Sarah Palin: Profile in Cowardice

This blog entry will be somewhat different in tone than the usual, "... and several butcher's aprons" post. It will lack the standard jokes, similes and snarky comical attitude. Even the closing song intended as additional commentary will be missing for, unfortunately, the subject at hand is too serious for such frivolity. Some time ago, I had optimistically hoped that our days of addressing the problem of Sarah Palin had been left behind in the dustbin of history. She had appeared to become as irrelevant as Marcus Bachmann at a Playboy mansion soiree. This heartless harpy has received enough of the public attention that she so obviously and pathetically craves, that we no longer wished to contribute to fulfilling that need for her - then Gabrielle Giffords, and her wonderful and devoted husband, Mark Kelly appeared on the television news magazine "20/20," and Palin, once again, became a relevant topic.

Now, often the most effective way to rid ourselves of puerile, public figures poisoning our political system and population with their ignorance, intolerance and hatred is simply to ignore them. Nothing wounds a Palin or a Glenn Beck more than a lack of what they most pathologically desire - publicity. And, as previously stated, we have made a concerted effort to avoid any mention of such sad individuals. But upon viewing Gifford's travails on TV, one cannot help but feel ire that Sarah Palin - she of "don't retreat, reload," the gun sight map specifically targeting Giffords by district and name, one version of which also contains the message, "we've diagnosed the problem...help us prescribe the solution," among many other examples of her steady stream of violent rhetoric and imagery - has not herself taken responsibility, nor has been held accountable for the acts of violence that followed, culminating in the tragic shooting of Giffords and the many attendees at her rally that day. 

The fact that Palin still maintains a public profile, and didn't just quietly withdraw to private life to pray to whatever demonic deity could produce such a selfish, sanctimonious shrew, and ask forgiveness for her many reprehensible words and deeds, says more about this miserable human being than any outside observer could possibly express. 

What's tragic and sadly ironic is that Gabrielle Giffords now valiantly and bravely struggles to regain her brain functions as a result of someone who never had any to begin with.  Sarah Palin must never hold a place of political importance and influence again, our country and its people are far too great for that.

To end this piece on a positive, more germane and proper note, we salute Representative Giffords and Retired Captain Kelly who show, despite the news coverage to the contrary, that in our culture, our world and our country, the brave, the courageous, the good people, far outweigh and far outnumber the vile, the venal, the vitriolic, the vulgar, the Palins, that we are cursed with and that seem to be a necessary evil and consequence of a free and open society. We should all hope that someday we can find in someone what Giffords and Kelly have found in each other and that no future Sarah Palins plague us with their presence.