Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
How pathetic is Rich Lowry? This pathetic:
I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it.
Wow. Just wow. The phrase "incredible dork" comes to mind. But I do give him credit for managing to type that with only one hand. How about a sanity break to cleanse the palate of that bit of creepiness? Michelle Goldberg, take it away:
Palin, however, has single-handedly so lowered the standards both for female candidates and American political discourse that, with her newfound ability to speak in more-or-less full sentences, she is now deemed to have performed acceptably last night.
Well golly gee you betcha doggoneit, she's talking straight to the American people, the average Joes, the common man, the regular Tom, Dick or Harry, Joe Six Pack, Johnny Lunchbucket, the folks on main street...WE GET THE POINT.
Politics
Comments
Raging mommy issues seem to be in style among republican pundits.
Posted by: phisrow | October 4, 2008 9:53 AM
Palin's greatest talent may be turning on the stupid in those who can't help fawning over her (nearly always for personal attributes that have nothing to do with running a nation).
Posted by: Rob Ryan | October 4, 2008 10:00 AM
I've been using the word "orgasmic" to describe the Republican base's reaction to Palin since the very day she was selected by McCain.
I do believe I've just been vindicated.
Posted by: tacitus | October 4, 2008 10:08 AM
Winking twinkling and sparkling. But what did she say? Oh, who cares. She has all the important qualities that America needs! I'd vote today if I could only stop drooling.
Posted by: Rod | October 4, 2008 10:08 AM
Good god. Presidential and vice presidential candidates should be completely anonymous, presenting their views and positions to the public entirely in print, until the elections are held.
Posted by: Gretchen | October 4, 2008 10:09 AM
Rich Lowry said:
"...This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it."
So do all of the other good hookers.
Posted by: democommie | October 4, 2008 10:12 AM
It's this type of reaction to Palin which leads me to believe that McCain's insulating of her from the press is going to backfire on the Republicans in ways they can barely begin to imagine.
Assuming they loses the election, the blame is going to fall squarely upon John "RINO" McCain and his maverick ways. Palin, on the other hand, is likely to get a free pass from the blame game because, in spite of ample evidence that Palin is a train wreck waiting to happen, he is already being blamed by the base for not allowing "Sarah to be Sarah" (whatever the heck that means).
To everyone else's amazement, she will come out of this election campaign unscathed and perhaps even in a strengthened position with the Republican base. Rich veins of denial run that deep in today's hard core Republican party loyalists.
Posted by: tacitus | October 4, 2008 10:17 AM
I think he might be the only one who sits in front of the t.v. and think the people are winking at him. Does this make him crazy or pathetic.
Posted by: Dblbassbill | October 4, 2008 10:20 AM
Every time I read this, I get this mental image of the stereotypical Hollywood nerd, impotently horny and mewlingly desperate for female attention. Then I realize Lowry is worse than that, since his hard-on is directed at such an obvious facade, like falling in love with a character in a porno.
Bill Maher was right last night; Lowry really needs to get laid.
Posted by: schism | October 4, 2008 10:21 AM
My immediate reaction when she winked in the debate was that you could take Jennie McCarthy and throw her out there as a VP candidate and not lose much of anything in regards to her appeal to social conservatives (if McCarthy had a history of ardent fundamentalism). She too can read notes and a teleprompter while maintaining her sexiness and jocularity.
I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the Fixed News babes consider running for political office, that could be the legacy of the Palin nomination inside the GOP. I'm really glad I quit that party.
Contrast that with Hillary's refusal to call a spade a spade: http://www.breitbart.tv/html/188053.html
Posted by: Michael Heath | October 4, 2008 10:34 AM
How old is Rich Lowry? He looks like he's about 30.
Am I the only one who thinks Governor Palin is only moderately attractive? I think Biden's wife looks just as nice, and she's probably ten years older.
Posted by: Peter Griffin | October 4, 2008 10:48 AM
She looks like an evil teacher...
Posted by: David Marjanović | October 4, 2008 10:59 AM
Isn't Mr. Lowry the guy who Ann Coulter labeled a girly boy after he fired her at the National Review?
Posted by: SLC | October 4, 2008 11:05 AM
sarah palin ran for vp and single-handedly set the women's movement back 5 decades.
