One would think for all the tough talk that some of this nation’s Republican leaders can blow out their wazoos that they would have skin like their mascot elephant’s.
That doesn’t seem to be the case though.
I saw the oversensitivity of George W. Bush in person and on television many a time, especially when I covered his Texas gubernatorial press conferences.
Ultra-conservative pundit and de facto GOP leader Rush Limbaugh has made his whole radio persona based on his inability to take criticism.
And it seems that since the time she was nominated as Republican vice presidential candidate up until the present, Gov. Sarah Palin has become that quintessential Alaskan whine.
At every step Palin — whose PR built her as a rough-and-tumble jock, hockey mom and wilderness outdoorswoman — has found a target for blame when her situation went awry. Primarily her target has been the media although she has found others on which she could play the victim such as the spat between her and David Letterman over a crude joke the latter made and later apologized.
Now that Palin is leaving office, she has threatned several blogs as well as MSNBC and The Washington Post with defamation lawsuits over the possibililty her resignation might have been connected to ethics investigations. I thought Conservatives were against frivilous litigation.
Even with Palin leaving office it would seem her victory in specious defamation suits would be highly unlikely even though it could prove expensive for plaintiffs, at least in the beginning.
One has to believe that some of those ultra-conservative Republicans who talk tough and feel the solution to any problem is dissolving taxes and government while unleashing nuclear bombs on our real or perceived enemies suffer from a bad case of the “Can Dish It Out But Can’t Take Its.”
Of course, I’m no political consultant or expert. I’m just a guy articulating my opinion out loud, and mostly to myself. But if I had any advice for some of the Sarah Palins in the world who feel blaming others increases their own stature, it would be this: Please don’t utter any lines urging others to buck up and take personal responsibility. We are used to hypocrisy in government, especially by your ilk, but sometimes you can only take too much of a good thing so far.
Back in the day when people had manners even the most vile of humanity — quite possibly with notable exceptions such as Hitler and Mussolini — were due a modicum of respect in the event of their deaths.