Palin Whistles

I see a lot of critiques of Sarah Palin's talk last week online, and the running theme seems to be, "what a moron."  I get that.  You'd flunk a 9th grader who wrote those words.

But reading Palin, or listening to her from a place of skepticism or disagreement misses the point.  All of the right-wing politicians talk to their base in dog whistles, but they use them like spice.  They all flavor their mostly coherent and usually grammatical sentences with a codeword here, a double-entendre there, just to make sure the base knows they will attempt the goofy crap the mobs crave.

But I think Sarah Palin doesn't bother with a neutral carrier.  She just brings the spice, undiluted.  Her speech is pure dog whistle.  Where Rubio delivers a habanero pepper and Trump brings a scotch bonnet, Palin drops pure capsaicin.

When I read or hear those words, I hear a speaker just affirming her listeners' most extreme fantasies, and to hell with everyone and everything else.

Judging by her lifestyle, it's a living.