# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/81 "2009-07-29T22:18:48Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Again, nonsense. And you should know it. You are usually a more rational person. > > If a press is to be trusted with so-called “freedom of the press”, the reason for that has to do with the value of that press shining a spotlight on ugly truths for all to see. Else, government can simply keep its citizens in ignorance (as has happened in any number of places in recent history). But if the value you have as a member of the media is that you display ugly truths, then it is vitally important that the things you say ARE truths. It is imcumbent upon you to avoid spreading things you know are untrue, or strongly suspect are untrue, just as it is incumbent upon a police officer to always tell the truth so that, on the witness stand, the finder of fact can believe him in situations of “he said, she said.” > > Now, in the process of shining that spotlight, you don’t have to be particularly nice. If you want to rant about how the President is going to socialize medicine, that’s fine. If you want to highlight irrelevancies about what is going on in our military actions overseas, fine. But continuing to spread the nonsense that the President is not a “naturally born citizen” because he really was born in Africa, or that Trig Palin’s mother is really Sarah Palin (note that one, it’s germane to the discussion 😉 ) is NOT fulfilling that role. And that is what Sarah Palin is talking about, though as I pointed out, I doubt that she’s really upset about media lying in a general sense, but rather as it personally involves her, in her viewpoint. Oh, please, **DSYoungEsq** , you’re being very legalistic here–in the bad way. She could easily have made this argument: “We value the press as a watchdog over our government, and because we do so, the press must cherish and protect its credibility,” without the gratuitous shout-out to the troops. And that’s the objection. Her smarmy innuendo that people who disagree with her or frustrate her political aspirations–an increasingly large fraction of the American people–are unpatriotic quislings. It is the cheap and cheapening identification of Sarah Palin with the loyalty and sacrifice of our servicemembers. It is using men and women who shoulder the burdens and risks of military service as a marketing gimmick. This is what offends. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/82 "2009-07-29T22:21:18Z")
> [@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. He doesn’t have the legs to be a Miss Alaska contender, I’m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![Batfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Batfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batfish)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/83 "2009-07-29T22:23:25Z")
The more you guys hate her the more the Republican base loves her. It may be the only reason. ---
**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, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/84 "2009-07-29T22:26:58Z")
> [@Batfish](#): > > The more you guys hate her the more the Republican base loves her. It may be the only reason. Sounds good to me. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/85 "2009-07-29T22:28:21Z")
Although if the media really wanted to get her panties in a bunch, they would grant Sarah Palin, now just a stay-at-home mom in Alaska’s meth manufacturing hub, her putative wish: to have no longer her doorstep darkened with pressmen and their reporter’s notebooks and cameramen filming B-roll footage. Does anybody doubt that this would finally make Sarah Palin happy and grant her the peace and serenity she has long sought? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/86 "2009-07-29T23:31:35Z")
In honor of the American real estate agent, I pledge to quit eating anchovies. It makes as much sense. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/87 "2009-07-30T00:23:44Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Oh, please, **DSYoungEsq** , you’re being very legalistic here–in the bad way. She could easily have made this argument: “We value the press as a watchdog over our government, and because we do so, the press must cherish and protect its credibility,” without the gratuitous shout-out to the troops. > > And that’s the objection. Her smarmy innuendo that people who disagree with her or frustrate her political aspirations–an increasingly large fraction of the American people–are unpatriotic quislings. It is the cheap and cheapening identification of Sarah Palin with the loyalty and sacrifice of our servicemembers. It is using men and women who shoulder the burdens and risks of military service as a marketing gimmick. > > This is what offends. \ Sometimes, you people drive me to distraction. I am NOT defending her. I am EXPLAINING what she was saying, which was the point of the OP. Several posters have opined that what she said was either incomprehensible, or was nothing more than an illogical and irrelevant way to drag the troops in. My entire point is that it is not incomprehensible, nor is it an entirely disconnected set of thoughts. I have never said it was a GOOD thing to say, nor that it was said WELL. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/88 "2009-07-30T00:51:13Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > I have never said it was a GOOD thing to say, nor that it was said WELL. :smack: Thing is, even damning her with faint praise is being too kind. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/89 "2009-07-30T05:04:44Z")
> [@Spiff](#): > > 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… Your link didn’t work (for me anyway), but this one does [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOC7WrPA1bA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOC7WrPA1bA) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/90 "2009-07-30T05:12:13Z")
