Dear Dick Cavett:
Like you, I value the power of language and appreciate the importance of grammar, and wish that our political leaders were more articulate However, I do not mistake eloquence for intelligence, knowledge or wisdom. It is possible to be both glib and wrong, as your vicious putdown of Sarah Palin demonstrates.
When confronted with a question she does not wish to answer or relating to a subject with which she is insufficiently familiar, Palin resorts to the same sort of rambling evasions that we’ve come to expect from politicians in such circumstances. But have you ever really paid close attention to Barack Obama when he’s off the TelePrompter? Demosthenes, he ain’t.
You ask:
Has there been a poll to see if the Sarah-ites are numbered among that baffling 26 percent of our population who, despite everything, still maintain that President George has done a heckuva job?
First, the preferred term is Palinistas, not “Sarah-ites.” Second — in case you missed it, Dick — Palin herself is not among that 26 percent. Of course, I don’t expect you to read provincial journals like the Anchorage Daily News, but neither do I interpret your reliance on Maureen Dowd’s reporting as evidence of your superiority.
— RSM
