Chapter One: Why do silver linings have to have dark clouds around them?
To be a liberal blogger in the middle of one of the reddest states in America can be a little isolating at times, though things have definitely been easier since the 2008 election cycle.
We have a Democrat in the White House and Alaska even has one in the Senate for the first time in forty years. Yep I have been feeling much more secure expressing my liberal viewpoints lately and have even found many like minded people around my place of employment and in my neighborhood.
Except it seems that there are a TON of liberal women married to conservative men. I have often been stopped by female neighbors who say "I love your Obama sign. Psst don't tell my husband." What's that about?
I have actually been pondering writing a book called "The Conservative Alaskan Male, and the Much More Intelligent Progressive Women who Put Up with Them."
Do you think there is a market for that?
Now the reason I bring this topic up is that I had a visit from a co-worker, and neighbor who is now running for the Anchorage School Board. I met Jody Smith last year at one of my jobs and found her to be an intelligent and dedicated teacher. I have seen her probably a handful of times in the neighborhood and we always give each other a neighborly wave.
So when she brought a political sign with her and asked if I would be willing to place it in my yard, I said "sure". I mean why not?
However after talking for a few more minutes the fact that I was Gryphen from the Immoral Minority came up. She was not only familiar with my site she was also a fan.
See how smart progressive women are?
So of course I felt very relaxed and we started talking about local politics and I offered to write a little post to promote her candidacy. I mean why not?
Now remember how I started this post referring to progressive women who are married to conservative men? Yeah well this time I had run into the Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger of Alaskan politics.
Jody is not just married to a conservative male, she is married to Sarah Palin's old campaign spokesman. Seriously, are you kidding me?
No she was not.
Her husband's name is Curtis Smith and he was Palin's public relations person before Meg Stapleton and Bill McAllister were seduced away from KTUU by Governor Sarah's hypnotic winking.
Say it with me boys and girls, OH SHIT!
Well that kind of changes everything now doesn't it? Do I really want to help a person who can be married a Palin-bot? But then again am I being fair? And what was the fair thing to do here?
I had to meet this guy. I mean why not?
Yeah I can hear your gasp from here. "What? You are actually going to talk face to face with the enemy?" Well yes it seemed like the right thing to do.
I suggested to Mrs Smith (I can't really call her Jody now that I know she consorts with the devil now can I ?) that she, and I, and her husband, meet and give me the chance to ask him some questions that I have about his current connection to Sarah Palin and his feelings about her now that he is no longer working for her.
To be honest I figured he would simply refuse.
He didn't. As a matter of fact he seemed to really want his wife to be interviewed by me WTF?
So we arranged for them to both come over to my house. You heard me right, my house. My little liberal oasis in the vast sea of red. The gathering place for liberal bloggers and progressive thinkers. My sanctum santorum. Perhaps I should arrange for a Shaman to come by afterward and drive out the demons. What do you think?
Oh well anyhow this should be interesting.
To be continued.....
(In the meantime, for those who simply hate to wait, visit Jody Smith's website and learn about her positions and what she will bring to the Anchorage School Board. And oh that guy in the pictures with her? Yep that's him.)
And watch for Chapter two: The fortress is breached.
By the way to discourage any rumors of "babygate" revelations I will tell you that the topic was not discussed.
ReplyDeleteI did not get quite THAT interesting.
Two thoughts (theories) on the upcoming meeting:
ReplyDelete1. You will be pleasantly surprised by Mr. Smith's revelations and feelings about the Gov.
2. You will be asked to agree to limit publishing these findings and revelations.
Rightfully so, if this happens.
Gov. is still in power, Mrs. Smith is running for school board - and this couple does not need enemies at the top (Sarah, Todd, and Chuck).
"...a book called "The Conservative Alaskan Male, and the Much More Intelligent Progressive Women who Put Up with Them."
ReplyDeleteDo you think there is a market for that?"
honey, if you wrote a book about why intelligent women put up with stupid men you'll be on the NY Times bestseller list for a LOOOONG time!
What Linda-Sama said.
