In defense of Sarah Palin, the irresponsible citizen journalist version

Well, perhaps the anointed Fourth Estate may be saying things about Sarah Palin, but what do normal people say? (Palin's candidacy is, after all, an argument for 21st century normalcy. Oops.)

Let's see what they're saying in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania:

The mainstream media seems to be all over every word Sarah Palin utters, and find a way to torch her with her own words. Is it fair? well yeah, it would be, if they were doing the same to Joe Biden.

In recent days, I have seen tape on the news of Joe Biden telling some whoppers. Joe Biden thinks we should reference how FDR went on TV during the crash of 1929.
Uh, Joe, Herbert Hoover was President then, and TV wasn't available yet. maybe Joe lives in an alternate reality?

Then I saw Joe talking about how he came under fire while visiting Iraq. Turns out it was a Hillary in Kosovo moment. His staff clarified that maybe there was only some "shots fired" in the area where Senator Biden was.

Chris Casey, unfortunately, does not link to Biden's statements. But Ed Morrissey posted the video:



Cary Wesberry reacted:

Not only is Joe Biden severely disconnected from the American People, Joe Biden is disconnected from history and would not know a fact if Sarah Palin slapped him square in the face....

Joe Biden reinvents The Great Depression, the President serving at the time, and the television set all in one statement. That’s not a “gaff”. That’s idiotic. This is the man our mainstream media is attempting to convince the nation won the Vice-Presidential Debate Thursday night.

And on experience:

Team Obama continues to tout Joe Biden’s extensive experience in, well, everything. Experience does not mean anything when all your experience is 36 years of making the wrong decision. 36 years of being wrong on nearly every issue and we are expected to believe that’s a good thing! Experience means making a bad decision or a mistake and then learning from it. Joe Biden is great when it comes to the former, and is completely lacking on the latter. The only thing Joe Biden has learned in 36 years of getting it wrong in the Senate is to never learn from getting it wrong.

But what about the Iraq thingie? Well, it prompted a press release:

[On October 1], Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Durant (Ret.) issued the following statement on Joe Biden's apparently false accounts of near-misses on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq:

"Senator Biden claimed at a debate last year that he'd been 'shot at' while visiting Iraq. And he has claimed repeatedly, most recently last week, that his helicopter was 'forced down' in Afghanistan -- leaving his audience with the impression that it was fire from the Taliban which had grounded the aircraft. Neither of these stories appears to be true, and Senator Biden has never accounted for the discrepancies.

"I've been on a helicopter that was 'forced down' by enemy fire, and I've been 'shot at.' Neither is easily confused with being caught in a snow storm or awakened by a loud bang in the night. Senator Biden has a responsibility to come clean on what actually happened, and explain why he would ever say such things to the American people. And with the Vice Presidential Debate coming up on Thursday, it is incumbent on the news media to ask Senator Biden the tough questions -- as they have so far failed to do -- and examine his responses closely for inconsistencies of the kind we've witnessed in recent months.

"The American people expect and deserve leaders who tell the truth about their record and their experiences, and a news media that holds all candidates -- no matter their party -- to the same standard."

Now you may have noticed that all of the examples of Sarah Palin defense are in fact negative offense against Joe Biden. So what positive things are being said about Sarah Palin? Let's turn to mydd:

Take for example where Sarah Palin is as we speak:

"In another sign that Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District is in play in the race for the White House, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will speak at a public rally tonight in Omaha.

"The campaign stop will be at the Civic Auditorium. Doors open at 4 p.m. Palin is expected to take the stage sometime after 6:30 p.m.

"Sen. John McCain's running mate will stop in Omaha en route to an event in Florida, said Wendy Riemann, a McCain campaign spokeswoman."

This stop just 2 days after the Obama campaign confirmed it had opened its second field office in Omaha, a sign that he is actively trying to turn that second cd blue.

Contrast where Palin is today with where Obama was today: Asheville, NC. Which campaign is on offense and which is on defense again?

But forget about Omaha...let's go north:

Life in Wasilla is nothing like you would or could imagine if you’ve never been here. It is surrounded by picturesque mountains and the homes and businesses are planted amongst thick stands of birch, poplar, and spruce. The train tracks run straight through the middle of town, and there are several trains throughout the day and night, carrying coal or empty cars to and from the Usibelli Mine in Healy, or boxcars to and from Fairbanks, or, in the summer, a gleaming stream of passenger cars filled with tourists from all over the world.

It’s not a pretty town. There are no magnificent 800-year old cathedrals or parliament buildings or grandiose sculptures or fountains in the middle of the city. The businesses are more or less lined up on one side of the highway, with the tracks on the other side. The town is going to get a lot dirtier before next summer because of the sand that is spread on the icy streets through the winter. Car washes abound, and get more business in the winter than in the summer....

It requires a special inner strength to love this place so deeply that you stick it out winter after winter, unable to think of any place less hostile as “home.”...

This is why Sarah Palin is such a formidable opponent. She is Alaskan. She knows that up here, we can’t lie to ourselves about life, or we die. Life here is harsh and unforgiving, and the deluded don’t last. Sarah has an Alaskan Heart, a heart for the harshness, the ferocious beauty of a winter landscape covered in sugary hoarfrost at twenty below. It’s gorgeous, but it’s deadly. Alaksans are self-sufficient and persistent. Sophistication is something Alaskans can’t waste time, effort, or energy on. Life here is too demanding. Sarah Palin might have been frightened when she went up against Murkowski and his gang, but she wasn’t intimidated. Courage is going ahead in spite of your fear, which is what she did. Alaskans have a unique brand of courage. There’s no way to describe it except to say that it goes with the toughness. “Alaska Tough” is a good slogan for tires, big trucks, axe handles, and Vice Presidential candidates, and it suits Sarah to a T.

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