Palin to NRA: "Waterboarding is Baptism"

She's back. Religion Dispatches reports that Sarah Palin spoke recently at an NRA gathering. In the context of her expected radical right wing ravings, she surprised and pleased her audience with this bon mot:

...Palin assured her audience: “If I were in charge, [our enemies] would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.” At that, the crowd erupted into applause.

Needless to say Palin has been roundly criticized for rhetorically misusing a respected religious rite. In America you just don't bandy religious terminology around, especially in the context of political demagoguery.

Here are some criticisms of Palin's major religio-cultural faux pas.

The Raw Story: Tea Party Demagogues' Strategy - Blame Giffords, Raise Money

We have two political parties in the country: the Democrats and the Demagogues.

The official Tea Party line is that Giffords was "asking for it" and that the Tea Party should now use the shooting to raise money. Yes, that is what is reported.

Tucson tea party founder says Giffords to blame for getting shot
By David Edwards

One tea party leader says that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) has herself to blame for getting shot in the head Saturday.

The Arizona congresswoman shouldn't have attended an event "in full view of the public" if she had security concerns, according to Tucson Tea Party co-founder Trent Humphries.

Giffords warned MSNBC's Chuck Todd last year that there would be "consequences" to violent rhetoric and imagery after Fox News' Sarah Palin released a graphic which placed crosshairs over the congresswoman's district.

"But the thing is that the way that [Palin] has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gunsight over our district," Giffords said. "And when people do that, they’ve gotta realize there’s consequences to that action."

But Humphries thinks Giffords was just speaking out against Palin for political gain.

"It's political gamesmanship," he told the Guardian. "The real case is that she [Giffords] had no security whatsoever at this event. So if she lived under a constant fear of being targeted, if she lived under this constant fear of this rhetoric and hatred that was seething, why would she attend an event in full view of the public with no security whatsoever?"

"For all the stuff they accuse [Palin] of, that gun poster has not done a tenth of the damage to the political discourse as what we're hearing right now."

"There are people who are genuinely confused, scared, and I understand it. But there are also people who are deliberately manipulating this event and tragedy for political ends," Humpries added.

And he may be right. Another tea party group in California has been using the tragedy to raise money.

In an e-mail to supporters this week, the Tea Party Express asked for donations.

"Instead of prayers for the victims and their families, the Left was consumed with using this massacre to score political points by blaming the tea party movement, Gov. Sarah Palin and now Rush Limbaugh," the e-mail said.

"That's why we've asked you for your support. Let's show the Left that instead of us being silenced, that there awful attacks on us will only backfire and that the tea party movement will be stronger than ever!"

"Please, make a contribution online right now to the Tea Party Express," the letter concluded.

Is Sarah Palin the Provoker of Violence or the Victim of a Blood Libel?

Here is what Palin says, her own video from her home studio in Alaska. She won't speak to the press.


Here is the crosshairs graphic Palin circulated including Gifford's district. Crosshairs are only used to depict targets, they unambiguously symbolize aiming with a gun.


We report, you decide. Is Sarah Palin the victim of a blood libel?

Reuters: Sarah Palin Disgracefully Accuses Media of Blood Libel Against Her

Sarah Palin is definitely ignorant of what is a blood libel. From Wikipedia, which Sarah could access, if she wished to take off a minute from her incessant attacks:

Blood libel (also blood accusation) refers to a false accusation or claim that religious minorities, almost always Jews, murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays. Historically, these claims have–alongside those of well poisoning and host desecration–been a major theme in European persecution of Jews.

The libels typically allege that Jews require human blood for the baking of matzos for Passover. The accusations often assert that the blood of Christian children is especially coveted, and historically blood libel claims have often been made to account for otherwise unexplained deaths of children. In some cases, the alleged victim of human sacrifice has become venerated as a martyr, a holy figure around whom a martyr cult might arise. A few of these have been even canonized as saints....

We feel that the profound misuse of this concept by Palin to further her political aims is her most disgraceful act to date.

Sarah Palin accuses critics of "blood libel"

(Reuters) - Prominent Republican Sarah Palin on Wednesday accused critics of "blood libel" by blaming her rhetoric for contributing to the shooting rampage in Tucson that killed six and wounded 14, including Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords.

"Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them," the conservative Tea Party favorite and former Alaska governor said in her first major response to critics.

"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."...more...

Does Sarah Palin Want to Have an Affair With Dennis Prager?

If you look at the way Sarah Palin looks at Dennis Prager in this video from an event on May 24, 2010 at University of Denver, we wonder if there is something going on between them.

Well, now that we have your attention...

