I have to level with you folks: I'm probably not voting Republican this election day. So far I have positive impressions of Obama (for the most part); and I want him to win. I think it would be good for the country, and I believe in him sincerely.
But that having been said, I still really do feel sorry for Palin. She certainly does not come across as being highly qualified by any measure; but then again--and maybe this is just me being cynical--there are very few politicians that I have ever encountered in my life, who are ever really qualified to do what we elect them to do either. Maybe it comes after getting your feet wet. I don't know.
To me: the one difference here being that they aren't somehow all subject to the same frequent pop quizzes that Ms. Palin has been as of late.
And I'm not saying of course that you shouldn't know where they stand, or how they react to pressure, or that they aren't well prepared. But maybe the media really just wants her to fail too.
It's to the point actually that it is entirely too painful for me to even watch--like somehow the passion of the Christ, when they are scourging Him, is somehow less gruesome to my eyes.
The media is just tearing this woman to shreds.
And I don't think it is fair, mainly for the reason that they aren't doing the same thing to all politicians, all of the time, who are also on the political stump. I just don't get that feeling anyway. It seems more esoteric.
Of course, you could argue, that this is really just desserts: the Democrats "revenge," so to speak, over that so-called "Obama inexperience" farce the Republicans were spewing out several weeks ago; and to which I agree entirely--they were unfair; it was b.s.; and I don't respect that sort of thing.
However, to be noted also: it still hasn't come to a rest for Palin yet; and the news media really seem to be piling onto her like no one before. Maybe Nixon.
I honestly do not take any joy at all, in seeing someone get hurt like this so repeatedly. Frankly, I think it's very cruel. Almost Roman even. I mean: my might as well feed her to the lions already, and get it over with.
Not to change the subject, but consider this for a moment: Martha Stewart...
In this case at least (the Palin case): I can't say that I really believe much that the media is sticking it to Palin, merely on account of the fact that she is a woman in a position of authority.
I do however sense that the news media has this sort of way of singling people out on occasion--and by a variety of means--whom they, frankly, do not like for one reason or another; and which may not necessarily be important to judging a personal worthiness, by any of the rest of our standards.
Certainly "they" (the Media) as mere humans, aren't above a degree of shallowness from time-to-time also. And as a consequence: they CAN very nearly end up deciding the American collective conscious impression of the person in question; albeit, rather unfairly.
Martha Stewart, to me at least, was an example that kind of cruel labeling.
You might recall she was in recent history, sentenced actually to serve time in prison for basically a whiter collar crime (insider trading). She did serve it; and even in spite of the fact, still has her own domestics pastimes television program.
But honestly--in your heart of hearts--did you really feel that she deserved it to go to prison. I haven't even seen her show
No, to me at least: she just deserved to be slapped with a major fine (and most likely got that anyway also).
But then compare the degree of what she had done, with someone like Bill Gates--who even further back in time, was once on trial for monopolizing softwares.
And the major difference there, in my humble opinion, is that he actually got away with it, while being just guilty of a white collar crime as Martha.
I've read testimony from that case: and he was basically strong-arming companies like Netscape, because they wouldn't play ball with him in Windows bundling packages. .
And yet still, somehow, has never been convicted of anything to my knowledge since.
Meanwhile, back in the day, I remember it was really looking for a while like they might actually break up Microsoft (al la the AT&T of 80's).
But no (and correct me if I am wrong): his case was actually thrown out of court on some kind of legal technicality--the judge was accused of basically being hurtful, mean, and biased; and there was possibly a mistrial of some sort thereafter.
And though, honestly, I could never want to see Bill Gates go to prison either (not that that would happen); just to take this back to the point I was originally trying to make: I really think that the honest-to-goodness reason ultimately, why someone like Martha Stewart got it stuck to her as badly as having to serve jail time--and while someone like Bill Gates gets off pretty much Scot free--is due almost entirely to the perception the public already had of her, as being someone very unlikeable to all of us somehow.
Martha was, by all accounts I've heard anyway (and why shouldn't we believe that? Nyah! ) a complete female dog-type lady-person; and Bill, on the other hand, was just sort of this benign windows toting nerd, that--just like any good American (being sarcastic again)--made his way in the world via that good old-fashioned yankee ingenuity we hear so much about.
Seriously. Remember how people deeply respected Bill Gates, even at the time. The man dropped out of Harvard, and still managed to become one of the wealthiest Americans ever to live. And that is admirable. But remember also that he (to a degree at least) still did something dishonest.
Martha Steward did something dishonest too; but a lot of people (oddly enough) still resented her even in spite of her very successful television show.
And so, I think (again) in her case at least (and not so much Palin's) that it might well gave been because she was merely the wrong gender to some people. That is the unique bias they had toward her at the time. Palin's bias is that the media merely considered her stupid.
Palin is NOT qualified to be "head of state," no; and neither was Bush. And they've called him stupid as well, as I recall.
But I what I don't remember (so please refresh my memory if possible) is when and where he was ever put up to as many of these pop quizzes that she has been getting decked with all month. If anything, they portrayed him as the "great memorizer."
The media can make or break a person. And I wish they'd stop it already.