"she's a complete imbecile! she has no place running for vp!! ...but isn't she just so gosh darned loveable? bless her little heart! she's as cute as a button!!"
someone please smack her on the ass and tell her to go get the nation a cup of coffee, the rest of us have important things to discuss, kthx.
Posted by: arin | October 4, 2008 11:21 AM
Oh now I get get it! Republicans have mommy issues so they hang out in public toilets for a little gay sex.
Dr Freud call your office - immediately!
On a different note, is just me or when Palin dropped her first wink, didn't everyone sit up straighter on their couch and think, hell that looks like Dustin Hoffman in drag playing that sadistic teacher I had in 4th grade? -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | October 4, 2008 11:30 AM
Does he realize he just compared a vice presidential candidate to a stripper?
Oh, wait. He probably does. Or at least a Hooters waitress. (In all fairness, I've met Hooters waitresses who were far smarter than Gov. Palin.)
Posted by: Brian X | October 4, 2008 11:45 AM
Hmmm. evil school teacher meme, hmmmm.
http://bloggasm.com/it-took-this-long
Posted by: democommie | October 4, 2008 12:20 PM
Anyone get the feeling that she was the understudy for Kristin Rudrud in Fargo?
"Well golly gee, I have a bit of a problem with your police work dere hey."
Am I the only one who thinks Governor Palin is only moderately attractive? I think Biden's wife looks just as nice, and she's probably ten years older.
I thought she was barely attractive until she opened her mouth. Stupid is a major turn off. Now I see her as a hideous hose beast.
Posted by: dogmeatib | October 4, 2008 12:52 PM
I was rather dissapointed , i figure first the wink , then the smile followed up by a bubble bath , Jello wrestling and of course the finale Happy Ending .
Posted by: VicVanity | October 4, 2008 1:11 PM
I haven't wanted to say anything about the Governor's physical appearance, because that's not relevant to my vote, but now that you (Peter G.) ask, I must say she's not my cup of tea either. "Hideous hose beast" is a bit harsh (as is "stupid," for that matter), but dogmeatib is right to mark the moment she opens her mouth as the temporal boundary between "barely attractive" and "major turn off." As I put it the other day (in a comment which must have had too many links in it (2) to escape the spam filter): I cannot listen to that woman speak for 30 seconds before I have to leave the room and/or stick knitting needles into my ears.
And it's not the accent. It's the braindead, Limbaughesque sound bites, delivered in that aw-shucks manner, that make my skin crawl. Incidentally, my comment the other day linked to a Language Log post which answered someone's question: in the "debate," she used the word "also" 48 times.
Tina Fey, on the other hand, is (as the kids say nowadays) teh hott.
Posted by: Dave M | October 4, 2008 1:57 PM
Well, you know that I am not a Palin fan, but I must say that derogatory comments about her appearance are, at best, pretty lame.
Over the years as I scanned various hyperpartisan forums it's clear that when people have little of substance to say, they just bring out the "he/she's ugly" line and post dumb photoshopped pics of their targets to make them seem clever.
I would hate to see this type of thing happening around here.
Posted by: tacitus | October 4, 2008 2:10 PM
PALINDRONE : n - A folksy political speech that makes as little sense when told forwards or backwards.
Posted by: grasshopper | October 4, 2008 2:25 PM
Yeah tacitus is right. Leave Sarah alone, stop commenting on how attractive and folksy she is! I mean Senator McCain didn't pick her to shore up his weak right-wing numbers whilst appealing to swing voters, he choose her for her piercing insight into important issues facing Americans in the 21st century, and her ability to articulate those insights clearly and unambiguously to the American people.
Oh no, wait... -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | October 4, 2008 3:10 PM
According to HuffPo, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/03/nailin-paylin-hustlers-pa_n_131581.html Hustler has just finished shooting an 'artistic' film called 'Nailin Palin', where a lady resembling Palin apparently does exactly what Rich Lowery has been dreaming about. Alas, they did not decide to call it 'Drill, Baby, Drill', which would have possibly raised it to the level of satire.
Posted by: MikeB | October 4, 2008 4:12 PM
VicVanity said:
I believe you're mistaken. Republican women don't do anal. Nevertheless, I think she's cute, but would have to be gagged.
As it happens, I felt exactly the same as Rich Lowry, stars and all, but I wasn't watching the debate.
