JISHOU, HUNAN — While tracking down Magician Joe (see previous post), I logged into my Twitter account for the first time in eons. For jollies, I follow Sarah Palin on Twitter, just to see what wacky things she’ll say next.
For a politician, she sure is touchy about things people say. Take this tweet, for example.
Setting the Record Straight: About False Quotes Attributed to Governor Palin
Posted on June 10, 2011An absurd opinion piece in Politico includes a quote attributed to Governor Palin that is a total fabrication and yet is deliberately written to appear as if it is a legitimate direct quote. By any standard this is unacceptable even for an opinion piece. This puts us in mind of a real quote of something Governor Palin actually did once say to the media: “Quit making stuff up.”
The “absurd” piece in question is “Will rivalry make Sarah Palin run?” by Politico writers Paul Goldman and Mark J. Rozell, who suggest that the popularity of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) may convince Palin to quit being a tease and run for the GOP presidential nomination.
Apparently, an editing mistake made something look like Palin said something egotistical, when in fact it was the writers imagining she could say it. Politico removed the quotation marks and ran a correction. The paragraph in question is in bold below:
Will Sarah Palin’s intensifying rivalry with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) cause the former Alaska governor to run for president?
The first female Republican vice presidential nominee clearly believes she is the one who has paid the heavy dues by bearing the brunt of the “liberal elite” attacks to help build the tea party, social conservative wing of the GOP.
Palin’s bus tour had some of the hallmarks of a primal scream: I built this constituency, not Bachmann, not anyone else. Looking at it through her eyes, she has a point.
Yeah, well, Palin did not say those words. But is the sentiment really that far fetched? We’re at the beginning of a presidential nomination campaign, with a field of rather dodgy Republican candidates (Gingrich? Perry? Cain? … Cain?!) all trying to garner support from the very people Palin (and Bachmann) have been whipping into a frenzy ever since the last presidential election race. Meanwhile, Palin is barnstorming around the country in a rolling advertisement, horning in on other people’s gatherings, and talking about what a great country this is, the one that Paul Revere saved by telling the British to get out. There’s a movie about her opening in the theaters soon. She’s planning a trip to Sudan. She tried to arrange a meeting with Margaret Thatcher, former PM of the United Kingdom.
And, she has a Political Action Committee funding this charade. WTF? So, her tweet means she’s not thinking about upstaging anyone?
Not very self-aware, I’d say.
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