In the New York Daily News on Wednesday, S.E. Cupp theorized "The reason Palin has become such a lightening [sic] rod, a kingmaker and a punching bag, a celebrity and a power player, is simple. It's because she's so gosh darn happy.For her fans, like the ones I had the pleasure of meeting in Chicago, she's refreshingly upbeat and resilient, the bubbly friend from childhood who was always great at cheering you up and cheerleading you on. But for her detractors, nothing raises the ire of cynical liberals more than a happy-go-lucky, totally unburdened, freethinking and self-assured conservative woman who has everything she wants and then some. And without anyone's help."
Naturally, this drew protests from the lefties at the Daily Kos, who imagine themselves as the Guardians of Truth against those conservative "rubes" who can barely read (and their New York Daily News supporters). On Friday afternoon, the blogger with the handle "Zagrobelny" trashed Cupp (and her "Wonder Woman" publicity photos) for "boundless stupidity" in championing Palin: "my expectations were not disappointed, my faith in literacy and intelligence were." Palin is apparently the enemy of all attempts at literacy and intelligence:
What really raises the ire of this cynical liberal is not that Sarah Palin is happy-go-lucky, but that she happily and cynically goes around trashing people and issues held deal by liberals. This doesn't just happen with programs and issues liberals advocate, but she trashes fundamental concepts: intelligence, literacy, expertise, language, spelling, and truth. And she does it all with a wink while she rakes in the money of those ecstatic rubes that Cupp attempts to praise in the opening of her piece. [Italics in the original.]
Perhaps the most priceless part of this rant is Zagrobelny complaining about why would liberals be cynically accused of wanting to keep people down with Big Government, and why would conservatives project their cynicism on to others? This would make a regular conservative reader of the Kosmonauts wonder if Zagrobelny somehow miraculously avoids reading everyone else in the Kos crowd. Assuming conservatives actually, cynically favor every vicious thing is Daily Kos modus operandi.
Why this would raise "the ire of cynical liberals" is not explained. It never is. It is just assumed. Why would we want to keep people down? Why would we advocate "big government" and social programs if we didn't actually want to pull people up? The real cynics are those who are unable to understand empathy and selflessness and project their cynicism onto others. They assume every issue and program has some kind of conspiratorial agenda, usually some kind of scheme to purchase votes.
PS: The Kosmonaut attacks Cupp's writing: "her prose is so leaden and clumsy instead of describing the excitement of good-hearted folk, it reads like a horrific frenzied bacchanal." Um, no, it doesn't. It doesn't sound like anyone is drunk on Palin power.
[Hat tip: Not the Mama]