Posted by: kehrsam | October 4, 2008 4:35 PM
Rich Lowry? Buckley Jr. Bilge Soaked Rag stinks even through cyberspace. Whatever little I was willing to concede to Buckley Jr. - heck he knows some languages - I take back after the shabby way he has written his youngest grandchild Jonathan out of his will. And this man we are told was a pro-life Catholic? What a fricking fraud! Children are blameless. If he wanted to diss his son's side interest he could have written the mother out of the will. He instead spikes the memory of his grandson? As some Catholics would say about the pro-lifers - they are pro-life only until birth. After that it is up to the market economy to take care of you.
Posted by: rimpal | October 4, 2008 5:29 PM
I have a feeling that Palin's winking and folksy language during the debate appealed only to those already in love with her.
Posted by: Taz | October 4, 2008 6:29 PM
:D Yeah, or something about Putin "raising his head..."
Posted by: edfan | October 4, 2008 8:11 PM
I shudder to think how many stalkers Palin might have acquired that night.
Posted by: tguy | October 4, 2008 8:22 PM
I thought the illusion of personal contact via TV only worked with the Romper Room set. Can you imagine Palin with an empty mirror frame talking into the camera? "Ooh! I can see you, Osama! We're sending the UAV drones on your bunker right Now!"
Posted by: Daniel Kim | October 4, 2008 9:52 PM
Are they worse than fawning or leghumpingesque comments about her appearance? And more to the point, are they such an inappropriate response to such?
Posted by: Azkyroth | October 4, 2008 10:08 PM
Sat up straighter? Yeah, let your arousal vote for you. Believing that Palin's easiness on male eyes is somehow a credible qualification to be a step from being the President of our country is not only moronic, but very dangerous.
Posted by: Katie Chin | October 4, 2008 10:45 PM
I wouldn't even go that far. I can't even pay attention to the body of someone whose frontal lobes are so obviously sillicone.
Posted by: Azkyroth | October 4, 2008 11:20 PM
One of the channels showing the debate has that "instant audience poll" line going up and down as people like or dislike what the speaking candidate is saying.
They'll now need to rethink that, and have the audience also rate the person who's not speaking. Palin is clearly at her best when she's smiling but not talking.
Posted by: Andy Tripp | October 4, 2008 11:40 PM
National Review became seriously unreadable some time ago. A pity; they used to run some of the best conservative writers out there. While I usually disagreed with his politics, WF Buckley Jr. was a very bright guy, and I often found myself understanding my own positions better for having made myself think through his.
Those days are long gone. With the exception of John Derbyshire, I haven't seen an opinion or position from NR that I found even mildly interesting, or an argument at all persuasive. At least Derbyshire can write. Frum, Goldberg, Lopez, Lowry...there's just no talent left. Nobody else there could write their way out of a paper bag. They're just cheerleading in an echo chamber. They're not even at Fox News level, most of the time- more like Glenn Beck's ignorant bile.
Posted by: DBC | October 5, 2008 2:22 AM
People everywhere are overlooking one of the most remarkable things about Sarah Palin. As a columnist for the Sacramento Union recently noted, Sarah Palin is just like Golda Meir!
No, I'm not kidding. The writer was serious.
Posted by: Zeno | October 5, 2008 3:31 AM
@democommie
"So do all of the other good hookers."
Wow, so early in the thread and you've already called Palin a prostitute. I wonder if McCain selected an equally stupid MALE candidate for VP, would you also hand him such a sexist insult?
Posted by: Roman Werpachowski | October 5, 2008 6:43 AM
@Azkyroth
"Are they worse than fawning or leghumpingesque comments about her appearance? And more to the point, are they such an inappropriate response to such?"
That's not the point. The point is that each comment ridiculing Palin for her feminine qualities, which have zero to do with how she'd handle her job as a VP (take Benazir Bhutto and Golda Meyer... one has attractive and one was not, and they were both great politicians), will just make the life even harder for the future decent female candidate for US Presidency any other such post elsewhere in the democratic world.
Posted by: Roman Werpachowski | October 5, 2008 6:47 AM
...but Obama is a celebrity!
Posted by: Der Bruno Stroszek | October 5, 2008 6:55 AM
Romab Werpachowski:
Roman, you think that's improper? tough shit. If McCain had picked a man as vacuuos, vapid and vainglorious as the Impalinator you can bet your ass that I would be at least as insulting--and probably not stretching the truth all that much. McCain, by picking Palin, insults the intelligence of every thinking American--if he and his runningdoginlipstick mate can't handle the blowback, too bad. When someone like Sarah Palin uses her femininity as a campaign tool, she opens the door for the criticism that follows.
