{"id":3185,"date":"2010-02-07T22:00:57","date_gmt":"2010-02-08T02:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/?p=3185"},"modified":"2010-02-08T22:30:35","modified_gmt":"2010-02-09T02:30:35","slug":"something-good-about-palin-and-the-tea-party-folks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/2010\/02\/something-good-about-palin-and-the-tea-party-folks\/","title":{"rendered":"Something good about Palin and the Tea Party Folks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m going to let all the things I could say about Palin&#8217;s speech pass today, and let <a href=\"http:\/\/www.FactCheck.org\">FactCheck.org<\/a> (and <a href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/\">Media Matters<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/pr.thinkprogress.org\/\">The Progress Report<\/a>) point out lies and distortions, of which there were many. There was a whole <strong>bunch<\/strong> of snideness, and even more dishonesty. But&#8230; I&#8217;m on board in one way.<\/p>\n<p>Why? Because there is one thing she said that gives me long-term hope. <\/p>\n<p>She encouraged people to stand up and speak, and if some do, so will others. If there&#8217;s an energy to participate in the democratic process, maybe it will encourage more Americans to do the same. We&#8217;ve become timid and fearful and paranoid about our freedom and our duty as Americans.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than parroting what some leader says, look up your own concerns and issues and the things that make a difference in your life. Really look. Really research. Really think. <\/p>\n<p>And speak&#8230; and work&#8230; and think&#8230; and vote for your interests. And talk to your friends. And clear the air with realism, not paranoia.<\/p>\n<p>Politics is messy &#8211; but democracy allows all to speak. <\/p>\n<p>Update 2\/8\/10: FactCheck.org&#8217;s analysis: <a href=\"http:\/\/factcheck.org\/2010\/02\/tea-party-fact-checking\/\">http:\/\/factcheck.org\/2010\/02\/tea-party-fact-checking\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m going to let all the things I could say about Palin&#8217;s speech pass today, and let FactCheck.org (and Media Matters and The Progress Report) point out lies and distortions, of which there were many. There was a whole bunch of snideness, and even more dishonesty. But&#8230; I&#8217;m on board in one way. Why? Because there is one thing she said that gives me long-term hope. She encouraged people to stand up and speak, and if some do, so will&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/2010\/02\/something-good-about-palin-and-the-tea-party-folks\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,17,3],"tags":[295,5652,428,5651,912,5103,5650],"class_list":["post-3185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-armchair-activism","category-alien-nation","category-politics","tag-democracy","tag-enlightened-self-interest","tag-paranoia","tag-participation","tag-political","tag-sarah-palin","tag-tea-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3185"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3192,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3185\/revisions\/3192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}