# Palin to media: So how about in honor of the American soldier, you quit making up things **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 28, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540 "2009-07-28T12:47:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![haymarketmartyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/35a633/32.png) [@haymarketmartyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/haymarketmartyr)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/61 "2009-07-28T19:30:39Z")
I fondly hope that Sarah Palin runs for President in 2012 - either as the Republican nominee or even better as an Independent candidate. It will be 1964 all over again. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/62 "2009-07-28T19:49:34Z")
> [@](#): > > You represent what could and should be a respected and honest profession that could and should be a cornerstone of our democracy. Democracy depends on you. That is why our troops are willing to die for you. So, how about in honor of the American soldier you quit making things up. American solidiers don’t just sacrifice for journalists. At one time they died by the thousands to preserve the very Union. So, how about in honor of the American soldier, you actually serve out your term as Governor of one of the States of this great Union? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/63 "2009-07-28T19:53:18Z")
I was kind of hoping she would say, “You won’t have Palin to kick around anymore!” ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/64 "2009-07-28T20:23:58Z")
FYI: William Shatner on The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien turning the tortured prose in Palin’s resignation speech into beat poetry: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol6GxAYw2gM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol6GxAYw2gM) Funny stuff… ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/65 "2009-07-28T20:26:01Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > I actually agree with you about her intent in the statement. Let’s see - she called out the media for “making up things”. I can’t say I disagree with her, but I’m sure she wasn’t intentionally pointing her finger at FOX and AM Radio. 😉 (I’m gonna start calling that the “you betcha’” smiley.) ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/66 "2009-07-28T20:35:41Z")
It would be great if the MSM would start referring to this speech as “Palin’s vicious attack on Fox news,” and praise her to the skies for taking them to task, at long last, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/67 "2009-07-28T20:35:54Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Let’s see - she called out the media for “making up things”. I can’t say I disagree with her, but I’m sure she wasn’t intentionally pointing her finger at FOX and AM Radio. 😉 (I’m gonna start calling that the “you betcha’” smiley.) I think I saw sparkles! How can I donate to your campaign? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/68 "2009-07-28T20:38:18Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Let’s see - she called out the media for “making up things”. I can’t say I disagree with her, but I’m sure she wasn’t intentionally pointing her finger at FOX and AM Radio. 😉 (I’m gonna start calling that the “you betcha’” smiley.) I am not saying anything about the truthiness of her statement. Just the intent. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/69 "2009-07-28T20:40:15Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > I’d assert that I had no trouble understanding the meaning, but I’m not sure that’s something I want to admit. :eek: :smack: Don’t feel bad. Until I saw the quote in **Sinajon** ’s “context,” I had literally no idea what she was even trying to say; it was a baffling non-sequitur. Now, like you, I at least see that there _was_ another dot of sorts, to which she was straining desperately with her fat crayon to connect. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/70 "2009-07-28T20:48:14Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Her comment would be nonsense, if that was her comment. But you are misquoting, missummarizing, and mischaracterizing it, because of your feelings about ex-Gov. Palin. > > A better summary: our troops fight to keep democracy strong in America; democracy also requires a free press, which is why you get to print what you want without much interference from government, so do so responsibly, in honor of those who keep you able to do it. > > Just because Sarah Palin is an idiot doesn’t make everything she says idiotic, just as the fact you are a Moderator doesn’t make everything you do jack-booted. 😉 Without the soldiers, Iraq and Vietnam would be impeding our freedom of press right now. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/71 "2009-07-28T22:08:35Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Without the soldiers, Iraq and Vietnam would be impeding our freedom of press right now. Don’t forget Grenada and Panama. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/72 "2009-07-28T22:11:03Z")
Say, how’s that Grenada Memorial coming along, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/73 "2009-07-29T13:46:33Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > All I know is there was a time when I really _wanted_ to like her. When I heard the GOP VP candidate was a female governor from Alaska, I had high hopes for a tough no-nonsense pragmatism mingled with the ability to consensus-build. > > Now if I listen to her for more then ten seconds, I become irritated on an instinctive level. Whether or not she _is_ dumb, she sure _sounds_ dumb, and it puts me off. It really is one of those confounding things. The more I see/hear her, the more I wonder how ANYONE - even the most committed conservative/Republican - could think her more than a mediocrity. Yet ostensibly intelligent people seem to think she is fit for some position of considerable authority/responsibility. It seems to me that the overly emotive and intentionally “down-home” manner in which she phrases and expresses things - would insult even those to whom the remarks are targeted. It is truly confounding, to see the success of someone whose appeal you cannot imagine. Heck, I could imagine her appeal as a commentator of a certain point of view. But to imagine that anyone would actually want her making decisions and developing policy? I guess they must think governing is a pretty simple thing, that a very average person could do a better job than someone with greater experience, intelligence, intellectual curiosity, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/74 "2009-07-29T14:56:30Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Her comment would be nonsense, if that was her comment. But you are misquoting, missummarizing, and mischaracterizing it, because of your feelings about ex-Gov. Palin. > > A better summary: our troops fight to keep democracy strong in America; democracy also requires a free press, which is why you get to print what you want without much interference from government, so do so responsibly, in honor of those who keep you able to do it. > > Just because Sarah Palin is an idiot doesn’t make everything she says idiotic, just as the fact you are a Moderator doesn’t make everything you do jack-booted. 