As you may have heard, former Republican vice-presidential nominee and future presidential candidate Sarah Palin today decided it would be a good idea, on the very day of the memorial service for the victims of a deranged, ideologically incoherent lunatic’s murderous rampage in Arizona, to respond to her critics by accusing them of “manufacturing a blood libel” against her. In classic Palin fashion, she further inflamed the situation by the use of that loaded term. In classic Palin fashion, she played the victim — always her favorite and most compelling role — even in a situation where there are actual victims lying dead or wounded who deserve the public’s attention far more than she. In classic Palin fashion, she appealed to her base by taking the best-defense-is-a-good-offense tack against her critics, stoking the flames of culture war instead of making any effort, any at all, to rise above the fray and appeal to the better angels of our natures.
Moreover, in classic Palin fashion, she made no distinction between those among her critics, like the execrable Kos, who really did accuse her of being morally responsible in some way for the shooting, and those who merely suggested, with varying degrees of subtlety and sensitivity, that perhaps, although Palin isn’t morally responsible, this was nevertheless an opportune moment to tone down the type of rhetoric and imagery she and others have, in fact, used (imagery which Giffords herself feared could lead to violence — a salient fact that was bound to be reported, not “manufactured,” by any responsible news media, even though there is no indication — as most have acknowledged — that the actual shooter in this incident was inspired by her imagery or rhetoric). She simply lumped these various people all together as purveyors of a “blood libel.”
Most of all, in classic Palin fashion, she made sure today would be all about her.
A good politician, a self-aware public figure, a true leader, would not have allowed the basest of her critics to set the terms of the discussion, and would not have sunk to their level, as Palin always seems to do. Instead, such a figure would have used the unfair attacks as an opportunity to elevate the discussion and, in a classy way, to “be the better person,” to find a minor point she can concede and then challenge others to do the same. In this way, she would have united and instead of divided, healed wounds instead of pouring salt on them, subtly scored a few political points without anyone even realizing she’d done so, and then turned the focus back where it belongs (hint: not on her).
As I wrote on Twitter earlier, “For me, as a father of two daughters and a believer in the democratic process, this tragedy is about a 9-year-old girl murdered because she was trying to participate in the democratic process. That’s an unspeakable tragedy and atrocity. This is about her. It’s not about Palin. I hate the Left for making it about Palin, and I hate Palin for making sure it continues to be about Palin.”
As I also wrote on Twitter earlier, “Sarah Palin reminds me of myself during my blog’s peak. Overly defensive and lacking self-awareness about it. I suspect she, like me back then, knows she’s being defensive, but feels it’s justified and doesn’t see the bigger picture. She knows the defensiveness bothers some people, but figures they are her enemies anyway. All right-thinking people understand! What can be hard to recognize, in the heat of the moment, is that the defensiveness turns people off, even if you’re right.”
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