Adam, this post, the post below on Sessions & extremism, and really everything you've been writing in the past few weeks on Sotomayor have been just excellent. Thank you.

An icon indicating one of the frequent posts about conservopublican double standards would be useful.

I suggest a Janus-like two-faced elephant. Very symbolic: The double standard, deceitfulness (to themselves at the very least) and that the GOP both looks backward and looks backward in another direction.

Sorry, but nothing I ever saw about Sarah Palin matched the snobbery the NYT inflicted on the people from Arkansas who came to Clinton's first inauguration. And the Times hardly stopped there.

Part of the issue is that there were ready to hand cliches for people from Arkansas, but most people on the East Coast (and the Times used to be easily the worst offender -- fortunately that has changed) are simply ignorant of the West (outside of urban California) and were unprepared for the ugly reality of a certain slice of Alaska life, just as some were all too ready to blown away by the phony moose and hockey stuff.

One last thing--there's no question that sexism played a part in the way Palin was covered. That doesn't mean that she was qualified or made a good candidate--ignorance of policy is not something to be proud of. Palin failed as a candidate because she simply isn't that interested in issues.

Yeah, and Hillary's problem was staying married to Bill...or her AUMF vote...or...

As long as women dare to venture onto the BIG political stage, they will be slapped down with sexist tropes; more disheartening when coming from fauxgressives than others, I think.

Obama thought the Great Lakes were in Oregon - anyone here call him dumb for that?

I love Douhat's effort to transform Palin into a working class hero.

Frankly, you can have the most plebeian of roots but if you do nothing in office but promote the interests of the rich and powerful, the fact that you came from a sharecropper family and went to a one-room school house is totally irrelevant.

In any case, if you look at who actually supports the GOP in election after election, you'll see that people with modest backgrounds are about as numerous in their ranks as people from non-white ethnic groups and those under 40.

As long as women dare to venture onto the BIG political stage, they will be slapped down with sexist tropes; more disheartening when coming from fauxgressives than others, I think.

Obama thought the Great Lakes were in Oregon - anyone here call him dumb for that?

Yes, you're right, all the legitimate policy objections people have to Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin are just manifestations of our dark hidden misogyny.

I don't think anyone's called Sarah Palin dumb, by the way - just fundamentally uninterested in, you know, actual governance and policy. That's what makes her an unserious political leader, not her gender.

How about Al Gore? He was bitterly attacked by the mainstream media with a steady stream of lies, distortions and exaggerations during the 2000 Presidential campaign.

Yes, you're right, all the legitimate policy objections people have to Hillary Clinton

uh, you mean her her objectional policies that would have been to the LEFT of Obama (see FISA, Gay rights, etc)...or, my gues is you got nothin'

Obama thought the Great Lakes were in Oregon - anyone here call him dumb for that?

I'll bet you a million dollars Obama never said anything like that. The dude lived on the shore of Lake Michigan for, like, 20 years.

Back on topic, yeah, there was a lot of sexist crap thrown at Palin. And that was wrong. But she was plainly ignorant of very important national policies. Furthermore, her story didn't make any sense--she was from the #1 pork barrel state, and she was campaigning as an anti-pork reformer. The bridge to nowhere was a perfect encapsulation of her candidacy--it sounded nice, it seemed great, but when you scratched at the surface, all the gilt just came right off.

And how is she not an elite? She makes bushel baskets of money, she went to college (doesn't she have a master's degree?). She was on TV by the time she was 30! Sure, she's got this tabloid side but, uh, so do the Kennedys. I don't see anyone arguing that makes them working class.

"Obama thought the Great Lakes were in Oregon - anyone here call him dumb for that?"

Apparently you are, but then this is just another vicious lie, and you are pretty dumb for spreading it.

As for Douthat...We as a culture have long celebrated the "common man" (once our rather uncommon Founding Fathers died off). But those common men were conquering a continent, winning wars, building a great nation. Today's GOP has nothing in common with that effort except the blatant racism, the radical exceptionalism, and the xenophobic nationalism coupled with the ability (rare for most humans on this earth) to revel in unashamed imperial hubris.

Adam,

I don't think you are the civil libertarian you claim to be.

Just as the conservatives don't often talk about racism or sexism, when was the last time you wrote about:

* Discrimination againt Religion
* Discrimination against Familial Status
* Ageism

Your argument is of the form, X didn't write about Y, which is my favorite topic, therefore X is a bigot.

That's not an argument.

Hard as it is to imagine that he actually said 57 states he was mighty tiiirreed! It was a simple slip of the tongue - he's a very intelligent man!

He lived on the shore of a 'great Lke' for years - even tired I doubt he actually said that in a wya that meant anything. Probably made reference to Oregon's great, lakes - like Klamath! Great, as in stupendous lakes - as in lovely lakes, as in fine!