The soft bigotry of low expectations for cocktail waitresses

I get a kick out of the righthanders who claim Sarah Palin "won the debate" the other night on account of having "exceeded expectations."  Why not just admit that, of course, if you grade her on a curve, and the curve is sufficiently steep, while evaluating Biden in the straight-up way, then and only then did Palin hold her own?  The claim that she exceeded expectations withers under scrutiny.  Expectations were so low that she couldn't help but exceed them.  Consequently, we expected her to exceed expectations, and actually to exceed expectations therefore meant she had to exceed expectations by a lot, which would have required more than a peppy recitation of the contents of her notecards.

It seems Republicans are against affirmative action--except for themselves; against "the soft bigotry of low expectations"--except for their candidate for vice-president.  Excuse me while I guffaw.  And no one deserves a bigger one than Rich Lowry, who was, shall we say, stimulated by Palin's performance:

I''m sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it. 

One of Andrew Sullivan's correspondents has the definitive riposte:

In reaction to Rich Lowry, I'm sure I'm not the only woman who, upon reading his words, sat up a little straighter and said, "Is he kidding?  Is he goddamn kidding me?"  Is this the kind of reaction the women in this country should want men to have to the possible first female Vice Presidential candidate in history?  Holy hell.

I thought Palin's performance at the debate was downright embarrassing and on top of that I have to read this clown's blog, stating more or less that Palin gave him an erection? Little starbursts my ass.  Here's what I thought when Palin "dropped" that first wink at us: "Did she just wink at us like she was America's cocktail waitress?" Rich Lowry is on the verge of slapping Sarah Palin on the ass and asking her for another of those fantastic whiskey sours. 

Comments

[Jerry D. Hill]

Why would we lower the bar for younger politicians?

Is being a dynamic speaker enough?

Is coming across as someone whoes very attitude is enough to bring change, really enough to qualify them as leadership material in America?

Tell me the difference between Obama and Palin?

Both are attractive. Both are dynamic speakers. Neither have much Presidential background, but appear to want to do well.

What are we expecting from our politicians. Professional politicians are compassionate American Patriots?

We have had years of professional politicians and look where we are. How about a change. Get a couple in there with no experience at all just a burning desire to do it right. Palin for President would be the equal of Obama for President.

Too bad we have to carry dead weight in our elections. More people need to be at the grass roots level. Then we the people would have more of a voice in this matter.

Jerry D. Hill (http://www.jerry-hill.com)