Governor Palin, A woman after my own heart

[Cufflink79]

Yesterday evening while tuning into the RNC in my hometown of St. Paul MN, Governor Palin made a remark about former President Harry Truman and how life can take you on an unexpected path.

She called him and farmer and haberdasher, I knew right away what she meant and was very proud of the use of that word haberdasher by her.

However, it seems not everyone knows what the term haberdasher means. I came across this article today while checking my e-mail. Have a look below.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

Hockey Moms, Luxury Jets, and More: Sarah Palin's Speech
by Molly McCall
September 4, 2008 09:37:07 AM

3,478 Votes
Last night, Sarah Palin stepped up to the microphone and let loose a rip-roaring speech that thrilled the Republican convention and (dare we say it) impressed the media. The Alaska governor also clearly excited watchers at home—a huge number of people seemed to leap for their laptops as soon as the talk ended. Here's a rundown of the parts of the speech that sparked the most buzz online.

Hockey Moms
Palin had special smiles for the conventioneers waving "Hockey Moms for Palin" signs. "I gotta love the hockey moms," the first-term governor said. "You know what they say about the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick."

And just like that, the mothers of stick-and-puck-playing kids made soccer moms seem so last decade. Lookups for "hockey moms" have been scoring goals all morning. But is the lipsticked Alaskan more "Power Play Hockey Mom" or "X-treme Hockey Mom"? Read up on the distinctions in this Baltimore Sun blog post and decide for yourself.

The eBay Jet
Palin talked about her cost-cutting measures as governor, saying "While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay."

Yes, searchers, it's true. She did, indeed, list the previous governor's Westwind II plane on the popular auction site—three times. But no buyer ever made the minimum bid. According to AskMen.com, she eventually sold the machine through a broker for a cool $2.1 mil, "at a loss of around half a million dollars."

Snow Machine Race
Palin spoke glowingly of her family, reserving special words for her husband of two decades, Todd Palin. "He's a lifelong commercial fisherman, a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska's North Slope, a proud member of the United Steel Workers' Union, and world champion snow machine racer," she boasted. That last detail set off a flurry of "snow machine race" queries. The contest in question is the Tesoro Iron Dog, "a grueling, 2,000-mile race over ice and snow." The "first dude" has won it a remarkable four times.

Haberdasher
Now here's one term making its Buzz debut. At one point during the evening, Palin referenced "a young farmer and haberdasher from Missouri" who "followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency." Haber-what? The term means "a dealer in men's clothing and accessories." And the man? Harry S. Truman.

Community Organizer
For all that Barack Obama has talked about his roots as a community organizer in Chicago, it was Palin who boosted the term sky high in Search last night. "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities," she quipped. The stinging barb brought out an equally sarcastic post from The Huffington Post ("Shorter RNC Convention Day Three: "Death to Community Organizers!"), while a blogger at The Dallas Morning News offered a quick description of what Obama actually did as a community organizer.

John McCain's Middle Name
Palin didn't say her running mate's middle name last night, but she and other speakers praised the virtues of "John S. McCain." The inclusion of the middle initial caused many people to turn to the Web for "john mccain's middle name." Answer: The "s" stands for "Sidney." Watch for more from John Sidney McCain tonight, as the Arizona senator closes the four-day convention with his acceptance of the Republican presidential nomination and, we're sure, a few buzzworthy phrases himself.

[pvpatty]

WHAT?!

Good God I hate journalists.

[le.gentleman]

After I followed the news about Sarah Palin very closely, saw her RNC speech and compared her views on http://ontheissues.org/Sarah_Palin.htm
I have to say that I am extremely disappointed about her views on several issues. E.g.

Abstinence only:
it obviously does not work. Ironically her 17yo daughter is pregnant now and I think it is good that the family supports her and I am also convinced that this is a challenge many families in the US experience. Nevertheless, just talking about the challenges is imho utterly besides the point since the US still has the highest number of teen pregnancies in the industrialized world. And abstinence only does not solve that problem. ( Statistically in 2006 out of 1000 15-19yo girls in the US 41,9 got pregnant. In Canada it's only 13,4 girls and in Germany 10,7) In order to decrease the number of teen pregnancies in the US considerably, there has to be some sex education at school.

Pro-Life:
She is against abortion even in case of rape. Imo this completely disrespects the victim's decisions what to do with her own body and therefore violates human rights. Of course, we also have to focus on the human right to live of the unborn child. So in case the mother wants an abortion, we have a situation of conflicting human rights and hence the human rights of the mother have to be weighed up against the human rights of the unborn child. In modern societies human dignity is considered to be the only human right that cannot step back. Because without dignity the human being is merely a subject and not a human being anymore. So, in case of a collision between human dignity and any let's say life - life has to step back. And therefore imo the mother should have the right to choose whether she wants an abortion or not. If that choice is denied,
the mother's dignity is reduced to nothing more than a birth-giving-machine (which is inhumane and therefore absolutely unacceptable).

