Implying that recovering alcoholics and drug addicts who want to make better lives for themselves are dangerous criminals is just as fucking stupid as Sarah Palin implying that Joe McGinniss is a peeping tom and a pedophile.

Fine with that.

But the fact is the house’s use for that purpose meant it would have been inhabited by relative, if not complete, strangers (and I assume a number of them would have been male), rather than permanent neighbors.

If that hadn’t highlighted problems with privacy and led to the required adaptations to the landscape and family behavior while it was happening, then the sudden spectacular concern for it now is the point, as far as there is a point in this whole nonsense.

Kevin, I went to take a look, and who should show up but good ol’ Amy Siskind? McGinnis is a “stalker” and a “nut.” Amy, of course, would know.

I’m afraid I rather went OT over there.

There is nothing too petty, silly or small when it comes to Palin. She doesn’t need your defense, she’s a fucking grifter who wouldn’t think twice about using your spleen to feed her pet wolves.

Todd has earned a medal for his restraint ... that was her quote to Beck. She travels around the country slandering good people and riling up the willfully ignorant for a paycheck.

Fuck her.

... I don’t see the need to drag Oxford House and their clients through the mud to score some cheap political points.

Well, having worked in a halfway house way back, I’m certainly not going to argue with you on your main point!

Maybe Moore was a bit clumsy in what she wrote (I’ve not checked out the HuffPo comments because, well ... you know), but the only directly unsympathetic thing she wrote about Oxford House clients was:

Who was lurking in that house watching her children play?

Yeah, that’s loaded language, and you could excuse it as snark on Palin’s melodrama, or take it at face value as a straight question.

Yes, it’s a queasy kind of “gotcha” argument, and the reporting here needlessly exaggerates the implied “danger” of in-community recovery centers and halfway homes.

It also gives Sarah an opportunity to “fake the high ground” by posting a Facebook note embracing “forgiveness” and “second chances,” praising individuals who are working to “get their lives right” and observing that the scourge of drug addiction has touched everyone in Wasilla, including her own in-laws. “God” will also be served.

As YAFB points out, however, it does speak to the rather selective Grizzly Mom radar Sarah is employing. Here in Pittsburgh, every proposal to site one of these homes within 800 miles of a school or residential neighborhood is shouted down by enraged hockey moms—and that includes the programs that are Christian-sponsored.

Sarah—who delights in making herself and her family targets of anger—has been both stupid and hypocritical (and apparently, cheap) when it comes to ensuring her own security. She should be called out for her unforgivable silliness and negligence, but substituting one Liberal boogieman with another for purposes of comparison probably wasn’t the smartest way to do it.

As YAFB points out, however, it does speak to the rather selective Grizzly Mom radar Sarah is employing. Here in Pittsburgh, every proposal to site one of these homes within 800 miles of a school or residential neighborhood is shouted down by enraged hockey moms—and that includes the programs that are Christian-sponsored.

Agreed.  And in this one instance (which is all she’ll probably ever get out of me) I have to give her props for not shouting it down.

Christ, now I’m going to shut up before I turn into Tommy Christopher. ;)

Shannyn Moore has a comment on her post saying that this particular Oxford House was for ex-cons, but not all of them are. That doesn’t change the substance of your argument, of course.

I just went over there to torment Amy Siskind. Hey, I made my deadlines for the week so now Mama wants some fun! ;)

I’m actually of two minds on the McGinnis thing itself. I am totally opposed to the way Palin handled it—the public accusations of pedophilia, the clear incitement to her screw-loose followers, the sending of Todd over for the fake scare talk blah blah blah. But, on the other hand, I am not sure that renting the house next door is, in fact, the correct thing to do even for an investigative journalist.  I just am not sure that Palin’s being a public person merits the total invasion of her, and her family’s, privacy.

I’ve got no problem with McGinnis or any other journalist interviewing all the neighbors, or staking out the front door to watch her comings and goings, or trying to match up her statements about where she is/who she associates with the reality of where she is and who she associates with. And presumably that’s a big part of living next door to her: to oversee her comings and goings and try to correlate them with a larger, clearer, picture of who she and her family are as citizens in their home town. 

But that being said I think there is a line that is being crossed that would make me very uncomfortable: as though he was staking out her kid’s kindergarten in order to see whether the kid bites in class.  She does, in fact, have young children. Of course she’s used them in her self marketing to a hideous degree. But nevertheless her kids are, in fact, private citizens. And they are entitled to a zone of peace and privacy—maybe all the more so because their parents look like lousy parents (to me).

I don’t object to McGinnis interviewing neighbors and discovering that the Palins throw drunken parties, or barbecue to the endangerment of the kids, or that Palin never, in fact, gardens or mows the lawn.  That’s all fair game. But I guess I feel a little disturbed by the invasion of privacy that papparazzi and journalists engage in by physically spying on public persons.

I would definitely be unhappy if the same techniques were used on the Obamas at a vacation spot, or after they have left the White House. And I’d feel the same way if it were some kind of “fan” who was intending to publish a puff piece.

That doesn’t make Palin’s response right. Her response is childish, stupid, vicious, and dangerous. The right thing to do was to go to McGinnis and offer him something in exchange for moving out: a better rental + a private interview.  Explain that you aren’t happy feeling like the kids can’t have a meltdown in their own backyard without being in public. These are totally reasonable concerns and should have been handled in an adult way.

aimai

Shannyn Moore has a comment on her post saying that this particular Oxford House was for ex-cons, but not all of them are. That doesn’t change the substance of your argument, of course.

