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John R. Bohrer

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Palin Can Only See the 1980s From Her House

Posted: 10/21/10 03:44 PM ET

Last week, as the BBC invited listeners to an on-air debate over whether or not the somewhat ailing though very much alive Margaret Thatcher deserves a state funeral, Sarah Palin celebrated the Iron Lady's 85th birthday in a more refined manner: a Facebook message.

This was the second consecutive year Palin commemorated Tinknickers' special day, bookending a report this summer that the former governor and former prime minister would meet in Britain. Meanwhile, the Conservatives had just won their first general election in nearly two decades, and Palin seemed ambivalent about meeting the current PM, David Cameron. The Daily Mail quoted a person involved with setting up the Down Jackets-to-Downing Street summit: 'Palin's people haven't said anything about meeting Cameron. Their main interest is getting a picture of her with Lady Thatcher. I'm not sure they know who David Cameron is.'

Neither meeting ever took place, perhaps best explained by today's Jonathan Martin story of how a global celebrity runs her operation via one aide and a Blackberry. The report also displays Palin's general indifference toward the leaders of today's Republican Party, leaving candidates dangling for days or weeks; and yet she finds the time to celebrate the milestones of yesteryear icons like Reagan and Thatcher. It shows a desire to occupy some grand podium in history, but an unwillingness to earn it.

Posturing itself is not enough. One only needs a look to Britain to understand that. For while political observers have speculated that a consensus-seeking Tory leader like David Cameron is too wobbly to live up to his party's Thatcherite legacy, he's making the most sweeping cuts that country has seen since, well, Margaret Thatcher.

 

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11:36 AM on 10/22/2010
Can you imagine a president being persnickity to another country's leader?

Palin would be that way, with her hand on her hip, being as obnoxious as she possibly could.

Yeah, that would get co-operation between world leaders, a "snickety" USA president...

When one thinks too much of themselves, it becomes painfully obvious. Too bad the ignorant masses made her believe her own hype. When ignorance is praised as intelligence...it is too late to help them.
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11:10 AM on 10/22/2010
the day before palin's facebook was updated with birthday wishes - this article appear appeared in the UK press -the birthday wishes were then lifted nearly word for word to sarah's facebook ... does everything sarah does lack ethics while she gets even - because, this article, calls her "a piece of work" for her thinking she is anything close to the Iron Lady ....

http://www.spectator.co.uk/alexmassie/6371685/sarah-palins-hubris-thatcher-edition.thtml
01:42 AM on 10/22/2010
Palin is going to have to go to the wax museum to get that picture.
11:05 PM on 10/21/2010
In my perfect world a governor must complete one term before being given the post-service title of "Governor".
thebigbike
ran away to be a cowboy
08:33 PM on 10/21/2010
There is what seems to be a transposition of the numbers in your headline. Shouldn't it read: "Palin Can Only See the 1890's From Her House"?
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CommodoreP
Darn the torpedos, full speed ahead!
07:49 PM on 10/21/2010
Am I the only one that pictures Palin sitting about the house screaming shrilly at her family and minions in a nightgown most of the day while she "tweets" and twits her facebook agenda? I wich Twitter was an object so I could crush it with a hammer!

This is all the substance you're ever gonna see from the this lady folks! This is all she's got! Tweets and snarky messages on her "wall". Please restore some faith in this nation and make this lady irrelevant.
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Deborah Beck
Say What?
12:12 AM on 10/22/2010
What really bugs me about this is that I can just smell the Maxwell House coffee perking away in that electric percolator, did Sarah really just wipe her greasy fingers on her nightgown!
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Tracey Harrison
07:02 PM on 10/21/2010
unwilling to earn....how perfect. unable to learn, grow, mature are definetly her problems
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Gidster
Not so much Liberal as I am anti evil.
06:12 PM on 10/21/2010
Why would she feel the need to earn anything?

She has been given so much by so many, just for being "pretty". She became governor by slandering her mentor and questioning his faith.

