Open Scandal

O Sarah, A Bigot By Any Other Name. ..

In the whack-a-doodle world of politics, most outrageous and even scandalous remarks can be attributed to personal vendettas, ideology or (cough!) principle. Most of these people are interested in two things. To make money (and lots of it!), and to get re-elected. In failing to be re-elected, at least align themselves in a steady position as a lobbyist which will still allow them to achieve the first objective.

Sarah Palin’s world, however, revolves around a different sense of perverse reality. The venom she spews is ingrained deep in her own mind. It includes the consistent subjugation of those not pasty in skin color, natives, immigrants and anyone who does not share her world view. She is not above painting opposing policy with broad stokes of malice and misinformation. As Governor, she was known to personally attempt to destroy other’s careers if she felt intimidated or challenged.

It may be even worse. Sarah Palin may be just as bigoted as the red neck that lives down the street from your house. Beginning back as far as college days, Sarah and friends moved to Hawaii to escape the blasted cold of Alaska. But her father tells the story that Sarah didn’t much like the cultural diversity in Hawaii. The “Asian types” left her cold and uncomfortable. She returned to Alaska. (1)

Her religious views tended (and tends) toward the extreme. A member of the Wasilla Assembly of God since she was a child, she has endured (or welcomed) homilies that threaten one with hell should they, for instance, vote for John Kerry, administer to other faiths for any reason, or stray from a strict moral code that insists first and foremost that the Bible is a book written by God, that God’s plan is evident to the devout and includes such bits of sultry wisdom as it is God’s plan for the USA to attack Iraq, or, more to home, build a massive pipeline to move gas and oil across Alaska.

Hence her intuitive distrust and dislike for Barack Obama. Obama is black, possesses a name that is not of christian orthodoxy, lived in Hawaii and genuinely believes that people, no matter their race, sexual orientation, financial position or status should be treated equally and with dignity. When she began denigrating the man, she did not even casually know who he was. But that did not infringe on her intrinsic belief that he must be dangerous.

“Barack Obama doesn’t see America like other Americans.” she spewed consistently to crowds overwhelmingly white, middle class, southern and of low information. The racial tinge connected with her words was and is inescapable. Obama is a man who “pals around with terrorists” who would destroy this country. She attempted to connect him to criminals, organized crime, Asians, Asian terrorists and others who would love the chance to exploit America’s goodness through an evil and corrupt plan. (2)

To present, she continues to feed the fantasy that for reasons unknown Obama would love to try to take guns from honest sportsmen. In a speech to the NRA, an entity all too willing to listen to such pablum, Palin suggested that Obama and Pelosi would “gut the 2nd amendment” if they dared. (3) This kind of innuendo continues to excite gun owners despite the fact that Obama allowed them to carry loaded weapons in a national park, something no Republican had ever entertained.

In other widely quoted, but undocumented, slurs, Palin once referred to natives in Alaska as “fucking eskimos” and in a restaurant during the primaries, Palin made note of Obama’s defeat of Hillary Clinton by loudly declaring “Sambo beat the Bitch!” (4)

She has defended Franklin Graham for his baseless attacks on all Muslim religions. Graham’s denunciation of Islam as a “very evil and wicked” religion, led most religious types, not to mention the Pentagon, to distance themselves from Graham’s views.

She has always been an opponent of same sex marriage and a fervent opponent of choice. This is a continuing theme of Palin’s, exacting a stern and heartfelt rebuke from none other than Ellen Degeneres. In fact, Palin has on several occasions called for a constitutional ban on same sex marriage. (5)

Her husband, Todd, worked for 18 years for British Petroleum, leaving only last year for family reasons. But this did not prevent Sarah from blasting BP for the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Foreign oil companies are “not to be trusted.” She suggested that BP’s contributions to the Obama campaign put him in BP’s pocket. This, of course, ignores the reality that McCain-Palin received nearly three times the amount of campaign contributions from BP than Obama received. The queen of “drill, baby, drill” seen as hypocrite. (6)

Her avid defense of Tea Party darling Rand Paul now calls into question her own belief system insofar as it touches on basic human values as presented in the Civil Rights Laws of 1964. She accused his interviewers of pouncing on “hypotheticals”. (7) But the question was not hypothetical. It was concrete and devastating. Should private businesses be able to determine who they will do business with on the basis of race? Paul tried to ‘cracker’ a way out of the conundrum but only dug himself in deeper. Rachael Maddow fed him enough rope to hang himself (metaphorically) and so he did. And Mrs. Palin cried foul.

But Palin continues to shoot from the hip. Her petulant diatribe toward liberals concerning Arizona’s new anti-immigration law skips by the inconvenient truth that the original version of the bill was not only unconstitutional, but violated the very principles of justice that we claim to own in this country. To say that we “are all Arizonan’s now” is a despicable retreat into regional patriotism. She refuses to do the research and preparation to challenge political opponents on the merits of various proposals.

From “death panels”, “socialized medicine” and numerous other epithets, Palin has laid claim to the time honored past time of spreading fear and loathing throughout the land for her own financial and political advantage. What she has learned from Fox News is that the truth will not make you any money, and personal honor will not carve out a following. So, given the limited potential of her craven mind, she seeks to destroy the country in order to save it. My larger hope is that Sarah Palin will self destruct given the ponderous weight of her own lies.

1. Malia Litman, “Rebuttal to the Rogue”, Chapter 1. March 21, 2010
2. Sarah Palin’s Speeches on the Campaign Trail
3. Speech to the NRA, May 14, 2010
4. World Press.com (h/t Bob Cesca), October 7, 2008
5. Joe Hilley, “Sarah Palin: A New Kind of Leader”, Oct. 13, 2008
6. Ruth Marcus, The Washington Post, May 26, 2010
7. Ibid, May 26, 2010