This is a good column from Mary Mitchell in the Chicago Sun-Times that calls Sarah Palin out for the coded language she used in her Wednesday night speech. Consider:
During her debut, Palin electrified the Republicans, but she also shook up every registered voter in the ‘hood.
Besides mocking the historic breakthrough of Barack Obama emerging as the Democrats’ nominee, Palin was relentless in her use of language that reinforces divisions among black and white voters — particularly pitting small-town people against the rest of us.
She explains:
It is scary that a woman who hails from a small town in Alaska felt so at home on the national stage being downright mean.
And for some of us, Palin reinforces every stereotype, rightly or wrongly, of what we think white people think in those small towns.
“We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity and dignity,” she said.
Does that mean people who grew up in urban Americas are less honest, less sincere and have less dignity?
“They love their country, in good times and bad, and they’re always proud of America,” Palin said.
Does that mean the rest of us are unpatriotic?
Although a spokesman for McCain told me that Palin’s comments about McCain being the “kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns,” was not a put-down of Obama’s name, given Palin’s rapid-fire attack, I can see why some people took it that way.
Hank Kalet 