But then Barack Obama doesn't respect anybody outside his own "tribe". And the rest of us don't suffer violent meltdowns from it. Which leads, logically, to the entirely deducible conclusion that PTSD comes from traumatic episodes - in Mr. Palin's case, his military combat service in Iraq. That has nothing specifically to do with Barack Obama. And anybody for whom learning that The One does not respect them constitutes a traumatic episode has a lot more and worse problems than just PTSD, regardless of its cause.
Mrs. Palin, in other words, has begun her foolish, misguided campaigning for the New York Liberal by saying something stupid about veterans that has now pissed off veterans groups. Which is humorous because I'm figuring that one of the reasons Trump brought her on board was to bolster his standing with American vets.
In which case, epic fail.
- Me, eleven days ago
Guess what, folks? Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie noticed:
Sarah Palin Monday morning, in her first television interview since announcing her endorsement of "GOP" presidential candidate Donald Trump, started by praising Trump, but ended by arguing with Today show [host]s Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie after they abruptly shifted topics to a discussion of her comments on her son and post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I was told that this interview is about the caucus tonight in Iowa, and right on, who will it be to put America back on the right track and restore constitutional government that we're lacking today," Palin argued with Lauer and Guthrie. "I said, right on. I'll talk about that, sure."
And she really believes the Putin-loving strongman wannabe Trump will do that? Where's the evidence for this claim? Or that he can even spell the word "constitution"? That's all I'm really asking for, Trumplicans: a substantive, plausible, compelling, un-self-contradicted bit of evidence in lieu of all the anti-"GOP establishment" vitriol and excuses. And y'all can't come up with any, because your ditzy heroine can't, either.
But she hid behind the always-useful pander to conservatives of media-bashing, even though Lauer and Guthrie's topic-change was neither unfair (because she DID blame Obama for her son's PTSD, despite her pathetic denials) nor, frankly, should she not have fully expected and been prepared for it, rendering her portrayed outrage less than credible.
"You said that Barack Obama may be to blame for some of the PTSD that's out there," said Guthrie.
"I never said that," Palin said. "Let's start piece by piece. You guys brought me here to talk about Iowa politics and the caucus tonight, not to talk about my kids. That was a promise. As things go in the world of media, you don't always keep your promises, evidently."
Really, 'cuda? You, someone who ought to know the Obamedia better than anybody else alive, really expect us to believe that this subject-change took you by surprise? That's a level of condescension toward your base that's worthy of the very "elites" you're always ripping. And it's apparently justified, given Trumpmania, because Trumplicans are doubtless cathartically and ravenously slurping it all right down instead of wondering what kind of glory-hounding, grandstanding has-been Trump has retained to scam the conservative movement.
She further denied that she blamed Barack Obama for PTSD or the problems being faced by her son, Track, an Iraq veteran who was arrested on domestic charges the same week Palin made her endorsement announcement.
"I never blamed Barack Obama," Palin said.
Bullshit. Here's the direct quote:
“My son, like so many others, they come back a bit different,” she said in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “They come back hardened. They come back wondering if there is that respect for what it is that their fellow soldiers and airmen and every other member of the military have sacrificially given to this country and that starts at the top. [emphasis added]
Recall as well that she said this in the context of Track Palin's arrest for hitting his girlfriend in the face, kicking her in the knee, and threatening suicide with an AR-15 assault rifle. A topic which, furthermore, she volunteered in the context of schmoozing veterans groups on Trump's behalf. And she is clearly blaming her son's PTSD and criminal actions on Barack Obama. What else could "that starts at the top" possibly mean? This is a delusional, "don't believe your lying eyes" level of mendacious denial worthy of Hillary Clinton herself. And which baffles me because I can't imagine why Mrs. Palin isn't willing, even eager, to publicly own it. What, she's now afraid of being seen as bashing Barack Obama? I'm getting that Bizzaro World vertigo feeling again.
And this is why I detest "populism" and "populists". They're a breeding ground not for constitutionalism and conservatism and sound, responsible political candidacies and governance, but for vile, despicable deception, manipulation, and demagoguery. They're all emotion and no brains. They're "democracy," not "republicanism". And down that road lies tyranny and despotism, as has been demonstrated time and again throughout human history.
And Sarah Palin is a willing accessory to it.
It should be bitterly ironic that the woman who at one time looked to become the American Thatcher has now degenerated into the American Eva Peron. But it really isn't.
UPDATE: Allahpundit on "Evita's" followup appearance on CNN later this morning: "He got re-endorsed by Sarah Palin, who repeated to Jake Tapper what she said to NBC this morning, namely that choosing Trump over Cruz wasn’t a hard decision. How come, asked Tapper? Well, she said, after she looked at Cruz’s record more closely, including his “inconsistencies” on immigration, she realized we don’t need “more of the same,” which is the sort of thing you’d expect a populist to say about Jeb Bush, not about the most ostentatiously populist Republican in the Senate. Tapper asked her whether Trump’s inconsistencies on various issues over the years, starting with abortion, also troubled her. (To really twist the knife, he should have noted Trump’s flip-flopping on amnesty specifically.) Turns out no, she’s pretty much okay with his reversals. Isn’t it interesting how Trump fans and/or Cruz-haters like Palin and Mike Huckabee find Cruz’s much longer record of ideological constancy somehow more disturbing than Trump’s all-over-the-board approach?"
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