Philadelphia Fans Greet Palin and Her Girls With A Chorus of Booing, and LA Times Readers Comment

Sarah Palin was invited by the Philadelphia Flyers owner Ed Snider to toss out the first puck, and took two of her daughter with her, apparently hoping to deflect hostility that was expected to be directed her way. The crowd ignored the official message being blasted at them from the scoreboard, urging them to "show class," and booed her so loudly the management tried to drown out the negative roar by cranking the music to eleven! This link is to an LA Times blog with lots of comments that are really far more interesting than watching the lipsticked bulldog get her come-uppance.

One thing is clear -- Palin is a polarizing influence, causing people who would treat each other with respect if they met at a social occasion to start their exchange by lining up sides and throwing epithets. Palin was booed in an exercise of free speech by a large number of people. That confirms my belief that others see right through her patriotic pose and see her for what she is -- a role model for people with a confused self-image who prop themselves up with arrogance and aggression toward invented enemies.

Palin projects evil on the usual targets of white supremacists, as Rep. Lewis recently observed, comparing the McPain campaign strategy with the racist politics of George Wallace. McCain wants to have it both ways, using the ultimate wedge issue -- race hatred -- to get votes from people foolish enough to think that poor people are causing their economic pain, and then claiming he wants to take the high road, claiming to respect Barack.

Meanwhile, Obama knows that the one thing he must never do is display anger. A lifetime of discipline and self-control shows itself in his even temper. Those who say he has not been tested and isn't of "presidential timber" aren't thinking about how valuable it is to have a person who can keep their cool when mud is being slung in their direction. I wasn't a fan of the man when he first started his skyward rise in the polls, and I am still suspicious of how that was engineered. I am also a serious liberal, and am very disappointed in how he went rightward on domestic spying and the bailout.

But if the question is -- does he have character? The answer is "yes." The man much more character than Palin has ever shown in all of the appearance I've seen or read about. The two can really not be measured on the same scale, and the way she deals lightly with weighty matters shows how little she understands the gravity of the role she thinks she is "wired for." In this she is far too much like the Decider the American people have come to roundly disrespect. Obama may not walk on water, but I bet he can paddle a boat, and that would be a considerable improvement over a Captain who has spent eight years shipping water, and whose final legacy will be a "bailout" for the wealthiest -- many of whom are not even American citizens, but rather foreign bankers.