ReplyDeleteAlso, too, isn't the male population of Alaska significantly higher than the female population? You'd think the dating pool would be wider for these smart progressive women. Maybe they just tend to grow more smart and progressive after they marry the conservative Alaskan men.
Buy it, heck, I'd have to, since I'd be about me!
ReplyDeleteWell, I certainly cannot wait to read Chapter Two. How interesting is this...
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way Gryphen, I am extremely proud of you for carefully considering the "other sides' view". Remember how proud we were of President Obama and his remark of wanting to get the facts straight before commenting, well that's exactly the line of thought you are following.
And as for writing a book on intelligent women and their not-too-bright husbands, ladies not all liberal men are a catch either - mine certainly was not - that's why he went back to Britain and I am still in Southern California!!
Hey! Celtic Diva is now reporting that the Sarah Palin "Arctic Cat" photos have been taken down from the official AK website. Admission of guilt??? Attorneys involved???
ReplyDeleteYes, and even from a man's POV, there are many intelligent women married to stupid men. But also consider that there are many intelligent men married to stupid women. Unfortunately, the intelligent woman who married a stupid man is probably not intelligent after all because if she was intelligent she wouldn't have married the fool. And vice versa of course. But I will say that there are most likely more intelligent women married to stupid men than the other way around. Simply because I think women will keep their mouths shut more readily than a man will in order to preserve a relationship. For that reason there is a very good reason to write a book on the subject Gryphen, because it could encourage women to step up to the plate. Probably cause a few more divorces but I view that as necessary growing pains we have to suffer. I guess I'm fortunate to not have that kind of relationship.
ReplyDeleteSomething for the PD bloggers:
It started out as a good site and it still has some redeeming qualities but on reading there every day I find that it is now swamped and overrun with Palinista vermin. In fact it's getting so bad that it's almost come to be serving Palin's interests more than combatting Palin's evil. These Palinistas need to be ferreted out and whacked with a stick but my suggestion of doing something of that nature left me in disfavor with Morgan and caused me to stop posting there. So I need to get the message across to the PD'ers this way. Also remember that Thomas of PD2 infamy has openly proclaimed that she/he/it is posting on PD under several aliases now. Somebody from PD needs to get this message to Morgan because I won't talk to her anymore. Or not, whatever. It's what I consider helpful advice.
Gryph...the odds are good and the goods are odd. Curtis is a nice guy. You'll have a good time...really. And I know plenty of men who married women who were mean and not too clever...but HOT. The same seem to vote the same way.
ReplyDeleteThinking about the liberal women vs.conservative men concept-- I think that commentators like Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh have a much bigger following among men than women. There was some kind of poll recently which found that women were simply not attracted to Rush, in fact, he had quite the opposite effect on them. Women (I'm speaking generally here) are turned off the posturing and bullying, for example, a producer from the O'Reilly show literally stalked a female blogger and intimidated her-- this kind of stuff really scares women.
ReplyDeleteWhat this probably may mean is that women carry an internal kind of sensitivity that doesn't respond to being bullied and stalked. Not so much so with men, it must be that "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" thing.
O'Reilly's total lack of sensitivity was displayed recently when he blamed the rape victim for being raped.
So the next personality to consider is the conservative female we see on TV, such as Ann Coulter or Laura Ingrahm. In order to attract a following (I'm thinking more men than women) they resort to the same nasty kind of name calling. In men it looks like bullying; in women it's called being bitchy. Laura did not criticize Meghan McCain for what she was writing in her blog, she commented on Meghan being plus-sized. I don't have to spell out all of the nasty stuff that comes out of Ann Coulter's mouth.
Are women attracted to this kind of woman (no, I don't mean sexually, I mean, do they respond to them as someone they like). In my case, and other women may agree, it reminds us of the Nasty Girls we went to High School with, the ones whispering snide remarks behind someone's back. I think that women understood Sarah Palin for exactly what she was long before men got it-- it was Katy Couric who knew how to get to her; Sarah just winked and asked, "In what respect, Charlie?"
