Palin Calls Critics Among McCain Aides ‘Jerks’.
Rightly so. They are jerks.
“So, no, I think that if there are allegations based on questions or comments that I made in debate prep about Nafta, and about the continent versus the country when we talk about Africa there, then those were taken out of context,” Ms. Palin said. “And that’s cruel and it’s mean-spirited, it’s immature, it’s unprofessional, and those guys are jerks, if they came away with it taking things out of context and then tried to spread something on national news. It is not fair and not right.”
And it’s yet another sign of the McCain campaign’s incompetence.
Part of Palin’s appeal to people like me is that she tells it like it is, unlike the current convoluted language in the media and the upcoming administration. C. Edmund Wright has an article on how Our Language is the Loser (h/t Larwyn). My favorite,
Earned Income Tax Credit: Now this is not a new term, but it certainly has been propelled back to prominence with Barack Obama’s unscripted chat with an Ohio plumber related to spreading the wealth. The problem with this term is that it has nothing to do with earning, income, paid taxes or credit. Ok, I know the real term is an accounting phrase related to two ideas: Earned Income – Tax credit. It is simply a fancy name for taking one person’s earned income and giving what should be his or her tax credit to someone else in the form of a welfare check. But it sounds much nicer to the recipient than a “welfare check.” This is related to the new definition of “compassion.”
Doug Ross illustrates one of the many reasons why the media is so in the bag with the Dems:
Put simply, there appears to be only a turnstile between a Democratic administration and a cushy media job.
That the media is so pliant and helpful signals to what Victor Davis Hanson calls the era of Post-journalism. Hanson points out
In the 3rd book of his history, Thucydides has some insightful thoughts about destroying institutions in times of zealotry—and then regretting their absence when there is a need for refuge for them. The mainstream press should have learned that lesson, once they blew up their credibility in the past election by morphing into the Team Obama press agency
UPDATE:
The Other McCain has the “jerks” video. Notice how Palin made a much more important point, about which the media is silent:
Of course we’re in the middle of putting our budget together, and looking at the price of oil today being so low, that is a good time for fiscal conservativism to be kicked in full-fledged and remind Alaskans we can not be spending at the rate that the state has been spending.
Of course that kind of remark doesn’t make good copy for Tina Fey…
On a side note:
Those of you who assert that “history is written by the winners” would do well to read up on Thucydides, the first scientific historian. The main reason Thucydides had time to write his history books is because he lost Amphipolis – the stronghold of Athenian power in the northwest – to the Spartans and the Athenians exiled him.
If there’s any justice, these backstabbing “aides” won’t work anywhere in a position of trust again.
But, I’m sure there’s a sucker out there, somewhere.
Sticking with the Thucydides reference! It is still amazing, considering the exile, that he did not write some exculpatory missive like Gen. McClelland, and put the blame for the battle and the war elsewhere. Because at this point in Athenian democracy the behaviour of the “aides” would have been considered understandable and acceptable not a rigorous, well mostly, attempt to be evenhanded.
Anthony, indeed.
Pat, But then, Thucydides was a real man, not a coward.
We all see the Communists trying to rewrite the history of the Cold War.
This is also a very good example of why the average Joe’s like us don’t go into politics.
Regular people with regular lives have ups and downs that the well-healed Washington insiders can’t even imagine. They don’t know how to live paycheck to paycheck, don’t have kids that get into scrapes, drive cars until the tires fall off, wear clothes/shoes until they wear out, cut our own grass, juggle bills, scrimp at the grocery, give up buying the few designer labels you like in order to buys clothes/shoes for your growing kids, let their roots go an extra couple of weeks until payday, bounce checks by mistake, consider a mani/pedi a luxury and do it all without maids/nannies/drivers/stylists/personal assistants. Could they fathom the sacrifice required to put a kid through college without scholarships from pals and grandpa’s trust fund? How crippling a job loss can be, within weeks, and how the damage haunts you for years?
Imagine all your mortifying “life-lesson” mistakes being aired on national tv, being constantly ridiculed for your past and clothes/hair/accent/shoes/lunch simply because you thought you’d run for a political office.
I admire Sarah Palin all the more. She survived it with style and still isn’t afraid to speak her mind. With what she’s learned the last few months, she will be a formidable force in four years!
Sorry for the rant. 😉
Don’t apologize for the rant. It’s they who should apologize.
Obi’s Sister has a good point in that most families regard going into politics about as acceptable as suddenly announcing either becoming a drug lord or having sexual reassignment surgery. With, I expect, the latter two being less shocking.
I once dated a girl in college who was a Mormon, a sort of fuzzy around the edges one, and who was studying to be a teacher. I met her parents amid much confusion as to our intentions and whether if I was serious would I be willing to convert. Well, I was not serious and had no intention of converting. The situation got even more tense when Delores’ parents misunderstood when I said I was interested in politics and thought I intended to go into politics. Eventually her parents relaxed and explained that they would rather have a non-believer as a son-in-law than a politician.
Spreading lies and rumors about someone is wrong… within the same party.