a whore, you can't really get away with pretending they don't exist. I think Goldberg could've let this one go.
11/19/09
11/20/09
11/19/09
All the theories and arguments were suddenly very very real, in a way they had never been before.
There is only one answer to the question of what would you do when the amnio results come back, and the answer is choice.
I was lucky. Everything was fine.
I didn't have to choose.
11/19/09
11/20/09
11/20/09
The special Olympics swim team pratices at the Y that I go to and I admire and respect their parents and coaches more than I can say.
#tips
11/20/09
I had other tests, such as the NT scan along with bloodwork and a level II u/s to check for possible spina bifida - a choice that may have gone differently for us. Like you, I had all standard results and my son has neither disorder.
Yet, throughout the period of time I had chosen to not have amnio, I'll bet you can take a guess as to the political leanings of every woman who tried to pressure me into it. They were loaded with advice that I had to "hurry", "before it was too late".
Too late for WHAT? We all know. Amnio must be performed between the 17th and 20th weeks. The test protocol was designed solely for that period in gestation.
What reason is there for amnio other than to make that very same choice? Why were these certain-politico leaning women pushing it on me when they should oppose the test altogether? Why did PALIN have amnio at all when any later stage Level II u/s could have told her the same thing about Trig's development? Operating in an environment of choice - all of them.
PS. To aid those unfamiliar with prenatal testing: Nothing amnio tests for can be cured. Only one disorder can possibly be treated in vitro, but at a much later stage. (Spina bifida). Amnio is not ideal for indicating it. You really need different tests.
11/20/09
One word: Choice
#tips
11/19/09
11/20/09
11/20/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09