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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Clarence Page
Sarah Palin (© Donna Grethen)
Conservative Sarah Palin fans ask me why "the liberal media" are "so afraid" of the former Alaska governor. I, for one, am unafraid. Quite the opposite. As an unrepentant pundit, I am delighted that the former Republican vice presidential candidate refuses to rule out running for the presidency. I am also relieved that, so far, she does not appear to have a ghost's chance of actually winning.
As food for commentary, her recent weekend foray through
Let's see: Shall I take on her sarcastic dig during her
How about her recent condemnation of the slur "retard"? I would applaud her unconditionally on that one, had she not put her own partisan
conditions on it. On her
"Rahm's slur on all God's children with cognitive and developmental disabilities - and the people who love them -- is unacceptable," she wrote, "and it's heartbreaking."
Who could argue with Palin's call for "decency," especially when it comes from the mother of a developmentally disabled child? As the world knows, Palin's son Trig has Down syndrome. Emanuel properly apologized for using the R-word in the private meeting, just as President Obama apologized last year for comparing his bad bowling to the "Special Olympics" on a late-night talk show.
But, then conservative radio star Rush Limbaugh showed he had no problem with repeatedly calling liberal Democrats "retards" on-air as he mocked Emanuel. Check out the twists, turns and curly-Q's that Palin takes as she shoots through an Olympic luge run of logic, trying to slam Emanuel without stepping on the toes of her political ally:
"Rush Limbaugh was using satire," she said in a Super Bowl Sunday interview with Chris Wallace of
She should listen again. Limbaugh lambasted our "politically correct society" for "acting like some giant insult has taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards, retards."
"I'm not going to apologize for it," he said, "I'm just quoting Emanuel. It's in the news. ... So now there's going to be a meeting.
There's going to be a retard summit at the
But, as headline-making news goes, Palin's palm-piloting and R-word outrage pales in significance compared to her foray during the Fox interview into national defense. She did not quite suggest that Obama should invade Iran, as some news reports seemed to indicate, but she did bring up an Iran invasion as something that could calm his opposition and help his reelection. Where did she pick up that notion? From a Pat Buchanan column, she said, which did little to reassure those of us who were relieved to see "Pitchfork Pat" lose both of his presidential bids.
Ironically, I do not entirely disagree with Palin fans who say her rise is Obama's fault. In their first year, Team Obama may have misread the need to reassure swing voters in these uncertain times that, even when solutions don't come quickly, you feel their pain.
A big mad-as-hell, throw-the-bums-out segment of the electorate hungers for some red- meat rhetoric in the way that Huey Long or William Jennings Bryan gave voice to grassroots frustrations. With his cool technocratic style and his stubborn concern for facts and compromise, Obama does not do that kind of "anger" well. "Sarah Barracuda," as her college basketball teammates called her, does it with a smile.
And she does it now as a commentator for
Available at Amazon.com:
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
AMERICAN POLITICS
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Unafraid of Pundit Sarah Palin | Clarence Page
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