Author: Michael O. Allen

Did Sarah Palin really say that?!?

Gawd, I hope this isn’t true. There’s a rumor circulating around the internet today that Governor Palin used racist and sexist slurs to refer to Senators Obama and Clinton:

So Sambo beat the bitch.

The rumor is thinly sourced to a woman named “Lucille,” who allegedly overheard the governor make the statement at a diner in Alaska.

I don’t think it’s worth getting hysterical over a thinly sourced rumor, but I do think that this particular rumor is serious enough that questions need to be asked. Here’s hoping that some enterprising journalist tries to find Lucille and gets her story on the record if she exists.

The press also ought to ask the Governor for her side of the story. The problem is that the McCain camp is now saying that Palin might not be available for a press conference for about two weeks. Yikes.

So let’s put this one in the tickler file for September 21. In addition to asking specifically about Lucille’s allegation, I’d like to know what her views are on race more generally. Does anyone have any clue?

Cross-posted from Facebook.

Community organizing

Susan B. Anthony helped guarantee women’s suffrage in the United States.

Sen. Barack Obama defending himself against Republicans

Martin Luther King Jr.’s moral vision led the way in the struggle for civil rights and economic justice

Then this from Daily Kos:

Catholic worker Dorothy Day was fiercely saintly in work for peace and to alleviate poverty

Mohandas Gandhi peacefully led the people of India

Next to Sen. Barack Obama, Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani, with their Republican National Convention comments, showed themselves to be pygmies indeed.

Community organizers

The nation’s backbone

At last week’s Republican convention, I was not surprised to see the Republicans mock community organizing. After all, why would they need organizers in their neighborhoods? They’re all doing well; this economy has obviously worked well for them! Obama said that McCain “doesn’t get it” and that’s true. But in regard to community organizing, the Republicans, as whole, either don’t know what it is, or think it’s a laughable pursuit.
Now, not all of us can be community organizers on the street, but helping organize our family and friends is community organizing, too. And the dissemination of correct information is one way that we can all play a pivotal role in the democratic process in general and this election in particular. Remember how well the email smears against Obama worked, huh? So, again, please watch this, and pass along to your email list.
Thanks,
Gus