The Wall Street Journal is an international newspaper, published in New York, with Asian and European editions. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in America, with a readership of 2.1 million. http://nytimes.com/2009/10/27/vuainwaa/mwsi/27/AUDIT.HTML. Studies have shown that while the Journal seems to have a liberal bias in its reporting of news, the editorial portion of the paper has a history of featuring conservative points of view. (Groseclose and Milyo, A Measure of Media Bias). On March 29, 2010, the Wall Street Journal published the opinion of Norman Podhoretz; entitled In Defense of Sarah Palin http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703909804575123773804984924.html Before considering the merits of the article, which are sorely lacking, let’s first consider Norman Podhoretz.

Mr. Podhoretz is a senior citizen. At 80 years old, he is already older than John McCain. I have nothing against senior citizens, but many have been known to be out of step with modern thought. However, forget his age; let’s consider some of the positions taken by Podhoretz in the past.

He favors “tough interrogation” techniques, such as those used by the Bush administration, and defends the actions of soldiers at Abu Ghraib. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiphADB5aSI

He believes waging war against Iraq was a good thing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_am6gVBSJb0

Even more frightening is his current position that the United States should bomb Iran. http://www.opinionjournal.com/federation/feature/?id=110010139; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bLq6pzOc5w

Some have even suggested that Norman Podhoretz hates America. “Why Does Norman Podhoretz Hate America?” http://www.antiwar.com/scheuer/?articleid=11670

Given the controversial nature of Podhoretz, why would the Wall Street Journal publish his editorial? Why would Podhoretz defend Sarah Palin? Perhaps the real reason Podhoretz defends Palin is that they share the same vision for the future of Iran. http://www.danielpipes.org/7940/sarah-palin-endorses-bomb-iran.

Podhoretz is clever enough to justify his defense of Palin by comparing her to Ronald Reagan. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703909804575123773804984924.html. It seems that Podhoretz has fallen victim to Palin’s efforts to characterize herself as the next Ronald Reagan.

In her Tea Party speech, Palin made reference to Reagan at least five different times, as if we didn’t get her point the first, second, third, or fourth time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP4PJlufZ0c However most of America is educated enough to understand that there are major differences between Ronald Reagan and Sarah Palin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP4PJlufZ0c

Palin is nothing like Ronald Reagan. Reagan served as Governor of California, America’s most populous state, with approximately 36 million people. Palin was Governor of Alaska which is the 47th least populated state, having less than one million people. Reagan served two full terms as Governor of California, and Palin didn’t complete one. Reagan attended Eureka College for four years, where he received a degree in social sciences and economics. Sarah attended five different schools, and received a four-year degree in broadcast journalism, in five short years. While in college Reagan lettered in football, swimming, and track. Sarah played basketball in high school, and although she takes credit for “winning a state championship”, the reality is that she scored a total of 6 points in the three games that led to the state championship (Benet, “Trailblazer”). While in college Reagan served two years on the student senate, and was the president of the student body his senior year. If Palin ever held any office in high school or college, I am unaware of it, and I have done a lot of research on Palin. Reagan was an active member of a fraternity, the president of the boosters club, and held a job throughout college in the dining hall. As far as I can tell Sarah never attended a single college long enough to pledge a sorority, or to hold down a job, and she never belonged to any club long enough to be elected as its leader. I am old enough to remember Ronald Reagan giving speeches to the American people, and I can’t recall a time that he ever had to consult his hand as a reminder of the points he needed to cover, and he didn’t have a major in broadcast journalism. I also can’t remember a time that he ever wore black leather when giving a speech.

Perhaps there is one commonality Reagan and Palin share. In the biography of Reagan, it was made known that Ronald Reagan practiced a morality that was very different from what he preached. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/40_reagan/tguide/index.html Reagan got his first wife pregnant out of wedlock, http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/07/us/all-that-glitters-is-not-real-book-on-nancy-reagan-says.html?pagewanted=2 and Palin was pregnant before she married Todd. http://sarahpalinexposed.com/?p=522 In spite of these similarities, even Ronald Reagan’s own son says that Reagan would not have supported Palin. http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/pam-geller-tries-tell-ron-reagan-jr

Obviously, Podhoretz was sucked in by Sarah’s feminine characteristics, and little else. Maybe Podhoretz was overwhelmed by her all-American face and form, as John McCain was. People, who wrote letters to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, were not so easily persuaded. Matt O’Brien of Austin Texas, explained “…this doesn’t mean that we should ignore or condone Ms. Palin’s manifest incompetence and anti-intellectual populism.” Ari Weitzner of New York expressed his feelings that: “Even non-elitists had to wince when Ms. Palin refused to answer Katie Couric’s simple question regarding which newspapers she reads.” Frederic Wile of New York described Palin as “…disastrously under informed.” Vaughn Carney of Stow, Vt., contrasted Palin with Reagan by pointing out that Palin “…walked out on the people of Alaska to chase money and celebrity.” (Wall Street Journal, pg. A18, April 5, 2010)

It’s time for Mr. Podhoretz to retire, or at least time for the Wall Street Journal to refuse to give Mr. Podhoretz the attention of 2.6 million readers. Our country deserves better from the Wall Street Journal and from its editors.