Will Wilkinson - Latest Comments in Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

nzuckerman — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:29:32 -0000

I have come a bit late to this hysterical rant by a guy who doesn't approve of democracy and elections--why bother living here?--but who has the hots for Palin,a bit over the hill for most babe lovers, who strikes most folks as a real dummy and very very ambitious, with a totally dysfunctional family. It is nice though that you can get so excited about something so funny to so many of the rest of us, and shows that when the dick stands up, the brain goes to sleep.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Not Severin — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:06:51 -0000

Sorry, son, the spread is too significant statistically. Your asshole boss from Harvard was at one end of the bell curve.

Besides, if you lost out in the karma sweepstakes, that's just Fortuna screwing you over so quit whining about it.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Not Severin — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:00:35 -0000

Well, then you lost out in the karma race, bub. Deal with it.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Not Severin — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:55:29 -0000

Whine whine. I'm from a blue collar family (oil refinery worker and truck driver for a father) and earned a Ph.D. from an Ivy League school based on my ability. I had to scrape up the application fees and eat bitter for years.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Greg — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:53:35 -0000

Lawyer, it is a shame that smart people don't always have the opportunity to go to the most prestigious institutions. Fine, you're right about that. But that point, and unfortunately your anecdotal evidence too, don't have any bearing on whether the average HLS or ILS student is smarter. Sure, there are probably plenty of smart people at both places. But if I were picking a lawyer for myself and only knew where they graduated from, I'd pick the Harvard one. Opportunity should be equal, but that doesn't mean that everyone's abilities are equal.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

DorothyP — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:28:08 -0000

Ben--geographic prefs were all the rage a while back, but not now.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Jeremy — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:48:10 -0000

Rent-seeking is attempting to have the government manipulate a market for one's own gain. How would this apply to professional politicians?

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Ben — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:04:34 -0000

Given geographic "affirmative action" in elite colleges, it is likely pretty easy to get into an elite college from Alaska. One would probably just have to get into the 25-75% on the numbers, without worrying about extracurriculars, high school, or interesting life story.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Jason — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:56:55 -0000

A-men, Mr. Small Berries!

And let us not forget Palin's real talent as mayor and governor: milking the federal government for millions of dollars, redistributing wealth from the economically prosperous blue states to the backwaters of Alaska.

Oh, Palin's got talent: the same kind that Ted Stevens had. She is a "bringin' home the bacon" politician through and through. Her first priority, everybody knows, will be opening up oil fields and pipelines across Alaska.

Let's also add to this that every "stand" she took against corruption seems entirely unprincipled and self-serving.

McCain did further damage to his brand by picking this woman: it's even harder to believe that he's a maverick when he picks a Christian zealot – a friggin' CREATIONIST who opposes abortion even in the case of rape – who's all about scoring earmarks for Alaskans.

I find her sexually uninteresting, to boot.

My gut says "?", my mind says "Oh my god, if this woman is elected, I'm gonna have to get the fuck out of here!"

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Brian Dunbar — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:38:14 -0000

"This is a woman who would no doubt force her personal worldview on others, if she had the power."

I can only go by proxy - that is from knowing many women and men of her faith - being friends with some, related to others.

Some would force their personal beliefs on the rest of us. Maybe.

The rest? They'd certainly prefer the rest of us Christianize and convert but they realize that forcing the issue is about the worst way for someone to come to the faith. Conversion has to be honest and fully accepted. If you don't believe in your heart, it's a big waste of time.

My cousin the fecund Pentecostal is a good example. He brought the topic up once, we chatted for a few minutes about it. Twenty years later, it's never come up again. He could be a pest about it but ... he lets it abide.

Unless you know something about Governor Palin's history that suggests she's hell-bent on pushing her church's agenda on the rest of us?

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Real-World Lawyer — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:51:55 -0000

Again- often has noting to do with smarter- except perhaps in choice of parents!

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Real-World Lawyer — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:49:40 -0000

Statements like this just piss me off!!!! One of the biggest morons I ever had the misfortune to work for (I'm an attorney) is a Harvard Law grad. I'm not-- and not because my test scores weren't good enough (they were!) but because I'm from a blue-collar family that paid NONE of my expenses, and I did not even have the money for application fees to the "top" schools- let alone enough money to relocate from my cheap apartment in a small town to an overpriced room in an overpriced city. People still have no clue how many people are still left behind, not from any lack of ability, but from lack of resources and connections that give some students and law grads, regardless of ability, a real leg up over the rest of us-- who are still struggling.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

DorothyP — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:41:31 -0000

And Sophie-- "middle aged" and "overly made-up" and Palin's the mean girl? Grow up.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

DorothyP — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:39:48 -0000

But it's victim stories and affirmative action that get you into the Ivies, unless you're the kid of a media figure or a movie star. The average middle-class public high school student doesn't stand a chance. So, let's not gas on about SATs and GPAs, esp. in this era of grade inflation and bloated resumes from high school seniors.

There's no affirmative action for a cute point guard from Alaska. None.

