Yesterday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Time Magazine editor-at-large and senior political analyst, Mark Halperin sought to make a comparison between Sarah Palin and Howard Dean. Commendably, the show’s co-hosts would have none of it. Mika Brzezinski said flatly that it was “not the same.” Joe Scarborough went even further:
Joe Scarborough: “It is such a disservice to compare Sarah Palin, in any aspect to Howard Dean. Yes, because that is an insult to Howard Dean’s intelligence.”
Fox Nation and other rightist webizens are aghast at Scarborough’s slap at Palin. But do you think they ever bothered to actually compare the two?
| Sarah Palin: | Howard Dean |
| Attended four universities before attaining a degree in journalism. | Earned a BA in political science at Yale and medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. |
| Miss Wassila and third runner up in the Miss Alaska pageant. | Stock broker on Wall Street. |
| Brief stint as a sportscaster for local Anchorage TV. | Practiced family medicine in Vermont. |
| Served two-terms as Mayor of Wassila, AK. | Elected to the Vermont House of Representatives and later, lieutenant governor. |
| Quit half way through her first term as Governor of Alaska. | Served six terms as Governor of Vermont. |
| Selected by John McCain as VP candidate. | Ran for the nomination of the Democratic Party for President. |
| Went Rogue. | Was elected to chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee. |
The similarities are mind-boggling. Scarborough was quite right to admonish Halperin for his simplistic and incorrect analysis. But the bigger issue here is how someone like Halperin can be accorded the respect and authority of an editor’s role at Time Magazine. Exactly how low are their standards?
Damn. That was one of the most brilliant smackdowns I’ve seen in a while. And your comparison list just cements it.