Sarah Palin is not quite a hooker; she's more like a stripper, acting as if she's going to give you something you want, in exchange for your attention and money. At least you get some sort of relief when you spend time with a prostitute--all I get from watching GOD'S OWN governor do her "Poll dance" is a headache.
Posted by: democommie | October 5, 2008 8:28 AM
OK.
Go ahead, be a dick and make life harder all women in politics. Let'em have it, hookers!
Posted by: Roman Werpachowski | October 5, 2008 9:01 AM
Roman:
I don't recollect reading any of your comments here, before, so I don't know a lot about you. I think you're a concern troll, not that it matters. Sarah Palin, my friend, Sarah Palin is making life harder for all women in politics--at least the ones who have any fucking principles. Eat shit, Roman.
Posted by: democommie | October 5, 2008 2:02 PM
Is that hard to understand, that "hooker" is a sexist insult?
Posted by: Roman Werpachowski | October 5, 2008 3:15 PM
Roman,
In my eyes it's not so much about what Palin is trying to do, but what her nomination has accomplished. She can't help what she looks like, or even really how she acts, but the fact is that people like Lowry are responding to her purely in terms of her looks, and thinking for some reason that means she'll be a good VP. That is sexist, just as much as thinking that a not-so-hot woman wouldn't be good (which was the whole point behind the recent SNL parody of Palin and Hillary Clinton). "Potential to turn me on" should not be a test for political office. If Palin were unattractive, I can't help wondering if she would have 1/8 of the supporters she has now.
Posted by: Gretchen | October 5, 2008 3:38 PM
Roman is an old commenter who has returned (and I'm glad he did). And frankly, I agree with him. Calling Palin a hooker is not only sexist is just plain stupid and offensive. There's so much fertile ground for criticizing Palin, and just as much fertile ground for criticizing the sexist reality of her nomination on multiple grounds. I see no reason to up the ante on that sexism by feeding into stereotypes like that. Stick to the substance, not juvenile name-calling like that.
Posted by: Ed Brayton | October 5, 2008 4:16 PM
@Gretchen
I agree -- she should be judged on her political skills. But then, she DOES look good, and people WILL comment on that and frankly, as long as it does not replace her evaluation as a politician, I see nothing wrong with that. Male politicians are not exempt from this either: http://www.queerty.com/handsome-men-20080725/
@Ed
Looks that the times are hot, so I will be lurking around.
Posted by: Roman Werpachowski | October 5, 2008 5:09 PM
When I used to watch Romper Room, and when Miss Connie said "I see Johnnie" in the Magic Mirror I got all excited too.
Of course I was 4.
Posted by: BaldApe | October 5, 2008 5:55 PM
Ed:
Palin uses her hockeymomtoughbabeladygovernor schtick in her campaign.
This comment:
"Winking twinkling and sparkling. But what did she say? Oh, who cares. She has all the important qualities that America needs! I'd vote today if I could only stop drooling."
is above mine in the thread, so apparently it's not as sexist. There are a number of comments after mine that are also sexist. So, it must be a degree thing more than a kind thing.
Or, maybe Roman is just offended by my using a word that he thinks has a bad connotation--although I think this:
"OK.
Go ahead, be a dick and make life harder all women in politics. Let'em have it, hookers!"
would seem to indicate that his using a term that is considered insulting and, yes, sexist, is okay.
Roman asked me a question, I replied. He didn't like my answer, he called me a dick. Apparently I missed the memo about being nice to people who ask me questions and insult me when they don't like the answer.
So I shouldn't use language that is sexist? It's okay if I call her a fucking idiot, a serial liar and a delusional christian fundamentalist, though--yes?
Posted by: democommie | October 5, 2008 6:10 PM
"would seem to indicate that his using a term that is considered insulting and, yes, sexist, is okay."
"dick" is not sexist.
"It's okay if I call her a fucking idiot, a serial liar and a delusional christian fundamentalist, though--yes?"
Be my guest.
Posted by: Roman Werpachowski | October 5, 2008 7:54 PM
Good Lord! Rich Lowry is a simpleton. Has he already bred, or is there still time to spare the world from further propagation of his genes?
