Well, you probably already know she essentially said that in her resignation speech yesterday. That's not a literal "shorter," but it's what she really meant:
Now this week alone, Sean Parnell and I we're on the, um, on Ft. Rich the base there, the army chapel, and we heard the last roll call, and the sounding of Taps for three very brave, very young Alaskan soldiers who just gave their all for all of us. Together we do stand with gratitude for our troops who protect all of our cherished freedoms, including our freedom of speech which, par for the course, I'm going to exercise.
And first, some straight talk for some, just some in the media because another right protected for all of us is freedom of the press, and you all have such important jobs reporting facts and informing the electorate, and exerting power to influence. You represent what could and should be a respected honest profession that could and should be the cornerstone of our democracy. Democracy depends on you, and that is why, that's why our troops are willing to die for you. So, how 'bout in honor of the American soldier, ya quite makin' things up.
Even I don't believe this. I don't believe that the American notion of liberty of speech is violated by the liars of the right (or those from any other direction). Lies don't diminish free speech -- they sully it to some extent, but it can take that kind of abuse. You fight lying speech with more speech, and with the libel and slander laws as needed. But even with the biggest lies and the nastiest demagoguery, free speech endures.
But give the woman credit -- no political figure in U.S. history has linked McCarthyism and narcissism quite so successfully before. The classic McCarthyites at least insisted that attacks on themselves were attacks on their defense (as they saw it) of the country. She's essentially saying that if you float a rumor about her, about any subject, you weaken America. That's hardcore. Even Karl Rove didn't say it was treasonous to make drunk jokes about the Bush twins.
(Speech videos here and here; transcript here.)
*****
Oh, and there's this today at Lucianne.com:
That's right: "the worst personal attacks a politician ever suffered." Lucianne Goldberg said that.
Apparently, the 1990s never happened.
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