The Palin/Beck controversy

Yeah, yeah--more Linky No Thinky.  I'm a little behind the curve of late; moving freight for constant 11-hour nights makes me loopy.  (On the plus side, I've lost 15 pounds in a month and I'm getting totally ripped.  (OK, 'ripped' for a 42-year-old truck driver.  Cut me some slack.))

I've been reading the pervading screams of outrage over Brian Sack's recent Palin jokes on GBTV, all of which seem to demand that Sack should be shot, Beck should be tarred and feathered, and the entirety of GBTV should be razed to the ground with salt and acid sown upon the ruins, that one electron should not stand upon another.  Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I will state that I dig Glenn Beck.  I will also point out that the blogger linked herein is a Mormon, as is Mr. Beck, so there may or may not be a certain conflict of interest here--make up your own mind.  But she's got some very good points to make, and you should all read them now.

It doesn’t do us or Sarah herself any favors if we start to see (and overreact to) attacks where none were intended, or even where there’s enough reasonable doubt in the matter that a more reasonable person would just let it alone. We (justifiably) poo-pooed Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter for decrying how unreasonable we Palinistas are, but stuff like this is only handing them (and others like them) more ammunition. It’s the flip side of Palin Derangement Syndrome, in which anything anyone says that could possibly be construed as a negative toward the Governor is immediately decried as vile hatemongering. It’s wrong when they do it, and it’s wrong when we do it.

Yeah...it's exactly like that.  One of the main reasons the Right has been losing the culture wars is because we've been derided as straitlaced, uptight and not being able to take a joke.  And this, I'm sorry to say, is an accusation not without merit.  Whether the joke is funny or not, we have to know "when to, and when not to."  This routine was a complete non-issue until some of my fellow Palinistas went insane about it, and I'm asking you all to please knock it off. 

If we've learned nothing else over the past three years, it's that Governor Palin is more than capable of taking care of herself.  We must counter the lies, we must advance the facts.  We must stand firm in our support.  But if we allow ourselves to become as shrill and intolerant as the Obamanoids, then we lose big.

Think about it, please.  We're not going to prevail by becoming what we oppose.