Palin Ain't the Future of Conservatism

While I'm on the topic, I'd like to address the ongoing adoration in some circles for Sarah Palin. I like Sarah Palin, and I think that politically, she was the best that the DOA McCain campaign could hope for. She could not carry the ticket for him, though, and she is not the future of conservatism. She is a excellent voice to have as part of the leadership, but she isn't a realistic candidate for the presidency. The public gave her type a chance in 2000 and 2004. They aren't going to give that type of candidate a chance again for a while.

By all means, be supportive of Governor Palin. But if you are excited about Palin's prospects in 2012, you really are wasting your time. The ass kicking that the right has faced will continue unabated unless we all take a good, hard look at reality, and reality does not include Palin as a viable presidential candidate.

In re Andrew Sullivan's Obsession with the Palin Pregnancy

Andrew Sullivan is still obsessed with Sarah Palin's pregnancy with Trig. In a recent post, he presents a straight-on photo of Palin as evidence that she was not showing nearly as much as she should have been. This is the photo:















Sullivan is obviously a man who believes all photos are truth. Unfortunately, a good photographer will tell you that a photo shows you what the photographer wants you to see, and often times, a photographer wants you to see their subjects in the best light possible. I have not seen the EXIF data on this photo, but if I had to guess, I'd say the photographer took the picture with a longer lens or focal length, at some distance. The benefit of photographing people at a longer focal length is it tends to flatten features, unlike a wide angle lens which exacerbates features.

Now, I again say that I haven't seen the EXIF data on this photo, but I'm making an educated guess that this is what this photographer did. Their (Palin and the child) features seem to be flattened to me. Also, if you look at Palin in her abdominal and groin area, the fabric of her clothes do not lay in the way that they do in photos of her from the presidential campaign. There appears to be a 'paunch' in her abdominal area that isn't there in any of her images from the second half of this year. Also, the fabric in her lower abdominal/groin area is not laying in the way you would expect from the relatively lean Palin we came to know in the presidential campaign.

Amateur analysis of photographs is at high risk of error. There is a reason that your photos rarely look the way that a pro's do, and it isn't just Photoshop. The fact is that you can manipulate the way light focuses on your film or digital sensor. A pro would likely use a longer focal length in a portrait style shot in order to eliminate unattractive exaggerations of features. I'm guessing this shot wasn't done by a pro as the flash seems to be head on and is unattractive, but an amateur would also be able to accomplish this by standing a little further away with a point and shoot and then trying to accomplish in-camera cropping by zooming in. In either scenario, depth would be flattened, and in a head on shot of a pregnancy, depth is critical.

Update
Upon looking at the photo in greater detail, I think there are two additional aspects that reduce the depth of Palin's figure in this photograph. The first is her coat. Because it is 3/4 closed, it obscures any lines that would give us an indication of figure. Second, she seems to be slouching a bit. When you add in the flattening of a long focal length and the coat obscuring her lines, that slouch puts her face and upper body further forward, enhancing any flattening that may be occurring.

The McCain-Palin Courtship

This is pretty funny.

Great Speech By Sarah Palin

But I'm almost embarrassed to admit to what part relieved me the most. Can you guess just what that was?

Answer? No pants suit.

Future Lefty Political Attacks

Since the great 'Desperate Housewives political attack of 2008' on Sarah Palin has been snuffed out, I've decided to take a gander at some possible future attacks from those on the left with a very loose grasp on reality. Here are two attacks that I think very well may be forthcoming.

1. A double whammy strikes the Republican ticket. Sarah Palin has actually been possessed by demons, explaining how a woman could possibly be a Republican. At the top of the ticket, we find out that the man that returned from Vietnam isn't the real John McCain. Instead, we learn his real name is John Black when the real John McCain shows up. Interestingly, the real John McCain is a Kerry Democrat. (Days of Our Lives)

2. John McCain is really an alien from a another world who has hit his head so hard that he thinks that he is a U.S. Senator running for President. It is up to Al and Tipper Gore to bring back his memories so he remembers who he is and gives up on the U.S. Senator persona. (Alf)

3.

Palin to be a Grandmother

Guess what? Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter is five months pregnant:

John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin said Monday that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant, an announcement aimed at rebutting Internet rumors that Palin's youngest son, born in April, was actually her daughter's.

A statement released by the campaign said that Bristol Palin will keep her baby and marry the child's father. Bristol Palin is five months pregnant, and the baby is due in late December.

Makes that lefty, Depserate Housewives-esque smear look really stupid, doesn't it? Unfortunately for Bristol Palin, she's going to have to grow up in a hurry, because her teenage pregnancy will be the next thing the sewer dogs on the left will be attacking.

Update
Elliot makes an excellent point.