Posted by: Alchemist | October 5, 2008 8:05 PM
Was it also sexist to call Gray Davis "a political prostitute," as some people I know did?
Posted by: Azkyroth | October 6, 2008 12:29 AM
Hell, I wish Sarah Palin were a whore.
Not only would her position on abstinence only education probably be more realistic, but I bet she'd be a lot more "likable".
Posted by: Leni | October 6, 2008 1:02 AM
Roman:
Because you say so? Don't get me wrong, being called a dick is not bothersome to me, unless the person who's saying it is someone whose opinion matters to me.
So, we've settled that it's alright to call her a fucking idiot, a serial liar and a delusional christian fundamentalist. Well that's good. Now we can get back to calling her someone who is pushing the only things she really has to sell to male voters, her cuteness and femininity. You say:
"I agree -- she should be judged on her political skills. But then, she DOES look good, and people WILL comment on that and frankly, as long as it does not replace her evaluation as a politician, I see nothing wrong with that."
I'm not even sure if I understand what you're saying there, but, apparently you think her looks ARE in some way germane to her appeal. Could you list some political skills, other than lying and using the power of her political office for personal reasons, that she's demonstrated?
Posted by: democommie | October 6, 2008 2:21 AM
Roman - Sarah Palin saw a hooker once, waay over in Siberia. ;) DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | October 6, 2008 2:43 AM
"Could you list some political skills, other than lying and using the power of her political office for personal reasons"
Isn't it enough for most politicians? :O
Posted by: Roman Werpachowski | October 6, 2008 3:41 AM
It's perfectly acceptable to call her a whore. That is what she is, although democommie put it better with this:
If she were selected for anything other than her whore-like qualities then I might have more of a problem with it, but she wasn't. She was chosen to make men bypass their critical faculties and to remind women that brains are worth nothing unless you've got a decent pair of tits.
I'm not sure to whom this stupid bitch is more insulting, the women who she has reduced to smirking breasts-on-legs or the idiotic men who see an attractive girl, get a bit of an erection, and suddenly think that looking good bent over the hood of their truck is in any way a qualification for political office.
It's like she is on a one-person mission to humiliate the United States by demonstrating that no-one is capable of thinking with anything other than their stereotpical templates. And by showing that democracy and political discourse are complete fictions - basically if you secretly want to fuck a candidate then that's pretty much enough.
It's beyond a disgrace. It's a stunning insult to the intelligence of an entire nation and the sad thing is that it seems to have been a decent bet - people really are so shallow as to fall for it. Her credibility shouldn't even be close to being a talking point - the woman is a tongue-tied, parochial retard and it's embarrassing enough that it has even come this far, never mind that there is the sliver of a possibility that it could go any further.
She is a cartoon cut-out of a female stereotype from the thirties - a goddess in the kitchen, and angel in the parlour and a whore in the bedroom. Hilary Clinton (who I do not like very much either) must be crying into her cornflakes, watching all the blood, sweat and tears she put into showing that women can be serious and respectable political figures be washed away in an instant by the vapid, misogynistic stereotype that Palin embodies.
She is beneath contempt, utterly disgusting and as a country the United States should be fucking ashamed by this whole circus. Pathetic. She is no more than a common whore for the man who deludes himself that he can think. She has no qualities other than both her feminine charms and her total undermining of a couple of hundred years of female suffrage. Wonderful. We've come a long way as a society in terms of female equality, and this fucking cartoon of female inadequacy is a shameful fighting retreat for a social construct of women that should have been exterminated once and for all over thirty years ago.
Every woman who can string a sentence together and form even the most basic rational thought-process has been insulted by this worthless tart. It is fucking disgusting.
Posted by: Matthew | October 6, 2008 6:04 AM
Matthew:
Well, I certainly said it shorter, but your thinking is about the same as mine. Well said, I doubt that Roman will agree with it...
Roman:
Your last comment looks very much like the heddleian gambit.
Posted by: democommie | October 6, 2008 8:41 AM
Dammit Ed.....You owe me a new keyboard.
*Snort* Now I gotta clean the coffee off the monitor.
You guys need to take this show on the road.... =)
You almost got it...it's 'teh hawt'. Gettin' old sucks, don't it? =P
Posted by: FastLane | October 6, 2008 11:02 AM