Dr. Laura: Media trying to 'evicerate' her 'soul sister' Sarah

"Every day she survives the shark attack”
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In an interview with Newsmax TV, the satellite radio talk show host defended Sarah Palin, whom she referred to as "a soul sister":

The media continue to assault Sarah Palin and other social conservatives in the wake of the Tucson, Ariz., shootings because they are intent on silencing voices that disagree with theirs, Dr. Laura Schlessinger says. Her comments highlight a situation where the left can attack Republicans for harsh political rhetoric while at the same time Democrats compare GOP tactics on healthcare repeal to those used by the Nazis.

“(The media goes after Palin) for the same reason they go after all social conservatives, they’re trying to silences voices that disagree with theirs,” Schlessinger said in an exclusive Newsmax.TV interview. “There’s a horrible trend in censorship going on in this country. Newsmax is a safe place to be, Sirius XM, where I am now on radio, is a safe place to be. But I really find a soul sister in Sarah Palin because every day they try to eviscerate her and every day she survives the shark attack.”

[...]

Schlessinger said that the focus on Palin and other conservatives following the Tucson shooting that killed six and wounded 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was a means of attaining power.

“What happened, the tragedy that happened in Tucson, had nothing to do with politics but everything to do with paranoid schizophrenia,” she said referring to the mental state of accused gunman Jared Loughner. “We have to have a means by which society can contain somebody who is mentally ill and dangerous.”

Dr. Laura was one of Sarah Palin's critics when the first woman to become Alaska's governor became the first woman to be the vice presidential candidate of the Republican Party. But two years later when Schlessinger herself came under attack, Sarah Palin was one of the few who defended her, inspiring Dr. Laura to post on her blog:

On Wednesday, in her Tweet and Facebook, Sarah Palin made strong statements in my support. You may remember that, two years ago, I was less than enthusiastic when she was selected by John McCain to be his running mate, as my concerns were that having responsibilities for small children should preclude such a decision.

In spite of my criticism of that time, Sarah Palin came out in support of my decision...

[...]

I spoke with her yesterday and told her how impressed I was with her character. You don’t see such character much these days. I believe most folks would have had a more negative approach considering I had not been supportive at that time. But, nope, not Sarah. She is gracious and a woman of principles – no petty reaction.

Gov. Palin's graciousness and strength of character made Schlessinger realize that the two "have a lot in common." Both women, Dr. Laua said, have been the targets of "vitriolic partisan attacks," and both "made huge changes in our lives to be able to protect the people we love and have a freer context in which to try to help America’s families."

Sarah Palin demonstrates through her actions that she can change hearts and minds in a very personal way. If she can have that same sort of impact in the public sphere, the presidency will be hers.

- JP

Dr. Laura on why Gov. Palin is always picked out

"Now they have two of us"
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Tuesday night Sean Hannity asked Dr. Laura why Sarah Palin is "always picked out." Her answer (at about the 5:15 mark) is a blunt one:


- JP

Context, context, context

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Gov. Palin retweeted Thursday:

"HeyTammyBruce Liberals defended Shirley Sharrod, lecturing about importance of hearing statements 'in context' For everyone except Dr Laura of course."

Tammy was spot on about the left's hypocrisy. They only want context for themselves, but deny it for opposing views. One notable exception is liberal Robert Paul Reyes, who posted this excerpt from the transcript of the phone call that got Dr. Laura into such a kettle of boiling oil:

CALLER: How about the n-word? So, the n-word's been thrown around -

SCHLESSINGER: Black guys use it all the time. Turn on HBO, listen to a black comic, and all you hear is nig***, nig***, nig***.

CALLER: That isn't -

SCHLESSINGER: I don't get it. If anybody without enough melanin says it, it's a horrible thing; but when black people say it, it's affectionate. It's very confusing. Don't hang up, I want to talk to you some more. Don't go away.

CALLER: I was a little caught back by the n-word that you spewed out, I have to be honest with you."

In his commentary at American Chronicle, Reyes defended Dr. Laura:

Dr. Laura didn't call the caller, who is African-American, or anyone else the n-word.

Dr. Laura is correct when she stated that black guys use it all the time. Of course many African Americans are horrified by the casual use of the word by many young blacks. But it's impossible to be in a group of young black people and not hear the offensive word repeated ad nauseam.

