RUSH: Sarah Palin appeared last night on Fox, and just made all these establishment, ruling class people crazy again. She appeared in — the cliche is ‘a wide-ranging interview’ with Sean Hannity to describe how did she saw the left blame her and all of us for the shooting. Hannity said, ‘When did you first realize you were being connected to this tragedy?’
PALIN: I read my name in the reports, and then I read Rush Limbaugh and then soon your name, Sean, and Mark Levin and soon Tea Party Patriots and soon the entire state of Arizona was being falsely accused of somehow being accessories to this horrendous, horrendous crime. That is why I was puzzled the first as to why — before facts were even gathered, why — it would be that the mainstream media would start accusing and using such a tragedy for what appeared to be, right off the bat, some political gain.
RUSH: So Hannity said, ‘Well, what can you tell us about this map, crosshair map?’
PALIN: For many, many years maps in political races have been used to target certain districts that people would feel that they can get into those districts and find someone whom they believe would represent the constituents’ will better than an incumbent. That’s not original. In fact, Democrats have been using it for years. In fact, Bob Beckel I believe he had bragged on your show, Sean, that he was the one who invented these crosshairs or these targets.
RUSH: Hannity asked her if this impacts her or her political future.
PALIN: They’re not going to shut me up. They’re not gonna shut you up or Rush or Mark Levin or Tea Party Patriots or those who, as I say, respectfully and patriotically petition their government for change. They can’t make us sit down and shut up, and if they ever were to succeed in doing that then our republic will be destroyed.
RUSH: ‘Let me ask you about ‘blood libel.’ Some of your critics are saying that you didn’t know the historical significance; others criticized you for the phrase. I want you to address the timing and that phrase. What is it?’
CALLER: ‘Blood libel’ obviously means being falsely accused of having blood on your hands. In this case that’s exactly what was going on and, yes, the historical knowledge that people have of the term blood libel, it goes back to the Jews who were falsely accused back in medieval European times of using the blood of children and (sigh) you know, the criticism of even the timing of this statement is being used as another diversion, because I believe that there are many on the left, many critics we don’t want, for instance, Congress to buckle down, get back to work.
RUSH: So she was remarkably composed once again on the Hannity show last night. She was asked, ‘What do you think of the president’s speech the other night out in Tucson?’
PALIN: Well, I thought that there were parts of it that really hit home, that all of us can hold onto and can live out, obviously. I agree with those who have said that the setting was a bit bizarre. It was kind of like a pep rally, kind of like a campaign stop and that was unfortunate.
RUSH: ‘You ever have moments of doubt, feeling that you would like the comfort of not having to teal with this all the time?’
PALIN: Other people are facing much greater hardships and making greater sacrifices than I am in just engaging in debate and I’m thankful for the opportunity that I have to speak for many, and I will continue to do so. I feel very blessed to be in the position that I am and I’ll take the darts and the arrows because I know others have my back, and I have their back.
RUSH: I still say… I don’t care what you think about this woman. I don’t care what you think about her parking lot possibilities, qualifications, or any of that. But I just have to tell you, I don’t know of anybody in the political arena who has been more impugned, libeled, slandered, ripped, mischaracterized. It has been vicious, personally vicious and merciless, and she appears untainted by it. In fact, she has risen above it. And as you know, our party is filled with people who just cave at the first sign of this. And they try to make peace with the critics. ‘Oh, no, no, no! Don’t think of me that way. I’m nice!’ She has not done that at all. So whatever else you think of Sarah Palin, folks, you have to marvel at how she has dealt with this and risen above it, not become bitter by it — and it just continues, and it increases in its intensity. (interruption)
What, Snerdley? (interruption) Snerdley asked me if I could appreciate it more than most because I know what she’s going through. I’ve got a microphone if I want to address it every day. She, up until she’s decided to go to Facebook, didn’t. But I don’t want to get into a comparison of it because I think the left is always gonna criticize those or try to destroy those who think are their biggest enemies, the biggest threats. I don’t know. It could be a tough thing to deal with, particularly getting audience different than getting votes. That’s why people ask me, ‘Are you gonna run for office?’ I always use the pay cut line, but getting votes is a whole lot different than getting an audience.
In radio it doesn’t matter how many people hate you. Politics you can’t win with people hating you. You just can’t and so it’s an entirely different mind-set that you have to have in dealing with this kind of criticism when you’re in politics — and the moment, the moment you act affected by it and the moment you respond to it they just pounce on you as not having character, not having the steel spine, not having the ability to deal with it. That’s where she has totally befuddled them. She’s gotten stronger throughout all this.