The press's treatment of Governess Palin was shameful, and the lack of scrutiny of Ms Kennedy is a scandal. But is anyone really surprised?

You forgot to mention her asinine comment about how the world doesn't revolve around Katie Couric.

I don't know if Palin doesn't understand the difference between a junior Senator and the VP of the United States, and thus why one pursuing the former would get less scrutiny than one pursuing the latter, or is simply whining in an attempt to stay relevant. Either way, it's a combination of sad and scary.

"Remember, she was nearly the vice president of the United States."

No she wasn't. McCain didn't come close to winning, and although Obama ran a superb campaign, it's highly likely that any credible Democrat would have won the 2008 election.

Keith Olbermann is evil? Why didn't anyone tell me before I allowed his to sacrifice my first-born male child?

The governor may find it embarrassing, but she's upper-middle-class.

In terms of income, yes. Sociologically, however, she's an inner-city Latina (apologies to Jack Donaghy).

Keith Olbermann must be having a good laugh about now.

He's evil? Ha! I think she may need to look long and hard in the mirror on that one.

Olbermannn exposed in great detail that was impossible to ignore Palin's evil nature-- and for that I'm forever grateful.

(Even though he apparently opted out on voting...sigh).

Why don't we just ignore this excuse of a human? I think then she might just go away.

why yes, it could be all about social class.

then again, it could be that Caroline Kennedy has authored or co-authored several books on Constitutional Rights and American History while Palin was a floundering sportscaster in a third tier media market.

or it may be that Caroline was in the top 10% of her class at Columbia Law while Palin was taking 6 years to go to 5 schools in search of a broadcast journalism degree from a non-noteworthy school.

honestly, the vacuous anti-elitists now believe screaming "classism!" can cover up any number of legitimate differences in credentials. this particularly pitiful strain of populism is unbecoming of the party of Enron and machismo.

Al in full WATB mode:

The press's treatment of Governess Palin was shameful

What was shameful about it? That they asked her actual questions about policy? In all likelihood, Palin went into the interviews with Katie Couric expecting to be thrown softballs and was totally flustered when Couric actually acted like a journalist.

It's also worth mentioning that everyone in the country knows who Caroline Kennedy is--she's literally been in the limelight since she was a child. OTOH, relatively few people outside the state of Alaska or greater Wingnuttia knew who Sarah Palin was when she was announced as John McCain's running mate in September.

Someone should ask Gov. Palin to provide transcripts showing all those brilliant, inciteful answers she gave that Couric had "sliced" out.

The only difference I see between Palin and Caroline as far as treatment goes is that one side of the partisan media was actually pro-Palin, while both sides want to tear Caroline a new one (so to speak).

Wasn't she the same one attacking HRC for "whining"?

Its not even fun to pick on her anymore, I think she seriously need professional help. Next thing you know she will be blaming her loss on racism.

Simply put, Sarah Palin represents empirical scientific evidence that (1) there is an Antichrist, and (2) the Antichrist is not of the male gender. So like it or not, you right-wing trolls, God fought for the Democratic Party this go-around, and has sent your political "geniuses" to the infernal regions of Purgatory for an eternity or two.*

*Note: Due to the antics of the Bushylvanians, there is now a projected 40- to 50-year shortage of fire and brimstone. In addition, Hell has applied for funds through the upcoming stimulus package, so as to pay for several major expansion projects connected to the Fiery Lake of Damnation, as there are just too many uber-right conservatives for the existing Fiery Lake of Damnation to hold....

Too bad Al is so committed to ignorance that he doesn't appear to know the difference between a governor and a governess.

Olbermann's ratings just went up a tic.