Dr. Laura has no history of being a racist.

Dr. Laura wasn't advocating for the right of white people to use the n-word. She was merely pointing out the double standard: It's OK for blacks to use the horrible word, but not for non-blacks.

Despite her apology, Reyes says that Dr. Laura is "blameless in this incident." Which puts Reyes essentially in agreement with what Sarah Palin wrote in her Facebook post on the matter.

But leftists and their media fellow travelers will grasp at any straw to brand their hated political opponents as raaaacists by twisting their words and taking them out of context.

As for Dr. Laura, she responded graciously to Gov. Palin's support:

On Wednesday, in her Tweet and Facebook, Sarah Palin made strong statements in my support. You may remember that, two years ago, I was less than enthusiastic when she was selected by John McCain to be his running mate, as my concerns were that having responsibilities for small children should preclude such a decision.

In spite of my criticism at that time, Sarah Palin came out in support of my decision to move on...

[...]

I spoke with her yesterday and told her how impressed I was with her character. You don’t see such character much these days. I believe most folks would have had a more negative approach considering I had not been supportive at that time. But, nope, not Sarah. She is gracious and a woman of principles – no petty reaction.

She and I have a lot in common. We both find ourselves on the receiving end of vitriolic partisan attacks. We both made huge changes in our lives to be able to protect the people we love and have a freer context in which to try to help America’s families.

Kudos to Dr. Laura for recognizing Gov. Palin's strength of character, and to Robert Paul Reyes for being one of the few remaining on the left with personal integrity and intellectual honesty.

- JP

Sarah Palin: Leftists are spinning the Dr. Laura issue

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Sarah Palin took to Facebook Thursday to call out the leftists for their hysterical attacks on Dr. Laura Schlessinger and on herself for defending Dr. Laura:

Defending the Fight to Cast off a Conservative’s “Shackles”

Does anyone seriously believe that Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a racist? Anyone, I mean, who isn’t already accusing all conservatives, Republicans, Tea Party Americans, etc., etc., etc. of being racists?

Adversaries who have been trying to silence Dr. Laura for years seized on her recent use of the n-word on her show as she subsequently suggested that rap “artists” and other creative types like those producing HBO shows who regularly use the n-word could be questioned for doing so. Her intention in discussing the issue with a caller seeking advice was not to be hateful or bigoted. Though she did not mean to insult the caller, she did, and she apologized for it. Still, those who oppose her seized upon her mistake in using the word (though she didn’t call anyone the derogatory term) to paint her as something that she’s not. I can understand how she could feel “shackled” by those who would parse a single word out of decades of on-air commentary. I understand what she meant when she declared that she was “taking back my First Amendment rights” by turning to a new venue that will not allow others the ability to silence her by going after her stations, sponsors, and supporters.

I, and obviously many others, have been “shackled” too by people who play games with false accusations, threats, frivolous lawsuits, misreporting, etc., in an effort to silence those with whom they disagree. That’s why I tend to defend people who call it like they see it while others stop at nothing to shut them up. I learned this valuable lesson when the partisan obstructionists in my state tried to shackle, bankrupt, and destroy my family and supporters, and my record, with endless frivolous litigation when I returned from the Vice Presidential campaign trail. In order to shake off the shackles they wanted to paralyze us with, I handed the reins to another, much like Dr. Laura is doing, so that these obstructionists who hated a Commonsense Conservative agenda wouldn’t win. I didn’t retreat; I reloaded in order to fight for what is right on a fairer battlefield. So, more power to someone with good intentions who refuses to be shackled by their detractors when they are falsely accused of being racist.

Dr. Laura did not call anyone or any group of people the n-word. Curiously, the same criers over this issue didn’t utter a word when White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel called a group protesting the Obama Administration’s actions, “f***ing retards.” When this presidential spokesman uttered this term I commented that the President would be better off not including Emmanuel in his circle of advisers, and my opinion was based not just on the crude and disrespectful term Emmanuel used to label people, but because he too often gives the President very poor advice. I was called intolerant and narrow-minded by many on the Left for commenting on that issue. Many of these same Leftists are now spinning the Dr. Laura issue into something it is not. As usual, their hypocrisy and double standard applications are glaring.

- Sarah Palin

- JP