On April 10, 2011, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked President Barack Obama about Sarah Palin’s criticism of his proposal to reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Obama replied:
“I really have no response. Because last I checked, Sarah Palin’s not much of an expert on nuclear issues. If the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff are comfortable with it, I’m probably going to take my advice from them and not from Sarah Palin.”
Biff bang boom done. Obama’s terse non-response, requiring no more effort than swatting away a fly, remains the smartest and most effective rejoinder to Palin on record, and it serves as a reminder that the only response to Sarah Palin is to ignore her.
MSNBC’s Martin Bashir, as you well know, stepped in it last week when he addressed Palin’s “debt=slavery” comment. For what it’s worth, Bashir was absolutely correct in his rebuttal. The fringe right has a bad case of slavery Tourette’s, a mean and offensive obsession with likening the imaginary oppressions of contemporary society to the most horrific, systematized, actual oppression in this country’s history. This comparison serves two simultaneous functions for the right: it casts its membership rolls as victims, often for no greater inconvenience than paying taxes in exchange for services; and it strips from the history of slavery its roots in the systemic racism that still infects American discourse—an obvious benefit for a movement like the tea party, which is comprised largely of white voters despairing at their winnowing political influence.
More from Evan McMurry @ Mediate
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