Palin Quoted Anti-Semite In Convention Speech

Wall Street Journal:

Thomas Frank writes in the Wall Street Journal:

It tells us something about Sarah Palin's homage to small-town America, delivered to an enthusiastic GOP convention last week, that she chose to fire it up with an unsourced quotation from the all-time champion of fake populism, the belligerent right-wing columnist Westbrook Pegler.

"We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity," the vice-presidential candidate said, quoting an anonymous "writer," which is to say, Pegler, who must have penned that mellifluous line when not writing his more controversial stuff. As the New York Times pointed out in its obituary of him in 1969, Pegler once lamented that a would-be assassin "hit the wrong man" when gunning for Franklin Roosevelt.

The Politico's Ben Smith notes that, beyond supporting FDR's assassination, Pegler was an anti-Semite:

He was also known for what Philip Roth described as his "casual distaste for Jews," which had become so evident by the end that he was bounced from the journal of the John Birch Society in 1964 for alleged anti-semitism. According to his obituary, he'd advanced the theory that American Jews of Eastern European descent were "instinctively sympathetic to Communism, however outwardly respectable they appeared."

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[speechteach]

I grew up on a farm and now live in a small town in mid America. I'm sick of the dirty Karl Rove Republican politics. Are we so stupid that we believe the lies, smears, and manipulation that suckered the voters the last two elections? It's the same thing again!! WAKE UP, AMERICA!! How can anyone who is in the middle or lower class vote for a Republican? They are using the religious right and the American women to get votes..nothing more! Do you want your kids to have an affordable education? Do you want to have affordable health insurance? Do you want to keep jobs in America? Do you want to restore America's credibility around the world? Do you want America to invest in alternative fuels to cut our dependence on oil? Do you want to pay lower taxes as a middle class American? If so, vote for Obama. Plain and simple! If you want America to continue this war and possibly ignite more world friction, vote McCain. If you want to take a chance on your children being called up in a military draft, vote McCain. If you want you child or yourself to be denied health insurance because of pre-existing condition, vote McCain. If you want your jobs to be outsourced to China, vote McCain.

[neo1]

Deepak Chopra, a very wise man said:

"What's most important if you want to turn the page is confidence and forward vision. Obama knows himself and the times he lives in. His supporters should take their guidance from that. In response to Sarah Palin, the Democrats have exhibited an outpouring of nervousness and panic. They are anxious that the American public might be swayed by a naked appeal to their worst instincts, ignoring Bush's disastrous failures because a spunky Jesse Ventura in a dress proclaims that "I'm just like you." But when Obama declares "This election is about you," he's saying the same thing on a higher plane. The 2008 election has turned into an open referendum, I believe, in which the choice between inertia and progress is clear cut. Religion, for once, isn't the decisive thing. Voter turnout and wanting to make progress are."

Dems, we are better that the republicans. WE SHOULD FEAR NOT! Keep your faith and let's NOT deter from our path.

OBAMA/BIDEN '08

[begging4change]

thank you for posting that!

[blueroses70]

This election makes me want to cry. Why do the Republicans have to destroy our country and our civil discourse. And why are they being allowed to lie over and over and over again.

I weep for the fourth estate.

[neo1]

STOP YOUR BOO HOOING AND FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO BE WHO YOU ARE! DON'T SIT AND WAIT FOR YOUR FUTURE TO BE HANDED TO YOU ON A SILVER PLATTER. IT DON'T HAPPEN LIKE THAT IN REAL LIFE.

FIGHT!

[Dennis60]

Civil Discourse....are you kidding me or just yourself. Democrates, just like the republicans love to wallow in the gutter, then cry foul when they are told they stink. Personnally I would love to fire every single one of them and replace them with: Nurses, Electricians, Waiters, Miners, Soldiers, Teachers, MD'S, EMTS, Police Officers, Firemen, BellBoys, Maids, ........................I know these people could run our country a 1000 times better then Obama, McCain and the rest of the self serving ego maniacs who now pretend to serve us.

