Well folks, some in the media are still afflicted with Palin-OCD.
Bill Maher took a dig at Rand Paul during a monologue on the May 21episode of “Real Time.” He couldn’t help but bring Sarah Palin into the mix by stating, “It’s as if Sarah Palin somehow made it through medical school.” Hey Bill, you know what joke would’ve been even funnier? One about a guy who made it through an Ivy League law school, yet thought it best to publicly criticize a sixteen-page law without having read it. So what if he’s the Attorney General, right?
Andy Borowitz had a column in The Huffington Post on May 22 in which he asserted that “…a new poll shows Kentucky senatorial candidate Rand Paul topping former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin among voters who describe themselves as morons.” Well, let’s be honest. We can’t all possess the intellectual fortitude of some of the Einsteins who put Obama in the White House. If you need a reminder, grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.
Keith Olbermann ranted on May 17 that Palin doesn’t have the guts to come on his “Countdown”: “Ms. Palin says she’ll do it, as long as it’s not on MSNBC and as long as it is on FOX. As long as it’s not me or Rachel, as long as it’s Hannity, and as long as she can edit out anything she doesn’t like.” Just a few days prior, Olbermann said this of Palin: “That woman is an idiot…that woman does not have the courage, personal or political, to appear on MSNBC, not without an army with her (and I mean that literally).” That’s right, Keith. I’m sure she’s shakin’ in her boots. And with all your charm and hospitality, why wouldn’t she jump at the chance to stop by and say hello? I have to admit that I think it would be hilarious if Palin took the gig. But only if she would read a monologue off one hand, hold a rifle in the other, and say you betcha enough times to make Olbermann’s elitist head spin. I wonder how many members of the “Countdown” staff would faint from the ratings.
In a recent column titled “Abortion absolutes don’t work” in The Washington Post, Susan K. Smith discussed “the absolutism of the pro-life position,” claiming that “…pro-life advocates maintain an absolute—that abortions should never be allowed.” Smith stated: “Sarah Palin says she is a frontier feminist when in fact she is a modern-day opportunist playing to her base…Life is bigger than a fetus.” She seemed to imply that Palin is an absolutist who would prioritize the life of a fetus over that of a mother. Of course, there’s just one itty bitty problem with Smith’s implication. Palin has affirmed that she is pro-life “With the exception of a doctor’s determination that the mother’s life would end if the pregnancy continued.” Much like many pro-life Americans, she isn’t an absolutist. But who cares about facts, right?
In The Huffington Post this month, Taylor Marsh responded to Palin’s speech at the Susan B. Anthony List breakfast in her column, “Sarah Palin Is Not a Feminist.” Marsh wrote of Palin’s “anti women’s rights language” (I can only assume she was referring to Palin’s use of the words life, moms, and adoption) and stated, “You simply can’t be a feminist if you don’t support a woman’s individual rights.” Forget about the rights of those silly fetuses, already! Didn’t you get the memo from Planned Parenthood that “It’s not a baby at this stage or anything like that”? Note to the Left: Palin isn’t looking to put you in jail for having an abortion, but she doesn’t have to promote abortion as the supreme manifestation of female liberty, either. In August of 2008, she said she would “…do all I can to see every baby is created with a future and potential.” Her commitment to the pro-life movement has earned her a place in the Left’s feminist doghouse. (I guess pro-life “mother of feminism,” Mary Wollstonecraft, is in there as well.)
Bottom line: The media is still working overtime to try to paint Palin as the dumb, cowardly, woman-hating radical she’s not. Why? Because despite all their hard work thus far, she still connects with the masses, and it scares the crap out of them.
What in heaven’s name would the media elite do without Palin? Would they be forced to resort to something dreadful like analyzing the false promises and policy missteps of the current administration?
P.S.—Gov. Palin, don’t forget to do something newsworthy this week like dye your hair, eat a bag of Doritos in public, or paint your toenails fluorescent pink. You don’t want the media to starve, now do you?
Jedediah Bila is a conservative columnist and commentator living in New York City. For more information on Jedediah, please visit http://jedediahbila.com/.