Thomas Frank has a piece at wsj.com where he gives us the attribution of the quote:
We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity.
This is the quote that Governor Sarah Palin prefaced with "A writer observed:" in her acceptance speech in the Republican National Convention. That writer was Westbrook Pegler, a right wing columnist in the New Deal era. Frank has this also:
As the New York Times pointed out in its obituary of him in 1969, Pegler once lamented that a would-be assassin "hit the wrong man" when gunning for Franklin Roosevelt.
I am not sure what the point is here. Essentially, what we are talking about here is the New Deal version of Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh or Glen Beck with a bigger vocabulary.
Who knows if the speech writers knew the attribution. I am sure that if Charles Gibson asked Sarah Palin who Westbrook Pegler was, she'd have no clue. But even if they did know, would they have cared? Probably not.
Should we really care? Yes and no. Yes, because they continue to use right-wing extremists to exemplify their small town values. Our small towns are not full of right wing nutjobs. They just happen to be the loudest ones.
And: No, because this is yet another red herring for us all to chase while John McCain and Sarah Palin continue to fail to address the issues.
Keep your eye on the ball people. Westbrook Pegler isn't the problem.
Hat-tips to: AmericaBlog and TPM Election Central.
Comments welcome,
Patrick McGovern Sphere: Related Content
