Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Palin makes it up as she goes along

Now that she's no longer an elected official but just another rich celebrity, Sarah Palin must think she can say anything and get away with it. The former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee doesn't mind just making things up, apparently.

In a speech in Charlotte before the National Rifle Association, Palin accused President Obama of planning to eliminate private ownership of guns and ammunition. Huh? "If they [Obama and his minions] thought they could get away with it," Palin told the crowd, "they would ban guns and ban ammunition and gut the Second Amendment."

Where does she get this drivel? To my knowledge neither Obama nor any other national-scene politician in recent years has ever proposed an outright ban on guns or ammunition. Gun politics has taken a turn the past few years toward looser laws and broader interpretation of the Second Amendment. Even left-leaning politicians now acknowledge the right to gun ownership by law-abiding Americans. Whatever battle there is over the Second Amendment is over the nuances of the law — just what kinds of "arms" are protected, for example, and what reasonable restrictions might government place on this right?

But Palin was never one to deal in nuances. She might leaven her audacious claims and invented scenarios with folksy charm, but she much prefers to outrageous lie to the complicated fact. It sells, and she's going to keep dishing the red meat to her baying hounds.

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