WaPo's Cohen: Sarah Palin is a Conspiracist -- Because She Takes Media Opposition At Face Value

Center-Left Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen served up a fact-challenged, stereotype-heavy Palin flogging on election day, faulting her for everything from considering a presidential run, to calling out the media. He was apparently following the old adage: hate early, hate often.

John McCain's little joke is turning out not to be so funny. ... A Palin presidential candidacy ... would give the GOP establishment a near-fatal case of hives. [After her Halloween Fox News Sunday appearance] all over the nation, a fair number of Republicans reached for the antacid. Oy!

What was Palin's principle crime? Calling Alaskan KTVA reporters "corrupt bastards." Cohen suggests that she is too "stupid" to realize the media in this case were not really conspiring against her or Joe Miller -- even though that's what their actual words suggested. Instead, they were just convincingly pretending to conspire against her and Joe Miller for giggles and grins -- and to prove how paranoid Palin is or something.

With no evidence other than apparently his own high opinion of himself, Cohen calls Palin a demagogue and a conspiracist for taking this obvious example of biased reporting "too" seriously. Somebody better tell the station managers who didn't get the joke either.

Frankly, Cohen should have recognized that Palin was just taking the opposition at their word when they showed their true colors, which is the trait of a good commander-in-chief, don't you think? Can you imagine if President Obama didn't take a nuclear-armed Ahmadineajad seriously? Oh wait.

Cohen himself bucked many of his fellow social lefties to support Pres. Bush's Iraq War, obstensibly a war to stop a gathering threat. Bush, Cheney, Powell (and Cohen, too) took the enemy at face value. Sadam Hussein openly bragged of WMDs. And he had a menacing history of using chemical weapons and attacking his neighbors. Sometimes, you just can't give your enemies the benefit of the doubt, as Cohen later admitted when he said that though he now regrets supporting the war he was "right to be wrong."

So when Sarah Palin takes the statements of reporters seriously when their own words show them to be "corrupt bastards" -- Cohen might show a little understanding. Afterall, a corrupt media is a "weapon of mass deception" that threatens our democracy at its core.

Instead, Cohen calls Palin an "Evita" -- as if it's the ultimate insult to be compared to Eva Peron, the late Argentine political icon known for her passion and combativeness, and for inspiring a nation. (Maybe someone should also point out that Peron was a feminist hero to the working-class. I thought Palin was a shill for Big Oil or something. It's so hard to keep the stereotypes straight.)

Eva Peron, the so-called "Palin of the South"

Cohen says Palin completely misunderstood the KTVA incident. It was a joke to which she over-reacted by calling the media "corrupt bastards":

This demure protest from the Evita of the North was a response to a tape in which the station's staffers were overheard saying they would look for a child molester at a campaign stop for senatorial candidate ...

But hold on. How do you find a sex offender in a crowd? Do you go from person to person asking, "S'cuse me, but are you a sex offender?" Because if that is not done, then I can't see how you can ever find one. Do sex offenders wear special uniforms? No. It's obvious then that these staffers were joking - playing into the Palin stereotype of them as liberal hacks who would do anything to destroy her. This is what she believes and she recited the story with such obvious conviction that when she ended with the "corrupt bastards" tag, it seemed downright appropriate.

The fierce stupidity of this woman is hard to comprehend. ...

No, actually Palin is smarter than you, Mr. Cohen. Because unlike you, she actually -- apparently -- read the full transcript of the tape.

MALE REPORTER: Oh yes...Joe Miller’s...uh...get a list of people/campaign workers which one's the molester

They were talking about getting a list if Miller's campaign workers. Once you have a list of names, you can determine if someone is a registered sex offender. Sorry, Mr. Cohen. Your entire premise is based on a flawed understanding of the facts. You lose.

Finally, Cohen just doesn't get it. Even if he had the facts on his side, he would not be offering us a credible take on the "Miller affair," because he's missing the larger picture. We have already exhaustively documented the Palin Rules and the Journolister scandal, where ... no, "we're" not making this up: journalists actually have conspired to stir up controversy about Sarah Palin, and aid Barack Obama. That's called media bias, Mr. Cohen.

The media conspiracy is not imaginary, Mr. Cohen. In fact, your hackneyed column is but another example. You malign Gov. Palin as a "joke" and call her "stupid" and a "demagogue." This reveals a little more about you than her. Afterall, unlike you, Palin was never accused of sexually harrassing an attractive co-worker of the opposite sex. I guess you like pretty women to be seen, not heard, huh, while they fetch your laundry? Anything beyond that is not "demure" enough for you, I suppose.

Here's my email to Cohen challenging him on his sexist rant against Palin:

Mr. Cohen:

No matter what anyone says, I believe you're more than qualified to judge Sarah Palin. Even though you were never a popular governor of an energy-rich state, a vice presdential candidate for a major party, a city manager, an oil & gas regulator, or a mother-of-five, you're still the tops in my book.

True, you've never led a national revolution leading to historic gains in a midterm election either, but I'm not gonna hold that against you. Likewise, you didn't usher in sweeping ethics reform in your state, balance three budgets, or negotiate a $40 billion natural gas pipeline. But c'mon, that stuff is small potatoes -- you've got those Pulitizer prizes, after all.

And perhaps more importantly, while you certainly do not have ovaries, you have shown the cojones to ogle a female underling. That more than makes you qualified to pass judgment on a woman's "ass - ets" for career advancement. And as it relates to your current piece, metaphorically speaking, you have looked Palin over, asked her to "stand up and turn around," and now you're gonna give her the "silent treatment" no doubt.

But most of all ... I want to applaud you for your intellectual bravery in standing up to all-powerful Sarah Palin, a woman who holds no official title and has "no chance" of knocking out the "non-ideological and highly popular" President Obama. We have seen so few columnists anywhere daring to criticize the Mama Grizzly. There has actually been a dearth of criticism of conservative females all around. Never have we seen columns denigrating Sarah Palin as stupid, as you have fearlessly done here. Another Pulitizer perhaps? Do they give out rings? One more for the pinky finger?

So, bravo Mr. Cohen. You're one hulking stud of a man. And might I add in conclusion: thanks for sharing some of your erudite fanciness with us all. The fact is we're just too stupid to be that misogynistic yet. We're hoping to get some help there.