The Lyin', the Witch and the Wardrobe

Watching the fruit fly speech, I wasn't sure if I was seeing the real Sarah Palin, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, or Sarah Palin as Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. It's all starting to blur. She was so absurd, so off-the-rails embarrassing, so staggeringly dumb, that it left me thinking that maybe Sarah Palin is a special needs child.

If you missed it, this candidate for vice president of the United States of America made a so-called "policy speech" on special needs children. In that speech she took on earmarks (naturally), and said that money "goes to projects having little or nothing to do with the public good -- things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not."

Sorry, but everyone knows -- and I mean EVERYONE -- that fruit fly research is not about fruit flies! What I didn't know specifically, but I love knowing now, is that fruit fly research has led to the discovery of a protein that is apparently critical in treatment of autism in children, the very kind of "special needs child" the candidate was speaking about. Just when you think she couldn't get any more embarrassing.

Palin's supporters are outraged, wondering how we could expect her to know that. Um, when the candidate for vice president of the United States chooses to give a policy speech on a topic that she claims to be an expert on, shouldn't we expect her to actually be an expert? She claims in her speech that she is the one in the McCain/Palin administration who will "lead the reforms" necessary in the area of special needs children. She's not asking us to put her in charge of the church bake sale. She wants us to put her in charge of our most vulnerable children. And, no, it doesn't matter that she is the mother of such a child. Just like it doesn't make her a foreign policy expert because she can see Russia from her house, it doesn't make her an energy expert because she lives near an oil pipeline, and it doesn't make her knowledgeable on the job of vice president because she plays one on TV (she thinks the VP is in charge of the senate!).

For the few people left who continue to stubbornly love this woman, I know it feels great to see someone on the national stage who reminds you of yourself and your own $150,000 wardrobe. I know you felt the same kind of familiarity with George W. Bush, when his brush clearing reminded you of your own 1500 acre estate, er, ranch. I get it. We all suffer from a touch of the narcissist from time to time. But how about we all stop looking in the mirror and start looking out the window? The world is big, complicated, messy, and very dangerous. The problems are deep and the problem solvers need to be deeper. We don't need more superficially familiar, intellectually vacuous, and insecurely arrogant people running the country into oblivion.

What we desperately need are smart, educated, curious, intellectually honest, and genuinely confident leaders. We can't afford to keep voting for ordinary because yet another snake oil salesman (or saleswoman) sold us on the idea that we should somehow be terrified of the extraordinary.

Comments

[AlinaBen]

I commend Michael Seitzman for finally shouting out that the Emperor (or in this case, "Empress") has no clothes. However, I do take one exception to his eloquent and clever article. In describing Sarah Palin as "so absurd, so off -the-rails embarrassing, so staggeringly dumb, that it left me thinking that Sarah Palin is a special needs child." he couldn't have been more wrong as to who our special children are, their intelligence, goodness and the gifts they bring to our lives. As the mother of a terrific special needs young man, that is offensive, disrespectful, and frankly, just not true. Since we are all ready for a positive change for America, why don't we also let go of the ignorant prejudices and misguided images that most people have of kids and adults with special needs and start to educate America about differences, respect the human condition that we are all a part of.
Alina Rodescu-Pitchon

[isis]

Her dad was a biology teacher so I would expect her to know that.

[DS3M]

Wait, at intelligent design academy, or in the real world?

[vigwig]

Why study fruit flies? Sarah believes God made them just like the Bible says, what's to study? Grrrr..

[DrVandy]

Great title.

[DixieMelody]

Sarah Palin's father is a science teacher.

Words just fail me regarding commenting on this tidbit of information.

[maumeeone]

It makes one wonder just what kind of science he teaches!

[Democrab]

I wonder if this election campaign has at all educated the good people of Alaska about their governor and what an empty bathing suit she really is.

[maumeeone]

In spite of all the wardrobe-related hoopla lately, I think it's fairly obvious that the Empress-wannabe has no clothes!

[teh07h3r0n3]

As someone who has worked with fruit flies (and a host of other model organisms), I found this comment to be the most alarming statement out of Palin's mouth to date. I am disappointed that this has not gotten more media coverage.

I might add, considering Palin"s son Trig suffers from Down"s syndrome, that the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has made significant contributions to this field of research as well. Genes found to be responsible for orchestrating the development of the fly brain -- genes with fun names such as single-minded and minibrain, to name a few -- were later found to have human homologues in the region of chromosome 21 thought to be responsible for the neurological abnormalities seen in Down"s syndrome.

Carl Sagan aptly referred to "science as a candle in the dark." I would add that basic research, in turn, is the hand that fans this flame. We cannot afford four years of darkness under McCain and Palin.

[timetraveler2039]

AMEN!!! Don't get complacent - VOTE!!!!

[Vurz]

Part of the reason that fruit flies are so good to use is that there are many generations of them in a short amount of time. Long term effects can be studied within the lifetime of the researcher rather than the experiment having to be done over thousands of years, with tag teams of scientists.

I learned that in third grade. I'm surprised Palin didn't.

[maumeeone]

Whaddaya want? It took her six years and five colleges just to get a degree! And besides, you know scientists are over-rated anyway...

[Gina322]

Excellent post.

[Imago]

Ooh, ooh, "The Lyin' The Witch and the Wardrobe" was rolling around in my head all weekend! I'm so entertained to see that it occurred to you, too!

:-)

[woodchips]

Like so many other claims made by the GOP candidates, facts are not important. Either she doesn't know anything about the science involved and doesn't care to know, or she does know but is only interested in using it for political advantage. It doesn't matter that she is railing against the very type of research that may benefit "special needs" children. As long as her audience is too uniformed and incurious to know or learn the facts, this issue can be used to "fire up the base", facts be damned.

[loyalreader]

As I see it there are ample benefits for special needs children. In my area there are quite a few, downs syndrome being quite common. It is an old, old problem and being able to change this chemistry etc may be impossible. The world hasen't even cured cancer yet in all cases. Autistic children, deaf, physically handicapped there seems to be progress.
Why is she so interested in research for special needs? Because she has one!!!!
Surprising that the moral Christians can't say this is Gods will. Because it is.

[msjimmied]

My son was diagnosed with autism at age 4. He is now a senior in regular high school with a c- average. The school systems and the government sponsored programs has given me my son back. He talks about his feelings, shows curiosity about the world and is a blessing to me. The programs get better with new knowledge, and the wonderful people and teachers really care. Yes, I have had to spend money for additional help which I felt he needed, nevertheless, I am deeply grateful for what my country has done for us.

Ms Palin is too new to this journey to have developed a true understanding of how our special needs programs are run and to be able to judge their effectiveness. It is way too early for her to talk about changes it needs. Let the scientists and academics do their thing, Ms Palin. The system ain't broke.

[Keith52]

This is not simply stupidity on her part. It is more evidence that the Republican party platform is based on ignorance. Ignorance is their cause. The Republican party has been reduced to mere black and white ideology whereby reason and nuance are seen as "elitist" and base level race baiting, ignorance and hatred have become "real American values". They will need to change the party platform in a fundamental way if they are going to survive future generations.