Friday, October 03, 2008

How Was the Debate?

Palin didn't buy herself a ticket back to Alaska. She didn't throw up on herself. She got her talking points out cogently for the most part. She can read. She can bring the energy industry into most conversations. She can say, "Joe Six Pack and Hockey Mom" in a sentence. If her accent were "da Bronx" America would run away screaming. Her Minnesota/N.Dakota "Didja bring a tater tot hotdish?" accent boggles my mind. Is that what Alaskans sound like? She sounded like the Northern version of Hee Haw to me. No can likey.

Expectations were low. She exceeded them. McCain gets to live another day.

And her eye makeup... Fabulous! Who did that? (See previous post about my weird dream as Sarah Palin's makeup artist.)

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Palin dodged several questions by saying that she didn't want to answer them the way they were asked but rather the way she wanted to. This is why she did so poorly with Couric. Couric did not let her get away with her non answers. That didn't happen last night. I personally thought Gwen Iffil did a bad job.

Additionally, Palin's references to being a hockey mom and looking out for "Joe six pack" is getting old. I don't want a freakin' "hockey mom" in the White House. The woman is fake as hell and the thought of her in the VP position is horrifying.

Unknown said...

I often wonder if a majority people who criticize Sarah Palin have a college degree or have a career equal to hers (apart from the sacred job of Blogging). How many of you out there had the guts to run for mayor of your town or governor of your state? How many of you unseated established politicians in your states? How many of you after hearing your child was to be born with Down Syndrome had the courage to bear that child because every INNOCENT life matters? Sometimes I wonder if women who lacked the courage and drive to strive for more take comfort in bashing those who have achieved success. I guess you are all saying that every one of you should not be "in the White House" Did you know that the original intent of our founding fathers was that each citizen would serve their turn in the government and then go back to their "regular" life? They fully intended for the barrister, the doctor, the farmer, the militia member and the "hockey" mom to serve their turn and then return home. They intended citizen volunteers to bring their "everyday" voice to Washington and serve the people they live among. Too bad their idealism is in short supply in certain areas of our society. I guess the criticism of Sarah Palin would rankle less if you who are doing the criticizing had achieved in your lives even half of what GOVERNOR Palin has achieved in her professional life regardless of party or ideology.

Amanda said...

HA! I was scanning your post whilst listening to the wrong kind of sounds through the house and read she had her talking pants on!! LOL!

Palin still not looking good over here

Anonymous said...

Bottom line, if she looked like Janet Reno, would she be quite so adored?? I don't think so.

Anonymous said...

LOVE your blog - thought you'd like this:
FROM MATT TAIBBI IN "ROLLING STONE":

"Here's the thing about Americans. You can send their kids off by the
thousands to get their balls blown off in foreign lands for no reason at all,
saddle them with billions in debt year after congressional year while they spend
their winters cheerfully watching game shows and football, pull the rug out from
under their mortgages, and leave them living off their credit cards and their
Wal-Mart salaries while you move their jobs to China and Bangalore.

"And none of it matters, so long as you remember a few months before
Election Day to offer them a two-bit caricature culled from some
cutting-room-floor episode of Roseanne as part of your presidential ticket. And
if she's a good enough likeness of a loudmouthed Middle American archetype,
as Sarah Palin is, John Q. Public will drop his giant sized bag of Doritos in
gratitude, wipe the sizzlin' picante dust from his lips and rush to the
booth to vote for her. Not because it makes sense, or because it has a chance of
improving his life or anyone else's, but simply because it appeals to the
low-humming narcissism that substitutes for his personality, because that image
on TV reminds him of the mean brainless slob he sees in the mirror every
morning.

"Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern
United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low
in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl
Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in
return for the total surrender of our political power. Not only is Sarah Palin a
fraud, she's the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors
below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV
– and this country is going to eat her up, cheering every step of the way. All
because most Americans no longer have the energy to do anything but lie back and
allow ourselves to be jacked off by the calculating thieves who run this
grasping consumer paradise we call a nation."
FROM MATT TAIBBI IN "ROLLING STONE":

Anonymous said...

Well first Kim - no, Alaskans do not speak like North Dakotans. They (mostly) speak like Pacific Northwesterners! I don't know where that 'folksy' twang is coming from. (I lived in Alaska for over ten years).

Parry05: I have a college degree and I did it in fewer schools than Sarah Palin (three total). I have served my fellow citizens by working as a bureaucrat at the Federal and State levels. Contrary to what most people think - being a bureaucrat (technocrat) is not a bad thing - it's what keeps this country rolling along administration after administration.

I QUIT WORK after having my child. I didn't know at the time that he had special needs and get this - I STILL DON'T WORK FULL TIME because my full time job is serving my son. I don't care for Sarah Palin because she's scary. She is more insular than George W. and she relies on blind faith rather than critical thinking and objectivity.