A wingnut documentary about how Obama got elected should be pretty entertaining, though.

lack of scrutiny of Ms Kennedy is a scandal

I'll bet Caroline would be on the tube day and night if she had a nepotism firing scandal, an interview where she couldn't name a SCOTUS case or said she reads everything, a call from two comics claiming one was Zarkosy and that he enjoyed watching her in a porn film. Add to that her claim of how she knows. foreign policy, a book banning attempt, and a penchant for throwing out Ann Coulter-like charges. Then there's the nepotistic hiring, the socialist oil policies in Alaska, and the exorcist.

Oh, and did I mention that one of them was in an election, while the other was advised by the Gov. to keep a low profile?

Playing the victim is what republicans do best. And I think, perhaps, why there was more scrutiny into Palin is because no one knew who she was, whereas Kennedy has been, if not a subject of intense media interest, at least well known since she was a child.

She may have a lot of money, but deep down where it counts, she'll always be poor white Wasilla trailer trash. Interesting to see her come right out and own it, though.

hard to play the Average Jane card when you live in the biggest house in Wasilla, the biggest house her crook of a husband could get the contractors to build on the side in exchange for the sports facility bid Sarah P gave them (while putting every man, woman and child in Wasilla in debt).

Caroline Kennedy has authored or co-authored several books on Constitutional Rights and American History

Yeah, just like her father wrote "Profiles in Courage."

The hatred of Palin is a revealing phenomenon. On the other hand, Franken is a prince of a fellow.

In terms of income, yes. Sociologically, however, she's an inner-city Latina (apologies to Jack Donaghy).

Highly insulted as a city latina. Malditos

"Remember, she was nearly the vice president of the United States."

One of the most frightening almosts in the past 50 years. And a disgrace to our country that she was even close.

Chris: Why don't we just ignore this excuse of a human? I think then she might just go away.

I, for one, don't want her going anywhere. I firmly believe that she is (at least) the short-term future of my party. And I'm a proud Democrat. :)

I've said it before, in terms of thinking/speaking/culture Sarah was trailer trash. And Caroline obviously has a pretty decent education and brains. So aside from money, the class thing sticks.

Of course outside of residents of New York, who really cares about the Caroline thing. I know I have simply tuned out on it. Better things to think about.

skybluewater: Playing the victim is what republicans do best.

Absolutely. The only thing Republicans do when they're not playing the victim is ranting on about how doing so is a despicable defining characteristic of the left.

Caroline Kennedy, AFAIK, isn't masturbating to the thought of a nuclear holocaust bringing about the end of the world and the Rapture of Wasilla Bible Church. That automatically raises her so far above Sarah Palin that there's no hope of catching up. The fact that she's intelligent, educated, and experienced in law whereas Sarah Palin is a failed-beauty-queen-turned-village-idiot-turned-corrupt-governor is just the icing on the cake.

Just some examples so Mike K can understand why thinking people want good 'ol Sarah to crawl back under the rock from whence she came, you betcha.

Is this the starting gun for the repubs 2012 insane-a-thon?

Even if you were drugged into a stupor, you just couldn't ignore the stupid and insane things that came out of her mouth on a hourly basis. I guess she thinks that a fair and impartial media would ignore such things from a potential President.

Highly insulted as a city latina. Malditos

It's a line from "30 Rock."

"The governor may find it embarrassing, but she's upper-middle-class"

Nah - she may have the money to fit that class bracket but, really, she and her family are hillbilly all the way.

Poor Palin. So which one is it, a month or so ago you claimed the Mccain campaign didnt let you do enough interviews now, a month after you are complaining that they let you do too much with Couric.

I am dizzy!!

She may have a lot of money, but deep down where it counts, she'll always be poor white Wasilla trailer trash.

You're so ambitious, aren't you, Governor? Do you know what you look like, with your RNC-bought good bag and your Jimmy Choo shoes? You look like a rube. A well-scrubbed, hustling rube, with a little taste. Good nutrition's given you length of bone, but you're not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you? And that accent you've tried so desperately to shed: pure down-home Alaska. What is your father, dear? ls he a salmon fisherman? Does he stink of the fish oil? How quickly the boys found you. All those tedious, sticky fumblings on the snowmobiles, while you could only dream of getting out, getting anywhere, getting all the way to the G.O.P....

