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Sarah Palin’s Barbarism
The National Review's The Corner ^ | April 28, 2014 | Patrick Brennan, associate editor

Posted on 04/28/2014 1:20:49 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

It’s been no secret for a while that Sarah Palin, erstwhile vice-president candidate, is no longer a serious political contender — for evidence of that transition, note that even among her faithful, at CPAC this year, she got just 2 percent of the vote in the straw poll, tied with Condoleezza Rice. But as her crowd-pleasing performance in the very final speech of that event — and her lucrative contract with Fox News and huge social-media following — indicate, she’s gone from being a potential political leader to something of a cultural totem.

That means her speeches have gone from being standard political pablum to something even more substanceless — more or less a long string of hokey but often amusing jokes. But for all the lightheartedness, her appeal is to a set of people who take seriously their commitment to faith and freedom, right? Well, should this line garner laughs from such a crowd?

Oh, but you can’t offend [Islamic terrorists], can’t make them feel uncomfortable, not even a smidgen. Well, if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)

As Rod Dreher explains, this is pretty perverse:

"Not only is this woman, putatively a Christian, praising torture, but she is comparing it to a holy sacrament of the Christian faith. It’s disgusting — but even more disgusting, those NRA members, many of whom are no doubt Christians, cheered wildly for her. . . . Palin and all those who cheered her sacrilegious jibe ought to be ashamed of themselves. For us Christians, baptism is the entry into new life. Palin invoked it to celebrate torture. Even if you don’t believe that waterboarding is torture, surely you agree that it should not be compared to baptism, and that such a comparison should be laughed at. What does it say about the character of a person that they could make that joking comparison, and that so many people would cheer for it. Nothing good — and nothing that does honor to the cause of Jesus Christ."

Torture — waterboarding being something reasonable people may consider to constitute it — is and should be a question of grave moral consequence for Christians, and is for any Catholic familiar with the Catechism. Palin wasn’t even just jokingly comparing a serious violation of human dignity into one of the most important transcendental recognitions of it – she was mounting an expansive defense of something near torture, on the grounds that our prisoners ”would obviously have information on plots,” and therefore ought to, apparently, be subjected to a horrible practice not as a morally necessary last resort but a habit of quotidian intimidation. There’s a word for that kind of practice: barbaric. The Greeks used to use it to describe the other guys.


TOPICS: Issues; Parties
KEYWORDS: catholics; christianity; palin; pds; rentfree; rinos4jebbush; sarahpalin; waterboarding
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Patrick Brennan is an associate editor at National Review. As a William F. Buckley Fellow at the National Review Institute from 2011 to 2013, he covered a special election in New York’s ninth congressional district, sparred with Senator Rand Paul over who should run the Federal Reserve, and became very familiar with Mitt Romney’s tax returns. In addition to editing for the magazine and NRO, he writes on economic and fiscal policy, along with a sprinkling of foreign affairs. He also works as a part-time assistant for Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan.

In 2011, he received a degree in Classics with high honors from Harvard College, where he was managing editor of The Harvard Salient, competed on the sailing team, and served as chancellor of the Knights of Columbus council. In 2013, he was a Publius Fellow at the Claremont Institute. His work has been cited by, among others, Forbes, The Economist, The Week, and Real Clear Politics. He has appeared on Canada’s Sun News Network, Al Jazeera America, Mike Huckabee’s radio show, and other radio programs.

Does that explain his angle?

1 posted on 04/28/2014 1:20:49 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Gov Palin was great....this article is just another establishment story.


2 posted on 04/28/2014 1:23:42 PM PDT by svcw (Not 'hope and change' but 'dopes in chains')
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Pat must be the life of the party...the only guy in the room who didn’t get the joke


3 posted on 04/28/2014 1:25:13 PM PDT by Regulator
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Another RINO libtard who takes himself way too seriously. It was a red meat punchline. To be taken literally only if you have an agenda.


