By George Curry
Since former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin erupted on the national scene by telling everyone she could see Russia from her perch in Alaska, she has been lecturing everyone about accepting responsibility.
For example, speaking to Tea Party supporters in Nashville in 2010, Palin said, “My plan is quite simple. To support those who support the foundation of our country when it comes to the economy. It is free-market principles that reward hard work and personal responsibility.”
As Professor Melissa Harris-Perry explained, the “language of personal responsibility is often a code language used against poor and minority communities.”
For sure, accepting “personal responsibility” is not a trait of the Palin family. Take the latest family drama in the news – the arrest of Track Palin on Jan. 18 in Wasila, Alaska for domestic violence. According to formal complaints, the son of Senator John McCain’s 2008 vice presidential running mate was charged with 4th degree assault and misconduct involving weapons.
According to the 3-page affidavit filed in support of the complaint, Jordan Loewe, Track Palin’s girlfriend, stated he had physically attacked her and threatened to commit suicide with a firearm.
“Loewe stated the following: She and her boyfriend of one year, Track Palin, left a different residence together and were arguing the whole way home. Once they got to his home they argued in the car, then in the driveway. They were screaming and he was calling her names.
“…Palin approached Loewe and struck her on the left side of her head near her eye with a closed fist. Loewe then got on the ground in a fetal position because she didn’t know what else he would do. Palin then kicked Lowe on the right knee.”
The report also noted, “Sergeant Rader observed Loewe to have bruising and swelling around her left eye. She complained of pain to that area as well as to her right knee. He observed a small red area near her knee. The involved firearm, an unloaded AR-15 rifle was located on the kitchen counter.”
Rather than urging her 26-year-old son to accept personal responsibility for striking his girlfriend with his fist, Sarah Palin chose to blame President Obama, who was more than 4,200 miles away in the nation’s capital.
She said her son, an Army reservist who served in Iraq in 2008 under President George W. Bush, was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“My son like so many others, they come back a bit different, they come back hardened, they come back wondering if there is that respect for what it is that their fellow soldiers and airmen and every other member of the military so sacrificially have given to this country. And that starts from the top. It’s a shame that our military personnel even have to wonder, if they have to question, if they’re respected anymore. It starts from the top. The question though that comes from our own president where they have to look at him and wonder, do you know what we go through? Do you know what we’re trying to do to secure America and to secure the freedoms that have been bequeathed us?”
Democratic strategist Donna Brazile said to Anderson Cooper on CNN, “You have known me for a long time, so I’m just gonna say it: she’s a liar. That’s a damn lie.”
Brazile said the Republican-controlled House cut more than $1.4 billion that Obama had proposed in a budget for veterans’ services.
“I care for all veterans – I am the daughter of a veteran,” she explained. “And to go out there and to insinuate that the president of the United States is trying to hurt veterans when in fact he is trying to put more resources so that we can give our young and old veterans the care we need, that’s just a damn lie. You can say Donna Brazile said it. I approve this message.”
Veteran groups also made similar comments.
“It’s not President Obama’s fault that Sarah Palin’s son has PTSD,” said Paul Rieckhoff, head of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). “PTSD is a very serious problem, a complicated mental health injury and I would be extremely reluctant to blame any one person in particular.”
Another Palin offspring, Bristol, has also proven to be a hypocrite.
She earned nearly a million dollars for giving abstinence-only speeches yet had two children out of wedlock. After having her first child as an unwed teen, Bristol Palin became a vocal advocate for teen abstinence, earning $15,000-$30,000 per speech.
She was 18 when she had her first child, shortly after her mother was selected to become John McCain’s running mate. The family announced that Bristol would be marrying Levi Johnston, the baby’s father, but the couple broke up before sharing wedding vows.
Under circumstances strikingly similar to her first pregnancy, 25-year-old Bristol Palin announced last year that she was pregnant a second time after becoming engaged to Dakota Meyer, a Medal of Honor recipient. However, that relationship also ended and the couple never made it to the altar.
Of course, the Palins are human like everyone else. But all we expect is that they accept responsibility for their actions – instead of pointing the fingers at everyone except themselves.
George E. Curry is President and CEO of George Curry Media, LLC. He is the former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service (NNPA). He is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. Curry can be reached through his Web site, georgecurry.com. You can also follow him at twitter.com/currygeorge, George E. Curry Fan Page on Facebook, and Periscope. See previous columns at http://www.georgecurry.com/columns.
