Friday, January 22, 2016

The high cost of Sarah Palin's endorsement

Let's look at what Donald Trump actually got from Sarah Palin's endorsement this week beyond a sharp kick in the groin to Ted Cruz, whom she had endorsed in his 2012 senate campaign.

Here's what Trump's got so far:  two days and counting of being upstaged by Palin and her dysfunctional family.   First, Palin's whole appearance and her shrill, incoherent speech left The Donald standing off to the side, keeping a bland expression on his face, hands folded in front of him, and nodding from time to time.    The Donald playing second fiddle?What must that have cost him in self-control?

Meanwhile, there stood screeching Sarah, wearing a black and white jacket that had little spangly things all over that caught the sunshine and shimmered constantly -- described by the inimitable Charlie Pierce as "looking like she had shot a disco porcupine."

But that was only the visual.   Two things being talked about from her endorsement speech:   (1)  Its greater than usual incoherent gibberish, which prompted Rush Limbaugh, on his radio show the next day, to provide a translation of what she was trying to say.

(2)  The latest Palin family scandal involving guns and violence.  Just hours before her speech, son Track was arrested on charges of domestic violence and handling a firearm while drunk.   OK, so Sarah gets a pass for being a little less coherent than usual that day.   But then the next day, she addressed "the elephant in the room" at a Trump rally in Oklahoma.   Only it wasn't so much about her family troubles.   See, Track is an Iraq war veteran, so Mama Grizzly turned the whole matter into President Obama's fault.**

Amazingly, she turned it into a victim story, not of the poor girlfriend beaten by drunken Track, but of Track himself -- who, like other veterans "come home a little bit different," affected by the war.    Then she brings up PTSD, implying without actually saying so that this is Track's problem and why he did what he did.   And that's Obama's fault, because all these brave men come home wondering if he really understands what it's like for them.

OK.  Stop right there.    If Track has PTSD, she should be trying to get him some help, not politicizing his problems.   And take away his guns.   Did we mention that he threatened to kill himself with the rifle he was holding after he beat the girlfriend?   This happened in Sarah Palin's own home, where Track is living.   So she has a drunk son who has demonstrated his violence who may or may not have PTSD or some other mental problems -- and she's letting him have access to guns in her own home?

This is the woman whose judgment was potentially the next in line to have her finger on the nuclear weapons if she and McCain had been elected in 2008?

There has been swift and loud backlash from veterans and PTSD victims, saying even if he has such a diagnosis, it's no excuse for such behavior.   In fact, they are far, far more likely to commit suicide (22 of them do every day) than to harm anyone else.  And they resent Palin's turning their traumatic pathology into a political sleight of hand trick to deflect attention from domestic violence in her family.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump, I suppose, is still standing off to the side, with hands folded and a bland smile on his face, nodding while
 
 * * * Sarah Palin becomes the show* * *    

All for the price of a dubious endorsement.  Ted Cruz should thank his lucky stars.

Ralph 

** I suppose it's also Obama's fault that daughter Bristol has recently had her second child without being married to either of the fathers -- although I don't see even Sarah's twisted logic working that one out.   Perhaps there just wasn't time to work that one into the bash-Obama speech.   BTW:  What happened to Bristol's position as spokesperson for the Campaign Against Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy?   That was before the second pregnancy.  Didn't she listen to herself?   I'm just saying . . . 

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