4 posted on 04/28/2014 1:29:08 PM PDT by nhwingut (This tagline is for lease)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Too Fing bad for the author of this article.

Ye she could be more diplomatic but let’s get something straight.

Islam is an inferior Third World religion there is no society on Earth it has benefited.

It is one of the most intolerant movements on Earth.

We are not going to survive by kissing their butts while they demolish Christian Churches and take people’s freedoms.

This whole concern with Islam is perverse. Damn straight the world would be better off if those lands are converted to Christianity.


5 posted on 04/28/2014 1:29:36 PM PDT by Williams
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

So he’s a jejune prig? Why does NR specialize in this brand of editor? I guess I get it, by the clone theory of hiring, there’s a nest of them there and they just keep attracting more of the same.

Jeesh!


6 posted on 04/28/2014 1:29:51 PM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Thank God we have Ivy League elites to tell us what ordinary Americans think about things.


7 posted on 04/28/2014 1:30:09 PM PDT by Hugin
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To: nhwingut

Miserable ObamaCARE-promoting, gay marriage-imposing,
and open borders-loving, TEAM ROMNEY continues
its attack on American conservatives.

The GOP is Enemy of America and Freedom

G.O.P. = Gave. Obama. Power.


8 posted on 04/28/2014 1:31:02 PM PDT by Diogenesis
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This article tells us more about National Review than it does about Sarah Palin.


9 posted on 04/28/2014 1:31:15 PM PDT by Da Bilge Troll (Defeatism is not a winning strategy!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Patrick, even the most "impressive" resume matters naught at times.

10 posted on 04/28/2014 1:32:06 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
But, is she a contender for leading a forceful reclamation of natural rights? If said reclamation does start, this girly man should seek shelter in one of the many leftist crap holes that will remain such.
11 posted on 04/28/2014 1:32:13 PM PDT by demshateGod (The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.)
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To: Da Bilge Troll

Yes, that’s what I meant.


12 posted on 04/28/2014 1:32:34 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (I will raise $2M for Cruz and/or Palin's next run, what will you do?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Do these presstitutes have nothing else to do but write about a failed 1/2 term quitter governor like Palin?


13 posted on 04/28/2014 1:32:51 PM PDT by definitelynotaliberal (Go, Cruz! Go!)
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To: definitelynotaliberal
You know, Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney, Al Gore and Fritz Mondale actually were vice presidents and when was the last time you heard a peep about any of them? LOL
14 posted on 04/28/2014 1:36:50 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (I will raise $2M for Cruz and/or Palin's next run, what will you do?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Water board Patrick Brennan.


15 posted on 04/28/2014 1:38:14 PM PDT by TigersEye (Stupid is a Progressive disease.)
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To: definitelynotaliberal

Yeah they should write about failed freepers like you. Honestly, you should stop posting. Your socialist cloaking device stopped working months ago.


16 posted on 04/28/2014 1:38:21 PM PDT by winoneforthegipper ("If you can't ride two horses at once, you probably shouldn't be in the circus" - SP)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Here is another hit piece from National Review's Robert Costa:

Sarah Palin soldiers on as a diminished figure in the Republican Party

17 posted on 04/28/2014 1:41:39 PM PDT by TexasCajun
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To: definitelynotaliberal

You know, I also thought it odd so many would still support her after she quit her governorship mid term, her only national political position.


18 posted on 04/28/2014 1:43:20 PM PDT by fishtacos
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To: definitelynotaliberal
I don't see the point in antagonizing her fan club.

She ceased to be a serious political player a long time ago, and the waterboard/baptize comment was an unserious comment from an unserious person.

19 posted on 04/28/2014 1:43:21 PM PDT by GunRunner
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To: TigersEye; Regulator; svcw; nhwingut; Williams; 9YearLurker; Hugin; Diogenesis; Da Bilge Troll; ...

Hahahahahaha! Guess who?

20 posted on 04/28/2014 1:45:23 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (I will raise $2M for Cruz and/or Palin's next run, what will you do?)
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