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Dear Friends,
Today, as if in a trance and reading from a teleprompter, Sarah Palin broke her silence on the tragedy in Tuscon and delivered a prepared speech most likely written by her pastor. The tone and rhetoric it embodied was not the Sarah Palin we have all come to know and despise. Let's take a look at what she was saying as we read between the lines (Sarah's Speech in italics):
Like many, I’ve spent the past few days reflecting on what happened and praying for guidance. After this shocking tragedy, I listened at first puzzled, then with concern, and now with sadness, to the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event.
TRANSLATION: Don't blame me!
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.”
TRANSLATION: Let's spin this to say this is all of America's doing, and not Sarah Palin's gun shooting rhetoric and cross hair target maps. We've already lied and said that it was never intended to be rifle sights but rather Surveyor's symbols (even though our caption did indeed read): "Don't Retreat, Reload".
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.
TRANSLATION: If you're going to blame just Sarah Palin, you have to blame everyone's show I go on to spew my hate filled rhetoric against the Left.
The last election was all about taking responsibility for our country’s future. President Obama and I may not agree on everything, but I know he would join me in affirming the health of our democratic process.
BS ALERT: I do not think so. President Obama said in his inaugural address that America no longer believes that Washington works, and judging from the past 2 years, I think America realizes that No, it doesn't work...not like it should. Don't drag democracy into this, Sarah. Don't hide behind "oh that's just politics."
Two years ago his party was victorious. Last November, the other party won. In both elections the will of the American people was heard, and the peaceful transition of power proved yet again the enduring strength of our Republic.
BS ALERT: The "will" of the America people was NOT heard! Their voice, however, was. And the only thing the American people were saying was "WASHINGTON: ENOUGH ALREADY!" It was NOT a sign that Republicans had won, but proof that Republicans and Teabaggers had instilled enough fear in the American electorate that a few more votes were cast in more districts that were previously represented in Congress by Democrats. But that by no means indicates the "will" of the American people was heard, but only their "voice." There IS a difference!
Vigorous and spirited public debates during elections are among our most cherished traditions.
TRANSLATION: Nothing I say is "hate speech" or "inciteful to violence"...it's simply "vigorous" and "spirited".
And after the election, we shake hands and get back to work, and often both sides find common ground back in D.C. and elsewhere.
BS ALERT: Sarah Palin went back home and quit her job as Governor of Alaska after the election.
If you don’t like a person’s vision for the country, you’re free to debate that vision.
BS ALERT: Sarah Palin doesn't debate a person's "vision", only the "person." There IS a difference and the public outcry since the tragedy in Tuscon is proof of that, and Sarah's comment here is proof that she thinks she has all Americans fooled by her selective wording.
If you don’t like their ideas, you’re free to propose better ideas.
BS ALERT: Sarah has NOT proposed better ideas, and neither has the Republican Party, nor the Tea Party. They have simply complained about the ideas that Democrats DID have and DID pursue and DID implement in the 111th Congress, arguably the most productive Congress in America's history. From hate crimes legislation to equal pay for women to health care for all Americans, Democrats stood firm, moved forward and got the job done that we sent them there to do. Republicans sat on the sidelines and criticized, and the Teabaggers picketed, and used the situation as an opportunity to scare the living daylights out of a swath of the American electorate. It's always easier to incite hatred and fear than to inspire hope and faith. But the next 2 years will show us all that's EXACTLY what happened as we can already see that the Party of NO is going to become the party of HELL NO! No accountability, No responsibility, No ideas.
But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.
BS ALERT: I hope she includes Fox News and Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly and Glen Beck and Sharron Angle and Joe Miller and herself in that comment. Oh wait! She said "journalists", so she certainly couldn't be including Fox News, because they aren't really news, just entertainment. And then she said "pundits" which is what the Republicans call ALL news sources that disagree with them. Nope, she's not including Fox and Ann and Bill and Glen and Sharron and Joe and herself in that comment. Big surprise.
There are those who claim political rhetoric is to blame for the despicable act of this deranged, apparently apolitical criminal. And they claim political debate has somehow gotten more heated just recently. But when was it less heated? Back in those “calm days” when political figures literally settled their differences with dueling pistols?
BS ALERT: That's rich coming from someone whose party has included Sharron Angle's "2nd Amendment Remedies" and warnings that it was hard to buy a gun because the stores were all sold out of them in Nevada. It's rich coming from someone who is guilty of putting up a map of districts with rifle cross hairs and a caption reading, "Don't Retreat, Reload." Come on Sarah...the only thing missing is the guns. Just ask Sharron Angle.
In an ideal world all discourse would be civil and all disagreements cordial. But our Founding Fathers knew they weren’t designing a system for perfect men and women. If men and women were angels, there would be no need for government. Our Founders’ genius was to design a system that helped settle the inevitable conflicts caused by our imperfect passions in civil ways. So, we must condemn violence if our Republic is to endure.