[JimNauseam]

This country was better off under the Clintons. Obama is adopting Bill's economic policies. McCain will continue to ruin this country, like Bush before him. Your comment is beyond ignorant. The GOP had their big day in the sun, and they blew it.

[terragazelle60]

You want to live in today's world being led by a waitress? Now I have nothing against waitresses...I was one once. It kind of reminds me of a movie..idiotocracy. You need to see this movie. It has been like that for eight years..and you want 4 or 8 more? Intelligence matters, knowledge of the world matters. We have had a president that had no knowledge and wasn't curious about any of it. I want my president to be the smartest person in the room, in any room. I do not want to have a beer with him, I want him to be on first name basis with other world leaders and they respect him. And wil work with us to fix what is broken in the world. I do not want my next door neighbor to be president, they are red necks and dumb as a box of blond hair.

[boing007]

blueroses70

This election makes me want to cry. Why do the Republicans have to destroy our country and our civil discourse. And why are they being allowed to lie over and over and over again.

I weep for the fourth estate.

Do not weep for them, write to them and express your disappointment.

[renatam]

I am really tired of Sarah Palin's dog whistling speeches and comments.

Turn the page, America!

[ultramagnetic]

That dripping noise you've been hearing is starting to turn into a stream................

[renatam]

Disgusting.

[neo1]

Plus her religion seems to dispel J e w s so that's very revealing that she picked an anti-semite phrase to plagerize. Very telling indeed.

[OhMy]

"My Mu $ lim faith...." B..@rry H.. O..

During a recent ABC interview.......talk about telling

[Rose52]

Out of context and you know it.

[boing007]

neo1

Plus her religion seems to dispel J e w s so that's very revealing that she picked an anti-semite phrase to plagerize. Very telling indeed.

They didn't give a source reference for that quote. Hmm?

[neo1]

THEY ALSO GROSS FUNGUS AND MOLD IN SMALL TOWNS THAT SPREADS ALL OVER THE PLACE AND INFECTS EVERYTHING IN COMES IN CONTACT WITH.

[ritenow]

http://www.chopra.com/wordsfromdeepak

[bored2tears]

If I thought Palin had the slightest idea who Westbrook Pegler was, I'd be offended.

[renatam]

She didn't pick these dog whistling quote out of the air. I am an AA from Manhattan, and we don't will not permit this kind of irresponsible and toxic conduct at the highest levels of OUR Government any longer. Period.

[odoreida]

You're joking, right? There's nothing toxic about the statment that Palin quoted -- nothing at all. Pegler has been dead for half a century. He was a creature of the McCarthy era. I bet you didn't know who he was either until you read this silly p.o.s.

[SurrealPumpkin]

Wow! This is the second time WSJ has dissed the Rep Ticket? Is the world coming to an end?

[HartlessBeest]

A WOMAN NAMED SARAH

She's another Christian liar
Who sets the crowds on fire.
She's dreary, weary, unwise
And unwilling to compromise.
She's petulant with mood swings
Which can only continue to bring
Much unneeded unrest
In a country who has seen it's best
Days rush by.

[Roxanna]

They grow all kinds of things in Small Towns.... including lots of Racism!

If you don't look like us or walk like us or talk like us you must not be trusted. ! It's that small town narrow mindedness along with lots of paranoia for social change.

[neo1]

...and religious freaks who like to spread their beliefs around.

[boing007]

They grow all kinds of things in Small Towns.... including lots of Racism!

Don't forget citizen militia groups.

[Ajegunle]

4UK THE BEEOUCH.

[YouDisgustMe]

yes!! phvck that beetch! lol

[thebluecrayon]

This once again shows a serious judgement issue on the part of McCain. We don't know if Palin herself added this to the speech but what we most certainly do know is that all convention speeches are vetted by the McCain campaign prior to the convention. So once again, very poor vetting. A pattern is definitely starting to emerge.

For a guy who's trying so hard to pander to the Jewish community (of which I'm a part), he's doing a "heck of a job."