My Feelings Exactly, John

I'm sure all over the internet people are swooping in to comment on the inaccurate, judgmental, shitty comments made by Governor Sarah Palin about what parts of our country are actual parts of our country:

"We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe" -- here the audience interrupted Palin with applause and cheers -- "We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation."

She can call wherever she wants the "real America", but the reality is that we have had an incredibly brutal, bloody war to determine that no matter how drastically different separate parts of the country may be in their ideals and values, it is vitally important that we remain a united nation. This fight was about recognizing all of America and all Americans as "real" and the real power of our nation comes from our incredible diversity and plurality. Some of the most fervent patriots live in D.C. and these people are pro-American for a living, working to better our country, whether they are Senators or janitors. By discluding them and everyone else in a large city, Palin insults Americans in this sweeping generalization.

She went on to say:

"This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom."

As if the people not in the small, rural areas are unkind and bad and none of our soldiers come from large, urban centers of our country. There are teachers, soldiers, farmers, and factory workers everywhere and each and every one of the people she describes above is a "real" American, an important American, no matter where they happen to live.

Here's a video from an article describing Jon Stewart's response to Sarah Palin's statements and he perfectly sums up how I'm feeling about it as well. What he says is funny and not funny in that he's right, what Palin said is profane:



So eff you, divisive assholes.