At 6:20 into the video, Prager opines: "It is not peace activists who liberated Auschwitz. It is military people who liberated Auschwitz." And then this bag of wind goes on to demagogue against the "Left". "The Left has everything wrong...and that is what this battle is about. It is a heroic battle but we have to win..."

Excuse me Mr. Prager but we do need to make a historical fact clear here. It was the Red Army of the Communist Soviet Union that liberated Auschwitz.

We thought it would be a bit extra-ironic to remind Mr. Prager of this fact by citing it from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum web site:

"On January 27, 1945, the Soviet army entered Auschwitz and liberated more than 7,000 remaining prisoners, who were mostly ill and dying."

Now Mr. Prager, we come from the reality based liberal wing of American Jews. We condemn in no uncertain terms your demagoguery not only, to put it mildly, because it is a load of gibberish, but because we do believe in making decisions based on truth, history, facts and true empathy for our fellow human beings.

It would appear in fact that you, Mr. Prager, "...have everything wrong... and that is what this battle is about..."

Is Tina Fey Jewish?

No, Tina Fey, the actress famous for her Sarah Palin imitation, is not a Jew.

Fey was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia to a Greek American mother and a father of German and Scottish descent.

Tina Fey is married to Jeff Richmond, a composer on SNL. They married in a Greek Orthodox ceremony on June 3, 2001. They have a daughter, Alice Zenobia Richmond who was born on September 10, 2005.

Times' Frank Rich: Is the Tea Party a Terrorist Organization?

They crossed the line and the Times' Frank Rich has called them out for what they are, "The Axis of the Obsessed and Deranged," concluding,

...In his Times article on the Tea Party right, Barstow profiled Pam Stout, a once apolitical Idaho retiree who cast her lot with a Tea Party group allied with Beck’s 9/12 Project, the Birch Society and the Oath Keepers, a rising militia group of veterans and former law enforcement officers who champion disregarding laws they oppose. She frets that “another civil war” may be in the offing. “I don’t see us being the ones to start it,” she told Barstow, “but I would give up my life for my country.”

Whether consciously or coincidentally, Stout was echoing Palin’s memorable final declaration during her appearance at the National Tea Party Convention earlier this month: “I will live, I will die for the people of America, whatever I can do to help.” It’s enough to make you wonder who is palling around with terrorists now.

Is the Tea Party Jewish?

No, the Tea Party has very few Jews as members or supporters.

The Buzzflash Blog wrote this up in January, "The Tea Pary Movement's Jewish Problem." He concludes, "...a seasoned kibitzer might say that if you put all the Jews that have attended Tea Party rallies together, you still wouldn’t have enough for a minion."

The Jewish Week deals with the question this week in, "Tea Party Revolution Could Undermine Republican Jewish Outreach." Their conclusion is, "Jewish voters in general won’t be dramatically affected by the Tea Party movement `because most of them already vote Democratic,' Ginsberg said."

The Weekend of the Tipping Point - Sarah Palin is out and Al Franken is in!

We are just overjoyed to see the Republicans on the run.

Sarah Palin has outright quit!

And Al Franken is our newest Jewish senator!

Can you say, "Tipping Point"?

Good news for America.

Times Blog: Real David Letterman Apologizes Again for Performer David Letterman's Bad Joke - or does he?

Michelle Malkin and other wing-nuts who inhabit the right wing echo chamber utterly confuse TV performances with real life and TV personae with actual people.

That is why they manage to make it seem that jokes told by a performer in a role as a late night comic reflect the comic's personality. Nonsense.

A Times blog reports that DL is doing an apology do-over.

We find tonight what appears to be the real David Letterman trying to apologize to the real Sarah Palin. But, since he does this on his televised show during air-time, the performer DL muddies the waters. He should have called long distance - person-to-person - to Sarah Palin - off the air. But he didn't do that.

Letterman Apologizes — Again — to Governor Palin and Her Family
By Bill Carter

David Letterman directly apologized to Gov. Sarah Palin and her daughters on his program Monday night, saying he took responsibility for a joke that had offended Ms. Palin, her family and her supporters.

Mr. Letterman opened the desk portion of his show with the apology, in which he said he wanted to say he was sorry to “the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke.” Two weeks ago on his “Late Show” program on CBS, he had joked about Governor Palin’s attending a Yankee game with her daughter.

The joke, in which Mr. Letterman seemingly confused Willow, who is 14 and attended a Yankee game with Governor Palin that week, with Bristol, who is 18 and an unwed mother, had to do with the Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez impregnating Ms. Palin’s daughter.

Last week Mr. Letterman somewhat defiantly said that there was a misperception going on and that he would never make a sexually charged joke about a 14-year old. But he never expressly explained that he had inadvertently confused the two Palin daughters.

