In Defense of Old Hickory

OK, they've gone too far now. We've heard Sarah Palin compared to Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and George Wallace. But Andrew Jackson? Here's Maureen Dowd asking William Kristol about Palin's future in politics:

I called Kristol and asked him if he thought Palin could grow into the next Reagan, reminding him that he was outnumbered by conservatives recoiling from her. “Conservative eggheads are my friends,” he said, “but politically they’re a contrarian indicator. If they’re down on Palin, things are looking up for her. With all due respect for my fellow eggheads, they are underestimating the importance of a natural political gift or star quality. It matters a lot.” He suggested that she has a shrewdness and toughness — “like Andrew Jackson” — beyond what you get with a Yale law degree or Harvard business degree. “That may be hard for my conservative intellectual friends to grasp,” he said.

We draw the line. Leave Old Hickory out of this. Yes, he was a slave owner and brutal killer of American Indians, but he was no Sarah Palin. He doesn't deserve that.

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