In Greensboro, N.C. on Oct. 16, to a large crowd of supporters, Sarah Palin made the following statement:
“We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe, that the best of America is in these small tows that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all you hard working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation.”
The next day in Mesilla, N.M., Joe Biden jumped all over this comment when he said:
“Ladies and gentleman, I have never been to a state that hasn’t sent its sons and daughters to serve its country. It doesn’t matter where you live, we all love this country and I hope it gets through that one of the reasons why Barack and I are running is that we know how damaging the policy of division has been. We are one nation, under God, indivisible. We are all patriotic, we all love this country.”
There are several things about politics that aggravate me, and this is one. When a candidate takes a statement by his opponent, interjects his own personal interpretation upon it, turns it around, out of context, to supply ammunition so that he can attack and belittle the other party to make them look bad. Both sides have been guilty of this, but feel this is one of the worst examples of the race thus far. It is a complete misrepresentation of Palin’s actual words.
First of all, the only juxtaposition that occurs within Palin’s statement is between Washington D.C. and the small towns of the nation. Los Angeles, New York City, Atlanta, Boston and the like aren’t mentioned, but just Washington D.C. Why is this? It is obviously because she feels that government has lost touch with the American people, and this extends out to the farthest areas of the Nation. I don’t see what is so disagreeable with this. In fact, I am inclined to agree 100% and I do feel the citizens of this nation make up the very “real America” that Palin mentions.
This is the ONLY contrast she states, and to interject anything else into her statement is, in my mind, ridiculous and not just messing with context, but actually adding words and wrapping it around your own personal bias, which Joe Biden did in his reply. This interpretation is a completely illogical one and it lacks any true reasoning. I myself, agree with Palin’s comments a lot more than Joe Biden’s conclusions.
Before we get into that though, let us first look at the definition of the word, “patriotism.” The dictionary defines “patriotism” as one who is “devoted to the love, support and defense of ones country; national loyalty.” However, is this really what most people think of when they think of a patriot? Do we think of someone who merely loves their country? This is an important aspect of what makes someone a patriot, true, but we see from historical contexts that a patriot is much more than this. A patriot is someone who puts their country first, above their very lives and well being, to defend the nation and its ideals. This is why our troops are patriots and so many of our citizens of this nation are not. It is funny how some see the exact opposite though, that the troops are guilty of treason and those with their picket signs on college campuses all over the United States are the real patriots.
No Biden, not all of us are patriotic and we see time and time again that people only love this country when it can serve them. People forget the freedoms it offers them like to say what they want, worship however they desire and the opportunities this country provides. Such people are not patriots or patriotic, for a patriotic person is not self absorbed, but instead puts the needs of the country before their own. People now expect their country to serve them and not the other way around.
This is not to say that protesting a need for reform is anti-American, rather what gets me is that people will cease to love or be proud of this country if there is something going on they disagree with. Government should be of the people and not serve the people hand and foot. We need to love this country unconditionally, but with our current leaders and much of society, this love is all too often condition based from issue to issue. This is not patriotism, nor is it love for the country, but rather love of the self.
Biden’s statement that he has seen how damaging division can be, yet practices and encourages division in his very statements is an unfathomable contradiction to me. He consistently does this by twisting peoples words to mean something they don't even say and attacking reporters and citizens who ask Obama or himself thought provoking questions. Does Biden really have the right to lecture us on what patriotism really is?
First, to Biden patriotism is paying taxes. Let us realize another component of patriotism; that it is completely voluntary. Patriotism is never required by the federal government as taxes are. Furthermore, is it patriotic to attack an American citizen on Jay Leno? No, of course its not! Nor is it patriotic or even decent to slam a person and refuse to answer a legitimate question on a Florida news station because you don’t like the question. You are a politician! Part of your job is to answer the tough questions! These actions certainly aren’t elements of patriotism!
Biden may have been a patriot at one time, when he was first sworn in, but he certainly isn’t now and therefore shouldn’t speak as an authority on the subject. A lot of our politicians are self serving morons that have no national pride, but instead insist on the government and the people of the nation to serve them and their ideals only! Most of these politicians are situated in Washington D.C. and these are the people Palin brought up in her statement, and who she has a problem with. Palin doesn’t raise issue with the people of America who do love this country and want to protect it, but rather those who love it only when it benefits them and want to change it to suit them perfectly.
It is not the pro-American people of this country that need to change, but rather government and this is what was emphasized in Palin’s comments and eventually lost by the remarks of Biden. It is sad when even positive things said by a politician can be twisted to mean something completely different by their opponents and media. I did like when Biden said, “We are one nation, under God, indivisible.” I liked it, not because I feel that this is represented anymore within society or government, but rather because that’s what our country should be. It shows us what we once were, what we are lacking, but what we could be again. Considering the words that come out of Biden’s mouth and how he acts, it is time he started behaving like he actually believes those words and holds onto to their meaning.
On a side note, I found a rather strange phenomenon when researching this entry and it keeps popping up time and time again. As in this instance, I could find Biden’s comments at a drop of the hat, but for some reason, I had a rather difficult time finding Palin’s actual statement. I eventually ran across an article where it was cited, but they felt the need to include the verbal “um’s” and “uh’s” in her speech, even though these weren’t overly obtrusive during her address. It’s odd that periodicals never include these when referencing Obama and Biden’s statements, but often insert them for McCain and Palin. It was obviously added to make her sound more stupid, for journalists are actually discouraged from inserting such things into quotation’s, for they can detract from the point behind the quote and distract the reader as well. In theory these should all be omitted by real journalists concerning all the candidates statements, but they frequently aren’t for Republican’s, yet the same “attention to detail” in quotations isn’t applied to comments from Democrats. Odd.
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