This woman doesn't even dream up her own excuses, she cribs them from her (usually delusional or demented) apologists. Camille Paglia came up with the notion that all the best moments of the interview with Katie Couric must have ended up on the cutting room floor. Paglia hasn't seen them and can't prove they ever existed, but hey, she's got the hots for Palin, and besides, her infinite wisdom tells her that Palin must be smart, evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.

As for the difference between her and Caroline Kennedy, the only person I've seen yet who had a good word to say for Kennedy's candidacy was Maureen Dowd, who is a certifiable lunatic.

The hatred of Palin is indeed a revealing phenomenon. I would have thought USians were entirely desensitized to ignorance and corruption after 8 years of Bushco.

Mike K: The hatred of Palin is a revealing phenomenon.

Nowhere near as revealing as your interpretation of what you're seeing as "hatred".

Palin's whining is extraordinarily revealing about the nature of contemporary American conservatism. That Palin is complaining about what she perceives to be a difference in treatment between her and Kennedy means she literally can see no difference between her run for the vice presidency and Kennedy's run for US Senate. This can only mean means that her candidacy was never about government. It was about some weird and pathetic effort to stick it to her cultural betters. And isn't that why conservative government is inevitably so incompetent? Because it's not about government at all. The conservativism of those like Palin and the people who cheer her is about grievances, not leadership.

T-Rex: Don't forget Ruth Markus's risible fantasy "Princess" column about Caroline. As a New Yorker, I don't think Kennedy is the right person for this job, but with friends like those, yadda yadda.

Ted F, not only do I agree with your conclusion (and moreover with Sarah's delusions if she sees no difference between her own policy horsepower and Kennedy's); I think you can easily take it one step farther. Your theory well explaims GW Bush. His bragging about being a C-student, his reliance on faith and instinct to overrule actual science - all seem designed solely to stick it to those who bettered him all through his formative years. "Hey suckers, if you're all so f'ing smart, lets see you fix this mess! Whose the Man now, smartypants?" Similarly, you just know Rove never had a date in high school. The whole lot of them are working out their latent social insecurities and adolescent psychological abnormalities at our collective expense.

she may have the money to fit that class bracket but, really, she and her family are hillbilly all the way.

Have you ever met a hillbilly?

While I'm not in favor of Caroline Kennedy's appointment to the U.S. Senate, she certainly has the intellectual qualifications for the job. Palin, however, is not "Smarter than a 5th Grader" and probably would be in the bottom half of a 4th grade class.

Nah - she may have the money to fit that class bracket but, really, she and her family are hillbilly all the way.

Which honestly wouldn't bother me, per se - but she has such an obvious, aggressive inferiority complex about it.

The thing that struck me the most about the Couric interview were not so much her answers (which were richly loony and aptly demonstrated other things about her), but the way she interpreted the questions. Couric asked her what her news sources were, a perfectly legitimate, probitive question, and she interpreted it as though Couric had flatly stated that she had to be ignorant and out of touch since she was from Alaska.

It was like asking someone if they wanted to get lunch, and getting back, "what, do you think I'm fat or something?" It was both out of left field and hypersensitive to the point of silliness.

Dim-witted AND emotionally unstable? As a president? You have to be f'ing kidding me.

+1, Stefan.

This is Nixon's playbook: anti-elites, with a little bank shot venom for the Kennedys. Alas, I just don't think she can pull it off.

When things seemed to go crazy in the 60s, law and order and racism got us a very cunning politician with a ruthless support team. If Obama can't get it done soon enough, we're going to be looking for a full-blown demagogue and dictator. Palin has the glint in her eye, but she's too much clown show to pull off.

Have you ever met a hillbilly?

I have. Palin dresses much better, but thinks the same. I guess you could say she's a hillbilly with lipstick.

