Writer: Palin reacting to ‘indecent’ treatment of Trig, Bristol
July 7th, 2009James Taranto writes in the Wall Street Journal that Sarah Palin’s resignation was prompted in part by her anger at “such indecent treatment of her children.” An excerpt:
For whatever reason, Palin-haters have been unusually uninhibited in their cruel mockery of the governor’s children, particularly Bristol and Trig. HotAir.com’s “Allahpundit” notes that Palin’s resignation moved one Erik Nelson to write a Puffington Host post titled “Palin Will Run in ‘12 on More Retardation Platform.” (Trig Palin has Down’s syndrome.)
Nelson thought better of the post, pulled it, and offered an apology. He should have apologized for being unoriginal. Last September the Onion published a fake op-ed attributed to Palin, lauding “my vote-stealing retard baby.”
See original: ‘Please Keep Your Voice Down, My Poor Retarded Child Is Sleeping’ — The Onion, Sept. 24, 2008.
An excerpt:
It’s very rude of you to keep pointing out the myriad reasons I am unfit to be the governor of Alaska, much less vice president of the United States of America, when you know my Down syndrome–afflicted son is trying to get some much-needed rest. If you wanted to question my qualifications as a leader, you should have thought of that sooner, like, say, before I gave birth to a retarded child who would probably starve to death if I weren’t so selflessly and courageously dedicated to him.
… It’s just that he gets so tired having to struggle with even the simplest tasks that you and I take for granted. Because my special needs son has Down syndrome, you see. My child has Down syndrome. And, as the mother of a baby with Down syndrome, I would appreciate it if you stopped bringing up my nonexistent energy plan while he sleeps there, like an angel.
… Now, if you’ll please back away quietly without saying anything else — especially about my recent comments regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and how they illustrate my complete lack of even a basic understanding of our econom — I’ll forget this whole thing ever happened.
And so will my vote-stealing retard baby.
And another one bites the dust …
A post about Sarah Palin’s resignation speech, focusing on her comment that the world needs “more Trigs,” was posted on the Daily Kos website on July 5, 2009, then removed. The title: Just don’t accuse me of ‘going full retard‘. Here’s the portion that was still showing up in Google searches:
… sort of thinking that would have one believe that the world needs more children with developmental disorders is, in every sense of the word, retarded. …
The post apparently had 55 comments attached when it was taken down.
Readers: Did anybody save the full text of that one?
UPDATE: Here’s the full text of the pseudonymous Daily Kos post, followed by a barrage of critical comments. Thanks to Pam Wilson for sending it along.
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July 9th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Way to go, Pamela! Well said.
July 9th, 2009 at 4:20 am
Erin — I believe that when ‘Kwaidan’ wrote: “… I’d just like to start this ball rolling down the hill by saying definitively that, no, the word does not need more “Trigs” “ and that we should “use the tools of science and medicine to eradicate Down Syndrome and other disorders” – he meant prenatal diagnosis and abortion of fetuses with a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, not treatment.
At this time, most of the money in science and medicine is going toward prenatal diagnosis, and a lot of profit is to be made there.
You may be unaware of the history of eugenics, and that people with disabilities were the first targeted in Nazi Germany. They had persuasive writers who otherwise good people might have defended as being misinterpreted, too. They did not get as far as they did by admitting they were violent hateful people; they were promoting a vision of a more perfect future that would benefit us all — and created the illusion that ‘all’ included anyone who would defend them from those who questioned certain discrepancies in their policies.
‘Kwaidan’ did try to qualify his preference for no more Trigs with an expression of tolerance for people with developmental disabilities already out in the world, but no one who valued a single individual with a developmental disability would have chosen the title he did for his piece.
My take on ‘Kwaidan’ is that he is a bully and an opportunist who knows that anything written about Sarah Palin will generate interest, and anything insulting about her 14-month-old son will generate comments. He has mentioned in previous pieces what generates the highest number of readers and comments.
My son who has Down syndrome is 25 years old, and ‘Kwaidan’ is not the first ignorant young man I’ve encountered who has been proud to use hate language while pretending to greater virtue.
When the coward ‘Kwaidan’ equated Down syndrome with bubonic plague and expressed his belief that the best possible future for us all is one where no one with Down syndrome exists, I read it as a threat. My response has been surprisingly restrained.
I believe I know some of what Sarah Palin meant when she said that the world needs more Trigs — but since her son is a unique individual who brings his own value to the family and his community, I don’t know it all.
‘Kwaidan’ wrote: “Progressives believe that answers lie in areas like stem cell research and, well, science and research period. Conservatives, especially the religious fundamentalist conservatives, believe that the world needs more “Trigs.”” Just about everyone I know believes that answers lie in research and science *and* what Sarah Palin means about the world needing more Trigs.
You are putting a lot of faith in a person who will not use his actual name with his writing. Why would you trust him, and insult me?
July 8th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Pamela – I believe you misinterpreted this guy’s post. Seems to me not suggesting that society kill everyone with Down Syndrome and Alzheimers … he’s suggesting that hopefully we can find cures. Your apoplectic comparison of this guy to Hitler and the Nazis is a bit over the top, don’t you think?
July 7th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
It is truly pathetic that these ‘writers’ stuck in middle school adolescence cannot comprehend why conservatives and liberals alike understand how the world *needs* more people like Sarah Palin’s Trig and our sons and daughters with Down syndrome.
The Daily Kos entry read in part: “… Over the long weekend, I’ve watched this miraculous bit of political theater several times in varying states of sobriety… … it presents a fundamental difference in the ways progressives and a certain subset of conservatives view the world. …”
So, this particular drunken layabout is unaware that families of children with Down syndrome represent the full diversity of political beliefs and viewpoints.
He also wrote: ” … What I am saying is that, ideally, we use the tools of science and medicine to eradicate Down Syndrome and other disorders. As a progressive, I believe that we can look forward to a day when there is no Down Syndrome, no autism, no Alzheimer’s disease, and so on. …”
Gee, Adolf, that does not sound as progressive today as it might have in Nazi Germany. Oops, sorry, you are going by “Kwaidan” in your KOS diary.
On another day you wrote: “… I’m recently divorced and was making my first tentative steps back into the dating scene. It’s a tough thing to do after nearly a decade out of it and it’s especially tough in this town. I decided I wouldn’t pursue dating necessarily and I would just do what I like to do and, eventually, I would meet someone.
Sure enough, it happened. I’m a jazz fan. I went to a show. She was there. Simple as that. … (And then there was a disagreement about Prop 8 in California) …I explained it was fundamental to me, that we are talking about friends of mine, people I adore. And if she didn’t see it as a civil rights issue, didn’t understand that there is no such thing as “separate but equal,” and believed that it is a mental defect that causes people to be gay, that I couldn’t be with her. … ”
And yet he seems to feel quite comfortable throwing in with the same folks who would no doubt equate being gay with bubonic plague and polio, a condition to be eradicated along with Down syndrome ‘and other disorders’ –
‘Kwaidan’ wrote ” … shouldn’t we try to envision a world where Down Syndrome and other disorders are studied as history because science, medicine and technology have relegated them to spending eternity alongside bubonic plague and polio and endevor to achieve it? Wouldn’t that actually be better than a world with more “Trigs?” …”
No, it would not be a better future. And perhaps you should endeavor to use ’spell-check’ to achieve your own personal best.
Who is Kwaidan?