So, how does that make women tend to be more liberal? I think that women have an innate sensitivity-- (it goes with the mothering-thing), women would rather find a way to work it out where men were told to 'tough it out' or 'fight like a man.' Women respond to issues that involve caring, and men have that ancient cave man image to protect. It is only this recent generation that welcomed men into the delivery room or into their role as hands-on-father. And to generalize, I think more-so in blue states, not so much in red states.
The generally liberal issues are about caring: education, health care, equal rights for all people, the right for a woman to make her own reproductive choices, social issues. One has to wonder if a female leader would lead her country into war as quickly as a male leader would. (OK, there was Queen Elizabeth I, but let's stick to present times).
I think Gryphen raises an interesting question for discussion. It would be interesting for example, to see the voter breakdown by gender in both parties. (I bet Nate Silver at 538 has that kind of info). And, to be fair, there are many liberal (progressive) men who would resent being called "sensitive." There are likely more macho words to describe the same kind of enlightened, informed, reasoned thinking that means they don't respond first with their gut and their fists. To make the point about different kinds of men, for the last eight years all we heard was the inarticulate defensive posturing of someone who was clearly out of his league vs. the intelligent, articulate responses we heard last night, given by someone who had studied, analyzed and understood the situation.
So the short answer (after this very long response) is: yes, dear Gryphen, please write the book-- "Men are from Mars....." was a best seller, and in this economy, you're lucky to have found a sure-fire winner!
(My word verification is "consider" and it's appropriate since you asked us to consider the age-old question, men vs.women).
What Ella said, at the top.
ReplyDeleteI think this will be a very interesting meeting for you, but you may not be able to post much about it.
And I wouldn't blame you. The s'nilaP are a vindictive bunch, and their fans can get pretty nasty.
Of course, they consider themselves "christian".
Don G, FWIW, I agree w/you re: PD. My posts complaining about giving so much bandwidth to the opposition in the comments went unheeded as well and I've given up reading there, too. But I wish all the PDers well in their pursuits!
ReplyDeleteHey, Don't be picking on PD. Free and open thought is much better than censored bullcrap. Don, you're just annoyed that your "warnings" are not being taken seriously. Leave PD alone its a good blog.
ReplyDeleteBoy am I lucky. My husband and I share the same political views. A little boring I suppose, but sane.
ReplyDeleteWe both are intolerant of right-wing Republicans. And stupid women who think they're smarter than what they really are: GINO.
Anonymous said..."Hey! Celtic Diva is now reporting that the Sarah Palin "Arctic Cat" photos have been taken down from the official AK website. Admission of guilt??? Attorneys involved??"
ReplyDeletePerhaps the link I put on HuffPo to that picture had something to do with it.... (oops!)
Oh, well, by now the picture is everywhere ELSE -- on Diana's Flickr photostream, etc.
(ha, ha, my word verif is "warma")
Don G said..."Also remember that Thomas of PD2 infamy has openly proclaimed that she/he/it is posting on PD under several aliases now. Somebody from PD needs to get this message to Morgan because I won't talk to her anymore. Or not, whatever. It's what I consider helpful advice."
ReplyDeleteI e-mailed Audrey about that very thing not long after yellowgirl put up the Digg page. I never got a response. C'est la vie.
Oh Gross... Glenn Beck and that blonde twit are discussing the ethics complaints.
ReplyDeleteSaying how scared we are of her, how popular she is...yada yada.
Anon@1:28. Glenn Beck is a laugh riot; I hope Maet HaraSers continue using that "scared of Sarah" Halloween meme, as it is easily disproved.
ReplyDeleteIf we were scared of Palin ("Sarah says "Boo!"), Alaskans wouldn't file complaints against her, nor would there be a plethora of blogs and Op-Eds openly against her. If we were scared of Palin, we would be too afraid to openly oppose her. I, personally, have signed petitions and openly donated $$ to quite a few anti-Palin remedies. And there are millions like me.
It is when opposition is "underground" ONLY that fear can be considered. As far as I know, the USA is still a somewhat open society, not a dictatorship.
