That picture above is Chad Bullock, a teen from right down the road from me in Durham who has won several national awards for his campaigns to convince kids not to smoke. Sarah Palin apparently thinks he's an asshole.
Despite the whole seeking out a political science Ph.D thing, I really hate the idea of taking to a blog and writing a bunch of stuff about politics. But after witnessing that display of the worst America has to offer at the RNC, I have to say something. Although it's difficult to choose the best worst part of Sarah Palin's speech, I keep coming back to the community organizer remark. You know the one - the one that made fun of Obama for helping people? The one that suggested that community organizers don't have any responsibilities? Yeah, that one.
First, there's the whole thing about insulting people that try to make their communities better places. Yeah, they don't do any real work! But there's not much I can say about that part that hasn't already been said better in this video blog by Jay Smooth on XXL.com. Check it out.
What I CAN say though is that not only was that comment insulting, it doesn't make any fucking sense according to Republican Party doctrine. You see, when it comes to social programs, which we all know Republicans LOVE to cut (even our girl Sarah recently cut funding for programs that help teen moms, because hey, she can afford to pay for her knocked up daughter's shit), the Republican argument says that these programs shouldn't receive federal funding because the administration of them is inefficient. The thought process goes that these federally funded programs should be replaced by COMMUNITY BASED PROGRAMS RUN BY PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY. Check the literature - this goes way back to the 1960s when the Great Society programs were being fought over and you will find it literally in every single piece of conservative writing about social programs. It is intrinsic especially to so called "compassionate conservatism." You want some suggestions of where you can read this stuff, you ask me. But, community organizers are the single most important ingredient in Republican pushes to cut social programs. They depend on people like Barack Obama to step up and take an active role in the community. They just also believe in making fun of anyone foolish enough to do so. Good plan!
Oh yeah, so don't get started on Mike Huckabee either, who stopped just short of whittling and chewing in a piece of straw during his speech.
