Divorced from reality - excuses over the Palin coverage
Just one more post on the Palin controversy for now.
Andrew Sullivan prints one of those “dissents of the day”, a reader that disagrees with him (that’s the only way he can respond, since he doesn’t allow comments at his site). A quote:
I have been so disappointed in the double standard I have seen you apply over and over again to the McCain and Obama campaigns. …This week I have seen feminists question whether Sarah should be working, what with her five children and special needs son; I have seen them savage her decision about HER BODY to get on a plane when she was perhaps in early labor. I have seen the majority of the media mock and cast doubt on her experience, her character, her intelligence etc. to the degree that they have NEVER done to Obama, in truth lesser qualified on paper than Gov. Palin. … That the media doesn’t understand how this plays to the general public just shows how insulated and out of touch they are. I have followed campaign after campaign because I am a junkie, and I have never seen this type of venomous treatment of a candidate before. I am not even sure that I won’t vote for Obama, but the treatment of Gov Palin makes me sick to my stomach. The media and the bloggers, yourself included, had better prepare for a backlash. If someone like me, 37 years old, mother of three, fiscal conservative but social liberal feels this way, I can guarantee I’m not the only one. I have been so disappointed in this blog; usually so fair and even handed. I am saddened that whatever disillusion you have with the current administration seems to have led you to join the ranks of the rest of the rabid, hypocritical, and out of control media.
“Usually so fair and even handed”? Who is she kidding? Anyway, except for that, there really is no justifiable counter argument, but I have to give Sullivan credit. He contorts heavily and comes up with a pretty creative response:
What the reader doesn’t get, I think, is that all the revelations about Obama took place over a very long period of time - months a