"Textual" Misconduct

What an interesting week in politics! 

On one hand a presidential "wannabe" blithely recast segments of historical text, essentially rewriting the account of Paul Revere's most famous ride, and on the other hand a congressman demonstrated gross misconduct of a textual nature by "tweeting" inappropriate photos of himself.

Not only did these two individuals demonstrate "textual indiscretions", but when asked about their actions both simply lied or denied any wrongdoing.  After continued pressing, however, Congressman Weiner finally relented and admitted that he had not told the truth about the questionable text.  We have yet to see former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin admit to her mistake.  In fact, I don't recall EVER hearing Sarah Palin admit to any of the myriad mistakes and blunders she has uttered over the past two years.

It seems that if a congressman who had been literally caught with his pants down could relent and admit to something so eggregious as texting or "sexting" lewd photos, why can't Sarah Palin acknowledge mistakes and missteps that pale in comparison to what Weiner confessed to?

For someone who prides herself on being a Washington "outsider", Palin's tireless dancing and dodging around the truth have put her on par with the inside crowd.

God's Word directs us to "confess our faults, one to another."  Perhaps that page was torn out of Mrs. Palin's bible.  We all make mistakes -- "all have sinned and come short...."  And, when we do mess up--not IF, but when--the mature, responsible way to handle mistakes is not to deny ever making them.  Instead, we are to own up to our mistakes and do whatever it takes to correct them. 

I'm not sure if she is receiving bad PR advice or if she is just behaving in rogue fashion, but smugly denying a mistake when the evidence clearly points to the contrary, or launching baseless accusations of "gotcha" journalism like a "get out of jail free" card, does not hide the fact that there are a lot of things about American history, government, international relations and other subjects that Sarah Palin just doesn't appear to know. 

She once butchered a word in one of her tweets, and instead of admitting her mistake, boldly exclaimed, "Shakespeare made up words all the time."  Perhaps he did.  But Thou, Madame, art no Shakespeare.  She even once touted something about Alaska's proximity to Russia as an indicator of her foreign policy experience. So close....but yet so far.

I normally try not to wade too deeply into politics, but I have sat silently on the sidelines watching this sad side-show long enough and, I'm sorry, I just had to speak out. 

Friends, our American political system cannot continue to be treated like an open-ended reality show where honest notions like "anyone can grow up to be President" are distorted by a parade a pathetically arrogant and ignorant perpetrators playing a cruel joke.  There is entirely too much at stake in the world today for us continue patronizing this parody of our political system.

I'm not saying Sarah Palin is the only political figure making mistakes, she has plenty of company on both sides of the aisle.  We also know that politicans often waffle back and forth regarding their stance on various issues.  But that's not the issue here.

The concern I have is Palin's outright, stubborn refusal to deal with reality, even when it is staring her in the face.  Weiner tried that approach, but after a while, he had to yield to reality.  Palin, however, will simply rewrite a story to suit her needs, tell it, retell it and essentially proclaim, "that's my story and I'm sticking with it."

Her constant, unbelievable denials are so extreme that they have become teachable moments for my children who see right through her false bravado.  Her antics have provided a perfect object lesson to help my children understand that accepting responsibility for their mistakes will keep them from appearing (and being) foolish.

If you happen to be a Sarah Palin supporter, the best way to truly support her is to pray for her to stay grounded in reality.  It does her more harm than good  when people indiscriminately cheer her on when she makes painfully obvious mistakes that can be easily corrected.  Someone needs to care enough about her to let her know that "the emperor has no clothes" -- or is that what someone should have been warning Congressman Weiner about?

BNcouraged!

Rev. Karen