The other attractive quality that Sarah Palin has, is the fact that she drives feminists crazy. The fact that Sarah Palin, or someone like her will most likely be elected president before a feminist will, drives the feminist echo chamber absolutely bonkers. I have to admit a certain satisfaction in watching this play out. No matter the player, family values will always be more popular than misandry, even if some cannot practice what they preach.

So what attracts Republicans, particularly men, to this awful woman? Sexual attraction. Palin has good features and good hair and a curvy figure. Add into that her cruel streak and you've got a classic dominatrix figure. In my opinion, this is why men like ReaderReader and Terkoy are so obsessed with her: she excites them.

That is why she is going to be a very dangerous demagogue. Her combination of sex appeal and extreme rightwing ideology makes her the kind of leader whom violent men will kill for in order to please.

-- DurianJoe

And, if she was a zombie woman... [evil grin]

The attraction doesn't end at Republicans. I, a godless-pagan-heathen-wickedness from the fiery gut of an abstract hell, also find this woman totally irresistible to the point that I stalk her variously-angled pix provocatively displayed throughout the hall of online rags. Something I pretty much never do.

If her politics were more centered and her intelligence more obvious this woman could take this nation by storm.

The Left may underestimate this lady to their peril.

She could EASILY move to the center and pull a ton of votes from the loose center-right, the bikini-loving Randians.

If Palin was a zombie it would be her most attractive feature.

No matter the player, family values will always be more popular than misandry, even if some cannot practice what they preach.

-- h0tr0d

Weaponizing hypocrisy is a fruitless endeavor that yields only a transient advantage. Ultimately, if genuine honesty is allowed to prevail, the oft-despised practice of hypocrisy will be deployed at some point by everyone alive.

Misandry is a cognitive malignancy but touting idealized family values as a political strategy strikes me as exceptionally vapid and outright stupid anymore.

Good people of all creeds and thought processes automatically utilize values when raising children and working with a partner.

If Palin was a zombie it would be her most attractive feature.

-- DurianJoe

She's a zombie in deed :}

Palin's ability to dominate the headlines is astounding. Is she that much shrewder than we know? Or are we that much dumber than we'd like to believe?

Alas, all evidence points to the latter. The level of our national political dialogue is a disgrace.

Dang. That was very good. I want to send you my member communications, emails, and papers I write for my classes to get that kind of ruthless commentary on the style and structure.

The article would have been a much tighter piece and felt much less rambling and unformed if the author had received similar feedback.

She made a big deal about people making fun of her son Trig. But in reality (except maybe for his name), has anyone really been mean enough to do that, or do we all just believe that it has happened?

Think about it. I am a flaming liberal, and so are most of my friends, but even we wouldn't go that far in public. Have you made fun of Trig's disability? Or have you heard anyone do it? Sure, lots of us have thought about it, but I wasn't even aware that the "blogger" put a new face on the kid's picture until now. It definitely isn't common currency in my circles.

Trig also, as far as I know, hasn't been a topic for late-night comics (unlike, sadly, her older daughters). So exactly who is doing this horrible, scurrilous name-calling, in offense against all special-needs children? Or is it just the idea that it might happen?

It's just an example of how our perceptions become reality. Even if nobody in the media had ever mentioned her family (I know, that's a big if), we would have created an alternate reality in which they were a topic on everybody's lips. It's the old "everyone's talking about it, even though nobody's actually talking about it" conundrum.

That's the big problem with the echo-chamber media... left, right, and mainstream. Topics that "might potentially be under consideration" in some pundit's brain instantly become REAL topics of conversation, simply through the magical utterance of the Pundit.

They'll disappear when the outlook turns positive and/or optimistic. There was no coverage of citizens' tea parties last weekend for obvious reasons.

There is a reason the Catholic Church has required its priests to be celibate: to ensure that their allegiance lies with the Church and not with their family.

I absolutely do not want as President any person who places family before country.

Palin is about as tough as Bush was a leader. His only qualification for office was the fact he was a Fundamentalist Christian and hers is the same. A bad reason to put anyone in the highest office in the land. If she is so tough then why did she quit? Surely the thought crossed her empty head that she was going to get called a quitter. Now she is protesting to the press she isn't a quitter she is a fighter. What a laugh! Last election numerous Republican's sighted the fact she had little experience as a reason to vote for Obama. Now she can't even claim to have successfully finished one term in office as Governor. Tough is Hillary Clinton who has endure abuse at the hands of the right wing press for years and kept going! Who continues to bounce back in the face of adverse conditions. Sarah is a wimp! There is nothing about the woman that is admirable. She is all fluff and no substance. As far as I would be concerned her political career is...TOAST!

Maybe she couldn't handle it herself, but it will surely survive as a meme. -- Split infinitive of "surely" dividing up "will survive"

"Surely" here is padding, another hedge word to distance the author from her own observations. But does "it will surely survive" contain a split infinitive? Is an adverb in the future tense misplaced before the verb?

This was how Roberts and Obama flubbed the oath of office, beginning with Roberts' "that I will execute the Office of President to the United States faithfully." It is a rule to unlearn, surely.