Can you believe it? Fred Barnes of the Weakly Standard was wrong about something besides Iraq, Katrina, civil liberties, deficits, warrantless wiretapping, the state of the Democratic Party, the state of the Republican party, and pretty much everything dealing with politics, and probably about lots of non-political things too.
Turns out, he was also wrong about Sarah Palin.
Let's rub his nose in it for a moment below the fold, shall we?
I was curious to see what the GOP's spin would be about Sarah Palin. After about 20 seconds of using teh Google on teh Internets n stuff, I came up with this gem from Fred Barnes, written waaay back in 2007:
The wipeout in the 2006 election left Republicans in such a state of dejection that they've overlooked the one shining victory in which a Republican star was born. The triumph came in Alaska where Sarah Palin, a politician of eye-popping integrity, was elected governor. emphasis added
Wow, that only took Barnes two sentences to be wrong, and he did so with such rhetorical flourish! Eye-popping integrity, huh Fred?
Okay, okay, some caveats in fairness blah blah blah.
By now I am sure most everybody in the community is aware of Palin's eye-popping investigation, and the behavior of her eye-popping colleagues. And of course, she had nothing to do with those politicans, so her hands are eye-poppingly clear from their shared guilt as well.
And granted, the investigation took place after Barnes wrote his article. But it sure does say something about Barnes' ability to determine who has just regular old integrity vs. the eye-popping kind. He must have looked into her eyes and read her soul.
Okay okay, one more thing. In all fairness, I guess we should give the GOP some credit. At least they found a conservative who is not an indicted or a convicted felon or a pedophile; good, clean Republicans are hard to find these days, and apparently Palin may be their only candidate with any kind of integrity, if not the eye-popping variety.
On another note, take a look at the Weakly Standard's cover photo. Is it just me, or does it seem like they had this illustration ready weeks ago? All they had to do was fill in the elephant's trunk with McCain's VP choice, change the pants to a dress, rhetorically ask "Is (s)he the One We've Been Waiting For?" and hope the spin overtakes reality.
They really are a sad bunch, aren't they? I'd almost feel sorry for them.