Sarah Palin's Un-Real America
On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, my dad, an Army captain, was in uniform and at Sunday mass. It was a fine, quiet morning on the island of Oahu.
At first, when the floor began to tremble and the explosions rumbled over the island from the bombs going off at Pearl Harbor, he and most of the congregation thought it was Navy target practice. Then they madly scrambled for their guns.
Dad fought with the armies of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, through New Guinea and the Philippines. He wore his country's uniform proudly for six years and didn't make it home, for good, until 1945. When he died, a few years ago, the American flag was draped upon his casket.
He is not here to do it, so allow me to refute the suggestion made by the McCain campaign and its surrogates that the Farrells, and Americans like us, are "anti-American" or not from the "real America" or "Communists" because we don't come from the mythical small town of Palinville, where good Christian families, who do the work and fight our country's wars, vote only for white Republicans.
My dad grew up on the streets of New York City. He attended Jamaica High School, borough of Queens, state of New York. He'd have given his life for his country on any day of those six long years in the Pacific theater. He was a patriot.
Tough city kid that he was, he'd have scoffed—laughed aloud—at the frightened knuckleheads who need a con man like Rush Limbaugh or a silly politician like Sarah Palin to tell them that they are special, and unfairly treated by the mean ol' world, and to reinforce their puny grievances.
And as someone whose life spanned the Depression, World War II, the Cold War, and the 9/11 attack upon his hometown (Were not those New Yorkers who died in the twin towers "real" Americans?), my father would have recognized that now is a time when our leaders should call on our strength and unity, not disseminate fear and division.
There are a lot of reasons to vote Democratic in this election. The smug Republican lie that you're not a "real American" if you do is one of the best.
Tags: presidential election 2008 | Republicans | campaign strategy | Sarah Palin
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Reader Comments
REAL Americans stetch from sea to shining sea
During my years in New York, I realized increasingly of the parochial mentality of New Yorkers. They think there's nothing worthwhile outside of the 5 boroughs and they are the center of the world. If you get out of the city to travel a little, Palin speaks truthfully about the majority of American towns and the people who live there. She said "real" Americans not to exclude those who don't have that life but rather to illustrate the enormity of communities where people are nice to each other, where humanitarian effort is passed from neighbor to neighbor instead of being filtered through big government, and who take on risk to become a small-business entrepreneur while raising their family the best they can, with a balance of work, religion, and family. I think Obama is trying to relate to the "South Side of Chicago" to get the urban vote, because according to his own website, he didn't grow up there at all.
Murtha a "real American"
You must be out of your mind! We are talking about John Murtha, Marine combat officer, decorated Vietnam veteran, right? He doesn't have to prove his loyalty to me, or to you. And as for phony, smooth talking politician: are you talking about Sarah Palin, when she's coherent? Or John McCain when he isn't lying? No, that would render him speechless, I guess.
What a joke!
All you people that are bashing Repubs evidently don't have a life! Get real for a change! Obama has done absolutely nothing in the world of politics to prove he has the experience to run our massive government. He has been on one committee in the Senate in which he has never even had a meeting! If he can't manage a meeting in some little committee how can he have extremely important meetings to run our government? He never votes except as "present" on any "really" important issues. Yet he claims to have all these different committees where he was instrumental in changing this or that & the news people investigate & he was just a "very, very" small part of the whole ordeal! Talk about inflating your resume!!! He is the smoothest talker I've ever seen! And what gets me is he is exposed over & over again to have ties to people who are connected to terrorists groups & yet you people believe he is not like that. Have you all forgotten 911? I'm sure growing up your parents taught you not to run with people who were bad. This guy (and it's been proven whether you want to believe it or not) has been running with some pretty bad people! You are the company you keep! Even today it was exposed that Rashid Khalidi who was at one time head of the PLO (a known terrorist group) was a good friend of Obama's until 2003 when he moved away. He was so close to them that he even babysat Obama's kids. Of course you won't believe that because Dems can't admit to anything! And let's take the Rev Wright issue...20 years in a church and you don't know your pastor makes statement like Wright made! Give me a break! Is he incredibly too STUPID to be president or LYING out his teeth? I could keep naming off all the crazies, Farrakhan, Resko, Ayers but you guys will keep on denying. What a shame! Thank God I'm not a that blind anymore! Oh by the way...I've got some swamp land I'd like to sell ya!
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