Orson Scott Card take Old Media to the woodshed

Ouch.

via Hotair.

Who's the true Sarah Palin?

I have followed Powerline since the 2004 election, and have always given what they have to say a lot of weight. The three of them often agree, and sometime disagree, but they always have a clearly stated, well defended position. This post about Sarah Palin exemplifies all of the above. It is written by someone who was disappointed with the Palin pick, yet it is extremely fair to her and defends her well.

The question is, why is that defense necessary? What is it about Sarah Palin that has pundits from the left, and some from the right, going crazy? Peggy Noonan, a conservative columnist, seems to have swung from one Sarah Palin extreme to another. As powerline puts it:

Noonan's initial position -- that Palin represents some sort of existential threat to the left -- was over-the-top, and I said so at the time. It seemed that Noonan had been caught up in the irrational exuberance that swept away many conservatives, particularly those trapped in the bubble that was the Republican convention, during the heady days of early September. Except that Noonan may not have believed what she wrote.

Noonan's current position -- that Palin epitomizes what's wrong with conservatives - fares no better. She begins by citing Edmund Burke's admonition that writers owe their readers their judgment, and that they betray their readers if they present what may or may not be their opinion. Ironically, this is precisely the betrayal of Noonan's initial column on Palin.

It is hard to believe that Noonan is talking about the same person in the two referenced columns. She went from the woman who would conquer liberalism to the woman who would be the death of conservatism. Did some one swap out the original Sarah Palin with her evil twin sister? Who is the true Sarah Palin?

If you look at Palin through the eyes of the left, you probably would not like what you see. She abused her power as governor to fire a man who was preventing her revenge against her brother-in-law, and then she lied about it. She wants to remove a woman's right to choose, going as far as making rape victims pay for their own rape kits in Wasilla. She's a fan of big business and of exploiting the earth, draining it of its resources. She wants to teach Creationism in schools and prevent homosexuals from getting the right to marry. Worse of all the beauty queen is ignorant on foreign policy, light on executive experience, did not attend a premier college and overall would be a disaster as president should McCain die in office. Pick a liberal blog and search on Sarah Palin and you will see what I mean. She manages to bring out the worst on the left side of the blogosphere.

Then there are the center-right columnists who have landed on Peggy Noonan's side of the issue - that Palin is the death of conservatism. They may have supported her when she was first selected, but have now latched on to the old media's line that she is unfit for office and does not represent "real" conservatism. Like the old media would even understand what conservatism is anyway. To them, Palin is too young, too female, and too pretty, yet too ignorant, too simple, and too inexperienced to be the voice of conservatism. Evidently to them what we need is a dignified, older gentlemen to preside over conservatism as it slowly makes it way into the sunset of history. And Sarah Palin is certainly not that person - she would take out conservatism as easily as she would take down a moose.

Finally, there are her supporters, which seem to be the middle class throughout middle America as personified by Joe the Plumber. These are the people that show up at her rallies in the tens of thousands. Those who are content to stand in line and wait for hours to get into a hangar where Sarah will give a thirty minute speech. To them, Sarah represents everything that has made this country great. She is a mom who chose to carry her fifth child to term, even though she knew he would have Down's Syndrome. She grew up in a small town, played basketball in high school, participated in beauty pageants and married her high school sweet heart, all of which they can relate to. Her collegiate career was at a small state school, not in the Ivy league. She has held many jobs as she slowly worked her way up in the world until moving into politics. While in politics she has done what she thought was right, instead of what she thought would be popular. She advocates positions that align with theirs while recognizing that she is serving all the people. She is pro-life, pro energy independence, pro small government and pro giving people a chance instead of giving them a hand-out. They understand that she has only been governor for a couple of years, but they are willing to give her the benefit of the doubt just as she would to them.

Three different pictures, all of the same person. All having some truth and likewise all missing the mark. Personally, being from middle America my view lines up closest with theirs. When I look at Sarah Palin I see someone who wants to do their best for this country and will support initiatives that will help keep this country great. It would be nice if she had more governing experience and had more foreign policy experience, but that is why she is a VP candidate. She will have a chance to learn, unlike the presidential candidates. And as she has proven, she will take every chance to gather that experience so that she will be ready when the time comes. Let's hope that come January she gets that chance.