Palin's refreshing because she didn't de-sex herself to be a politician. Hillary tried and succeeded all too well.

And anyone who wants a "career federal politician" needs to read up on fascism. I loathe the idea of a permanent "good job with the government" type leading me.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

sophie brown — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:58:31 -0000

She's actually quite middle aged and overly made up. Ivanna Trump (her idol) comes to mind. I think it's her lactating breasts that have a number of you in a tizzie. Oh well.

BTW, if the story is "she's a better politician than Hilary because she's younger and more attractive," I think you'll find that's not a big selling point for the ladies.

Oh-- and University of Idaho, where my husband teaches, does have some very bright students. But the average undergraduate at U of I is not that bright at all, I hate to say. (The law school is different, completely separate and not really comparable.) Idaho doesn't really have community colleges, and many of the students at the U of I are kind of at the community college level. A good chunk of the student body is not up to the level of the juniors and seniors at the Moscow High School (which is full of the kids of professors at u of i and washington state university across the state line.) Was SP one of the smart ones at U of I? Why doesn't she release her transcripts and we'll see?

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Archon — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:40:40 -0000

While for the author and other narrow-minded voters, Sarah Palin's sex appeal might make them more inclined to "go with their gut" and vote for the ticket, for an intellectual type like me, her nomination signifies the day the republican party jumped the shark and no longer became the party of ideas and competance but simply the party of "winning at all costs". When a party rejoices in a nomination of someone who wanted to ban books eleven days under her regime as mayor, than you know something is fatally wrong with that party

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

John Small Berries — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:26:43 -0000

"I would in fact rather be ruled by competent small-town mayors than accomplished professional rent-seekers."

And how do you feel about small-town mayors who were aided in their mayoral campaigns by the state branch of one of the two major political parties, which then began grooming her for higher office during the first mayoral term?

That doesn't seem like "professional rent-seeking" to you?

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

DL — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:56:44 -0000

All you need in a democracy is what you learned in kindergarten. Isn't that what this campaign has made clear? Substance is sex appeal, so McCain went out and got some. Is this so difficult to understand?

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

twinkletoes — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:53:56 -0000

As someone who actually grew up in a small town, give me a career federal politician any day. As a class, no one is more control-oriented and petty than small town politicians, and the evidence that exists suggests that she is if anything an uber-small town politician. And that is no compliment to her whatsoever. She is vindictive and power-hungry. In the normal course of things, she'd be a tyrant over a few thousand people with limited power for a couple of years and then disappear. That this wasn't the course of her life is a sad commentary on both Alaska and McCain.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

izforever — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:31:48 -0000

Drew: "there shouldn't be a stigma either way (whether you're from the midwest or go to an ivy league school)."

I agree on stigma. But it definitely raise my eyebrows (in admiration) when someone served as editor of the Harvard Law Review, and taught constitutional law at U of Chicago. That says a lot about their capabilities.

And it also raises my eyebrows when I hear that somebody graduated fifth from the bottom at the Naval Academy.

Neither is definitive, of course, but they say a lot.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Kent — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:31:30 -0000

I'm sorry, but I have taught in middle of the road type colleges and universities, and the average caliber of students is nothing close to what it is in the Ivies. The very best students (mostly) go to the very best schools, where they can hang out with other outstanding students. Yes some Ivy League schools still have their share of legacy admissions, but not nearly enough to push down the average to typical places like U of Idaho. It's not close. It's like saying your local college baseball team is on par with the Yankees.

Not saying your sister isn't smart, even "could play for the Yankess" smart. I had a few students at mediocre colleges who would have been very comfortable at Harvard or Chicago or Stanford or Amherst or wherever. But the vast majority were not close to that level.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Frank Smithson — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:21:52 -0000

Iowa school teachers show "sexual confidence"? In the classroom?

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Jen — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:51:07 -0000

Not Severin,

Idaho Law and Harvard Law serve very different markets. The typical Idaho law grad will take a state court clerkship or work as a public defender, prosecutor, etc. straight out of law school. These jobs involve smarts, dedication and service, but they don't include huge salaries.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

Xanthippas — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:46:15 -0000

I would in fact rather be ruled by competent small-town mayors than accomplished professional rent-seekers.

There are two problems with that comment. I'm not really sure what you mean by competent when you're referring to Palin, except in the sense that the town did not implode. I think it's quite reasonable to read some of the stories about her tenure as mayor and wonder if she did in fact possess the competence you appear to presuming. Secondly, I would much rather be governed (as opposed to "ruled") by people who have demonstrated some ability in state-wide or national office. I might appreciate the earnestness of a "competent" small town mayor, but I woudl not appreciate their ignorance.

As for the rest of what you write, you seem to be arguing in very fancy language that Palin would get your vote because she's hot. Strangely, some of us can manage to share the same opinion while hoping desperately that she never gets anywhere near the White House. If you have a "deep mistrust of democratic politics" then it is only because of people like yourself, who can barely be trusted to think rationally.

Re: Sex, Culture, and Sarah Palin

conradg — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:57:01 -0000

I agree, She's got the MILF vote down cold.