> [@Batfish](#): > > The more you guys hate her the more the Republican base loves her. It may be the only reason. The problem is, the Republican base is not very large, and they’re actively trying to make it smaller. ---
**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 30, 2009, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/91 "2009-07-30T13:03:55Z")
> [@](#): > > The problem is, the Republican base is not very large, and they’re actively trying to make it smaller. And that’s a bad thing? Actually, all smarminess aside, I – a lifelong very liberal Democrat – do long for a strong loyal opposition GOP. As much as I identify with the Democratic Party, I don’t want to live in a one-party country. An intelligent counter-balance is nice to have … emphasis on intelligent, not rabid name-calling. ---
**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 30, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/92 "2009-07-30T15:57:24Z")
> [@Spiff](#): > > As much as I identify with the Democratic Party, I don’t want to live in a one-party country. Not your only options. You could get a genuinely progressive party (formed out of the left wing of the Democratic Party) and a moderate centrist party (formed out of the Blue Dogs and moderate Republicans) and a right-wing Party (formed out of fecal matter). ---
**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 30, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/93 "2009-07-30T16:28:16Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Not your only options. You could get a genuinely progressive party (formed out of the left wing of the Democratic Party) and a moderate centrist party (formed out of the Blue Dogs and moderate Republicans) and a right-wing Party (formed out of fecal matter). This could indeed be the system we will have here soon here in the U.S. And I’d be O.K. with that. It does have the drawback that the FMP (Fecal Matter Party) would represent the blue southern states (and maybe Alaska), and that they would seceed from the union. I have mixed feelings about that scenario… ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/94 "2009-07-30T17:27:30Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Not your only options. You could get a genuinely progressive party (formed out of the left wing of the Democratic Party) and a moderate centrist party (formed out of the Blue Dogs and moderate Republicans) and a right-wing Party **(formed out of fecal matter)**. Best. Parenthetical. EVAH. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/95 "2009-08-02T02:47:47Z")
It sounds to me like she’s practicing a tactic popular with poorly-informed or unprepared debaters, whereby anyone confused by a confusing statement is either stupid, or maybe part of the unpatriotic opposition. Right-wing radio host Ken Hamblin once rambled ca. 1993 on _Politically Incorrect w/Bill Maher_ that he hoped that the Clinton administration wouldn’t bring back “microwave ovens”. When Maher admitted, “You lost me”, Hamblin impatiently “explained” that he was referring to the Nazis’ use of ovens for cremation of concentration camp prisoners. It’s our fault if we don’t understand her. If she doesn’t understand us, it’s “gotcha” journalism. ---
**Author:** ![nameless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/779978/32.png) [@nameless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nameless)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/96 "2009-08-02T07:00:38Z")
Vicious rumor or breaking story? [From here.](http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=110028619206&h=WUoFu&u=xl_aI&ref=nf) > [@AlaskaReport](#): > > AlaskaReport has learned today that Todd Palin and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin are to divorce. Multiple sources in Wasilla and Anchorage (including a former Palin staffer) have confirmed the split. Don’t know anything about the source, but it would make everything fit together. Meg Stapleton (Palin’s PR person) has already denied it, so who knows… ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/97 "2009-08-02T07:07:05Z")
> [@nameless](#): > > Vicious rumor or breaking story? > > [From here.](http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=110028619206&h=WUoFu&u=xl_aI&ref=nf) > > Don’t know anything about the source, but it would make everything fit together. Meg Stapleton (Palin’s PR person) has already denied it, so who knows… You got her spokesperson’s name wrong. According to my sources, her name is **Magnum Staplegun**. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/98 "2009-08-02T13:29:13Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > You got her spokesperson’s name wrong. According to my sources, her name is **Magnum Staplegun**. Nah, that would only be if she was Palin’s daughter. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/99 "2009-08-02T13:52:55Z")
I’m not sure what a speculative impending divorce has to do with this topic, (or whether this topic has any point any more), but let’s leave the gossip posts to MPSIMS or the BBQ Pit as appropriate. [/Modding] ---
**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:** [August 2, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-to-media-so-how-about-in-honor-of-the-american-soldier-you-quit-making-up-things/504540/100 "2009-08-02T13:57:47Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I’m not sure what a speculative impending divorce has to do with this topic, (or whether this topic has any point any more), but let’s leave the gossip posts to MPSIMS or the BBQ Pit as appropriate. > > [/Modding] Huh? So are you moving this to MPSIMS or BBQ Pit, or what? Or are you just passing a casual observation, or some gas, in your official Mod mode? If this isn;t about the media making shit up (or not) about public figures, and specifically Palin, then I don’t know jack. [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=4) [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=6)