Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

STFU, Sarah

Yeah, I know.  I was the one who said we needed to make sure we didn’t get too fixated on the former VP candidate but…she really needs to STFU.

Sarah went on Greta van Susteren’s show Monday night and said…

Former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin on Monday accused President Barack Obama of not acknowledging the sacrifices made by the men and women in the U.S. military.

“There’s been a lack of acknowledgment by our president in understanding what it is that the American military provides in terms of, obviously, the safety, the security of our country,” Palin said during an interview with Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren. “I want him to acknowledge the sacrifices that these individual men and women – our sons, our daughters, our moms, our dads, our brothers and sisters – are providing this country to keep us safe.”

“They’re making sacrifices,” said Palin, who visited the Army base at Fort Bragg on Monday as part of her ongoing book tour. “They’re putting so much on hold right now so that the homeland can be safe and they can fight for democratic ideals around our world. I want to see more acknowledgment and more respect given to them.”

 http://www.balloon-juice.com/

This just pisses me off.  Obviously, the dumbass either missed or chose to ignore these…

A dignified transfer

Rendering honors at Dover AFB

gallery-veteransday2

Obama-Arlington-9

Obama-Arlington-22

Obama-Arlington-4

Obama noticed a tall, bearded figure. He probably didn’t see the mud-caked combat boots I trudged around Afghanistan in a few years ago.

“What’s your name?” a somber President asked as he extended his hand.

“James Meek, sir,” I replied, struggling to pull off my wool glove and pull my hood back from my head. “I’m here visiting a friend, Pfc. David H. Sharrett II, who was killed in Iraq last year.”

He asked how I knew Dave. I explained that his father, also named David, was my high school English teacher in nearby McLean, Va. My classmates and I knew Dave as a little boy playing at our feet.

“He became a star football player and was one of the toughest soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division,” I told Obama.

“Well, we appreciate his service very much,” Obama told me.

I then told him I’m a reporter for the Daily News – but was just there to visit friends.

“Well, James,” he said, looking me in the eye, “just because you’re a journalist doesn’t mean you can’t honor your friends here.”

“Sorry for any inconvenience,” a terribly polite Secret Service agent whispered in my ear.

As the Obamas ended their pilgrimage through Arlington’s hallowed ground, inconvenience was hardly what I felt standing there as the rain pelted my coat.

I’m sure the cynics will assume this was just another Obama photo-op.

If they’d been standing in my boots looking him in the eye, they would have surely choked on their bile.

His presence in Section 60 convinced me that he now carries the heavy burden of command.

My moving graveside encounter with the President

And, at Ft. Hood:

President Obama and first lady honoring fallen Soldiers at Fort Hood

We come together filled with sorrow for the thirteen Americans that we have lost; with gratitude for the lives that they led; and with a determination to honor them through the work we carry on.

This is a time of war. And yet these Americans did not die on a foreign field of battle. They were killed here, on American soil, in the heart of this great American community. It is this fact that makes the tragedy even more painful and even more incomprehensible.

For those families who have lost a loved one, no words can fill the void that has been left. We knew these men and women as soldiers and caregivers. You knew them as mothers and fathers; sons and daughters; sisters and brothers.

But here is what you must also know: your loved ones endure through the life of our nation. Their memory will be honored in the places they lived and by the people they touched. Their life’s work is our security, and the freedom that we too often take for granted. Every evening that the sun sets on a tranquil town; every dawn that a flag is unfurled; every moment that an American enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – that is their legacy.

Neither this country – nor the values that we were founded upon – could exist without men and women like these thirteen Americans. And that is why we must pay tribute to their stories…


32 comments

  1. Since he didn’t fall down weeping and inviting the parents of the fallen back to the White House in an open and publicized display of grief and photographical evidence, he obviously doesn’t care about the troops.

    If he were a Real American he would be on the front lines himself, would have found Osama, and kicked Ahmadinijad in the nuts.

    If he had does anything, her speech writers are going to find something to criticize. If he does something, it’s not enough. If he does any more, it’s too much.

    She is trying to hitch her star to being a “Maverick” and to do that, she has to act against something. And that means attacking her opponent’s strengths. In this case, the dignity and reserve of a President that doesn’t take a lot of photo ops. That’s not enough.

    If he were effusive, she’d complain of him he was pandering.

    She is trying to stay in the limelight for as long as she can, and with enough money coming into her PAC to keep herself afloat until her backers can offload the crap ton of books they bought for her, and put her in the open as a target.

    And that is really all she is. She is a target that will get the Wing Nuts upset if there is negative press. She is a tar baby, and sadly you can’t swat at her without invoking the ire of those who think that this nitwit gives a rat’s ass or has any sort of idea beyond her nebulous populist puffery.

    If you are a politician at least. Journalists, on the other hand, NEED to open her up to scrutiny, and let her whine about them a bit more–because the press is her weakness.

    Because the MORE she gets to talk to the press, the more exposure she gets to blow her lines, because she has poor discipline in sticking to script. And the more exposed she is, the more she’s going to reach to make shit up, and not have the excuse that someone else wrote the piece for her, or she was just sadly mistaken.

    Ultimately, the press needs to pin her own words on her:

    Photobucket

  2. fogiv

    I was the one who said we needed to make sure we didn’t get too fixated on the former VP candidate but…she really needs to STFU.

    That felt pretty damned good, didn’t it?  ðŸ˜‰

  3. Articulate the positions? She doesn’t have any–she is a brand, not a candidate. Nebulous sorts of populism without any real details.

    I fear for our nation, because these folks got through our schools.  

  4. HappyinVT

    From Pew for Nov. 20 – 23:

    Fully 41% cite the health care debate as their most closely followed story of the week, far more than the percentage citing any other story. Nearly one-in-five (18%) name reports about swine flu as their top story, while somewhat fewer (11% each) cite the new mammogram guidelines and the debate over sending more U.S. forces to Afghanistan. Just 4% say that President Obama’s trip to Asia was their top story and even fewer – 2% of the public – cite news about Sarah Palin and her new book.

    [n graph form for those who like pictures (in %s)]

    top story graph

  5. and laughed I knew I had to post it here. Found it on HuffPo.

    A man was arrested for allegedly throwing two tomatoes at Sarah Palin from the second floor balcony during a book signing event at the Mall of America in Minnesota, MyFoxTwinCities.com. reported.

    Neither tomato came close hitting the former 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, but did hit a police officer in the face, the station reported.

    The unidentified man may face charges for assaulting a police officer, according to the station.

    I didn’t laugh because someone threw a tomato at Sarah Palin. I laughed because of the bold part. That had to be one of those “Oops! I didn’t intend for that to happen.” moments.

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