Thursday, September 4, 2008

Sarah Palin: Community Organizer Second To None

In last night's speech, Sarah Palin, teleprompter intact, decided to go after the heart of America. She decided to go after community organizers:

And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.
In that split second, Sarah Palin became the community organizer with such impact that the rest of us only dream of achieving.

She obviously motivated community organizers to start organizing against her. They have started their own blogsite, with this from the founder of Community Organizers of America, John Raskin:

“Community organizers work in neighborhoods that have been hit hardest by the failing economy,” said John Raskin, founder of Community Organizers of America and a community organizer on the West Side of Manhattan. “The last thing we need is for Republican officials to mock us on television when we’re trying to rebuild the neighborhoods they have destroyed. Maybe if everyone had more houses than they can count, we wouldn’t need community organizers. But I work with people who are getting evicted from their only home. If John McCain and the Republicans understood that, maybe they wouldn’t be so quick to make fun of community organizers like me.”
For being just created today, it has already drawn quite a bit of attraction, that surely will only become greater as time moves on.

She even inspired one young organizer to make a personal "thank you" video (H/T to Illy-T):





Not only did Palin manage to tick off the community organizers, she managed to get other groups roiling as well. Groups like the National Association of Social Workers:

The social work profession takes great pride in its community organizing roots and lauds the contributions of its members, and other professionals, who commit their careers to helping residents of different communities organize their resources and take social action to improve life for themselves and their families. Small town reformers and urban community organizers have much in common.
Trust me when I tell you, social workers make some awfully important decisions, on a daily basis, which are much, much harder than those of a mayor who's biggest concern is making sure there is enough snow for the Iditarod.

But Palin did not motivate just social workers or community organizers. Nope. Not just those people. She ticked off a lot of people, all across the country. How else to explain the fact that the Obama campaign raised $10 million dollars in less then 24 hours of her giving her smarmy, smug, condescending speech.

The venerable James Rowen has more here.

7 comments:

  1. I wonder if their are more community organizers who were offended, than people who live in small towns who were offended by the Left's denigration of her experience as a mayor of an insignificant little burg.

    All political knives cut both ways, my friend.

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  2. Elliot,

    Even small towns have community organizers. A little burg near my northern castle, named Iola, puts on an antique car show every year. The entire town volunteers to works the booths and whatnot, and the entire profit goes to charities in the town.

    A small town in Alaska had community organizers bring together when the mayor, Sarah Palin, tried to fire the librarian because she wouldn't do the banned books thing.

    A two-edged sword can cut both ways, or handled correctly, it can cut the opponent in two ways.

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  3. "Community Organizers" are not the heart of America. Ordinary folks volunteering and making their towns better places might be closer to the heart. To lump civically active citizens together with professional, politically oriented organizers is either dishonest or delusional.

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  4. Welcome, Rich!

    And how do you think thouse ordinary folks know what to do, where to go? That's right, community organizer help to organize them.

    And it is awfully cynical and jaded of you to think that all organizers or professional and/or politically orientated. There are by far more organizers that do this on their own, because they want to improve their lives and the lives of those around them.

    McPalin wants to only improve their lives and to hell with everyone else.

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  5. How did he raise so much money? One word....

    FEAR

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  6. So, someone tell me: What real responsibilities do community organizers have? Do they sign checks? Get the garbage picked up? Get water pipes repaired?

    Inquiring minds want to know.

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  7. Welcome, gentlemen.

    Will, you're absolutely right. Fear of four more years of Bush/Cheney's lies, ineptitude and greed.

    Mr. Meaker-

    Yes, the allocate money and sign checks. They help clean up the garbage that inconsiderate people leave in the streets. They fight crime. They get slumlords to fix their broken waterpipes and broken down buildings. They advocate for the poor, but also for the handicapped, the mentally ill, the elderly, abused children, equality, and against crime and corruption.

    They set up neighborhood watches and help their neighbors. They keep schools going, especially the extracurriculur activities like sports.

    And they old greedy politicians like Palin responsible. That is why she hates and fears us.

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