Have you ever met a hillbilly?

Do my relatives count?

"Class", broadly defined, may not be the best term for it, but there is a certain difference in social status between JFK's daughter and the wingnut governor of a rural state. "Social class" appears to be Politico's phrase, but I don't think it's such a stretch to infer that that is what Palin was getting at when she just said "class". Still, both were given the benefit of the doubt when they were introduced (Kennedy led in the polls of who Patterson should appoint, and 50% approved of Palin even though they had never heard of her), and both dropped precipitously when they failed to live up to the expectations. In the end, each suffered the same fate in terms of public opinion (although Kennedy may still be successful in her bid for office since she only has to get the approval of one person rather than the electorate as a whole). Obviously, Palin is more notorious, but that's because she was running for national office. Oh, and while she might say "you know" a lot, there's still no evidence that Kennedy is a corrupt liar, so that might have something to do with it too.

Palin has the glint in her eye, but she's too much clown show to pull off.

Editor Lowry, likely still on his couch, begs to differ. When he can catch his breath.

Sarah can complain all she wants about her treatment in the media, but I don't recall anyone ever saying she had mice in her vagina.

A wingnut documentary about how Obama got elected should be pretty entertaining, though.

You're clearly confusing wingnut films with Wingnut Films; the former are never entertaining.

Sometimes they are, I suppose, attention-holding in the same way a 96-car pileup on the interstate is, but not entertaining.

The class issue is pretty rich, considering she was picked by a guy whose wife was worth $100M, and didn't know how many houses he owned. And she was the one who decided to defend her clothing spree by claiming her favorite store is a second hand shop.

The hatred of Palin is a revealing phenomenon.

Mike K needs a lesson on the difference between "hatred" and "ridicule".

Palin belongs to the 150K wardrobe class. Perhaps Caroline would receive increased bad press if her fashion expenses approached 6 figures.

Beisdes all that, Kennedy doesn't have an unwed pregnant teenager in the fmaily and hasn't claimed foreign policy experience because New York shares a border with Canada.

And Mike K, Palin hasn't received half the scorn and hatred Al Gore has gotten from all the wingnuts out there. Are you scolding the folks at Redstate too?

Thanks, Al, for "Governess Palin". What with the babies being popped out by that family, it's good to know that someone's taking charge.

Mike K needs a lesson on the difference between "hatred" and "ridicule".

For real. I know a lot of liberals, and I have (as yet) never run into anyone who "hates" Palin. This may have changed if she'd gotten elected and started to do some truly stupid things with real consequence, but at least so far, she's simply too lightweight to merit anything as serious as hatred. This may baffle the simpletons on the right, but that's the way it is.

Shorter Palin: Caroline Kennedy is a woman who wants something she didn't have to fight to get. Therefore we're EXACTLY alike and should be treated just the same...except hen people are fawning all over me because I'm pretty. That's only fair.

I think the only thing Caroline Kennedy has even remotely in common with Palin besides plumbing is that Kennedy can see the Russian Tea Room from her house.

Zeitgeist: I would take it a lot further. Conservatism -- or rather the radical populist conservatism that has dominated the GOP since the Southern "Gingrich-DeLay" takeover in 1994 isn't about politics at all, in the sense of a give and take over issues of national importance. It is a cultural protest movement, largely Southern, rural and provincial, against the modern world. It is also psychological in the sense that in times of cultural stress and anxiety people turn to religion for security, usually fundamentalist religion. And, as we know, modern Republicanism is a wholly owned subsidiary of the fundamentalist Religious Right.

The late Samuael P. Huntington argued that in the post-Cold War world almost all world politics is cultural politics -- a "clash" of civilizations as he called it. I would submit that American politics over the last 15 or so years since Right Wing politics moved from the lunatic fringe to the mainstream has exhibited strong signs of being a clash of civilizations, and is why today's Republican Party is mostly a regional party of the traditional and provincial South, engaged in a struggle against a modern American civilization it believes is a threat to its own.

