Charles already posted a link to what I consider the story of the day: the arrest on drug charges of Sherry L. Johnston.

Sherry Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston. Levi Johnston is the impregnator of Bristol Palin. Bristol Palin is the unwed teenage daughter of Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin is the governor of Alaska, John McCain’s pick for VP, and, according to a majority of rank-and-file Republicans, the unofficial leader of the GOP and a front-runner for the GOP nomination in 2012.

During her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention—which I watched from the floor—Palin quoted “a writer” who had nice stuff to say about people who grow, or are grown, in small towns. It popped into my head when I read about Sherry Johnston this morning. Now I don’t think folks who deal drugs are bad people—p’shaw—but without a doubt Sarah Palin and the delegates at the Republican National Convention don’t regard drug dealers as “good people.” So the fact that Sarah Palin may have a small-town drug dealer in her family—Bristol and Levi are still getting married, riiiiiight?—makes the unflattering comparison Palin was attempting to draw between herself and Barack Obama, who grew up all over the world and whose children are gettin’ grown in a big scary city, all that much more hilariously hypocritical.

Now let’s sit back and imagine the reaction from the right—from champions of small town “values” like Sarah Palin—if it had been the mother of a thuggish future son-in-law of Barack and Michelle Obama who got arrested for dealing drugs…

Oh, and that writer Palin quoted? The guy with such nice things to say about small towns? A racist and an anti-semite who called for the assassination of Robert Kennedy. They do grow good people in small towns—and big towns. But Sarah Palin ain’t one of ’em.

22 replies on ““We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity.””

  4. Here’s how I see the scenerio unfolding:

    1. Sherry Johnston will cry and say she’s sorry and ask people to pray for her to give up her sinful ways.
    2. Palin and company will pray for her and accept her back into Jesusland.
    3. Republicans will deflect all attacks by saying, “but she’s changed her ways and gone back to the lord, so… no backs.”

  5. Well, I hope the Alaskan State Troopers are happy. They’ve simply ruined Christmas dinner at the Palin house.

    “Bristol, dear– could you pass the potatoes to the son-of-a-crack-fiend at the end of the table?”

  6. I think the thing that bugs me the most about Republicans/conservatives/right-wingers is not their beliefs or values, per se. It’s the fact that they’re into SELF-DECEPTION. Their insistence that the world needs to look like Leave it to Beaver despite the fact that, in their little perfect world, there are gay people, and drug dealers, and single moms who got out after being beaten up, and guys who put on women’s clothes behind closed doors, is just ridiculous; their world is not part of the REALITY-BASED WORLD! It’s all conveniently ignored as long as you keep up that happy facade. Is that what God wants? I highly doubt it.

  7. Anybody who has ever actually lived in a small town recognized Palin’s portrayal of small towns as Norman Rockwell America as an absurdity the moment that line tumbled out of her mouth.

  12. OK, one thing keeps gnawing on my brain… state troopers…. She was busted by Alaska State Troopers who report up to Palin.

    What are the chances that in a state like Alaska, somebody didn’t phone the Governor and let her know what was about to go down?

    Or maybe the whole thing is just a family smack-down. Palin wanted to get Bristol’s mother-in-law out of the wedding. “Let’s see her try to argue about caterers from prison”.

  13. Now let’s sit back and imagine the reaction from the right—from champions of small town “values” like Sarah Palin—if it had been the mother of a thuggish future son-in-law of Barack and Michelle Obama who got arrested for dealing drugs…

    You forgot a couple “ifs” there: if Obama were the VP candidate and not presidential candidate, and if Obama had lost the election. Somehow in that case I don’t think anyone would much care.

    But by all means, keep on acting like you’ve discovered some epic “gotcha” that is going to make life in America better by harping on it. Maybe make a series out of it: “We Grow Good People in our Small Towns”

    Why is “imagine what the right would do in this case” always an excuse for engaging in the same behavior, ie acting like a petulant asshole?

  19. This whole thing was setttled by Sinclair Lewis almost one hundred years ago, yet will still cling to the ideal of the small town.

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