The first thing that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin did to earn my love and respect was to thank Geraldine Ferraro and honor Hillary Clinton in her speech when Arizona Sen. John McCain announced in Dayton, Ohio, that she would be his running mate — it’s at about 3:30 into the video. There she was, a Republican and the first words out of her mouth after praising Sen. McCain were to thank women in the opposition party. The ability to do this takes a quality I call majesty of soul. It also requires unbounded generosity of spirit. She won my heart and my respect at that moment.
Later, a cable news anchor asked Geraldine Ferraro her reaction to Gov. Palin’s selection and her speech thanking Rep. Ferraro. I’ll never forget seeing the play of emotions in Geraldine Ferraro’s face when she said from 1984 when she ran as the VP candidate with Walter Mondale until Gov. Palin spoke in 2008 that NEVER before had ANYONE ever thanked her for her contribution. Gratitude and wonder and relief vied with hurt and anger in Rep. Ferraro’s face.
As a lesbian and liberal Democrat during the fall campaign, I got a steady stream of anti-Palin poison e-mails from feminists filled with lies that generally had a two-week time from their widely trumpeted promulgation to their barely-noticed debunkings. I could not figure out why my friends were so consumed with hatred and were lying their asses off to destroy such an accomplished woman.
I’ve shared my theory in another post, but I’m writing today because I want to quote a left-wing feminist blogger at Reclusive Leftists who can’t figure out the why of Palin Derangement Syndrome but has some perceptive observations about its causes and symptoms. The full post is here and the following paragraphs are excerpts:
Sarah Palin’s surprise resignation has brought out the crazy again, and reading through the blogs I’m reminded of how much pure bullshit has been said and believed about her and continues to be said and believed. I’m reminded of how so many feminists seem possessed of a wholly irrational hatred for this woman.
Why?
…
But even weirder is what happens when you try to replace the myths with the truth. If you explain, “no, she didn’t charge rape victims,” your feminist interlocutor will come back with something else: “she’s abstinence-only!” No, you say, she’s not; and then the person comes back with, “she’s a creationist!” and so on. “She’s an uneducated moron!” Actually, Sarah Palin is not dumb at all, and based on her interviews and comments, I’d say she has a greater knowledge of evolution, global warming, and the Wisconsin glaciation in Alaska than the average citizen.
But after you’ve had a few of these myth-dispelling conversations, you start to realize that it doesn’t matter. These people don’t hate Palin because of the lies; the lies exist to justify the hate. That’s why they keep reaching and reaching for something else, until they finally get to “she winked on TV!” (And by the way: I’ve been winked at my whole life by my grandmother, aunts, and great-aunts. Who knew it was such a despicable act?
…Speaking of slander, that brings me to my next big puzzlement: what is it with the feminists who just freely make shit up about Palin? The lies had to start somewhere, and they didn’t all hatch in the bowels of the Obama campaign (though a bunch of them did). Some of them were incubated by feminists, particularly the ones about Palin being an anti-sex “purity queen,” the kind of batshit Christian who believes in Purity Balls and abstinence pledges and is opposed to sex ed. None of that is true.
…Besides, I know for a fact that the feminists spreading the lies about Palin knew they were spreading lies. Not to tell tales out of school, but: they knew. They were supplied with the correct information, and they chose to lie anyway. Why?
…
Her speech [at the Republican National Convention accepting her nomination as the candidate for vice president] also delivered some welcome punctures to the national gasbag known as Obama. And that’s another thing: it has not escaped my attention that many of the things Palin is accused of, falsely, are actually true of Obama. This is a guy who, as a U.S. senator from Illinois, didn’t even know which Senate committees he was on or which states bordered his own. (And don’t even get me started on Joe “The Talking Donkey” Biden, who thinks FDR was president during the stock market crash and that people watched TV in those days.) I’m not saying Obama’s a moron, but he’s sure as hell no genius. People say Sarah Palin rambles; excuse me, but have you actually heard Obama speak extemporaneously? As for being a diva, surely we all remember the Possomus sign and the special embroidered pillow on the Obama campaign plane. The fact is, Obama is an intellectually mediocre narcissist with a thin resume who’s lost without a teleprompter and whose entire campaign had all the substance and gravity of a Pepsi commercial. Yet people say Sarah Palin is a fluffy bunny diva.
If you have been pondering Palin Derangement Syndrome, I highly recommend reading the entire post along with the intelligent comments that follow.
Meanwhile, I’m going to keep hammering on the obvious point that Gov. Palin is FAR more qualified to be president right now than Obama ever will be. Our country and our economy would be in MUCH better shape if she were president RIGHT NOW.
Update, 7/7/09:
Einstein proves that Sarah Palin is smarter than Barack Obama.

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