I’m no dead quitty fish!

I have so much that I want to write about...don't worry, not in this post, but I have started a list of the topics that are already catching my attention! I'll stick to one topic today.

The title of this entry comes from Jon Stewart, whose take on Sarah Palin's resignation riffed on her remarks that she wasn't "quitting," and that she wasn't just floating along in the last days--'scuse me, year and a half--of her term because "only dead fish float." Stewart exclaimed, "You're no dead quitty fish!" That remains my favorite quote from the whole thing so far. My biggest laugh, though, came today when I watched William Shatner's poetry reading of Palin's resignation speech on Sunday. It's posted on my Facebook page, and it's hilarious!

Anyhoo, I've been pondering the whole "quitting" thing, not just with the Palin situation, but in a broader sense. Palin strikes me as essentially a bully. Bear with me while I explain. During the campaign, she felt she had the right to get out there and say anything she wanted about their opponent...terrorist, traitor, socialist...even standing there and grinning as people in the crowd shouted "Kill him!" Rather than stopping such hateful rhetoric immediately, she egged it on. I still give McCain great credit for shutting up the ignorant remarks, at least for one brief, shining moment (the woman who said that Obama is an Arab). Sadly, Palin was under no such moral restrictions, and seemed to enjoy fueling the hatred.

As soon as she was called on her behavior, though, both as part of the campaign and part of her governorship, she cried "foul!" and said that the media wasn't being fair. She paraded all of her kids, including her pregnant teenager and her boyfriend, onstage at campaign rallies, then got pissed off when her family got undue attention from the press. If you want to protect your family, you don't bring 'em out onstage and show them off like your prize 4-H ponies, okay?

I've seen such behavior online and in real life, as well. People believe that they can keep poking the snake with a stick, needling and irritating and bullying, all under the penumbra of free speech, or the illusion of truth (at least their version of it). Yet when poked back, like all bullies they duck and run, hide like the cowards they are, and claim that everyone is picking on them. It's ridiculous, typical, and laughable behavior. I have yet to see a bully not wither under the scrutiny of others, or run away and hide from those who dare--DARE!--to poke back. It's like pouring salt on a slug, or water on the Wicked Witch of the West. Works every time. Cat got your tongue?

I'm no dead quitty fish. How about you?