No, this is not a sequel to Lady Chatterley’s Lover. But Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber do have something in common. Both were the subject of instant, vicious and very personal attacks from the left.
Promptly upon McCain’s announcement of his choice for running mate, a passel of investigative lawyers were dispatched to Alaska to explore, not for gold but for dirt. The Daily Kos crowd railed against both Joe and Sarah. The charge that the Palins lied about who was the real mother of baby Trig was first levied less than 10 hours following Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech. Joe the plumber’s integrity was called into question when some researcher discovered the plumber’s first name was not Joe, but Samuel. The fact that his middle name is Joseph remained unsaid. Ohio government workers were given the illegal task of rummaging through confidential files in search of something to discredit workingman Joe.
Watching all this unfold reminded me of one fateful day when I was a child, growing up on the coast in the great state of Maine. Dad was working on a customer’s boat and I was sliding down a dirt bank on the nearby shore. Boys do those things. I slid right through a massive nest of ground bees. The bees did not like it. Instant, vicious and personal came the united attack, a sample of community organization at its best.
Palin and the plumber, two fine and decent Americans suddenly and viciously were set upon by those perceiving a direct assault threatening their ideology, responding like that swarm of bees suffering a direct assault on their home in the turf.
I hold no grudge against the bees. But I find it difficult to be as generous to those who attack people who have ideas when they should be directing their attacks at the ideas, not the people.
Bob B
RANDOM THOTS 