The liberal attack on Palin

Liberal bloggers have to be the lowest form of life on the planet.

I am a classical liberal, so I disagree with liberals and conservatives alike, or at least what passes for liberalism and conservatism today. They are simply two sides of the same big government, anti-freedom coin. Being neither a conservative nor a liberal gives me a perspective on both that adherents of those two philosophies lack because of their natural biases.

It is important, if one wishes to be informed, to read a variety of arguments on the issues of the day. Refusing to read viewpoints that run contrary to your own beliefs is intellectual sloth as well as intellectual vanity. Reading opinion with which you agree merely confirms your own prejudices and comforts your own ignorance.

Besides, it is boring.

To that end, I read many liberal and conservative viewpoints as well as listen to and watch pundits and politicians from both camps. I can say, without a doubt, that the left is far more hateful and irresponsible than the right.

I am, frankly, downright disgusted by the pure, hate-filled vitriol I read on left-wing blogs, much of which can't be published in a family newspaper.

It sickens my heart.

The latest garbage spewing from the left came against Gov. Sarah Palin. In addition to the appropriate attacks on her politics, there were wholly inappropriate attacks on her family and patently false accusations passed off as truth.

Some people like to say the mainstream media is a dinosaur and that the future is with the new media. However, many bloggers, particularly on the left, demonstrate that they lack the discipline that the mainstream media have. They don't seem to care about facts, only about propaganda.

Take, for example, the wholly ludicrous accusation that Palin's 4-month old son, Trig, was actually the son of her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol.

It would have taken a massive conspiracy to keep that a secret and certainly, if that were the case, Sen. John McCain's team would have discovered it, and he probably would not have considered her as his running mate.

The accusation becomes even more ridiculous after Palin revealed that Bristol was five months pregnant. Simple math tells you that it is downright impossible that Bristol could have given birth to Trig four months ago and still be five months pregnant. Moreover, the media's demand for a DNA test to prove it is unbelievable.

While we are on the subject of the mainstream (liberal) media, I am disappointed in their behavior as well. Is it newsworthy that Palin's husband, Todd, was cited for drunken driving more than two decades ago?

The same media that declined to publish a woman's credible rape claim against Bill Clinton had no problem giving so much credence to a fired employee when he accused her of wrongdoing.

Additionally, I found the sexist questions about her ability to raise a family while serving as vice president (a position, by the way, that has very few responsibilities beyond casting tie-breaking votes in the Senate) wholly inappropriate. After all, has anyone asked the same question of Barack Obama, who has been crisscrossing the nation for the last 19 months instead of spending time with his young daughters?

Finally, the media and left-wing bloggers insinuated that it was a personal failing of Palin's that Bristol became pregnant. Mistakes are a way of life. It is how we handle them by which we should be judged. Bristol decided not to abort the child and marry the father.

How awful!

Why does the left fear Sarah Palin?

Because Palin was an excellent choice for McCain.

She has the conservative credentials McCain lacks. She is energetic and photogenic. She is young, a woman and a mother. She maintains a high popularity rating in Alaska. She has more experience than Obama.

What the left-wing bloggers don't seem to understand is that their hate-filled vitriol tells us more about their lack of substantive ideas than it does about Palin.

In the end, my concern is not for Palin. She can handle herself. No, I fear for the future of intelligent and meaningful public debate, which is the lifeblood of any free society.

You can comment on this column and other issues on Lucente's blog at www.lucente.org. You can also listen to Lucente on "Talk with Ron Williams" at 3:10 p.m. Thursdays on WZOQ (940 AM) or at www.espnlima.com.