TRANSLATION: Don't blame Sarah Palin for the Tuscon tragedy....after all, "nobody's perfect."
As I said while campaigning for others last March in Arizona during a very heated primary race, “We know violence isn’t the answer. When we ‘take up our arms’, we’re talking about our vote.”
BS ALERT: Yes, Sarah you said that, but only AFTER even your fellow Republicans and the ladies on The View were giving you grief about that damn target map way back when you first put it on your website. And if when you say "take up your arms" you only mean "go out and vote", then why the hell not just say so? Is your constituency SO ignorant that they don't understand the difference? We all know damn well you were trying to "rally the troops" and call in "God's Army" and "take our country back" (by force, if necessary). And I suppose you imagined yourself as some great Christian soldier-type military strategist that was about to pull off a coup and overthrow our government in order to install the theocracy so many of your constituents believe will solve all America's problems.
Well, Sarah that plan has failed. Those guns have backfired, misfired and blown up in your face. Now you have to face the same constituency who blames all Muslims for 9/11 even though it was only carried out by a few extremists and the only thing you have going for you is that you're not a Muslim, but in every other way are indeed an extremist and an alarmist, and the vast majority of Americans have spoken out loudly with this tragedy, YOUR PLAN ISN'T WORKING!
Yes, our debates are full of passion, but we settle our political differences respectfully at the ballot box – as we did just two months ago, and as our Republic enables us to do again in the next election, and the next. That’s who we are as Americans and how we were meant to be. Public discourse and debate isn’t a sign of crisis, but of our enduring strength. It is part of why America is exceptional.
BS ALERT: Public discourse and debate are indeed not signs of a crisis, but dirty politicking is. If a candidate has to resort to the low blow tactics that you employed during your own and during the mid term elections, they are not only out of ideas, at the end of the day, they are also out of ammo and are just shooting off threats, insults, rhetoric and oh yeah! Fear.
No one should be deterred from speaking up and speaking out in peaceful dissent, and we certainly must not be deterred by those who embrace evil and call it good.
TRANSLATION: My map with cross hair targets and the caption that read "Don't Retreat, Reload" is evil, but I'm calling it good.
And we will not be stopped from celebrating the greatness of our country and our foundational freedoms by those who mock its greatness by being intolerant of differing opinion and seeking to muzzle dissent with shrill cries of imagined insults.
BS ALERT: This is rich coming from someone who represents a party who seeks to mock our country's greatness by 1. considering Sarah Palin as qualified to be President, 2. by being intolerant of differing opinions and 3. by seeking to muzzle dissent with shrill cries of imagined FEARS.
Just days before she was shot, Congresswoman Giffords read the First Amendment on the floor of the House. It was a beautiful moment and more than simply “symbolic,” as some claim, to have the Constitution read by our Congress. I am confident she knew that reading our sacred charter of liberty was more than just “symbolic.” But less than a week after Congresswoman Giffords reaffirmed our protected freedoms, another member of Congress announced that he would propose a law that would criminalize speech he found offensive.
TRANSLATION: I don't think shouting "FIRE" in a crowded theater should be outlawed if it means more people vote for Sarah Palin, and I will oppose any effort by the Left to stifle hate speech toward homosexuals, because that's the biggest pull when it comes to getting lazy Teabaggers off their couches and into the voting booths, because let's face it, they sure aren't showing up for the awesome ideas that Republicans and Teabaggers [don't] bring to the table.
It is in the hour when our values are challenged that we must remain resolved to protect those values. Recall how the events of 9-11 challenged our values and we had to fight the tendency to trade our freedoms for perceived security. And so it is today.
TRANSLATION: If I can't scare the hell out of a certain number of Americans, then they won't vote for me!!!
Let us honor those precious lives cut short in Tucson by praying for them and their families and by cherishing their memories. Let us pray for the full recovery of the wounded. And let us pray for our country. In times like this we need God’s guidance and the peace He provides. We need strength to not let the random acts of a criminal turn us against ourselves, or weaken our solid foundation, or provide a pretext to stifle debate.
TRANSLATION: PLEASE don't blame me and my political rhetoric of fear and conquer and divide political strategy, because that's the only reason people vote for me anyway!!!
America must be stronger than the evil we saw displayed last week. We are better than the mindless finger-pointing we endured in the wake of the tragedy. We will come out of this stronger and more united in our desire to peacefully engage in the great debates of our time, to respectfully embrace our differences in a positive manner, and to unite in the knowledge that, though our ideas may be different, we must all strive for a better future for our country. May God bless America.
BS ALERT: Sarah Palin's target map was NOT a "respectful embrace of differences in a positive manner"....it may very well have gotten many folks shot.
Sincerely,
Brian Anthony Bowen
Member of the Worldwide Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community
Music Producer, "The Gemini Enterprise: Stellar Trance"
Blogger, "The Gemini Gayzette"
Author of upcoming new book, "The Bed Keeper: A Biblical Case FOR Gay Marriage"
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