Sarah Palin Refudiates Sarah Palin

Everyone's all aflush with talk of Sarah Palin's invocation of "blood libel," so this section of her prepared statement probably isn't getting the attention it deserves:

President Reagan said, "We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions." Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election.

I agree! While I don't think there's any harm in having a discussion about how the existence of toxic discourse creates an environment given to terrible crimes, such as this weekend's mass murder in Tucson, Arizona, I certainly agree that it's wrong to assign criminal culpability to anyone other than the perpetrators of criminal acts. If others want to use the occasion to ponder our moral responsibility, that's a sign of our strength and thoughtfulness, not a sign of our guilt. If we all become slightly better people for the experience, so much the better.

That said, I'm mildly surprised to see Palin endorsing these ideas. Not that I don't welcome it! Indeed, "acts of monstrous criminality" do "stand on their own," and there's no reason whatsoever to impugn the character of anyone outside of those acts, especially anyone who's a "law-abiding citizen" just "respectfully exercising" their "First Amendment rights" to freely exercise their religious faith or speak or peaceably assemble or publish or petition their government for redress of their grievances.

But if that's the case, why was Sarah Palin so opposed to the law-abiding citizens of New York City who maybe wanted to freely exercise their religious faith and maybe play some basketball and foster interfaith activities in Lower Manhattan? Chalk it up to a self-refudiation, I guess. Anyway, got to celebrate it! (I'm still going to let John Dickerson have his say about the whole "blood libel" thing, though.)

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Comments

[andrinn]

09:59 AM on 01/18/2011

Great... Ms. Palin's latest defense it that it is ridiculous for anyone to believe that she knew what she was talking about when she used the phrase "blood libel."
Those darn liberals... giving her credit for some bit of intelligence or understanding of history. She insists that she has none.

[Ed and Deb Shapiro]

05:21 PM on 01/15/2011

omg - If Sarah Palin even understood half the things she talks about -

if she was or is capable of giving things/issue etc. some real thought she wouldn't come up with some of the ignorant things she says & does..

she gets livid - as she did in the Tuscon horror but puts her foot in her mouth because she didn't/doesn't know what blood libel meant.

anyone agree?

Ed

[Florence Arbouet]

05:13 PM on 01/15/2011

Sarah Palin should be refudiated, and she is the only one who knows what that really means.

[Robert Kay]

04:46 PM on 01/15/2011

Doesn't get any better than seeing libs work themselves up over something Sarah says. Best part of the day for me is to check the Huffington Post and see everyone so irritated.

Only thing better is when I don't see my comment posted and know that the moderators, great believers in free speech that they are, have censored it.

[asrael]

01:01 AM on 01/16/2011

How fortunate for you that you're so easy to please...

[Cardlents]

07:12 PM on 01/16/2011

It is the job of the intellectual to make visible ignorance in all it's forms. Discussing the queen of ignorance is necessary for us because ignorance ignored seems to somehow gain more of a following.

[Michael Fanghella]

04:38 PM on 01/15/2011

Can anyone allow this woman to speak without a teleprompter. It is one of americas truly humorous storylines. Can Sarah Palin get out of her own way. Her getting infront of a microphone is equal to sailing into unchartered territory. A car wreck on the freeway is about as attention getting as her getting up on the podium. Let her keep going and maybe what the rest of the world already sees will be as obvious to her supporters also. She is just not that intelligent.

[pdsimdars]

04:28 PM on 01/15/2011

Reminds me of that old joke they used to tell about Reagan, when asked, "Between ignorance and apathy, which do you think is causing most problems in the world?'
And he said, "I don't know and I don't care."

[SDH283]

04:13 PM on 01/15/2011

Sarah also said THIS after Letterman's joke last year ... "..- that acceptance of inappropriate sexual comments about an underage girl, who could be anyone's daughter, contributes to the atrociously high rate of sexual exploitation of minors by older men who use and abuse others.'"

Seems that HER words are blameless, but OTHER people's words 'contribute' to consequences??

Sarah is ALWAYS the victim, it's NEVER about anything but Sarah.

[Forrestabbey]

01:29 PM on 01/15/2011

A bumper sticker for the right wing, "Reagan said it, I believe it, that settles it." An interesting take on the Reagan White House is "The Acting President" by Bob Schieffer and Gary Paul Gates (Jul 30, 1990) it's premise is that Reagan was never really President but rather was handled prior to his even arriving in Washington.

[Boomfink]

01:27 PM on 01/15/2011

Congresswoman Giffords still has more brains than palin.

[Paul De Ley]

11:46 AM on 01/15/2011

I suppose you meant tow write rePudiates

[LucidPanther]

11:20 AM on 01/15/2011

For the GOP, the energy is with the Tea Party, but so is all the crazy and the outrage.

[nypapajoe]

10:50 AM on 01/15/2011

There needs to be a petition demanding that she Return to Alaska and never heard from again!

[MDhome]

04:12 PM on 01/15/2011

Where do I sign it?

[indy girl]

11:38 PM on 01/16/2011

I'm not sure the Alaskans want her back, either.

[Marisol61]

10:16 AM on 01/15/2011

I'm continuously shocked by the things Sarah Palin says and does, always thinking that this
will surely be the end of her political career- from the interview in front of the turkey
slaughterer, to writing on her hand, to death panels...... to now blood libel....but I always hear,
in response that she knows exactly what she's doing, she's using code words to rile up her base, she's throwing red meat to her base--who is this base and do they really melt when they hear the
words guns, blood, and patriots, the way I probably do when I hear phrases like common
decency and Hope?

[westside310]

11:36 PM on 01/14/2011

I tried submitting a very non-partisan post last night and it was never approved. Really disappointed by this. Huff Post is becoming the left's version of Glenn Beck and the very people so many people criticize. Time to find a new forum. And it's a shame since this is exactly the kind of partisanship that Arianna is against. Bet you this comment gets approved to save face.

[frameofmind]

08:49 PM on 01/14/2011

Hannitize: to clean up $aint $arah's mess and others with softball interviews.