For a gal that took 5 years to obtain an Bachelors degree, (Leaving Hawaii University because there were too many Asians) she thinks very highly of her intellect!
05:48 PM on 10/21/2010
October 21, 2010
Pew Poll---As the midterm elections approach, there is every indication that voter turnout will be as high as in 2006, but unlike four years ago, Republicans – not Democrats – are now more engaged and enthusiastic about casting a ballot. The prospects for a GOP turnout advantage on Election Day are almost as favorable in the new Pew Research Center survey as they have been in all previous polls throughout the campaign.
Consequently, a considerably greater percentage of Republicans than Democrats still fall into the likely voter category. Moreover, the new survey shows that Democrats have lost ground among all voters: Currently, 46% of registered voters favor the Republican candidate in their district or lean Republican, while 42% favor the Democratic candidate or lean Democratic. In early September, 44% backed the Republican while 47% supported the Democratic candidate.
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noaxe397
01:01 AM on 10/22/2010
And a few weeks ago the generic ballot favored the Republican by double digits.
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willdabeast831
Liberal is not a dirty word.
05:23 AM on 10/22/2010
Most of these polls are not as precise as you would like to believe. These polls tend to be done over landline phones and not by cell phones or internet. I can name at least ten or so of my friends that haven't had a landline in several years and according to early voting there has been a strong turn out for Democrats. I wouldn't be counting out Democrats because also according to you "polls" Dems have made up for the point differences in many key races and in some have even moved ahead. I suppose asking a Republican to realize the reality of what is actually happening is asking too much.
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wolfess
power to the peons!
02:31 PM on 10/26/2010
And here I thought lboucher wrote that in hopes that it would COME true :-)!!
05:41 PM on 10/21/2010
I wonder if SP reads her FB? I would post a quote from the bible daily so hopefully she would read it and learn a thing or two from Jesus
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charles116
04:27 PM on 10/21/2010
Sarah rambles off names she's recently heard/learned
but hasn't the vaguest clue who they are, what they stood for
or what they accomplished.
I was under the impression by reports at the time
she had never heard of Thatcher.
Perhaps she would like to write a short paragraph
on her new favorite 'buzzwords' Saul Alinsky.
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Gidster
Not so much Liberal as I am anti evil.
06:14 PM on 10/21/2010
She could not answer questions about the Bush Doctrine, at a time when she was defending it!

I doubt she knows anything about Alinsky other than what her handlers tell her to say!
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julbar
04:24 PM on 10/21/2010
I think, though narcissistic, perhaps she is self aware at some level and realizes she is incapable of depth, knows she has no steam or deep knowledge of the issues. If she steps out of her safe zone, where she can tweet and use staff to speak to a few issues like the NPR thing today, someone will dare to really question her. Just my theory.

Your entire blog is well thought out and indicates keen observation and a different slant on Palin. "It shows a (her) desire to occupy some grand podium in history, but an unwillingness to earn it".
That feels so true..
04:17 PM on 10/21/2010
Sarah can see the speaking engagement dollars from her house, this makes her an economist.
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04:06 PM on 10/21/2010
Hurricane Sarah:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43936.html
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TRex86
Enjoying life in West Ohio
03:57 PM on 10/21/2010
It's hard to imagine that Palin has a sophisticated understanding of the 80's. The music, maybe. If ever there were a triumph of style over substance, however, that's the era. Reagan, the great story-teller, who put America into a trance while more than tripling the federal debt. He may have inherited a bad recession when his guys punked Carter over the hostages, but he also inherited Paul Volker whose fiscal discipline wrestled runaway inflation to a halt and opened the way for falling interest rates.

No one appreciates the power of interest rates (outside the fed). Owners of high quality debt prosper as rates fall. The carrying cost of the national debt falls. Money accelerates in the economy. As a result Reagan was the only Republican in the last 50 years to achieve decent job growth. It had NOTHING to do with his tax cuts, which were a wash, offsetting income tax cuts (at the top) with huge payroll tax increases (at the bottom).

And of course, the crowning Republican achievements of that era: Will Horton and Iran-Contra. Lest we forget, Saddam hussein was our boy back then, and we gave him his WMD's. Nonetheless, to finance an illegal war in Central America Reagan sold weapons to our arch enemy Iran, ran the money through the drug trade, and propped up our preferred brigands with very dirty money. Imagine a Democrat doing that. Democrats get impeached for fellatio. Yeah, Sarah, those 80's were something else.
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MajorKong
If the pilot's good, see, I mean if he's reeeally
04:22 PM on 10/21/2010
Don't forget the Taliban, who were "the moral equivalent of our founding fathers" back then.
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CommodoreP
Darn the torpedos, full speed ahead!
07:52 PM on 10/21/2010
The "freedom fighters" of the past are the terrorists of today. I beleive they say somthing about learning from history...
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doodlebug2
11:13 AM on 10/22/2010
and all the freedom fighters in Nicaragua and El salvador. weren't they like teabags?
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Gidster
Not so much Liberal as I am anti evil.
06:16 PM on 10/21/2010
F&F!

An oversight I assure you!!