Palin As Seen From The Rational Left-A Review Of Some Interesting Thinking

If we on the right vilify, condemn and dismiss all leftist writings and commentators we run the risk of becoming a mirror image of the intolerent, elitists who occupy that part of the political spectrum in, sadly, mass numbers.

Further we miss the opportunity of learning from our mistakes, when they are pointed out to us in a reasonable fashion, and being able to subsequently change course if required. In other words we can learn from our political combatants to our advantage if we stop to listen to them instead of immediately going into battle.

Of course there are some who are incorrigible, from whom nothing can be learned, except the degree of scorn one is capable of, e.g.Wonkette, Crooks And Liars, Daily Kos and so many of that ilk. I suggest, in the case of these sites (and some on the right like Right Wing Nut House) they are simply best ignored. By reading them, and commenting, it only encourages them or worse, leaves the commentator open to ridicule.

I have come across postings from the left which are intelligent, forceful without being nasty, (one has to allow a degree of partisanship of course) and make strong points in relation to e.g. Sarah Palin and the right in general. One such is a posting from The Confluence 'Sarah Palin is neither the problem,Nor the solution'.

The author comments that  Palin is amongst a few aspects of American life which the country is obsessing over-"A national pastime to hyperventilate over." In full;

Either by obsessing over her as if she were the One True Evil to bash all the livelong day to Obama’s re-election in 2012.
Or, by propping her up as the Pioneer Woman Fix to American politics today, by virtue of a good ol’ fashioned slap in the face to the Good Ol’ Club.
Neither of these narrow views of Palin get at the truth as far as I’m concerned.
Sarah Palin is a female pol building a rightwinger populist brand. She is actively courting the grassroots on the hard right. As is her right. She’s her own woman and she’s chosen to argue for a rightwing worldview.

The author then goes on to look back with nostalgia and regret at Hillary Clinton's defeat at the hands of Obama and considers that if only Hillary were in charge they, the left, would not have a "Mama Grizzly" to contend with as they would have had a "Rosie-the-riveter" of their own in charge, and;

"Point being, it’s not like the grassroots on the left didn’t have the chance to thwart the Mama Grizzly phenomenon before it ever got started. We were right there on the verge. 18 million of us were ready. It could have been the Decade of Master Tigresses. However…"

The author then goes on to describe, from a "leftist feminist worldview" the challenges Palin would face if she decides to run for president;

"As for Palin’s chances at the presidency were she to ever run, all I can say is that after experiencing the open season on women pols and their supporters in 2008, I really see the nomination process itself as a huge hurdle, forget about the general election. One of the two major wings (D or R) of the United Corporations of America will have to make a woman their nominee before I’ll believe either the Ds or Rs are capable of it. So far they’ve only proven how capable they are of using women as scapegoats to prop up men with very little leadership and conviction of their own to stand on."

I would put it to the author that there is no chance for Clinton, or, for the foreseeable future, any woman from the left, to run for president on the Democratic ticket. I would also suggest that perhaps the better course of action rather than looking nostalgically at the past or barrenly to the future. Nor futilely I would suggest, looking, as the author appears to do, to the Green Party.Rather, I would suggest what many past Hillary Dem's have done and that is to work with the PUMA's.

If, as the writer says apropos of Palin, that this is the situation within the Democratic party (which it assuredly is )

"As such, I firmly believe the bimbostein bogeywoman of Sarah Palin is one that exists in the cynical hearts and fevered imaginations of a bankrupt Democratic party that increasingly has had nothing to run on, so it desperately needs someone to keep on running against all the way to 2012. Some party of women that is."

Then the remedy could be to look at the writings of the site such as HillaryIs44 and Puma Eyes who have given up on the Democrats as a lost cause and see in Palin someone, warts and all, who they can support as a woman of moral, honest, dedicated character,whilst reserving the right to disagree with her social values-which values are transmitted not as policy but as exhortation.