Monday he acknowledged that as the host of the program it was his responsibility to get the joke right. “I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception.”

He also insisted he was confused about the daughters. “I was told at the time she was there with Rudy Giuliani,” Mr. Letterman said. “I should have made the joke about Rudy.”

The issue has been seized upon by supporters of Ms. Palin, who have called for everything from a boycott of Mr. Letterman’s advertisers to his outright firing. They have planned a rally for Tuesday at Mr. Letterman’s theater on Broadway in Manhattan.

Some media commentators said that Mr. Letterman was keeping the controversy alive for the sake of ratings, but he seemed to make a special effort Monday to get the apology right. He even taped it a second time after he mistakenly referred to Bristol Palin once as “Brooke” in the first effort.

CBS executives said Monday that they had exercised no pressure on the late-night star to offer any apology and that they had seen no real impact on advertisers from the protests.

One advertiser, Embassy Suites Hotels, sent word to Ms. Palin’s supporters that it had ceased advertising on CBS’s Web site and did not want to be associated in any way with Mr. Letterman’s comments.

Is Mark Begich Jewish?

No Mark Begich, who has defeated Ted Stevens in the Senate race in Alaska, is not a Jew.

Begich, is a Roman Catholic. He was born in Anchorage, the fourth child of six born to Nick and Pegge Begich. His paternal grandfather John Begich immigrated to the United States from Croatia in 1911. Although he took continuing education classes at University of Alaska in Anchorage, Begich will be the only U.S. Senator without a college degree.

One news report narrates the following exchange during the campaign.

SOLDOTNA, Alaska -- U.S. Senate candidate and Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich appeared at a forum ...put on by the Kenai and Soldotna Chambers of Commerce.

The forum got pretty heated at times, especially when fellow candidate Libertarian Bob Bird brought up Begich's religious views.

"The pope and the bishop have said Catholics that support abortion rights should not present themselves for communion," said Bob Bird, a candidate for U.S. Senate. "I'm going to simply say this: If you are not a Catholic Mark, I can respect that, but I heard you had a baptism in the family at St. Patrick's Cathedral. So I'm going to simply ask you, are you a Catholic, and the next thing I'm going to answer is would you present yourself for communion?"

Begich searched for a polite way to respond.

"First off, I'm a Catholic and I take communion," Begich said. "But let me say one other thing Bob. That the baptism you're talking about is my child's, and for you to do that and now bring that into this campaign is the lowest I've ever seen in any campaign."

Park Slope Brooklyn New York Ladies Go Palin Around! for a Barack Fundraiser

Yes Park Slope ladies raised money for Barack by gettin' Palin hairstyles.

A truly Brooklyn way to support their candidate!

Palin around! Sarah lookalikes raise big bucks — and hair — for Barack

The Politicrasher

Politicrasher: Imitation may be the most sincere form of flattery in “real America,” but in Park Slope, the liberal ladies who dressed up like Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin on Saturday decided it’s definitely not sincere and it’s certainly not flattery. more

New Republic: Palin Worse Than Nixon

H.T. to Henry for sending me this article from the New Republic which he retitles, "The New Dumber Nixon."

Barracuda by Noam Scheiber: The resentments of Sarah Palin.

My response is blunt,

Nice dirt but Palin is burnt toast and the culture wars have ended with the defeat of the right.

Electoral shutout.

Why is Palin Not Humiliated and Crawling Under a Rock?

I had students like Palin, so probably did most teachers.

They never opened the book and never answered the assignment or exam questions – they were pure fakers. In college after a few weeks, once they found out that they were failin’ on account of that fakery, wink wink, they dropped my course and never showed up again.

See, everybody went to school and so everybody knew a faker who walked away and hid when they were found out.

But not Sarah Palin. She (like George W.) is different.

Palin is destructive to our culture and all that we worked to build up in our educational systems. She needs to be humiliated and the message driven home that nobody can fake their way to positions of responsibility in a society that rewards merit and hard work.

Will that happen? Yes and no. Yes among those who care about quality. No among the slacker populace that has spread under the Bush delusion.

And now - how do you understand the nearly 100% solid block of Bush-Palin backers in our Orthodox community?

This is a community that grew up out of academic blood sweat and tears – nobel prizes and 800 SATs; where knowledge of the Mishnah and Talmud and Codes and Commentaries and Responsa is valued above all wealth and the diligent study of Torah day and night is cherished above all activities.

What happened?

Where did all that "respect for learning" go?

Beats me.

Sarah Palin - a pit bull with lipstick

This is what a pitbull with lipstick looks like. Hey, don't blame me. The visualization came directly from the bizarre candidate and hockey mom Sarah Palin. She cracked the joke in a nationally televised political speech to America. Blame her.