Enough already, people.
I have no idea why so many on the right, in an attempt to be relevant (which I have almost never been, politically speaking), have decided that the best way to do so is to attack Sarah Palin, who, you may recall, isn't presently running for anything. But this behavior appears to be encouraged, based on the way some of it gets promoted.
Case in point: Eddie Scarry, who writes for Mediabistro's FishbowlDC and The Blaze.
Mr. Scarry apparently took issue with a piece Gov. Palin wrote for Newsweek Magazine, an increasingly leftist-slanted magazine which very recently spotlighted an article by Andrew Sullivan, noted expert on Sarah Palin's uterus. (I commented about that in a Facebook note, which is what I do sometimes when I don't have time to blog about things. Of course, the dearth of posts on my Facebook page doesn't speak well for my use of my time either. But I digress.) In her note (entited "Life With Trig: Sarah Palin on Raising a Special-Needs Child"), Gov. Palin paints an almost-idyllic picture of the blessing her son Trig has been to her and her family. (Note to readers: You might want to follow my example and not read the comments...as usual, some of Newsweek's readers have displayed what appears to be a typical (for them) hatred. Yes, I did read a couple of comments, and then I forced myself to stop, as they all appeared to be coming from a hive mind afflicted severely with Palin Derangement Syndrome.)
An example of what seems to have set Mr. Scarry and a bunch of angry commenters off:
God knew what he was doing when he blessed us with Trig. We went from fear of the unknown to proudly displaying a bumper sticker sent to us that reads: “My kid has more chromosomes than your kid!”
So, what in the world could someone who writes for a conservative site such as The Blaze have against Sarah Palin gushing, as any decent mother would, about her young son? Well, Mr. Scarry got it into his mind, somehow, that Gov. Palin was supposed to be writing about Rick Santorum, who has his own special-needs child. She wasn't, but Mr. Scarry based his four-paragraph rant (entitled "Somehow, Santorum’s family troubles relate to Sarah Palin") on this incorrect premise. Hey, why fact-check this stuff when you can score cheap points against Sarah Palin, right?
A sample of his comments:
For more perspective, the names “Rick” and “Santorum” appear three times total and are all found in the first paragraph. The word “my,” in reference to Palin herself, appears 15 times throughout the rest. I didn’t bother searching for “I” and “I’ve.”
Thankfully, many people tried to correct the record about the reasoning behind Gov. Palin's piece. Notable among these was Stacy Drake:
(there used to be an image of a tweet calling Stacy Drake "whore" here, but it has since disappeared from Big Journalism's site)
I wonder how The Blaze's founder, one Glenn Beck, feels about that response. I'm hoping he's a bit upset about it, but at this point, who knows?
Regardless, of course, Ms. Drake was right, as evidenced by the Huffington Post piece she linked:
[A] Daily Beast spokesperson says the Palin piece was assigned last week following the news that Rick Santorum's daughter, Bella, had been hospitalized and he was briefly leaving the campaign trail.
"We asked Sarah Palin if she would like to share her personal story about life with a child with special needs upon learning about Senator Santorum's decision last week to place his campaign on hold to be with his daughter," the spokesperson emailed.
I couldn't sum up the issue any better than John Nolte at Big Journalism:
In other words, in the wake of what happened to Bella Santorum, Newsweek reached out to Sarah Palin — and I’m going to repeat this carefully for the Beck-impaired — to… share… her… personal… story… about… life… with… a… child… with… special… needs…
So what is Sarah Palin guilty of here? Writing the piece she was asked to write.
But what is The Blaze guilty of here? Again, telling a lie of omission and, just like Wonkette and Andrew Sullivan, using Palin’s family as a weapon against her. After nearly four years, this tactic is well-honed and easy to spot. Anytime the Governor writes about or speaks of or is seen with her family, some bottom-feeder weaponizes the event, weaponizes her own family, to beat her senseless with. And that’s exactly what The Blaze did.
As it turns out, though, Mr. Scarry has now added the following to his rant, which he left untouched otherwise:
UPDATE: Many Palin supporters have read this post and taken issue with the fact that it does not mention Palin was actually asked by “Newsweek” to write about her experience raising a special needs child. She did not approach the publication and that is a crucial piece of information that should have been included for BLAZE readers.
This post was a brief analysis of the perception I, among others, had of Palin contributing to a magazine she regularly criticizes. And though my thoughts on Palin’s column still stand, it‘s also important to acknowledge that Palin’s experience raising her son Trig is a fascinating story and is worth a read in her book “Going Rogue.” –Eddie Scarry, Eddie@theblaze.com
Some of the above does not ring true. Mr. Scarry devoted one throwaway phrase ("a magazine she loves to hate") in his initial rant to the idea of Gov. Palin writing for Newsweek after having slammed it. No, Mr. Scarry, the original post was a brief assumption that Gov. Palin had made something all about her when, in your mind, it should not have been. The problem, of course, is that Gov. Palin's piece was indeed supposed to be about her own family, and you still haven't acknowledged that you were flat-out wrong about it.
But, as has increasingly been the case, facts don't seem to matter to those who want to take down Sarah Palin. And a lot of the Palin-hatred, unfortunately, is coming from our own side.
Update: Welcome, Conservatives4Palin readers!
1 comments:
My only problem with her article was that it seems like a huge cut and paste of her past articles,face book posts,and from her book.Its as if nothing has changed in her life with her son in a couple of years.I really was expecting some actual description of a kind of "day in the life"or at least some idea of what an actual special needs caregiver goes through.She did say her husband purees,her sons baby food,which she also said a few years back.It seems like he would have moved on from pureed and maybe she could have told us what he eats now and what therapy,etc she is doing with him to help him reach his milestones.He is such a cute boy and doesn't seem to be severely affected like somany Downs children.A family member of mine has a son who is now grown.He went through so much to get where he is and be semi-independent.He must wear glasses and he has hearing problems so he wears hearing aids.He has a heart problem related to DS as well.All of this has not kept him down.He went to school ,he graduated with his class cheering him on,he has a job in a supermarket and lives in an apartment in an independent living facility where he takes care of himself,but has someone to check up on him and help if needed.I know his story,and was looking forward to learning what Mrs Palin is doing to help her son,and what she hoped for his future.All she gave us were bumper stickers and platitudes that she recycled from earlier works.
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