Palin learns the price of constantly being on the attack

I think that Sarah Palin is getting a lot of undeserved criticism.

But I don't feel sorry for her.

Palin's dilemma reminds me of an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, a show renowned for its twist endings. In particular,  the episode with the criminal who gets away with the crimes he did commit but is jailed for the one crime that he had nothing to do with.

Palin's popularity relied on her reputation for pushing the envelope, being gung-ho, and constantly on the attack. From her speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention to her tour around the country for the Tea Party Movement, Palin and her supporters enjoyed her "take no prisoners" style and reaped off of the criticism of said style.

But now things have turned. Palin is learning what happens when you throw out words like "revolution" and "don't retreat, reload." To her, words pushing imagery of violent overthrow were supposed to be taken as figurative descriptions, reflecting how people should vote.

To the man who caused the Arizona massacre, Jared Loughner, words like that are meant to be taken literally with much collateral damage.

In the confusion of the aftermath, very few - , whether they were people who were eager to attack Palin or those simply trying to find solutions in the wake of the tragedy - were interested in sorting out just who was figurative and who was literal.

So while I think we should all take this lesson in - especially the media and public figures - regarding the words we use, this should especially be a lesson for Palin.

Sometimes it's not good to be perceived as always being on the hunt. It's not good to constantly want to dig elbow deep in red meat.

Not because some maniac might take you seriously, but simply because those who are assessing the actions of the maniac may group you with him, even if he wasn't listening to you in the first place.

NC official wants to end all AIDS funding and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Brown: Cut off AIDS funding - A cruel and judgmental thing to say about people with HIV/AIDS.

Video: Let's tone down rhetoric, says man who suggests gays be deported and/or criminalized - Peter Sprigg says we need to tone down the rhetoric. I would believe that if he would apologize for things he has said about the lgbt community.

UK LGBT Advocate: “Christian Homophobes Should Not Be Criminalized”- I agree. I venture to say that the majority of lgbts in America agree with this statement. But watch how the religious right will conveniently ignore it when talking about how gays supposedly want to put folks in jail.

‘My Teacher Is a Lesbian’• Coming Out at School - An excellent piece.

Jane Lynch Says Straight Audiences Not Ready For Gay Actors in Leading Roles - I don't know. It depends on the role and what the audience wants to see. I don't really like romance pictures. I'm more of into action and a gay actor playing an action hero is okay with me.

Religious right nonsense coming to South Carolina

Guess who is coming to my state of South Carolina:

This event will be held in Seneca, SC on Jan. 21. And its press release is a hoot:

We Must Rise Up and Take Back Our State. For too long, silent Americans have watched their country inch toward an existence unrecognizable to its Founders. The time to act is now!

There’s a war raging. Christianity is under attack in our schools, workplaces, and governments. Silence is a decision to stand with the enemy. Inaction is a deathblow to the God-honoring principles our country was created to allow each citizen to enjoy. Will you stand by and let the very fabric of our country be stripped apart? Will you get in the fight, stand with those who stand for liberty, and join a movement of repentance, prayer, and revolution?

The time has come. The choice is yours. Join America’s leading constitutional scholar and Christian apologist Mat Staver for Liberty Counsel and Christian historian, David Barton at the South Carolina Awake! 

Now if you want proof that this nonsense about "taking things back" is just lip service, take into account the state of South Carolina.

We have a Republican governor and Legislature. And the statewide Democratic party are in the middle of what can be termed as death throes. I'm interested to see just who Staver and Barton want to take the state back from, especially taking into account that neither of them are residents of South Carolina.

It gets more interesting:

David Barton will educate and inspire attendees about the Founding Era and America’s rich Godly heritage. Barton will look at the lives of many of the Founders and religious leaders who participated in the birth and establishment of the most literate, most productive and most powerful nation on earth.

Conveniently Barton will not talk about his habit of distorting history, his denigrating of the lgbt community via junk science,  how Lawrence O'Donnell refuted him hard for it, and how he threw a "why are the homosexuals picking on me" tantrum afterwards.

And then:

Mat Staver will follow Barton’s presentation with a stirring message entitled, “Take Back America,” in which he will talk about the challenges and opportunities we have to preserve the legacy of liberty.

Of course Staver probably won't mention the exploits of his organization in the infamous Janet Jenkins vs. Lisa Miller case in which the Liberty Counsel not only tried to keep a child away from her lesbian mother but still continued to defend the other mother even after she kidnapped the child and ran away.

South Carolina definitely needs to awake in hopes of finding out that the event featuring Staver and Barton was just a simple nightmare.