On Friday, the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus actually accused the former Alaska governor of being homophobic for calling reporters "limp" and "impotent."
As NewsBusters reported Thursday, Palin, while on Sean Hannity's radio program the day before, bashed "impotent, limp and gutless reporters [that] take anonymous sources and cite them as being factual references."
From this, Marcus divined the following utter nonsense:
The Vanity Fair writer, Michael Joseph Gross, is gay, which makes matters worse -- conjuring the stereotype of "limp-wristed." But whatever the sexual orientation of the offending reporter, Palin should not have been questioning his manhood.
There are sexist aspects to the commentary about Palin, as with other female politicians. Sometimes sexism is imagined or overplayed; sometimes it is real and deserves to be called out. A new campaign, Name It, Change It, has been launched to expose such episodes.
Fine, but women politicians have to keep to the high road if they don't want men making fun of their high heels. Impotent and limp? No male politician accused a female reporter of being hormonal or frigid.
To begin with, Palin never mentioned Vanity Fair or Gross's name, nor did Hannity. In fact, their discussion about the media was precipitated by the former Alaska governor saying how poorly written a recent CQ Politics piece about her was.
As such, it's a stretch on Marcus's part to claim Palin was specifically talking about Gross.
Beyond this, how would Palin know Gross was gay? Until I read Marcus's piece, I didn't know that.
Did Marcus herself learn this from the gay and lesbian publication Advocate.com which published the following editorial Thursday:
Is Sarah Palin using code words to slam gay journalist Michael Joseph Gross, a frequent Advocate contributor who wrote the much-buzzed-about profile of the former vice presidential nominee in this month's Vanity Fair?
Palin didn't mention Gross by name while talking Thursday on Sean Hannity's WABC radio show, but she seemed to be referring to the article - and pointedly used emasculating words that have long been used as euphemisms for homosexuality - when she called reporters who publish "rumors" about her "impotent," "limp," and "gutless."
So, a gay and lesbian publication made this accusation Thursday, and Marcus decided to echo it at the Washington Post the following day.
This now officially puts Marcus in the same category as MSNBC's Ed Schultz who last month said Palin was sexist for suggesting Barack Obama lacked cojones when it comes to illegal immigration.
Attagirl, Ruth!
That'll help you get that Pulitzer Prize you've always wanted.
*****Update: Our friend Tammy Bruce commented on the Advocate.com piece Saturday...
This isn't surprising, as leftist special-interest group gestapos are gearing up in the name of Obama in attempts to destroy opponents of his leftist agenda...The Advocate, in classic narcissistic fashion, decided the governor was smearing gay people with her comments. Yes, it's laughable but then again if you're trying to capture some of that much coveted web traffic by mentioning Palin's name and need to reinforce victimhood within your constituency, I suppose it suits your purposes.
Upon seeing this attack, GOProud immediately issues a press release titled "The Advocate, Not Sarah Palin, is Guilty of "Gay-Baiting" clearly confronting the magazine's cynical attempt to jump on the smear bandwagon.
There are a few things to glean from this sort of ridiculous attack-including confirmation of how panicked the left is at losing their own base. Palin's crossover appeal to most segments of the American public is now obvious. The left, trying to stem the hemorrhaging of their own base, can't persuade based on the issues so they continue with a well-worn tradition of crying wolf in the effort to keep their subject from straying from the Leftist plantation.