Olbermann does suck on NBC's "Football Night". But "evil" is a tad harsh.

As a liberal, I love Palin. I hope she is the GOP's Presidential Nominee for every election in the next 2 decades!

Also, Palin does not seem to realize that she was running in an election on a national ticket and Kennedy is trying to get appointed to an office that is being appointed by a Governor. Big difference there.

Ted Frier upstring :
"The conservativism of those like Palin and the people who cheer her is about grievances, not leadership."

Absolutely, 100% agree. The maddening thing is that there is absolutely no way to get the right wingers to really understand what governing is about. They have no clue. The only thing that they know to do once in office is to punish their enemies and reward their friends by removing any scrutiny. Governance by retribution, nepotism and pay offs. We are seeing the results of 8 years of that mind set and approach. The question is whether the Republican party will ever see it....

As for Palin, I am grateful every time she opens that ignorant mouth to show us the emptiness in her head and in her character. Her defenders are past shame or honesty and should be mortified that she got that close to ANY office. I predict she won't be Governor too much longer either. A disgrace to the State of Alaska.

Sarah Palin comparing herself to Caroline Kennedy is as laughable as Dan Quayle comparing himself to Caroline's father.

Sarah Palin is more like Tanya Harding.

In any discussion of Sarah Palin and class, I would assume the word is used to describe that thing which she lacks.

Sarah Palin is more like Tanya Harding. -pj in jesusland

Spot on comparison.

Spot on comparison.

Except that Palin would suck at Celebrity Boxing.

Looks like a vintage year for Alaska whine.

Me Thinks Thou Sarah Palin Dost Protest Too Much!

Her new interview is great fodder for the next SNL!

Her staff isn't so on the ball either. I told you guys the funny tale of how I called Palin's office in Juneau right after nightly news reporting on Tripp. A young girl answered "Governor's Office" and I said congrats on Bristol's baby (more to have something to say, it's hard to congratulate an OOW birth to a conservative fundie family.) The "y'know, like" type young girl said she didn't even know about the birth. There she was, covering the phones and media types could have called anytime for comment or info. Good thing I was first to call, to give the office the heads up.

BTW where can we see pictures etc. of that baby by now? I know People Mag has or was supposed to have a contract, but it's still all very mysterious.

antidecollusionist

Sarah Palin is more like Tanya Harding. -pj in jesusland

Thats an insult....to Tanya!

Except that Palin would suck at Celebrity Boxing. -zeitgeist

You should really be ashamed for knowing that. :)

Hey sparrow, does that whine come with a vomit bag? :-)

Except that Palin would suck at Celebrity Boxing.

Doesn't matter. She'd get knocked out in Round 1, and right after, she and her supporters would insist that she won, and then keep repeating it for months.

So much win in this thread. "Fair and balanced" nailed it several column yards up: Caroline Kennedy has been in the public eye worldwide her entire life. Sarah Palin was a poorly crafted joke sprung on most of us for the first time last summer, from the farthest flung corner of the country. She got unfair scrutiny vying to be second in command after the oldest man to be seated as president? A cancer survivor to boot?

If she'd have actually conducted herself as though, ya know, she was running for a, ya know, important national office--perhaps an occasional press conference?--there wouldn't have been so much time spent on dead moose, preggers daughter, Bentley-priced wardrobe and the fact the Wasilla mayor has almost zero actual duties.

But New Yorkers are soooo dazzled by celebrity they'll give Ms. Kennedy a hall pass this time 'round. Right.

BTW. Palin had to work at becoming an anti-booklearnin' hillbilly. Dad's a science teacher, for Pete's sake.

"Governess Palin?" You really don't want to know what image is now burned into my brain.
Relatedly, when are we going to see drag queens performing as Sarah? It'd be bigger than the Carol Channing schtick. Maybe even bigger than Diana or Liza.

