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“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society’ whether they are worthy of health care.” -Sarah Palin

We are in the dark days of reason.  Thanks to Sarah Palin, the time for real intellectual discourse has left us, vaporized in a cloud of poisonous ether.  As we wade deeper and deeper into this health care debate, the former governor, a so-called leader of the morally upright in society, believes it’s better to wade into the cesspool of the outrageous.  You see, by appealing to the lowest common denominator – the fringe element in politics – these demagogues can use fear as their most potent weapon to assail and vilify.   There’s nothing worse than saying death panels will kill people.  Sarah Palin not only loses her credibility, she loses the respect and faith of those hanging onto that tiny shred of her relevance as a national figure.  Is she now someone who can lead a nation into the next century?  Leaders don’t use archaic, contemptible language and fear tactics to solve problems or debate issues.

Palin is advocating some science fiction doomsday scenario, straight out of Soylent Green.  Maybe she envisions a nightmarish landscape of partially hydrogenated infants with Down Syndrome, scattered in pieces, and used to satiated the appetites of the elites who are fortunate enough to have health care.  Think I’m wrong?  Why else would she sound the bell for the death panels? Why would she be arguing such an asinine point?  She is quickly becoming the falconer chasing the falcons.

Palin is becoming a predator.  She’s using rabid, wrong-headed rhetoric to foment false protest and rally the simple-minded.  I have yet to hear any of her supporters disavow her Facebook rant.  In fact, Newt Gingrich encourages it.  Is it any wonder then that near violence results in these confrontational town halls and in other pockets of American political discourse?  We must fight the real enemy, because they’re here to kill our babies and our parents, and our grandparents. Palin has provided the blueprint for this type of thuggery.  What type of real leader…what kind of voice for the people…does such a thing?  Beware the leader that offers scurrilous ignorance as real ideology.  Be leery of those that would choose to exploit the plight of children for their own twisted gains.

Why would Sarah Palin include her own child in her mind-numbing assault of health care reform?  Is she trying to elicit sympathy to make her point more poignant?  Is she truly afraid that her child will be denied care, then taken somewhere and murdered?  Palin is an opportunist, striking just when she sees fit.  After months and months of demanding her family be left alone by the media, she now is very willing to involve them in this circus.  It’s sad really.  Does political expediency mean so much to her that she’s willing to trivialize her child’s ailment to score a political cheap shot?  Mrs. Palin, you should apologize.  You should apologize to all Americans for being ignorant of the facts in such an important discussion.   You should apologize to all parents and families of children with Down Syndrome.  They don’t support your foolishness.  You have come to this examination unprepared so you seek to turn it into a sideshow, dripping with fear and lunacy.  You should know better, and you should be ashamed.

1. Mary Cantrell says:

   August 13, 2009 at 3:04 pm

   Matthew, I agree completely with your August 13th post. What scares me most about Sarah Palin is that my brother and son both admire and respect her. An Episcopal priest I know and admire says that he likes her very much. And now that I am living in Southwest Georgia… well, down here, she could be elected anything with an easy majority.

   What has happened to the educational system in this country, that so few people seem to understand logic, are unable to cut through the BS that she spouts? Is it because of that, that it is BS and so incoherent that an admirer simply skims through and assumes she is saying exactly what he believes?

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2. Matthew Wright says:

   August 13, 2009 at 3:30 pm

   Thank you for your comment Mary. I’ll admit I’m not exactly a fan of governor Palin, but I recognize that she has an extremely large base of support, especially here in the South. When she makes these wild unsubstantiated claims, she does her supporters a disservice. I think it’s wrong to engage in this type of rhetoric over such an important, emotional issue.

   You are also right about the logic factor. Some people will take her claims and run with them, never once bothering to check them for themselves. That is dangerous. I do hope people take the time to research everything being said about health care reform, including what the President is saying. It’s in all of our best interests to be as informed as possible about this.

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3. Dude says:

   August 13, 2009 at 7:36 pm

   Palin is pathetic. She never fails to play the victim and portray the opposition as “evil”. On top of that she’s a quitter and, as far as I can tell, a moron.
   I’m not a fan of Keith Olbermann, but he gets it right here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/11/olbermann-slams-palin-for_n_256207.html

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4. Matthew Wright says:

   August 13, 2009 at 8:03 pm

   You got it right on this point Dude.

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5. McPickle says:

   August 14, 2009 at 12:28 am

   Thanks so much for the great article. I’m sending it to my “intellectual” friends who never understood
   McCain’s choise.

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6. Matthew Wright says:

   August 14, 2009 at 8:24 am

   Thanks McPickle. I’m glad you like it, and by all means, share it to death!

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7. Atlanta Conservative says:

   August 14, 2009 at 11:24 am

   I agree with your post. I personally think Sarah Palin is the reason that John McCain didn’t win the election. However, she’s using the same tactics that Obama uses in trying to jam his legislation through, and I quote you:

   “Leaders don’t use archaic, contemptible language and fear tactics to solve problems or debate issues.”

   ” . . . using rabid, wrong-headed rhetoric to foment false protest and rally the simple-minded.”

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8. Matthew Wright says:

   August 14, 2009 at 11:51 am

   Atlanta Conservative,

   If you show me what contemptible language he has used regarding health care, I will immediately write a follow up to this article about him. I haven’t found anything quite on the level as this from Obama. Of course I could be wrong.

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9. SCS says:

   August 16, 2009 at 7:54 pm

   Sarah Palin is simply the latest sign of the trouble our republic is in. The engine that fires republican government is an educated and informed citizenry. The degradation of public education with its attendant inability of too many to reason logically and think critically about the important and complex issues of the day paves the way for the kind of incendiary rhetoric practiced by Palin and her ilk. Add into the mix the rise of blogging as a substitute for real journalism, pretty talking heads on 24-hour so-called news stations struggling to read their 15 and 30 second sound bite “reports”, and the demise of elected officials willing to stand up to the demagogues among us, and you have the recipe for disaster. As our citizenry loses its ability to think through issues more complex than tomorrow’s weather forecast, we become increasingly vulnerable to ad hominem attack. Our so-called leaders resort to these same tactics, and all of a sudden we are a people led, not by our own best instincts and common sense, but by the loudest and most vitriolic bullies among us.

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10. Matthew Wright says:

    August 16, 2009 at 11:24 pm

    Yes SCS, and it’s up to us to see through the B.S. and determine our path.

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11. jasbro says:

    August 17, 2009 at 4:08 pm

    “What type of real leader … what kind of voice for the people … does such a thing?” I can think of at least one fairly obvious example within the last 75 years. But I won’t name him here (and, no, it’s not Lord Voldemort); rather, I have no interest in “using rabid, wrong-headed rhetoric to foment false protest and rally the simple-minded.”

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12. Matthew Wright says:

    August 17, 2009 at 6:45 pm

    Jasbro… don’t leave me in suspense!

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13. jasbro says:

    August 18, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    Matthew: My first response was clearly off base; on thinking about it, there really are no appropriate comparisons to be made between Governor Palin and the person who came to mind yesterday. But, if we’re ONLY talking about public leaders’ using scare tactics to promote a particular point of view, and meaning no disrespect to Governor Palin (or anyone else) whatsoever, …

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14. Matthew Wright says:

    August 18, 2009 at 10:53 pm

    Ahhh… I gotcha Jasbro.

    Reply