Daily Kos Endorses Sarah Palin, Rages Against the Use of ‘Socialism’

“Hyper-partisan, painfully ignorant, pathologically dishonest, chronically unethical, intellectually unconscious, and jaw-droppingly stupid.” Yes, once in a while these words apply uncannily to the radical liberals over at Daily Kos, but today, they’re proof of why the blog commands so much influence in the political sphere despite their occasional flubs.

Blogger “Angry Mouse” has given Palin what reads as one of the most ringing, brutally honest endorsements for her 2012 presidential campaign to come out so far. And yes, that first sentence is the way (s)he begins the endorsement. It only gets better from there:

If this is the war the party of stupid wants, let them have it. Let us see what their rightwing insanity has sown. Let us watch Sarah debate President Obama, crib notes and all. Because even though the entire Republican Congress was outmatched in a battle of wits only a few weeks ago, Sarah, being Sarah, will strut into any debate thinking she has the upper hand. And America needs to watch that, the arrogance of someone so hopelessly out of her league that she doesn’t even realize she’s out of her league, daring to take on President Obama, daring to claim that she could do his job better as she spouts meaningless platitudes about budget tax cuts and energy and lifting American spirit. It doesn’t matter that she knows nothing. It doesn’t matter that she’s an embarrassment to herself every time she speaks. We need to have our options so obviously spelled out for us that there can be no mistake. We need to have that fight -– the fight of thoughtfulness and reason versus also too also.

It’s biting, it’s vicious, it’s backhanded, and, most of all, it’s fair. “Mouse” goes issue-by-issue, with links and quotes, before concluding that it is necessary for Americans to see Palin compete with Obama on every level required of a presidential candidate. Incendiary rhetoric aside, the partisan divide the country is facing might require that competition to occur. And hearing someone on Kos actually welcome spirited debate and competition is precisely what its detractors are constantly demanding of it. There is no wish to keep Palin hushed, no pleading to close the case on the Tea Parties. Rather, they are so certain that their politicial beliefs are superior that they want to see them debated publicly. And that’s a good thing.

But while the Daily Kos’ endorsement of Palin is as good as good behavior is going to get on the site, the post immediately following it sinks them right back down to the ridiculous. Predictably, the Fox News poll showing that most (81% at last login) Fox News site visitors considered the Tea Party movement to be rooted in a “fruitless mix of racism, conspiracy theories” caught their attention. Also predictably, they completely missed the point, peeved by the fact that the world “socialism” appears in a poll on the Tea Party movement. How can a piece on the Tea Partiers not have the world “socialism” in it somewhere? It is petty to slam Fox News for this when they are publicly showing that most Americans, according to their study, consider a movement they are accused of supporting to be ridiculous. And it’s missing the big picture: even Fox News fans– 81% of them!— have no respect for the Tea Parties. Of course, pointing that out would mean acknowledging that the radical minority that represents the Tea Partiers is not commonly accepted by the mainstream, and that level of maturity is apparently too much to ask from the Kos crew, commendable as their piece on Palin may be.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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