Glenn Beck has the brain of a pea.
DonG-
ReplyDeleteThe PD website is a dead dog, me thinks, at least for now. It was a valiant effort to uncover the truth in babygate but alas, I seems to have run out of steam, and with good cause. Babygate is buried so deep that it will take many years before the truth, if there is any other truth than what has been stated by the Palin family, comes to light.
Meanwhile, there are many MORE damaging ethics complaints to focus on regarding Palin's abuse of power and lack of good judgement.
PD was always sort of like a soap opera; we all watched but felt kind of guilty because of it.
As far as the other ethics challenges go, we need to stay on top of this as it's not too farfetched to imagine Rove and his minions working hard enough to get SP into the Oval Office in 2012 or 2016 if we do not diligently pursue the truth. If Obama stumbles even once they will see an "open door" and try even harder to push their "Bush in a dress" thru that door so that they again can rule our country. We can't let that happen, and continuing to spend our energy researching the pregnancy scandals is probably not the best use of our resources in our campaign to make certain that the Rovians do not have another shot at the White House with SP.
Ok, let me have it folks, but some of you agree, I'm sure, as I see you more now on the 'flats and here and diva's blue.
I for one could not be married to a conservative caveman. My husband was raised in a traditional two parent household with progressive values very much like my own. We were both taught the value of education, health care, diversity, and helping those who are less fortunate, even though our ethnic backgrounds are entirely different. I remember coming home one time from Catholic school, and presenting my mother with a petition to sign for a proposed tuition tax credit. My mother refused to sign it because she said she chose to send her kids to private school and could afford it, and would not want tax dollars taken away from those who could not. This is something that has stayed with me all these years.
ReplyDeleteI have always wondered about the Mary Matalin/James Carville marraige and how that has worked for so long...
Don and AK Pet mom...I agree about PD blog...it has stagnated to put it mildly, and Audrey either needs to go all in and hire an investigator or bow out gracefully. It's a waste of brain cells.
ReplyDeleteAK Pet Mom , FW and Don, I appreciate your thoughts on PD and I too have found it stale but not due to Audrey's posts, but some of the posters. The info comes as it will, now I think everyone is just waiting/ looking for for the big break or to have MSM finally address this. I agree way to much bandwidth for some of those posts, I measured several 1500+ words to just rework the same thoughts, over and over and to throw red herrings. That said I think you still have to have a free and open forum for all. Limiting the length of posts for all would help. Sarah's friends limit free speech and access on their sites which tears down any respectability and integrity.
ReplyDeleteYa'll are all welcome to come and comment in peace on nailinpalinnow...Out of almost 250 votes in my poll to recall Palin, only 7 are a firm no! (5 not sure) In fact I need your comments to know how I'm doing! (bloggers can be needy you know)
ReplyDeleteGryphen, this as usual is an interesting state of affairs and I look forward to your next installment, but I gotta say, and I know you are just kidding for effect, that I think it should be normal and natural to speak with "the other side" and have each other over for a beer or glass of absinthe or tea. We are not supposed to hate each other! I wanted to ask you if we could be in email contact, as I need an opinion that matters like yours on what I'm doing - Could you email me at nailinpalinnow@gmail.com sometime pretty please? I couldn't find an email on your site. As for "The Conservative Alaskan Male, and the Much More Intelligent Progressive Women who Put Up with Them" while I think this is funny, I think you've got a great idea and should go bigger with "The Conservative Male and the Liberal Women Who Love Them" I think you could really sell that idea..and you could still use all the case studies of the Alaskans you've seen, but it would have a much wider appeal! Just my 2cents but actually costs nothing! lol
anon wrote: [quote]Hey, Don't be picking on PD. Free and open thought is much better than censored bullcrap. Don, you're just annoyed that your "warnings" are not being taken seriously. Leave PD alone its a good blog.[/quote]
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, I know the quote function doesn't work here but it serves a good purpose. Anon, I'm not worried about my suggestions or warnings not being heeded. My only interest is in PD serving our mutual purpose and that's to get Palin nailed to a wall. It should be obvious from the helpful comments I make to the PD bloggers that my interest is sincere. And I just have to repeat, the Palinistas even today so far are outnumbering the good people.
