PrintOctober 10, 2009
Defending Palin with Orbison
Continuing education can be a tricky business when it involves teaching people who sometimes treat arguments like songs. That's why a friend who despises Sarah Palin made me want to defend her. Pounding out a four-count indictment on the drumhead of what I hope was a cathartic essay, my friend accused Palin of being glib, uninformed, anti-intellectual and intolerant. Although much of what he said to support those complaints was questionable, he knew enough to support them with examples. From a musical point of view, the passionate Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! of each charge had a familiar rhythm. Adding a bass line to his disdain, my friend also skewered Palin as a "failed governor," and called her supporters hicks for whom any kind of wisdom is "utterly beside the point." Every paragraph in his piece vibrated with contempt for Palin and the horse she rode in on. Yet outside the little circle of partisans who cheer such things, the indictment fizzles. You can't...(Read Full Article)
