pH Reading — Friday, September 5, 2008

By Patrick Henry 

 

Sarah Palin gets the spiteful Margaret Thatcher treatment
The Telegraph · Janet Daley
There are few sights more bloodcurdling than the liberal pack in full cry. The viciousness of the attacks on Sarah Palin is a testimony to the degree of panic her appointment has generated in Leftist circles…

Sarah Palin: it’s go west, towards the future of conservatism
TimesOnline · Gerard Baker
It never ceases to amaze me how the Left falls again and again into the old trap of underestimating politicians whom they don’t understand. From Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher to George Bush and Mrs Palin, they do it every time. Because these characters talk a bit funny and have ridiculously antiquated views about faith, family and nation, because they haven’t spent time bending the knee to the intellectual metropolitan elites, they can’t be taken seriously…

pH: Apparently Palin’s nomination has riveted Europe. Simply incandescent columns by Daley and Baker.

Palin: wrong woman, wrong message
Los Angeles Times · Gloria Steinem
So let’s be clear: The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can’t tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. McCain could have taken a baby step away from right-wing patriarchs who determine his actions, right down to opposing the Violence Against Women Act…

pH: Steinem lauds Kay Bailey Hutchison now–when it serves her purpose–but 15 years ago…

The godmother of the women’s movement, Gloria Steinem, famously called Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson a “female impersonator” and said, “having someone who looks like us but thinks like them is worse than having no one at all.”

pH: Steinem’s hypocrisy is staggering. This column is an embarrassment to the Los Angeles Times. Surely this is why editors exist.

The Significance of Sarah Palin
Commentary · Peter Wehner
There is a lot to say about Sarah Palin’s performance last night, but perhaps the place to begin is with this observation: Boy did Democrats choose the wrong hockey mom to pick a fight with…

How Palin Beat Alaska’s Establishment
Wall Street Journal · Kimberley Strassel
If you’ve read the press coverage of Sarah Palin, chances are you’ve heard plenty about her religious views and private family matters. If you want to know what drives Gov. Palin’s politics, and has intrigued America, read this…

Palin’s Home Run
Wall Street Journal · John Fund
Twenty years after Ronald Reagan left office, Republicans who have long missed him may have found a future Margaret Thatcher. If John McCain wins, conservatives may find one of the most enduring accomplishments of his term will have been what he did before it started: helping to fill the Republican Party’s future talent bench with such a fresh and compelling figure. Sarah Palin is a conviction politician, a naturally compelling speaker and someone who can relate to her audience on very human terms. America has just learned why Mrs. Palin enjoys the highest approval ratings of any governor in America…

Palin’s Working Class Appeal
The Week · David Frum
Few things enrage Democrats more than the consistent Republican success in branding Democratic presidential candidates as overprivileged snobs. And this year, it is happening again…

A Pit Bull With Lipstick
Slate · John Dickerson
Drill, baby, drill. Sarah Palin was relentless in her speech Wednesday night. She drilled Barack Obama, elites, San Francisco, the press, and civil libertarians. She even went after Michelle Obama. And she did it all with a smile and a little mischief. Republicans have been flummoxed because Obama seems untouchable, but Palin may have found an effective way to criticize him—while becoming an elusive target in her own right. Want to call her shrill? Go ahead. There are a lot of women like her who vote and who might be listening…