The Wrath Of Sarah Palin

GOP politicians have a tendency to blame everyone's problems on the weak. This is a little different than a tendency to blame everyone's problems on victims (an unfortunate human tendency even Democrats engage in at times). It's a little sadder; a little sicker. The GOP looks at unequal fights, like stealing money from children or kicking old people down stairwells, as attack opportunities. It's a real Achilles heel for the party to go around stomping on puppies, as if that's normal human thing to do; whether done by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity - or by that former half-term Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin.

On Friday, Palin gave her long-awaited speech at CSU - Stanislaus, and used her speech to attack the college students who helped expose her lavish contract with the school:

The former Alaska governor's headline address Friday night at the 50th anniversary celebration at California State University, Stanislaus has drawn criticism and scrutiny since it was first announced. It also attracted sizable donations for the public school.

Officials have refused to divulge the terms of her contract or her speaking fee, and some details only came to light after students fished part of what appeared to be Palin's contract from a rubbish bin.

"Students who spent their valuable, precious time diving through dumpsters before this event in order to silence someone ... what a wasted resource," she told the crowd dining in the campus cafeteria.

"A suggestion for those Dumpster divers: Instead of trying to tell people to sit down and shut up ... spend some time telling people like our president to finally stand up," she said.

The material recovered by the students, which detailed perks such as first-class airfare for two and deluxe hotel accommodations, prompted California Attorney General Jerry Brown to launch an investigation into the finances of the university's foundation arm and allegations that the nonprofit violated public disclosure laws.

The students who went diving into the dumpsters weren't out there trying to silence anyone at all, but rather, to make their voices heard. They were incensed that a public, cash-strapped university was meeting secretly and using secret procedures to squander university money to enrich controversial politicos when it could have better spent that money on the students. These students were also canny enough to understand the sort of worms they were dealing with and to put those particular dumpsters on watch, knowing THAT was where the secret contracts were going to end up, once pressure was applied on the University Administration.

Sarah Palin doesn't quite understand that there is no upside in attacking CSU (Stanislaus) college students. This is not the Ivy League, by any stretch. These college students are not part of any media-blessed elite, like Palin and her buddies. Attacking hard-working, non-elite college students just makes Palin look small - and really, really mean.

And who are these college students? I don't know them, but from my blogpost last April the plaudits can start with Alicia Lewis and Ashli Briggs, and their compatriots and friends. In my opinion, these CSU - Stanislaus college students are heroes! We all owe them a great "Thank You!" for their intelligent hard work in trying to keep their University Administration honest and within the law, for a change.