Thanks, Oblo.  Well, it does change my argument a bit if true (and I’ll update).  I’d like to know where she got that info from because I researched a lot and couldn’t find any indication that Oxford House runs anything resembling a prisoner rehab program.

aimai, I fall pretty much in line with you on all of this. I think the Politico post Betty linked to takes some heat off of McGinniss, though.

Kevin, I don’t know where she got that info—the comment doesn’t indicate, so she may well be mistaken. And I want to emphasize that I too am a bit put off by the assumption (even if made in snark to score political points against a woman who deserves most of the kicks that come her way) that a halfway house just naturally means “scum of the earth.” It’s so hard to get approval for these facilities, so in the spirit of acknowledging that even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while, I’ll give Palin credit for not fighting Oxford House at the time.

I just updated the post. I called up Oxford House and a rep told me that they don’t run “incarcerated-only” houses. I don’t know where she got that info, but it’s wrong.

According to Politico (I know, but it’s a named source—McGinniss Jr.), McGinniss was offered the house by a neighbor seeking revenge for the Palins’ screwing her out of the cost of some repairs. Heh.

Something else interesting the Politico comments:  is the house in question the one that Willow and friends trashed earlier this year?

Hell, if I was on the Oxford House board, I’d have insisted on building a fence at the time they were renting it. Folks who’ve been through all that don’t need to be forced to witness what the Palins are up to every time they seek some fresh air or a chance for a quiet smoke on the deck.

She was governor for at least some of the period in question and there was, to put it mildly, a lot else going on, so that may also put a different light on things, and on her acquiescence to Oxford House’s tenure.

But then I was brought up and have lived in numerous situations where our neighbors have been very close by.

It was drummed in to me at an early age to try to show some consideration, and also be aware that we were overlooked (Christ, if Palin was my neighbor and her account of usual lawnmowing practise is accurate, I’d want a fence to protect me—sorry, Ms. Palin, but you’re not all that), so you don’t do things in public view that are going to cause anyone any problems.

As for high ground, Palin lost that the instant she again threw around unfounded allegations of pedophilia. I’ve had friends who’ve been victims, I edited a fucking two-volume literature review of research into pedophilia. It fucking infuriates me to see her trivialize the issue. In fact, kids are statistically more at risk of pediophilia from family members and family friends than they are from strangers.

If she keeps throwing out these cheap shots about it whenever it suits her idiotic agenda, I may well go ballistic and start inferring things about her own background and why this is a recurring theme. It’s a shitty, shitty tactic.

As it is, batty as McGinniss might be, he’s had 70 years on this planet for any evidence of proclivities of that sort to come to light, and they haven’t. That Facebook post was absolutely shameful. But we know shame’s not part of her makeup.

Something else interesting the Politico comments:  is the house in question the one that Willow and friends trashed earlier this year?

That’s interesting, but I think it would have been reported prominently if it was the house next door. I honestly don’t remember the specifics of the story, though. I just figure that would have stuck out. Wasn’t it an abandoned house or one under construction?

As for high ground, Palin lost that the instant she again threw around unfounded allegations of pedophilia.

It is thoroughly despicable, and as you point out, a recurring theme. It cheapens the charge, and it’s demeaning to the kids who are involuntary meat shields.

I totally agree, YAFB.

I don’t have a lot of experience with victims of pedophilia, but I’ve known plenty of recovering addicts/alcoholics, which is why the HuffPo article irked me. Regardless, Palin’s response to McGinniss, as I’ve noted several times, was shameful and totally irresponsible.

Palin’s response to McGinniss

...is, I suspect, exactly what he was looking for, since he seems to be an obsessive student of psychotic personalities. He’s not a peeper—he’s testing out a theory.

Yike!  TBogg weighs in. 

Kevin—Don’t get me wrong. I’ve now checked out the HuffPo comments, and yeah, there’s quite a bit of “Woo boogiemen living next door and she didn’t kick up a fuss,” and also an RW commenter making similar observations to your own in an “I thought you liberals ...” vein, so I think your post is important pushback against that crap.

I’ve read a fair bit of Moore and have quite a bit of respect for her, and I’d be disappointed if she didn’t agree. I wonder if there’s some way to take it up with her directly?

Palin’s hilarious middle-school-style rage on her FB makes for great PR for McGinniss’ upcoming book.  The more outraged her fans become, the more books he will sell!

Tbogg’s “Touch Trig for a Dollar Booth” line made me spit iced coffee. On a day when I need all the caffeine I can get. Damn him!

And to our “blogstalkers”— yeah, I implied that Sarah Palin is a blind, acorn-snarfing piggie. (Or do I mean “ACORN?”) That’s nicer than what I could have said.

Just imagine:  Sarah, instead of doing and saying what she did, reads the Bible and is surprised to see that it says “Love Thy Neighbor.”  She notes that there do not seem to be any exceptions to that rule in the Bible.  So, she, Todd and the kids go over to their new neighbor’s house with a welcoming gift (moose meat chili, anyone?) and welcome him to the neighborhood. 

Most people would think that was quite a wonderful thing for her to do.  Some that don’t like her decide to take another look.  Maybe she is more complicated than she seems.  The new neighbor gets a bit of a lesson also and learns that Sarah is not so predictable, and maybe there really is something “to her,” possibly giving him a more positive view of her. Just imagine.

@Bruce—Best. After-School. Movie. Ever.

Strange:  I was inspired by your “fake the high road” comment, above.  Peace.

I was talking with my neighbor today and she said outright, “Every time I see that Sarah Palin on the TV, I go ‘Fuck you.’ I laughed and laughed. She’s 62 and had to take an early retirement because of the recession. Pissed her off.