Everybody’s been worrying about what Sarah Palin’s going to do, other than rebuild the family bank account, now that she’s on the loose.
It’s hard to say whether the GOP is more worried that she’ll continue to be very, very visible, or that she won’t. When she promised, shortly after announcing her early retirement, to devote some of her time to stumping for fellow conservatives, a number of Republican candidates were quick to say they didn’t need her help, thank you very much. When she clarified, shortly thereafter, that she’d be happy to work for like-minded candidates of
either party, Democrats were just as quick to demur.
But there’s one group she has an affinity for that could really use some help.
In her
resignation speech Sunday she spent a lot of time talking about our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Often when she brings up the troops it’s a complete non sequitur—as if she’s lost her train of thought or her place in a speech, so she injects, “and that’s why we honor our fighting men and women….”
It’s become something of a joke. But it comes up when she’s winging it because she's nervous and it’s one of a small set of deeply held beliefs. She’s a patriot and she believes in patriots. Sunday she opened her speech with a heartfelt paean to the fighting men and women from the state of Alaska, and you got the feeling that losing some sense of an official connection to those soldiers was the only thing she regretted about giving up the governorship.
Then, of course, she also uses the example of military sacrifice to attack whatever she finds less worthy: “Democracy depends on you,” she said, addressing the press, on Sunday. “
That’s why our troops are willing to die for you. So in honor of the American soldier: Could ya quit making things up?”
It got a laugh, but in a way it’s the best of Sarah Palin, and that’s why she should go to work on behalf of soldiers—gay soldiers. I know, as McCain’s running-mate Palin opposed gay marriage, but she’s not a convincing homophobe, and her fervor for those who serve should trump those pesky differences. And she has a perfect ally for the kind of out-of-the-box campaign she relishes.
Sarah Palin, meet Kirsten Gillibrand,.
Gillibrand is the junior senator from New York—appointed to replace Hillary Clinton—who’s had the temerity to try to force Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell out of the closet for the first time in 16 years. Citing the 275 gay servicemen and women she said have been pushed out of the military since Obama took office, Gillibrand has been fighting the president’s decision to postpone the whole issue of “Don’t Ask.” First she tried to get an 18-month moratorium on dismissals tacked on to a military appropriations bill. When she didn’t succeed at that, she went for, and yesterday won,
approval for hearings this fall.
By that time Palin should be tired of fishing and ready for action.
There are some striking affinities between the two women: Gillibrand is
an avid gun owner and protector of the Second Amendment (another cause Palin reiterated Sunday with a gleeful reminder: “We eat therefore we hunt!”). Gillibrand may not have shot wolves out of a helicopter, but she has a 100% rating from the NRA; in fact her pro-gun enthusiasm has
alienated so many downstate Democrats that some have suggested that her courageous defense of gay soldiers is a way to cozy up to her more liberal constituents.
They could make a great bi-partisan team. And Palin, who always likes to mention the freedoms our men and women in uniform are fighting to defend, could move to fighting to defend
their rights.
