Sarah, Shut the #@%$ Up!!!
The last person in the world opponents for the health care debate need on their side is Sarah Palin. While if she were a responsible intelligent voice which clearly she is not, she could surely look at her situation as the mother of a “special needs” child as having specific concerns that President Obama’s Government takeover of health care could severely impact. However, being the irresponsible and intellectually challenged voice she is, her overstatement and demagoguery is exactly the kind of fodder forces on the left can use to mischaracterize responsible health care opponents and use her remarks to characterize opponents as a bunch of misinformed extremist yahoos.
Calling what would amount to the government rationing authorities as the “Obama death panel” might work as a good rallying cry for some health care opponents but it is such a blatant attempt at demagoguery and overstatement, her remarks take on a life of their own and take the focus off the real issues of the debate.
The momentum against the President’s socialized scheme is tremendous; however, responsible critics need to be careful not to give the sympathetic press any handles they can grab upon to bludgeon the movement. Sarah Palin’s shrill, obnoxious gift for appealing to raw emotion perhaps because she isn’t intellectually gifted enough to express it any other way, once again makes her the issue, and the last thing in the world the movement to preserve private sector health care needs is her to get embroiled on a meaningless side issue that gathers too much of the attention. What has been so impressive about the anti-government takeover forces is how truly nonpartisan the membership has become full of independents and even some Democrats who find Palin abhorrent for far different reasons than we have been discussing.
The left wing media rebuke of Palin has been swift and furious. So is ours. Sadly, every time Palin gets in trouble far too many Republican and Conservative voices who are more often than not right on message wind up defending her increasing the heat behind making her the issue.
There is no question Sarah Palin has been the subject of some of the most vicious and dishonest abuse of any public history in recent history. However, increasingly, those who might be inclined to support her need to examine the kind of character she presents and how she brings a lot of it on herself and that if she had the real material for leadership, she’d be able to find a way above the fray rather than constantly wallowing in the mud pit fighting it.
“Death panel” might be the kind of red meat rhetoric that function well for the most extreme right wing talk show hosts might use to inflame listeners and gather ratings, it is not the kind of talk that a person who aspires to be a major voice in American politics should resort to invoking.
Officially, Sarah Palin quit the platform, the official position that gave her credibility to speak on the issues having resigned as governor of Alaska. Having not even served one term and only having background in small posts like Mayor of Wasilla makes her little more qualified than a high school educated small market flame throwing talk show host who wouldn’t know a college level political science course if it bit him or her on the butt.
Palin’s timing couldn’t be worse. Her idiotic remarks overlapped the news cycle where President Obama conducted an absurd staged town hall meeting guaranteeing him a respectful, civil audience where his lies and outrageous assertions should be taking up the news space.
The sooner Sarah Palin becomes a fluke of the 2008 election and is but a small footnote in America’s political history the better. It’s time for conservatives to let their intellect not their emotions consider what her presence in the national debate means.
The last person in the world opponents for the health care debate need on their side is Sarah Palin. While if she were a responsible intelligent voice which clearly she is not, she could surely look at her situation as the mother of a “special needs” child as having specific concerns that President Obama’s Government takeover of health care could severely impact. However, being the irresponsible and intellectually challenged voice she is, her overstatement and demagoguery is exactly the kind of fodder forces on the left can use to mischaracterize responsible health care opponents and use her remarks to characterize opponents as a bunch of misinformed extremist yahoos.
Calling what would amount to the government rationing authorities as the “Obama death panel” might work as a good rallying cry for some health care opponents but it is such a blatant attempt at demagoguery and overstatement, her remarks take on a life of their own and take the focus off the real issues of the debate.
The momentum against the President’s socialized scheme is tremendous; however, responsible critics need to be careful not to give the sympathetic press any handles they can grab upon to bludgeon the movement. Sarah Palin’s shrill, obnoxious gift for appealing to raw emotion perhaps because she isn’t intellectually gifted enough to express it any other way, once again makes her the issue, and the last thing in the world the movement to preserve private sector health care needs is her to get embroiled on a meaningless side issue that gathers too much of the attention. What has been so impressive about the anti-government takeover forces is how truly nonpartisan the membership has become full of independents and even some Democrats who find Palin abhorrent for far different reasons than we have been discussing.
The left wing media rebuke of Palin has been swift and furious. So is ours. Sadly, every time Palin gets in trouble far too many Republican and Conservative voices who are more often than not right on message wind up defending her increasing the heat behind making her the issue.
There is no question Sarah Palin has been the subject of some of the most vicious and dishonest abuse of any public history in recent history. However, increasingly, those who might be inclined to support her need to examine the kind of character she presents and how she brings a lot of it on herself and that if she had the real material for leadership, she’d be able to find a way above the fray rather than constantly wallowing in the mud pit fighting it.
“Death panel” might be the kind of red meat rhetoric that function well for the most extreme right wing talk show hosts might use to inflame listeners and gather ratings, it is not the kind of talk that a person who aspires to be a major voice in American politics should resort to invoking.
Officially, Sarah Palin quit the platform, the official position that gave her credibility to speak on the issues having resigned as governor of Alaska. Having not even served one term and only having background in small posts like Mayor of Wasilla makes her little more qualified than a high school educated small market flame throwing talk show host who wouldn’t know a college level political science course if it bit him or her on the butt.
Palin’s timing couldn’t be worse. Her idiotic remarks overlapped the news cycle where President Obama conducted an absurd staged town hall meeting guaranteeing him a respectful, civil audience where his lies and outrageous assertions should be taking up the news space.
The sooner Sarah Palin becomes a fluke of the 2008 election and is but a small footnote in America’s political history the better. It’s time for conservatives to let their intellect not their emotions consider what her presence in the national debate means.
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