Gay marriage:
While I can understand that some people want to preserve the word "marriage" for man and woman only, denying the right to gay couples to enjoy the same benefits as married couples do, is a profound discrimination of gender (which in my opinion is as bad as e.g. racial discrimination). And there is no logical explantion or justification for this discrimination.

I am also deeply concerned about her views on the environment (e.g. offshore drilling, global warming being not man-made), on her views on education (e.g. teaching creationism as well as evolution) and her views on gun control. But I don't have time right now to go more into detail about those issues.

Other than that, I don't even know her views on foreign policy or immigration.

To put it all in a nutshell - In 2008 US Rebublicans seem to me even more conservative than they were in 2000 and 2004. And this definitely scares me.

In regards to patriotism I also do not agree with her. I think the US is a great country with lots of things to be proud of! Values like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, Human Liberty, the American Dream, the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights etc. all that is associated with the US and I definitely think that's something every American should be proud of. However, there are also other things like Guantanamo which is not something one should be proud of. To me, being patriotic means being proud of all the good things my country accomplished and NOT being proud of per se everything my country accomplishes . So criticizing e.g. my government for a certain behavior is not necessarily unpatriotic. It can even be patriotic - especially when e.g. human rights are violated (like they are in Guantanamo). Because respecting human rights and human liberty is a fundamental value of the Bill of Rights.

[RWS]

. . . . the US still has the highest number of teen pregnancies in the industrialized world. And abstinence only does not solve that problem. ( Statistically in 2006 out of 1000 15-19yo girls in the US 41,9 got pregnant. In Canada it's only 13,4 girls and in Germany 10,7) In order to decrease the number of teen pregnancies in the US considerably, there has to be some sex education at school. . . .

To a fourteenth-generation American who largely grew up in Europe and England, this and similar observations are more than irksome, for they ignore one of the salient features of modern America: the actual population of the United States is very, very different from the populations of Canada, Germany, or other Western nations. Even the historical population of the United States included a large minority of African descent; now, the country has rapidly increasing minorities from Asia and Latin America. The ethnic homogeneity of Germany or France (even with massive influxes from Turkey or Algeria, the populations of these two countries is -- what? nine-tenths? -- largely German or French) is far different from the United States, where half the population is either immigrant or descended from very recent -- post-1900 -- immigrants.

There is no longer a general American culture; even the national language, English, is spoken poorly, if at all, by a plurality of the population. So, of course, adherence to formerly general cultural norms (bastardy in the United States in 1900 was below one percent of all live births) cannot be expected.

To bring the matter back to the subject of this forum, one need only observe how the formerly ubiquitous suit is fast disappearing from the backs of America's fast-changing men.

[storeynicholas]

RWS - I suspect that a modern American is about to advise you that you are a moaning reactionary. My advice, for what it is worth is to take it on the chin and hang on in there buster.
NJS

[rjman]

RWS - I suspect that a modern American is about to advise you that you are a moaning reactionary. My advice, for what it is worth is to take it on the chin and hang on in there buster.
NJS

No, but he's about to say that one of the most refreshing things about LL is the lack of politics. Can we keep it that way, gentlemen? If one wishes to participate in an Interchange about Current Events, there are some other fora I can recommend.

[RWS]

. . . one of the most refreshing things about LL is the lack of politics. Can we keep it that way, gentlemen? . . . .

Hear, hear!

It's an easy but specious inference to think that fellow appreciators of dressing well are fellow appreciators of older ways. As we've just seen, that isn't necessarily so. Let's stick with what we do all hold in common and leave the rest to -- the Retrocentrics' Club!

[storeynicholas]

RWS - I suspect that a modern American is about to advise you that you are a moaning reactionary. My advice, for what it is worth is to take it on the chin and hang on in there buster.
NJS

No, but he's about to say that one of the most refreshing things about LL is the lack of politics. Can we keep it that way, gentlemen? If one wishes to participate in an Interchange about Current Events, there are some other fora I can recommend.

Fair enough. I suppose that, being located in Freedom, you are not so blighted as the rest of us!
NJS

[Cufflink79]

. . . one of the most refreshing things about LL is the lack of politics. Can we keep it that way, gentlemen? . . . .

Hear, hear!

It's an easy but specious inference to think that fellow appreciators of dressing well are fellow appreciators of older ways. As we've just seen, that isn't necessarily so. Let's stick with what we do all hold in common and leave the rest to -- the Retrocentrics' Club!

Gentlemen:

I didn't mean to get anyone's blood boiling. A good debate is always fun, but in a form like this I merely ment to show that many people who heard the speech didn't know what a haberdasher was.

I sincerely apologize if I offended anyone, that wasn't my intent.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

[HappyStroller]

At least four years of the party that escalated the Vietnam War? The party with a president that did nothing while Osama was preparing for Holy War?

