Last June, soon-to-be ex-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin praised Michael Reagan, lauding his propensity to "to call it like he sees it, and to screw political correctness that some would expect him to have to adhere to." As she headed out the door six weeks later, Palin promised to be "less politically correct" after her leaving office. Then after the Ft. Hood shootings in November, Palin said "profile away!" because such political correctness "could be our downfall."
As it turns out, Palin's crusade against political correctness was a bogus one. As her manufactured outrage over Rahm Emanuel's closed-door comments show, Sarah Palin's new mantra is "political correctness for me, not thee."
On Tuesday, Palin took to Facebook to call for Emanuel's resignation following a Wall Street Journal story that the White House chief of staff called liberal activists "f**king retarded" during a meeting last August. But while Emanuel already apologized last week to Special Olympics Chairman and CEO Tim Shriver, Palin demanded his head on behalf of her son and those like him:
"Just as we'd be appalled if any public figure of Rahm's stature ever used the "N-word" or other such inappropriate language, Rahm's slur on all God's children with cognitive and developmental disabilities - and the people who love them - is unacceptable, and it's heartbreaking."
Of course, in two days Sarah Palin will collect a $115,000 pay day speaking to those who traffic in the "N-word" at the National Tea Party Convention.
For Palin, who called for the merger of the Tea Party movement and the Republican Party, the audience will be quite familiar. During the 2008 campaign, attendees at McCain-Palin events displayed toy monkeys to represent her African-American opponent. Self-proclaimed Tea Party "founder" Dale Robertson carried a large sign bearing the N-word at one of the movement's events. Only last week, Robertson distributed a fundraising email which portrayed President Obama as a pimp. It's not hard to imagine that the assembled Tea Baggers would buy "Obama Waffles" and sing along to the words of the "Barack the Magic Negro" song so beloved by Rush Limbaugh and would-be Republican National Committee chairman Chip Saltsman. Still, as Palin wrote in her USA Today op-ed Tuesday:
"They have the courage to stand up and speak out.
Their vision is what drew me to the Tea Party movement. They believe in the same principles that guided my work in public service..."
No doubt, the conservative commentariat will join Sarah Palin's call for Rahm Emanuel's ouster. Sadly, that may be difficult to do.
Daily Caller founder and Fox New contributor Tucker Carlson, for example, called Canada "a retarded cousin" of the United States. Ann Coulter deemed former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan "retarded." As for Nancy Pelosi, Coulter wrote last February:
"But as long as the nation is obsessed with historic milestones, is no one going to remark on what a great country it is where a mentally retarded woman can become speaker of the house?"
Her political allies, too, may be in an awkward position. Take Texas Senator John Cornyn. Today, the head of the National Republican Senate Committee agreed with Palin that the GOP must accommodate the Tea Baggers, arguing that it's "important that we try to channel these relative newcomers to the political process through our primaries so that they can have an impact on who's nominated." But back in 2005, Cornyn took to the floor of the Senate to condone threats against judges for, among otherwise, barring the death penalty in a case where "the defendant was mildly mentally retarded."
"And I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters, on some occasions, where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in, engage in violence."
In most quarters, threatening judges is not politically correct. No doubt, the old Sarah Palin would have had no problem with it.
But the new Sarah Palin has a new mantra: "Politically correct away!"
The image above is from the new Sarah Palin magazine available on store shelves now!
This piece also appears at Perrspectives.
