Palin's early presidential bid slips off course again

Will the real Sarah, please stand up?

by Mike Marcellino

Ex-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, vice presidential candidate in 2008, continues to go to the gold as she lays the groundwork for a presidential run in 2012.  Trouble is her apparent calculated public speeches and comments keep getting her off course and on some pretty think ice.

Only weeks ago Palin inked notes on the palm of her hand to remember to uplift people in trying to ignite the Tea Party by her speech in which she predicted flatly that the only way President Obama could get re-elected was the use what she referred to as "the war card" by declaring war on Iran.   That reminded me of the late Senator Barry Goldwater saying in a speech that he might use the atomic bomb against the communists. The difference is that then presidential candidate Goldwater's statement was a candid answer to a question, while Palin's created "the war card" phrase to nail her rival with a political shot.  Her shot trivializes the consequences of war and the complexity of U. S. relations with Iran, that country's nuclear program and Middle East peace.

In her latest pre-campaign episode, Palin lashed out bitterly against the makers of the latest episode of "The Family Guy," about a girl with Down syndrome with a joke about her family.  Palin's song, Trig, has Down syndrome.  Plan called the show's makers "cruel, cold hearted people" and accused them of "mocking her family."

Palin's criticism drew a response yesterday from actor Andrea Ray Friedman who portrays a girl with Down syndrome.  Ms. Friedman matter of factly explained that she has Down syndrome and also a sense of humor.

The Arts Beat "Culture at Large blog of Dave Itzkoff in The New York Times last night's has attracted 368 comments, one from a "conservative" Frank from Texas who wrote of getting annoyed by Palin.

Art Beat blog in The New York Times 

What may be most revealing about the latest Palin episodes is they seem to reveal her real nature.  Palin portrays herself as a political outsider, a female version of Joe six pack and all for regular people. 

The uplifting palm notes, coining "the war card" and now blasting the liberal media, in this case an animated television comedy series raise serious questions about the true nature of Sarah Palin.   

Palin's choice of words in public  reveals a politician trying to win a campaign not yet begun by creating her own issues that don't match up with reality very well. The latest "Family Guy" episode belies the nation of equality and the wrong in discrimination.  

I don't know about Palin, but I look at blacks and whites, people with Down syndrome, AIDS and soldiers and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as people.  Aren't we all just people after all? Isn't that equality?

When it comes to comedy, I like the kind that's funny and let's us laugh with each other, not at each other.  Other than that it doesn't make any difference if your mother is the ex-governor of Alaska and a former vice presidential candidate.  It's just a funny, quirky line in a television show, making fun of a politician, after all. 

When you've stated publicly that you may run for president of the United States, being the subject of jokes comes with the territory.  Lighten up Sarah.

Copyright by Mike Marcellino 2010