Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said the inordinate amount of discussion on mainstream media networks about what color Santa Claus should be sharply reflects the media’s “skewed priorities.”
This is especially so since it seems there will be more segments about Santa’s race than segments about MSNBC host Martin Bashir’s vile and threatening remarks against Palin.
In an interview with Newsbusters, which first put up the video of Bashir’s comments in which he said someone should defecate and urinate in Palin’s mouth, Palin said she was out on her book tour for her book, Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas, when she heard of Bashir’s words. She said she was “meeting some amazing and inspiring Americans when this crap hit the fan, so I had more positive things on my mind than what another far left liberal spewed about me.”
When Noel Sheppard of Newsbusters noted that it is indeed “conceivable that there will end up being more media coverage of Kelly’s comments about the color of Santa’s skin than Bashir’s” comments, and asked Palin what that meant about the state of the media, Palin responded, “If that turns out to be true, then I think that reflects skewed priorities.”
“It’s just bizarre. I mean, seriously? We’re going to get all ‘outrageously outraged’ over the supposed racial makeup of a mythical figure?” Palin reflected.
When asked about the Santa controversy, Palin replied, “Honestly, I’ve never given it much thought. I didn’t know Santa’s race was a controversial topic.”
Palin also said that she did not know why there was so much venom against her on the left and said, “if they think their rabid foaming-at-the-mouth hatred scares me away from standing up for what’s right and defending those who need help, I’ll be happy to disappoint them!”
She noted that it would be easier to talk about the Bashir incident “if I weren’t the subject because I never see myself as a ‘victim.’ I’m used to the attacks. It’s important to call out the double standards and utter lack of professionalism in journalism though.”
She did acknowledge that she felt MSNBC’s initial support and lack of disciplinary action against Bashir in light of the previous actions the network had taken against others felt “demeaning.”
“Got to be honest though, I felt MSNBC’s tacit agreement with Bashir’s call to action encouraging that physical attack was downright gross and enormously demeaning,” she said. “I hate, hate, hate that such an attack could have ever been punishment for any slave during that blight on America’s historical record. I’m so sorry for that chapter in a new nation’s life.”
As Palin has said before, she never called for Bashir’s firing or a boycott of MSNBC’s advertisers because she is a “freedom of speech kinda gal.” Her political action committee, SarahPAC, did write a letter to MSNBC President Phil Griffin and NBC News President Deborah Turness, which Breitbart News exclusively obtained, asking whether the network’s lack of disciplinary action against Bashir for his remarks meant that MSNBC disciplines their anchors based on the “target of the remarks rather than the remarks themselves.”
Bashir apologized and ultimately resigned from MSNBC after intense and relentless public pressure.
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