Bill Keller skewers Sarah Palin self
Interesting piece by Bill Keller, Editor at the New York Times. Money shot:
I was struck by the gratuitous quality of one remark she tossed off during that Rolling Thunder rally in Washington the Sunday before Memorial Day. When an NPR reporter asked what had brought her to the event, she replied, “It is our vets who we owe our freedom — not the politician, not the reporter — it is our vets, so that’s why we’re here.”
There is, I suppose, a gracious way to translate her comments. She might have meant to convey something along the lines of: “I’m sincerely humbled by the sacrifice our veterans have made to defend the freedoms I enjoy in my capacity as a politician and Fox News media pundit.” But I think we all know she meant nothing of the kind.
What Bill Keller doesn’t know is that Mrs. Palin was referencing a powerful poem by Father Dennis O’Brien, USMC:
It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.It is the Soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer,
Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.It is the Soldier, not the lawyer,
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.It is the Soldier, who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protestor to burn the flag.
What Bill Keller also doesn’t know is that former Democrat Zell Miller quoted the poem in his speech during the 2004 Republican National Convention:
Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more of the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier. And our soldiers don’t just see freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home. It has been said truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press. [cheers] It is the soldier, not the poet who has given us the freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest. It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag, who gives that protester the freedom he abuses to burn that flag.
What Bill Keller doesn’t know, apparently, could fill up an entire op-ed piece. Or a newsroom.
Category: Politics
Actually, what Bill Keller doesn’t know would fill a tall building, like the NYT building.
What a smug ass!!!!
Flaming flipping imbecile.
I wonder if anyone else will call him out on his ignorance?
— UP
Apparently he’s been, in military terms, hoisted by his own petard. Not that he would know either what that meant, nor what a petard is.
Retard.
Bill Keller’s success at the helm of the NYT, working for notorious promoter of killing American soldiers, Pinch Sulzberger, is a case study for business and journalism majors alike.
The only thing Bill Keller knows is to do what he’s told, when he’d told.
There is, I suppose, a gracious way to translate her comments. She might have meant to convey something along the lines of: “I’m sincerely humbled by the sacrifice our veterans have made to defend the freedoms I enjoy in my capacity as a politician and Fox News media pundit.” But I think we all know she meant nothing of the kind. ========== “I think we all know…” This is the arrogance and ignorance of Liberals. They think that just because they have an ignorant opinion of conservatives, everyone shares it. And this is how it is for them regarding Sarah Palin. From the beginning when — within days of McCain nominating her as his running mate — they sent 25+ ‘journalists’ to Alaska to dig to find any dirt on her they could find, their mantra about her has been that she is an idiot. From that point on, no matter what she has stated, they start from that conclusion and fit everything to that conclusion. She could say “2+2=4” and they would say “There is, I suppose, a gracious way to translate her comment. … But I think we all know she meant nothing of the kind.” Meanwhile, pResident Jugears and VP Joe ‘3 letter word jobs” Biden are a dynamic duo of gaffes, stupidity and utter bullshit. But, the conclusion of Liberals from the beginning for anyone on the Left is that they are naturally intelligent, so anything they do or say is to be given a pass, even if it’s 100% wrong and/or idiotic. Aggravating doesn’t even begin to cover this ridiculous ignorance and double-standard, not to mention the inability of half this nation to realize they are being indoctrinated with BS propaganda by the Left. I get into numerous conversations with both liberals and conservatives at work. Most of them now realize that Obama is a failure. But, almost all of them couch their criticisms with “well, it’s pretty obvious that Obama is intelligent…” I just shake my head. How is it is obvious? What in his entire educational, professional or political background is evidence that… Read more »
I’m hardly a Palin fan, BUT, didn’t her son complete an Iraq tour a few years back?
Does the pontificating Bill Keller have any family who have recently served in Messedupotamia or Asscrackistan???
The quote is correct, but the Father was in the USN, attached to the Marine Corps. He was not a Marine. We don’t have medical or religious MOS’s. The Navy supplies them to us.