Our Political Quote of the Day comes from The Economist’s blog, which comments on the latest example of partisan mental and values gynmastics performed to justify yet another lowered notch in America’s ends-justify-the-means politics. It’s also reflects a controversy that is yet another chapter in the ongoing political de-mainstreaming of Republican Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Actually the best quote of the day is the post’s headline: New Frontiers In Sore Loserdom:
THIS may be the first case of a politician being asked to resign over something his opponent did. On Wednesday, the Department of Justice moved to toss out charges against Ted Stevens, the 40-year senator who was convincted on seven counts of corruption a week before the November 2008 elections. It wasn’t that Mr Stevens was guiltess; prosecutors had botched the case.
The reaction to this from Alaska’s Republicans was strange, but within the realms of partisan nonsense: they demanded that Mark Begich, the Democrat who’d defeated Mr Stevens, resign his office. But what was Sarah Palin, who came a few million votes short of the vice presidency, thinking?
That comment underlines Palin’s problem: to many Americans who don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or write for weblogs (and this includes some Republicans as campaign 2008 proved) the bigger question is becoming: Is Palin thinking? Is she anticipating the consequences of her remarks? She seems to shoot from the lip as quickly as she shoots her hunting rifle. Only, with her rifle she has better aim.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.