Also consider one more thing: Thomas or Thomasina or BlueTex or WhiteDog or whoever the hell else she is these days has a method with at least one or two of her personifications of being down on Sarah and pretending that she wants to see Sarah brought down but at the same time protecting Bristol. I fear that all those who don't agree that Bristol is momma x2 can be traced back to Thomas at PD2. But it's not consistent with all her personifications and that tells me that wanting to bring down Sarah is nothing but a clever ruse to cover her tracks. You PD'ers need to be vigilant in the extreme IMO.
AKPetMom and Kajo, you are two of the few, along with Diana of course who I would trust completely at PD. More interest and vigilance on my part too would uncover a few more trustworthy for sure people but for the most part, there are just too many Palinistas. I suspect that teamsarah has an active campaign on to enlist posters to go to that blog. Along with upsetting other blogs too.
ReplyDeleteDon, not to pile on, but I agree with you re: too many Palinistas at PD. It is a turn-off. (To be clear, I am Anon@12.14, too--so this is not a new voice chiming in here.) They definitely infiltrated the blog.
ReplyDeleteWhat I used to wonder was: Why? What was it they were trying to cover up so vigorously?
And then I got to the point of realizing that maybe it is kind of the PD crew to keep all those posers so busy posting, because then the SPers will get behind on launching their great "Sarah! 2012" campaign. And I have to say, it does look like the SPers are very behind in whatever they are trying to pull off, because it is still totally amateur hour for SarahPAC!
I actually am kind of baffled by the PD posters talking about Palinista types ruining their blog experience. That wasn't it for me, more just lack of any new facts have driven me away. Who were the palinbots? I guess Craig always gets the commenters goats but other than him everyone else seems on board. There was that BlueTx person that Morgan gave a talking to and then that person deleted all of his/her posts and didn't post under that name any longer.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that at this moment in time the PD page is inhabited by folks on a mission to expose the truth but only doing it by beating the same dead points over and over again and posting timelines that are sometimes accurate and sometimes not.
That's how I see the PD now, not inhabited by palinistas, but inhabited by hopefuls that are trying their best to find something but are getting nowhere.
AKPetMom,
ReplyDeleteTruthPatrol, WhiteDog, Thomas, Thomasina, BlueTex, and most likely Dangerous are all one person. And because I haven't paid all that much attention lately there are probably a couple more over at PD who are the same. This is one twisted person with a very definite mission to accomplish.
Gryphen: write the next installment, and the book, too! I'd find a way to buy it, broke as I am!
ReplyDeleteDon G and others: I still pop in and read at PD, but I just don't have enough free time to read all the comments, specially the really long-winded ones.
There's simply not enough hours in the day for me right now.
Gryphen, if you're going to write "The Conservative Alaskan Male, and the Much More Intelligent Progressive Women who Put Up with Them" you will be expected to know WHY clever women marry Republican men and how they can prevent it. Do you know this stuff? haha, I bet you don't.
ReplyDeleteAs for marriage, I don't think there is anything more important to any relationship - marriage or friendship - than shared values, and I certainly couldn't have that married to a Republican.
To DonG,
ReplyDeleteI have followed PD since the inception and I also felt that there were multiple personalties as they say. I always wondered about Dangerous and went back and forth in my mind about that one. While she/he was all about Willow being the mother of Trig, she didn't seem to throw too many red herrings as what the bots tend to eventually do (other than the willow thing) Maybe that's the main persona. Hmm
I don't believe Dangerous is one of those palinistas. I've seen the Palins Deceptions 2 blog making a joke about Palins Deceptions, and Dangerous just doesn't fit with that person IMO. I know he has his own ideas, but I think we should be careful before accusing people. I also think Audrey knows whats up and whos who, and I trust her moderating judgement.