😉 Her statement would be fine if that were, in fact, the intended message. Still a bit condescending and simplistic (an argument could be made that a strong, contentious press is _at least_ as much a founding principle of this country as a strong military), but pretty much par for the course for politicians in the Bush era. What has people so steamed is that she is clearly implying more than a rote “respect our troops” message. She has made a habit of blaming the media for just about everything that has gone wrong in her life, and this is a not-so-veiled attempt to claim that criticism of _her, specifically_ by the news is equivalent to criticism of the troops. The goal is, very obviously, to make her supporters (and, more importantly, those on the fence about her), instinctively think: “How dare they attack Sarah Palin! _How dare they attack the troops!_” It’s exactly the same rhetorical game that Bush and Cheney played for eight years, obliquely linking critical media coverage to sacred cows such as God or the troops - although BushCo did a better job, which just makes it all the more frustrating when otherwise-intelligent folks like yourself fall for Palin’s bit. But the basic concept is the same: indirectly link yourself (or your policies, in the case of Bush) to the symbols of America itself, and attacks on you will _appear to be_ attack on America, at least in the minds of your fans. I mean, ignore the first part of the statement for a sec. Do you _really_ think that when Palin tells the media to “quit making up things,” that she’s referring to Fox News? That she’s referring to media coverage of Birthers or 9/11 conspiracy theorists? That she’s referring to the media’s complete abjuration of their fact-finding duties during the run-up to the Iraq War? Not a chance in hell. She’s referring to criticism of Sarah Palin. And by jumping straight to “making up things,” she even manages to make it sound like everything that durned media has been saying is a lie, despite the fact that, as other posters have shown in this thread, the vast majority of criticism sent Palin’s way is reality-based. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/75 "2009-07-29T21:06:06Z")
**Tanbarkie** , there is no question Sarah Palin’s comments about a lying media were directed at her perception that there are members of the media lying about her. I’ve never said anything different. And there is no question that she was attempting, without much valid reason, to bring the issue of our soldiers into the discussion, as a gratuitous attempt at flag-waving. I’ve never said anything different. But the OP asked what her meaning was with the statement, and I’ve answered that. It really isn’t that hard to follow what she was saying. Further, some people, including you in your post, have asserted that she’s trying to get people to think that the media are somehow attacking soldiers or something. That’s clearly NOT the case; it’s not even close to a decent breakdown of what she said. The use of the troops was simply to wave the flag and try to make the media seem un-American because they lie about her, which is not the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Dick\_Dastardly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@Dick\_Dastardly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dick_Dastardly)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/76 "2009-07-29T21:51:38Z")
> [@Spiff](#): > > Palin had this message to the media in her “Today, I become a quitter” speech: > > “So how about in honor of the American soldier, you quit making up things.” > > What in blazes was she talking about? > > I either missed something in the 24/7 news cycle, or I’m just flunking Palintology 101. > > Can someone enlighten me? She composed the speech by throwing culture war stock phrases into a hat and dumping it upside down on a copy of _The Paranoid Style in American Politics._ The bit about the soldier was just a way of squeezing a bit of “we real Americans love and support our military and you liberals hate them and want them to die” rabble-rousing into the speech. A poorly crafted line in another looney tune speech from her. Captain Kirk got it perfectly om the TV the other night. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/77 "2009-07-29T21:54:17Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > American solidiers don’t just sacrifice for journalists. At one time they died by the thousands to preserve the very Union. > > So, how about in honor of the American soldier, you actually serve out your term as Governor of one of the States of this great Union? I said this in the pit thread about her earlier announcement, and I’ll say it here: Sarah Palin sucked at her job as governor of Alaska, and a hamster could do it better. She is doing the state of Alaska a great service by resigning. I wish more politicians who sucked at their jobs resigned. If our (Jersey City) mayor ([Healy](http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/jersey_city_residents_call_for.html)) had the decency to resign, I would buy him a beer. I don’t understand everyone’s confusion about “why she quit.” She couldn’t handle the job. Of course she’s going to blather on incomprehensibly. That’s part of her incompetence. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/78 "2009-07-29T22:06:14Z")
I really wish the media would stop covering this bitch. She is eventually going to weasel her way into some legitimacy, and the thought of her holding any public office chills me to the bone. I’d rather have Bush back. I’m pretty sure he was a damn sight smarter than her and no I’m not joking. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/79 "2009-07-29T22:09:33Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I really wish the media would stop covering this bitch. She is eventually going to weasel her way into some legitimacy, and the thought of her holding any public office chills me to the bone. I’d rather have Bush back. I’m pretty sure he was a damn sight smarter than her and no I’m not joking. I could agree with making Bush Governor of Alaska. Or you could put him in any other role Palin’s held, and I’d be fine with any of them. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/80 "2009-07-29T22:17:58Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > I could agree with making Bush Governor of Alaska. Or you could put him in any other role Palin’s held, and I’d be fine with any of them. Like Miss Wasilla? I bet he’d look fetching in a sash. -Joe [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540.md?page=5)