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Editorial: Shut up and sign?

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Comments (7)

Saturday, November 21, 2009

(Updated 3:00 am)

The people at Fort Bragg are good at fighting. The Army Airborne and Special Forces troops stationed there are among the best of the best, and it is a privilege to have them on North Carolina soil.

When it comes to managing an appearance by a certain former governor of Alaska, however, it's almost like they're jumping out of the plane without parachutes.

The Fort Bragg Garrison scheduled a book-signing for Sarah Palin at its North Post Exchange on Monday and proclaimed the event "open to the public."

Then it apparently occurred to someone with stars on his or her collar that Palin's appearance could turn into a political event.

Really? Just because Palin is a politician who ran for vice president on the Republican ticket last year, who recently campaigned for a conservative candidate in a New York congressional race, who is seen as a possible 2012 presidential contender?

And whose book, "Going Rogue," is stuffed with Palin's political views?

"Our goal is to not have this turn from a book-signing into a political platform," Fort Bragg spokesman Tom McCollum said Thursday.

The means to achieve that goal, Fort Bragg decided, would be to bar the media from attending. This was particularly important to make sure no one would be incited to criticize President Barack Obama.

Yes, that could be awkward. Obama is the commander in chief. It probably would not please the White House if news stories from one of the commander in chief's military bases reported disagreeable statements about the commander in chief.

The trouble is, the media can't be excluded from an event that's open to the general public. So, by the end of the day Thursday, Fort Bragg was forced to rescind its order. But it noted in a news release that, during her 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. visit Monday, "Palin will only sign her book ... She will not stop signing to pose for photographs or personalize the book -- she will only sign her signature."

That presumably means the author won't make any remarks, read passages from her book or even answer any questions -- from the press or from book buyers. Can't take a chance that someone will ask something of a political nature. Will Palin be flanked by military police enforcing the edict? "No talking, ma'am. Shut up and sign." It promises to be a dull three hours.

If all this is necessary to guard against the threat of political talk at Fort Bragg, maybe it was a dumb idea in the first place to have an outspoken and provocative politician appear on the base. Like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute.

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Interested

November 21, 2009 - 6:42 am EST

The final paragraph sums up my thoughts since this story first hit the news - why invite her to the base to begin with if you are worried that she might say something disquieting or embarrassing? And there is little doubt as to the if. She has been outspoken in the past - was there really any doubt about whether she would be in the future? Sounds like someone thought sprinkling a little fairy dust on the base would be a good thing and didn't give enough thought as to what baggage might come along with it.

marcusk

November 21, 2009 - 9:03 am EST

Rigghhttt!!!! We can't have politicians using troops for a photo op. You know like going to a base to make a political speech, or visiting a base, or going to view caskets returning the bodies of our boys, or going to a base where a TERRIOST Killed 13 people. Yes no one but Republicans would ever do something like that...... OH PLEASE !!!!!! And of course Politics doesn't exists in the military, right Vets......I mean promotions to General officers is never political, I mean just ask Wesley Clark, or Dwight Eisenhower. or maybe Colin Powell who went from Col. to 4 star in a flash.....

tonymo

November 21, 2009 - 9:35 am EST

Add the Army/military to the long list of once proud organizations including public education, the judicial system, the entire Justice(?) Dept, the media, that have lost sight of their missions because of political correctness. We have recently witnessed the deadly effects of this cancer at Ft Hood. We have witnessed this cancer during the campaign when the media refused to chronicle the radical associations of the candidate, and now many of those same radicals are helping make policy decisions that have our economy, and our entire system on the verge of collapse. One of the radicals, the Attorney General wants to bring the 9/11 mastermind into civilian courts, something never done in our history, where he may well be acquitted (it's New York City!) even though he already confessed. Then, of course, he wants to prosecute those responsible for breaking KSM, and prevented another attack on our soil (until Ft. Hood!) since 9/11. How's that Hope & Change working so far!

And the political correctness now continues at Ft. Bragg. The people running these institutions are a disgrace to the brave men and women who serve under them, and whose very lives are endangered by these cowards. I wonder if John Edwards would have been treated the same way prior to the National Enquirer doing the job that the "old" media refused to do in outing the despicable, but beloved by the left, creature!

newkid

November 21, 2009 - 9:59 am EST

Before anyone lets Ms. Palin hold a book signing, I'd like some proof that she actually wrote the book! Didn't see any signs of literary brilliance on the campaign trail.

Get A Clue

November 21, 2009 - 10:28 am EST

I see the US Army still has a firm grasp of SNAFU. ;-)
I support our military, and this was a dumb move from top to bottom. No base was inviting Al Gore to sign copies of Earth In The Balance while Bush was President; that sort of thing is simply not done. Some mid-level officer panicked and then beat a hasty retreat and now the base has egg on its face.
Incidentally, a serviceman or woman would have to be pretty stupid to be mad at President Obama about fighting in either of 2 wars handed to him by President Bush. Ms. Palin has a son in the service, so she obviously supports the troops and their mission. For once, there's no blame to be shared here by Sarah. She's simply hawking books and servicemen are lining up on base rather than going AWOL just to see a MILF.

jlh7738

November 21, 2009 - 10:47 am EST

I love this editorial. Couldn't have said it better myself.

jstreet

November 21, 2009 - 5:12 pm EST

TONYMO......Just shut up. Why dont you run for office and make a significant contribution to our society. Guys like you spend more of your time criticizing Democrats and calling them PC, but thats all you do for our world. Get a life. Go out and volunteer in your community, start a reading cirlce in your neighborhood for kids whom struggle to read, become a mentor to young men. DO SOMETHING WORTH A DAMN AND STOP COMPLAINING, or just shut up.