September 10, 2008, - 2:51 pm
End the Hyperbole: Palin is Not Pontius Pilate (Nor Reagan, Thatcher)
By Debbie Schlussel
There is way too much hyperbole about Sarah Palin . . . on both sides of the aisle.
The worst is Congressman Steve Cohen. He’s the last person who should be calling Gov. Sarah Palin “Pontius Pilate.” As a Jew, he well knows this is an anti-Semitic slur. As a kid and in college (and sometimes still), I was called a “Judas” or “Pontius Pilate” or “Christ Killer” by anti-Semites (on the right AND the left). Joe Gelman of NeoCon Express, a fellow Jew, also acknowledges this bigoted remark as unacceptable. (And Obama is no Jesus, either, contrary to Cohen’s claim.)
Cohen was recently the victim, himself, of anti-Semitic advertising by a Democratic primary opponent, Black candidate Nikki Tinker who–in one ad–criticized those who “don’t attend our churches” and then tried to link him to the Klan–in another ad. He was justifiably upset about the vicious, bigoted, anti-Semitic and racist attacks. And it backfired. So, now, he feels called to engage in hypocrisy and use these anti-Semitic slurs on her? It’s a double standard of the vilest kind.
The second worst was a comment a reader sent me comparing the anti-Palin US Magazine article to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Please. While totally biased against Palin, did the US Magazine cover story really rise to the level of propaganda that sent Six Million Jews to the ovens and other brutal deaths? Not even close. Not even in the same universe. Sorry, but Goebbels and his buddies sent people to the next world as lampshades. Don’t even go there and compare a magazine article about a woman who is alive and well and about to become Vice President to the PR machine for the mass murder of 11 million people.
And then there are the comparisons of Sarah Palin to Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Sorry, but she’s neither of these (and in Thatcher’s case, that’s partially good, since Thatcher was solidly in the back pockets of Islamofascists who basically own England).
What would be good–once and for all–is to stop comparing Sarah Palin to various personalities, bad and good, and look at her own record. That’s what I’ve tried to do on this site.
Outrageous, vicious attacks (on the left) and blind gushing (from the right) are completely useless. The woman deserves neither, though the former is far more outrageous than the latter.
Bottom Line: Rep. Cohen’s attack on Palin is absurd and uncalled for. As a Jew, I’m embarrassed.
Blind Hate and Blind Worship are the two extremes of human nature. Of course blind hate does tend to make good people prone to overlook and forgive the flaws in the one being attacked because the attacks are so outrageous. We have to remember that even good people are just people. Let’s look at them fairly and judge them on the merits. But when you have partisans dominating the airwaves, that can be hard to do. Debbie, it would be easier for you to just be completely partial except that popularity in human beings tends to be evanescent. Its not the best judge of their greatness. Just keep on with the job you’ve been doing!
NormanF on September 10, 2008 at 3:15 pm