Chutzpah:

[jrittenhouse]

…is defending yourself against charges that you stirred up weapons-based attacks against a Jewish congresswoman by calling the charges ‘blood libel’.

‘Blood libel’ is a VERY old and terrible term from medieval times where anti-Semites would charge that Christian babies were being abducted by Jews, who then drained them of their blood and used it in

Comments

[shelleybear]

Captain Flop Sweat's gift to the American people.

[aries_jordan]

I'm sure she had no idea what it means.

[shelleybear]

You see, that's the problem when someone dumber then a sack of hammers hires a speech writer who doesn't know how dumb she is.

[maiac]

I think it's entirely possible that Palin's speechwriter knows exactly what "blood libel" means, and included the phrase in a complaint about members of the media as a dog whistle for "Jews control the media".

I also think it's possible that the phrase was included in the speech in the expectation that it would create a big enough furor to turn attention away from the real issue and make it All About Sarah.

[cakmpls]

Interesting speculation; you may have the answer there.

[shsilver]

I don't condone its use, any more than I condone the use of the word "Nazi" to be used against anyone you disagree with or someone who, for instance, enforces the rules of grammar. In this case, though, Palin appears to have grabbed it from Glenn Reynolds, who should know better.

And the accusation is current, with many claims of it being made in Russia and the Middle East.

A very good book about its Medieval origins is R. Po-chia Hsia's The Myth of Ritual Murder (Yale, 1990).

[rmjwell]

Was everyone at News Corp. having a no-brain day this week?

Ignore Palin

[dalecoz]

As far as I'm concerned, the best way to react to Palin is to ignore her. She has no claim on being a national figure. She's a less-than-one-term governor of an almost empty state and failed (as in drug the ticket down with her) vice presidential candidate