- Sarah has a great need for attention and is quite ambitious, despite her intellectual and character limitations. More and more she cannot understand why the attention and energy that she received from her hard core supporters are not enough to keep her afloat in the public's consciousness beyond as a source of ridicule.

No, she does not understand the difference between Caroline Kennedy and herself nor the difference between the role of a senator vs a Presidential nominee -- but that is beside the point and not really the focus of her unhappiness.

She just wants to be in the center of things and to be important and "going somewhere" -- but she is afraid that she is going nowhere and with the last poll showing her well behind Murkowski in a Senate contest -- she is feeling very frustrated.
The Hoo Ha about her drop out son-in-law also didnt help. She knows that she is perceived as a "snowbilly" and just has to take out her frustration and anger somewhere.

This is a person completely out of touch with her own life. She has a full time important role as Governor of a state but also just recently had a baby and has a teen aged daughter with an out of wedlock birth. Are any of her kids back in school? She has been documented as misusing the powers of her office for personal vendettas and payoffs. She mis-used over $150k of the Republican party to clothe herself and her family.
She is unable to answer relatively easy factual questions about current events and government functioning...

She is at high risk for a crash...

zeitgeist: I've often felt the same way, that we are trapped in some sort of psychotic horror show where people are working out their psychological programs and high school hang-ups at our expense. I've even said that to people about the Bush administration/.

Elie: thanks for the comment. If you want to know why today's conservatism bears such a striking family resemblance to fascism it's because fascism is really nothing more than tribalism writ large.

Ah, Sarah Palin, the gift which keeps on giving. Or is that the git which keeps on giving?

It works either way,
-Z

The daft that keeps on grifting.

Deeply insulted, Stefan. Apologize at once.

Poor, poor Sarah, forced to give repeated interviews to that well known media toughie, Katie Couric.

uh, sarah?

do you suppose it could be because caroline kennedy doesn't think africa is a country?

just sayin'...

Mike K., do you have any actual evidence that Mrs. Kennedy didn't write or co-wrote her books (and no, the fact that her father apparently didn't write "Profies in Courage" is not "evidence" of this claim).

The difference is that Kennedy is an Ivy-League Kennedy, with all that that entails. Palin is a snowbilly who had to go to how many colleges to get a diploma? Who married a--did the Todd graduate high school? and she has an unwed dropout teenaged daugher, whith the father of said grandchild being a high-school dropout as well? It's class warfare,period.

When are Republicans going to criticize Palin for her "class warfare" comments... or is c.w. only bad when it's being practiced by Democrats.

Mike K: The hatred of Palin is a revealing phenomenon.

but less so than...

the right's cheering of ted kennedy's brain tumor...

Uhm, Sarah's right on this one. That's why some Democrats don't like the Clintons. They're from Arkansas, after all. Or as David Broder famously put it, "They came in here and trashed the place, and it's not their place."

RE: hillbillies. I know a few, and I'd rather spend time with them than with David Broder or any of the other snotty Villagers of both parties. They're smarter, for one thing.

I have no love for Sarah Palin or her right-wing politics, but let's flip things around. Suppose, Palin had the Ivy League background and privilege, and Kennedy had to scrape to get a degree from a public institution?

Now I'm sure some of you are thinking, "if she did, she wouldn't be so far on the right," as if attending an Ivy League school inherently makes you smarter and more morally upright. You're then forgetting our current president went to Yale and Harvard.

I see much of the criticism of Palin stems with where she's from, not what she stands for. And in that context, her criticism of the press (and, by extension, us) is absolutely right.

As for Kennedy, I personally would love to see a non-celebrity get the nod, someone who doesn't hail from the NYC power structure. Upstate is hurting desperately, and until recently Caroline admitted she had never been to Syracuse, one of the state's major cities. In New York city and state politics, why must Manhattan always win?

Now that there's no longer any possibility of Palin's becoming president, I'm finding her antics to be valuable comic relief.