As if to prove his point beyond any question, not that somethings so obvious needs proving, the day after Charles Krauthammer belabored the liberal media for being obsessed with Sarah Palin, Clarence Page writes a whole column analysing her.
It had to happen of course that someone on the left would use Bristol Palin's third place result on DWTS as a metaphor for Sarah-it is actually cringe making writing being on the one hand so blatantly obvious "write me" it calls out to the left and yet such a poor metaphor that I was surprised that someone of his stature would actually descend to it.
"She made it all the way to the finals — further than anyone expected — with the help of votes pouring in from her vast, underestimated fan base, only to lose the final vote tally to more experienced professionals.
Yes, I am describing 20-year-old Bristol Palin's surprisingly successful performance for a non-dancer on " Dancing With the Stars." But I could also be describing what I expect will happen with her mother, Sarah Palin, in the 2012 presidential race."
Horrible isn't it?
What is pleasantly surprising, and in a way for Palin supporters, ominous, is that Page writes of Palin in, to me at least, a semi-ironic, detached and pleasant fashion.Nothing of the rantings of fellow Black commentator CNN's Roland S. Martin who the American Spectator described as calling for violence against Palin for the sin of, in his view, criticising the sainted Michelle Obama
"Martin writes, "Hmmm. 'Let's Move' is Obama's kick? Maybe someone should kick Sarah Palin so she can understand how devastating obesity is to the future of the United States."
Page's writing style in commenting on Palin mirrors that of a number of Black commentators, most notably Rev. Al Sharpton which frankly puts so many of their White coleagues to shame. This detached, seemingly bemused view is challenging to Palin supporters as it is harder to combat than the antagonism of other, mostly White, obsessives which just reinforce the public view of the liberal media as being unhinged where Palin is concerned. Where it falls short however is that even with the non-combative nature of the comments, it does not address Palin as a serious person, i.e. it does not address the values and issues she stands for and presents.
Thus Page still falls into the same category of the obsessive, but in his case milder version, anti-Palinism on the left which Krauthammer correctly decries.
On another aspect of Page's column-Jerry Seinfeld said on Letterman last week "everyones life sucks."
That comment referred to the non-personal of course, and in that vein it appears to me that given his excellent writing style, it must suck appreciably for someone of Page's talents to have to work within the haiku like formula of his column.
He presents in paragraphs of three to five lines, with about nine words per line. I am sure I err on the side of verbosity in my humble blog, but I could not cope with having to condense my thoughts into such a narrow framework. I am sure that years of discipline must allow Page to get down his ideas into the order that he wants, and which will purvey his where his mind is at, but still-it must suck from time to time to be so straight jacketed and formulaic.
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