Screwy Logic? You Betcha, Governor!

In her sometimes clumsy tributes to regular folks during the vice presidential debate, Sarah Palin put a halo on teachers. She was speaking of Jill Biden when she said, "God bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right?''

From this I took away two things.

One, that at least this one professor at an East Coast institution of learning -- Jill Biden teaches college English -- is exempt from Palin's Roll Call of Contempt, which otherwise includes intellectuals, the Ivy League schools they attend, and pretty much the entire East Coast.

The other is teachers' pay. By saying Jill Biden would have her reward in heaven, I assumed Palin meant that she and other teachers wouldn't be getting it in more tangible currency here on earth.

But no! Palin went on: "I say, too, with education, America needs to be putting a lot more focus on that and our schools have got to be really ramped up in terms of the funding that they deserve. Teachers deserve to be paid more.''

You'll get no argument from me there. But wait: what pays teachers' salaries? Taxes! And where was Palin a few moments later in the debate? Back in her anti-tax groove. Taxes aren't patriotic. Taxes are bad. Taxes have to be cut, cut, cut. Did I say taxes are bad? Well, darn it, they are.

Maybe in Alaska, teachers get paid in moose stew. Here in the lower 48, public school teachers get paid with the public's tax dollars.

Follow Patt Morrison on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Op-ed columnist

Comments

[UncleSamb]

Good point. Also - going off topic - why hasn't anyone brought up the point that when the "mavericks" have gone against their party to "do what's right with the country," they are in fact siding with the Democrats! Essentially what they are saying in those instances is that their party is doing the WRONG thing for the country, and the Democrats are doing what is RIGHT. Why should Obama buck his party, if even the opposition acknowledges that the Dems are trying to do right by the people?

[MyDogJack]

Hoorah Yes! This occurred to me while I watched the VP debate. The whole maverick line is wearing thin and simply means that the Dems are right! The circular way that Palin/McSame talks is dizzying. Also, they hammer away that they are bipartisan but I have yet to see them ever ACT that way.

[gettysburg]

It doesn't matter. Tomorrow she can just say she never said it. It's right out of the Cheney/McCain Denial playbook.

[demfriend]

I never hit five colleges to get my education and I read everything I can and can name the source and all. I listened to Palin and I cannot call her Sarah as I don't want to be that familiar, and I heard someone who still thinks her acting will get her somewhere closer to big time. She hasn't done the back ground work and her excuse for not knowing more was the time frame she had, five weeks. I am sorry but my expectations of someone holding an elected job at a state level should be basic knowledge of the Constitution and if applying for any job you really should know what it entails. Her obvious lack of knowledge of the VP job and what she believes it to be said that she has surface understanding only and cannot be bothered to learn more. She has not even the basic understanding of the troop levels in the areas of war our country is involved in currently and she has a son serving now, there. In her obvious lack of basic knowledge and understanding of the national and international levels of interactions and how they are done leaves me thinking she has only paid attention to the working of this current admiistration and how they have done so much that has damaged our country at home and abroad and she thinks it is all ok. If

[Egghead]

Patt, once again you say in a few words exactly what needs to be said.

Palin does, however, demonstrate the limits of education. She's been to five colleges, and none of the professors seem to have made the slightest dent in her colossal ignorance.

[azteacher]

I watched the debate with another teacher friend, and the second Palin uttered those words, "God bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right?'', I felt a collective cringe from the millions of teachers around the USA. We don't want to be paid what we deserve in angel's kisses and daisy chains, money and adequate benefits would suffice. Sarah, thanks, but no thanks. You just don't begin to get it.

[ORSunshine]

That's the beautiful part of being a Republican... apparently you can spew nonsense and no one in your party questions it.

Sigh.

[GOP4MoreTears]

Ms. Morrison, You've knocked one out of the ball-park, what you have eloquently spoke to is a simple truth-in-fact, the logic seems somehow to escape many. I would like to add, speaking to energy and natural resources, I believe our greatest *resource* is our children, teaching them proper critical thinking skills is of primary import.