I'm all for women (and every citizen for that matter) serving and working but I can not understand how any mother can EVEN THINK about being Vice-President with a special needs baby. We all make choices though, and the beauty of this country is that we get to make those choices. When you put yourself in front of the American people as a candidate for leader, you make yourself available for debate about the choices you make. I don't like any of the choices that Sarah Palin has made and I'm thankful that I live in a country where I can say that without fear of retribution.

I am not jealous of Ms. Palin. I have achieved a great deal of success in my own right. I am at peace with myself on a personal and professional level and I dedicate myself to serving my family (God - I sound like a Republican now!). I'm curious as to why you think that a woman criticizing a woman equals jealousy? Feels like sexism to me..........

Oh and BTW - if you hate Kim S. so much, why are you still reading her blog (or any other blogger that seems to set your hair on fire?)

Anonymous said...

I had a same thought with Amy. I cannot imagine how any mother can even think about being Vice-President with a special needs baby.

Kim Rossi Stagliano said...

I don't assume Parry05 hates me. Angry at me? Seems so. And that's OK. I'm an autism Mom. I'm used to having my head slammed against a wall several times a day. I encourage active debate here, even if it gets snarky. My hair gel is made of Kevlar. I hated having to quit my career for the girls. I went to a prep school in New England. As a boarding student. I attended two top tier colleges. Tufts University for my Freshman year and then I transferred to Boston College, where I graduated cum laude. I missed magna by a pubic hair thanks to a C+ in computer science. (F'ing Fortran!) I also spent a summer at Dartmouth College taking a class, where I got an A. When I was 12 I transferred to a new school, my little Catholic school was shut down. I started 8th grade as "the new kid." Ick. I was voted class President within 6 weeks. And it wasn't because I had bigger boobs than the other firls - I was flat chested, gangly, frizzy haired kid with big blue big glasses. I think I could have had a career as a politician if I'd so chosen. But as my father in law told me his own father responded to a request to run for mayor in his town, "I don't have larceny in my heart."

I landed a job at New England's largest Ad Agency right out of college. I was advertising manager for a large software company at 25 years of age. I got married. Became the top salesperson for my company. Ran promotional programs for Seagrams and MCA records. Had a baby and moved for my husband's career. Had another baby right away. And the problems began. So I stopped working. I miss an office. A paycheck. A feeling of a job well done and now you move onto the next one. Autism's version of parenthood doesn't give you that. Yes, there are incredible joys and acheivements for my kids. I cherish every one. But the slog DOES NOT END. One happy moment is blasted to shit when a catastrophe happens. We have a beautiful kid with Down Syndrome in our religion class. It ain't a cakewalk. The mom looks as frazzled as we autism Moms. Sarah Palin has a tough road ahead of her. Your yanking my chain if you tell me othewise. I'd like nothing better than to disappear into a full time NON AUTISM job. Leave it behind. I can't. That would mean leaving my kids behind. No can do. Everything I do is for my kids - and related to autism. That's my version of being pro-life. Put them first after they're born, whether I like it or not. And sometimes I really don't like it. I'm no liar.

Michelle O'Neil said...

You are so fricking funny.

Loved reading your "resume." You are awesome.

Anonymous said...

Kim, You are very talented. Now you are a writer. What did you major at Boston College?

Kim Rossi Stagliano said...

Economics! LOL! Shall I explain the bailout to you? Here. Rich people lent money to anyone with a pulse. Poor people wanted to buy homes. How dare they. Greedy people wanted to buy investment homes to rent or flip them. Entire TV shows aired on how to make a mint flipping houses. Many of both groups couldn't pay the mortgage. The Rich people knew the poor and greedy people would falter. But they didn't care. That would happen tomorrow. And tomorrow never comes. Then tomorrow came. And now we, the not so rich people are bailing out the rich people's banks and the poor people and the greedy people so that our entire economy doesn't collapse, which it might anyway as credit is tightened at least through the New Year preventing people from buying cars, etc. Meanwhile, Al Quaeda cheers. After all, having spent a trillion bucks in Iraq meant no trillion here for our own economy. We're economically weak compared to before 9/11. They've knocked us down several notches whether we're winning on the ground in Iraq or not. We're almost what Sarah Palin's t-shirt read in college: "Broke but not flat busted." But we're not out. We're America. We're never out. We'll bounce back with a vengeance. Oops, wrong word choice!

Unknown said...

To Amy, Only an angry person would treat open dialogue as one person hating another. Where in heaven did you get the idea that I hate Kim? I don't even know her. Since when has questioning another's political viewpoint been translated into hate? It is not in the America I know. And for the record I also have a special needs child that I care for according to my values. I do not expect every family to handle special children the same way.

Cyndi said...

Re: the accent...I was thinking the movie "Fargo".

Kim - Loved reading your resume. I too had a successful career before autism struck and have 2 master's degress...and guess what?, I still can't stand Palin!

Parry05 - Let's just agree to not agree and leave it at that!