Leave it to Sarah Palin to find a way to glom some attention over the Duck Dynasty controversy. You may recall that Palin’s love of free speech was nowhere to be seen when Martin Bashir came under fire for comments he made about her. But free-speech lovers, have no fear. Palin has re-discovered and newly embraced her dedication to free speech again. Just in time to get her face on prime time Fox News.
In case you missed it, Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson has been suspended from the show by A&E in the wake of homophobic and racist remarks in a GQ interview. The right wing is foaming at the mouth on his behalf. How could Sarah Palin not throw herself into the mix? So what if it's only been two weeks since the Bashir incident?
To refresh your memory, on December 5th, Palin visited both Fox & Friends and The O’Reilly Factor to discuss Bashir’s (admittedly) offensive comments about her and his subsequent resignation from MSNBC. Was she championing Bashir’s free speech and regretting that he had been pressured to resign? Heck no!
On Fox & Friends, Palin said that if Bashir or “anybody else comes out against somebody who cannot defend themselves...I’ll go ballistic, if he picks on that person, gloves are off...I’ll really say what I want to say.”
On The O’Reilly Factor, Palin dodged the question of whether Bashir should have been fired. Instead, she insisted, “I would never have allowed a corporate culture to have such low standards that that kind of vile talk was accepted.”
But tonight, on Hannity, Palin had her old free-speech mojo back. Just like when she came under fire for her inflammatory and insensitive rhetoric over the Gabby Giffords shooting. Even though this event had nothing to do with her. I’m sure the fact that she has a new book out, published by Fox News' sister company Harper Collins, has nothing to do with it.
“This is all about freedom, free speech,” Palin said with her malicious grin. “You know, so many American families have spilled blood and treasure to guarantee Phil Robertson and everybody else’s right to voice their personal opinions. And once that freedom is lost, Sean, everything is lost in our country.”
Of course, the First Amendment applies to the government and has nothing to do with Duck Dynasty’s network, A&E, deciding what it wants to do with its show.
Meanwhile, nobody said anything about Robertson's racist remarks.
But knowing Hannity, they wouldn’t bother him a bit.
Hannity did make a point of holding Palin up as some kind of champion of freedom of expression, saying that she had never advocated for Bashir to be fired or boycotted. (Just pay no attention to how she had advocated against him in other ways, played the victim and never said one word about his right to speak).
Nor did Palin own up to her hypocrisy. “Because I am a freedom of speech kind of gal,” Palin said, with proud enthusiasm. Then she talked up a friend who had decided to boycott A&E. Palin added suggestively, “She’s not the only one. I’ve received many, many emails from people saying, ‘You know, why give ‘em our money, our eyes, our ears, our resources? There are other channels out there to be watching.'”
Later, Palin said, “Americans – we’re smart enough to understand what’s going on here. We’re also smart enough to understand that we do not have to promote and give business to a network like that if we, you know, don’t believe in the action that they just took (suspending Phil Robertson). “ With vicious glee, she added, “And A&E’s gonna feel it."
Nah, she doesn’t believe in boycotts.