ReplyDeleteI have no intention of being careful about anything. Morality and being a nice guy has no place when you are battling liars and frauds who pretend to be more than one person. There's too much at stake. Simply put, Bristol is the momma x2 because that is supported by the evidence. Anyone who tries to say she isn't is a damn liar or damn stupid. I think the reason why PD is not getting anywhere is because they don't understand that well enough. That doesn't mean that the atmosphere over at PD has to change at all. It just means that they need to use all the weapons they have available to them. The Palinistas do.
ReplyDeleteHey Don,
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you put your time where your mouth is, and stop using this blog to criticize PD, and start your own. Instead of wasting space here with your PD complaints, make your own space. Its not fair to this blog.
Hey Anon @10:41 a.m., censorial much?
ReplyDeleteNo its not censorial. No one is stopping him. I can give an opinion as well. This blog isn't called the Bitch about PD blog, if you get my point.
ReplyDeleteAnon@11:05 a.m. Cranky much?
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'll start my own blog right now thank you.
ReplyDeleteHey anon who defends PD, how many people over there now who are with Dangerous and his idea that Willow is Trigger's mommy? You see, the reason why I ask is because Dangerous has been shown conclusively that Willow can't be his mother yet Dangerous still persists. So knowing that anybody in their right mind must know that Willow isn't the mommy, it's pretty obvious that there are Palinista's feeding off of Dangerous. Make sense to you? You let someone like Dangerous carry on with the nonsense and soon you have Palinistas with Dangerous and the good people such as Diana are outnumbered. You see, that's why I worry about the PD blog. Not that I want to bring it down, only that if it isn't straightened out soon then it should be brought down. Sadly it may be too late.
Hey folks can we shut down this unnecessary pissing contest please?
ReplyDeleteThis post really did not have anything to do with Palin's Deceptions and I would like to have my blog back please. Before I have to start deleting comments.
Thank you.
Gryphen, the main reason people are here at your blog is because of Sarah Palin. So I would advise you to not fuck with people who want to talk about PD. In any case, if you alienate a person by deleting their posts then that person can make life miserable for you blog. Ya know, other email accounts and hidemyass.com.
ReplyDeleteBut that's not my schtick Gryphen so all you'll need to do in the future is tell those who want to attack me to cool their jets a little.
Hey Don G,
ReplyDeleteI don't need a lecture from you as to why people come to my blog. But remember it is MY blog and that means, that though I don't mind people going off topic occasionally, I do want the visitors to comment on my posts and not their issues with other blogs.
If you think that is too much to ask then you are welcome to take IM out of you bookmarks and refuse to visit here anymore.
And by the way if you want to be taken seriously and not as a troll then perhaps threatening the host should be avoided.
Gryphen,
ReplyDeleteI personally apologize for adding to the PD feeding frenzy here....I just got caught up in the moment because nothing is happening over there.
So much IS happening on your blog and Prog Alaska, Flats, Halcro and Diva that the whole preggers thing really should take a back seat at this point. When I was really into the whole pregger scandal saner minds always said to me "what would it really matter, which ever way it happened to go?" And I agree now.
I think that you ended up getting a few of more PD people here based on the maybe Bristol preggers photos from a week or so ago.
No big deal, it's just that there are some strange things that don't add up regarding the Trig/Tripp thing, but there really are more important things that you and others are writing about.
Keep up the good work and I'll try my best not to "feed the trolls"
Hush Don... The grownups are talking.
ReplyDeleteHey DonG, don't attack me here as well! If your DonG was worthy I might consider "eating you" (based on your WV!) My husband would take photos, if your DonG is worthy of a photo op, that is!
ReplyDeleteHa, Ha, Ha, my Word Verification is
"bibille"
No kidding, I can't believe it and anyone would find that funny if they went over to my blog and looked at my post of the day!
Holy shit, there really might be a higher power.....
the word verification at this moment is "later" so peace out everyone. Thanks Gryphen for doing what you do and let's all stay on Palin for her political ethics violations and stop feeding trolls with any preggers stuff.
ReplyDelete