Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 02:12 am
Sarah Palin Doesn't Understand the Limits of the US Government
GOP: Please Come to Claim Your Lost Candidate: Sarah Palin is on the Loose
As stuffed as you are from turkey, one imagines you are also stuffed full of Sarah Palin at this point, she who has infiltrated our media for two years now at a breakneck speed which leaves lesser infiltrators like Paris Hilton green with envy.
But just in case you still thought there was an ounce of “there” there with the “common sense conservative”, today the GOP’s best and brightest tweeted what she intended to be a dig at President Obama over his handling of the Wikileaks situation. Unfortunately, as is so often the case with Ms Palin, her jab is going to come right back at her, so full of tells as to why she shouldn’t be anywhere near power as it is.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Here’s what Ms Palin tweeted:
“Inexplicable: I recently won in court to stop my book “America by Heart” from being leaked,but US Govt can’t stop Wikileaks’ treasonous act?”
In case you are going to defend this tweet as a one-off, Ms Palin has backed it up on Facebook, taking aim at Obama over and over again over his “failure” to protect the troops by stopping Wikileaks, so sadly this can’t be chalked up to a bad moment on twitter.
Okay, I’m not sure where to start here so I’ll just dive in.
“Inexplicable: adjective meaning inexplainable” and inexplainable means “difficult or impossible to explain.” Yes, I’m sure you had me at hello, but we need to walk this one through from the beginning, because you see…..
It’s not impossible to explain why the President can’t stop Wikileaks. It’s very easy. Deep breath:
Not only is Wikileaks is hosted in Sweden where, I feel duty bound to point out, the President of the US does not have sovereignty as of yet and where it is impossible to commit treason against this country unless one is a US citizen residing in Sweden, but also, as Ms Palin must be aware (given her recent claim to a comminications degree that qualified her to discredit all American media save Fox News) there’s that pesky Pentagon Papers ruling (this was discussed in more depth earlier today) that all journalism/communiction majors learn about fairly early on.
Furthermore, the cables and emails of diplomats are not copyrighted, so while this comparison may make some sense to the person unschooled in law, upon examination, Ms Palin’s ability to sue Gawker over her book has nothing to do with the President’s ability to shut down any publication or organization he doesn’t like. It’s worth noting that Ms Palin actually failed to stop the leak of her book onto the internet. She did manage to get an order to have the offending pages pulled down long enough after they were posted for mirrors to be created for the curious.
And this is where the real trouble begins. Are we to believe that in Ms Palin’s America, she would assume the right to shut down any blog, paper, or freedom of information act organization she disliked by claiming they were a threat to national security (and the troops)? Would it be asking too much for American citizens to get more information on Ms Palin’s understanding of the fine tightrope between transparency and security, court precedent and a general understanding of the balance of power inherent in our government? Does Ms Palin think Americans are entitled to hear her discuss these complicated issues on a regular news outlet at some point, as the rest of our lawmakers and leaders do?
Ms Palin claims the latest round of leaks prove Obama’s incompetence:
“…the latest round of publications of leaked classified U.S. documents through the shady organization called WikiLeaks raises serious questions about the Obama administration’s incompetent handling of this whole fiasco.”
One wonders then how Ms Palin explains the leaking of her yahoo account she used to conduct Alaskan state business on to Wikileaks during the 2008 campaign. Thank goodness Sarah Palin didn’t have access to our national security secrets at that time.
She concludes with this:
“We are at war. American soldiers are in Afghanistan fighting to protect our freedoms. They are serious about keeping America safe. It would be great if they could count on their government being equally serious about that vital task.”
Ms Palin is charging the Obama administration with neglecting national security on purpose, implying that he is anti-American, as she did during the 2008 campaign. And that must sting the President, coming as it does from a person married to a once-registered secessionist. But she hits her mark with her first commenter, who picks up the dog whistle Palin is throwing down:
Gail M: “Incompetent or with some nefarious purpose? You never know with this administration.”
Well played, Ms Palin. If ya’ can’t get ’em on policy or even a dim grasp of our laws here, why not sell ’em some fear.This is the person John McCain just touted as a great candidate for President of this country.
It isn’t that she doesn’t know the law, it’s that she doesn’t care to know the law. It isn’t that she assumes dictator like powers as President, it’s that she has already proven in Alaska that she governs with reckless abandon for the law. This is the person quoted as saying to the Wasilla City Council leader, “‘I’m the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can’t.”
Indeed, Ms Palin. We see.
Hear that, Mr Assange? She’s comin’ for ya’. And speaking of coming for people, I urge the Republican Party to gather up Ms Palin before their reputation is forever branded as the Party of Palin.
Please, GOP, come collect your candidate. She’s on the loose again.
Note: Sarah Palin’s Facebook commenter’s last name redacted.
Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
