Community Organizers to GOP - We have responsibilties because you shirk yours!

Last night's fire-breathing, heavily sarcastic speech by Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin was exactly what she needed to do in order to solidify her position and prove her worth in rallying up the base (it seems to be working, my boss is a Republican who doesn't like McCain, but he will now probably vote for the McCain/Palin ticket). I could list the issues I had with the speech (and, for the record, I would have been damned pissed if Obama had delivered the same kind of address last week), but there are other liberal bloggers and pundits who can do that better than I. In most ways, it was the kind of speech that she had to give and she delivered it in a way that was pleasing to her constituency. Of course, it has energized the Democrats too. They've raised $8 million in that last twenty-or-so hours since the speech (the GOP has raised $1 million). Regardless, I think we can agree that my questions about whether Palin would stay on the ticket or whether McCain was using her issues as a way to ditch her and get Lieberman are now rendered moot.

Aside from my obvious offense at her mocking of the constitution and civil liberties ("Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America … he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights?"), I did take much offense to her and Rudy Giuliani's mockery of Obama's service as a community organizer. Not content to imply that it wasn't the kind of experience in and of itself that shapes someone to be president (fair enough), they outright belittled this very high calling. Belittling people who go out of their way to give back to their communities, often using private funds and donations to solve problems instead of relying on government assistance? That's just the kind of thing that the party of personal responsibility and private enterprise ought to be championing. Guess who else does community organizing? Churches. Shall we expect them to be mocked next for their willingness to give back to the community? And, as someone who spent four years working for a local Boys & Girls Club, I have every right to take this one personally (and no, I don't think that wholeheartedly qualifies me to be president either).

Community Organizers around the country are a little pissed off too. They have set up a new site, demanding an apology. The page, which also has the offensive quotes in question, is entitled 'Community Organizers Fight Back'. If you were as annoyed as I was, it's worth checking out.

Scott Mendelson