Despite being a contemporary of the Bard, I admit to being far, far ‘neath the man in talent and in command of the tongue. Were I to ever fail to remember that sad fact there are hosts, indeed hordes, of persons at the ready to remind me. I knew William Shakespeare and I am no William Shakespeare.
That is more than sufficient to engage the lower mode of my manic-depression. Twer not for CBS News, I should have no need for my mania. But, life is strange and oft redeeming. I have found temporary surcease.
Whenever I have need of feeling less than total embarrassment in my desperate attempts to communicate, I take comfort in those immortal words that come to us from Sarah Palin, thanks to an interview with Katie Couric. Here is a part of the transcript:
“The logistics that we are already suggesting here, not having enough troops in the area right now,” Palin said. “The . . . things like the terrain even in Afghanistan and that border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where, you know, we believe that — Bin Laden is — is hiding out right now and . . . and is still such a leader of this terrorist movement. There . . . there are many more challenges there. So, again, I believe that . . . a surge in Afghanistan also will lead us to victory there as it has proven to have done in Iraq. And as I say, Katie, that we cannot afford to retreat, to withdraw in Iraq. That’s not gonna get us any better off in Afghanistan either. And as our leaders are telling us in our military, we do need to ramp it up in Afghanistan, counting on our friends and allies to assist with us there because these terrorists who hate America, they hate what we stand for with the . . . the freedoms, the democracy, the . . . the women’s rights, the tolerance, they hate what it is that we represent and our allies, too, and our friends, what they represent. If we were . . . were to allow a stronghold to be captured by these terrorists then the world is in even greater peril than it is today. We cannot afford to lose in Afghanistan.”
I understand how living in Alaska can make one an expert on Russia but I didn’t realize that it also made one an expert on Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. Rather than spending all of that time, effort and money on a graduate education in international relations, could I have just moved to Alaska? Or, for my specialty in East Asia, could I have counted my eating at Chinese restaurants? Did the ambassador to China get to see the Olympics for free?
One would think that eight years of George Bush’s mangled syntax would adequately prepare us for such fingernails-on-the-blackboard atrocities. There must be some limits. There must be some limits.
Though my search for the video was thorough (at least three or four minutes), my hands are empty. However, I was able to find a video of one with a command of the language almost exactly identical to the Half-Baked Alaskan.
Although I embedded the teen queen’s video here, I find it excruciating to watch. I get embarrassed for her. Palin is an adult. I do get a bit squeamish watching her but my embarrassment is for our nation. God save us from four or eight years of constant embarrassment. And then there is the consideration of all that she would do beyond opening her mouth.
{ 1 comment }
Sorry for not furthering the discussion, but I just wanted to say thank you for the insightful post.
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