January 2011
11 posts
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What's the likelihood that Sarah Palin's "blood libel" comment isn't so much a misstep as a dog whistle -- functioning much like her crosshair map and "reload" tweets?
I am probably very late in answering this — I never check my “messages” — but at this point it’s basically confirmed that “blood libel” was intentionally provocative. She borrowed the expression from Stone Age-era blogger Glenn Reynolds, I’m pretty sure Rush used it, too. I did for a while think that various conservatives just thought it was another way to say “extremely bad libel,” or that they meant to say “bloody shirt,” but honestly they know what it means. A foundational myth of the modern conservative movement is that they’re literally a viciously persecuted minority group.
“The earlier version also mentioned Darrell Issa’s “tendency to refer to himself in the third person.” In fact, that usage was appropriate because the interview was with his spokesman.”
—Beautiful.
“When we talk about Barack Obama, we’ve got to be clear, it’s not personal. When we say he’s destroying this country we are not saying he’s doing it out malicious intent and a desire to cripple us.”
—Thanks for clearing that up.