Yes, thank goodness the the Retrocentric Club. But is it for antics, or is it for tasteful and classical stuff of lesser vintage?

[Frog in Suit]

STOP !!!!

I, and I suspect others, frequent this forum for the enlightening, sometimes silly (I confess to doing more than my share in this direction...), but always courteous conversations about clothing and other pleasant things in life, those that distinguish us (let us hope) from the beasts in the fields. Some people are good enough to share the results of their research with us and we must be grateful to them for their disinterested efforts.

There is an election coming up in a certain country, a plurality of forumists being, I would hazard, citizens of that country. I note with dismay that some members here, from one side of that political divide, wish to argue points and defend positions which may not be shared by other participants, nay, which may be anathema to them, and which may not exert the same fascination for citizens of other nations, interested though they perforce may be in the consequences of that election. The “Dressing Room” forum is not the place for that. The London lounge in general is not the place for that. Expressing forcefully your opinion, any opinion, in the presence of others who, for all you know, may be mortally offended by it, is, simply, rude, unless and until you have tactfully determined that you will not offend by doing so.

I hope we can erase the above exchange and resume our wonted courteous exchanges. Forgive this rant but I think this forum deserves better.

Frog in Suit

[storeynicholas]

FiS - you have caused me to reflect that although, in my ranting (elsewhere in the LL), I don't blame specific political parties, nevertheless, my observations on the state of Britain aren't really in place in the LL and so I shall confine those, from now on, to the Spectator online magazine where one may, within reasonable limits, blow a gasket, without causing offence, because all who gather in that virtual space, gather for a polemical purpose - and it is accepted there too that one may remain qualified to prate and preach, having got away from it all. Moreover, the offer of a pint of Mild (if we can find it) to Sartorius, is a real offer, to be made good in due course. Anyone else who feels that they would like to try one too is welcome to let me know. And there will be no toast. But I do apologise (not for my views) but for bringing them into the LL and, so to speak, causing the clattering of dropped monocles in the very best of virtual clubs.
NJS

[Frog in Suit]

FiS - you have caused me to reflect that although, in my ranting (elsewhere in the LL), I don't blame specific political parties, nevertheless, my observations on the state of Britain aren't really in place in the LL and so I shall confine those, from now on, to the Spectator online magazine where one may, within reasonable limits, blow a gasket, without causing offence, because all who gather in that virtual space, gather for a polemical purpose - and it is accepted there too that one may remain qualified to prate and preach, having got away from it all. Moreover, the offer of a pint of Mild (if we can find it) to Sartorius, is a real offer, to be made good in due course. Anyone else who feels that they would like to try one too is welcome to let me know. And there will be no toast. But I do apologise (not for my views) but for bringing them into the LL and, so to speak, causing the clattering of dropped monocles in the very best of virtual clubs.
NJS

Dear NJS,
Please believe that my outburst was not directed at you. I am sorry if I gave that impresion. There is certainly no need for you to apologize.

Your ranting, as you call it, is never obnoxious, even if I do not always agree with what you say, because it is leavened with humour and because you always allow for others having different views without renouncing your own. I hope to do the same. One reason I avoid political (in the narrow sense) controversy is that I am not sure I can remain calm and unruffled as I also hold strong views.

On a happier note, I hope we shall be able to have a pint together one of these days; I do manage to visit London fairly often. And I am sure we can find a toast we all agree with!

With kind regards,

Frog in Suit

[storeynicholas]

Dear Frog in Suit,
Don't worry - I didn't get that impression - you liked the satire of Steve and Mel for one thing - but you just made me reflect, that's all. To avoid 'the state of society / the nation' is a wise position because, whatever else I might be, 'cool', whether in the old or the new sense, is not it! And it is easy to over-step the mark. There's plenty to talk about. I look forward to this pint too - don't Loungers sometimes meet at the Guinea - just looked it up and I am sure that there or somewhere else we will raise a glass or too in the near future and make an appropriate toast as well!
best,
NJS

[le.gentleman]

Dear FiS,

First of all, I do agree with you that the dressing room is not the place to discuss politics. Moreover, I did not intend to offend anybody here and hence accomplished to use terms like "imho" or "imo" in order to underline that it was just my opinion. In case anybody was offended by my words, I apologize for that - it was not my intention.

However, in my mind it is not rude to express one's opinions forcefully among others even if they disagree completely, as long as one does not attack others personally and the opinions are factually justified and supported by arguments. To me, this is especially true for a forum, which, by definition is a place for open discussion.
The LL is not a forum for politics though and so my reaction to cufflink79's post was unfortunate.

But other than that, I'd be interested in political discussions, especially about American politics were people don't just proclaim their views but also support them with facts and arguments - can anybody recommend a forum for that kind of discussion? Thanks in advance!