Washington Post’s King Disparages Palin as ‘Simple-Minded’ and ‘Mediocre’

Washington Post’s King Disparages Palin as ‘Simple-Minded’ and ‘Mediocre’: "
Sarah Palin “doesn't have any substance there behind her” and her remarks at the Tea Party convention were “embarrassing at points” since she delivered “simple, simple thoughts, very simple-mindedly expressed,” Washington Post columnist Colby King charged on Inside Washington.

Jumbling the famous “most of the American people are mediocre. And they have a right to be represented” quote and its source, Colby, the Post's deputy editorial page editor from 2000 to 2007, applied the “mediocre” label to Palin: “Just as the Supreme Court nominee who was defeated said, you know, ‘everybody needs to have a little mediocre representation and that's what I am.’ That's what she is.”

That’s a pretty mediocre recollection of the quote which actually is from a Senator commenting on a Supreme Court nominee, not from the nominee. As James Taranto recounted on OpinionJournal.com in 2002:

When President Nixon appointed G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court in 1970, critics said Carswell was mediocre. Sen. Hruska, a Nebraska Republican, rose to the nominee's defense: “It has been held against this nominee that he's mediocre. Well there are a lot of mediocre judges and lawyers and people. Most of the American people are mediocre. And they have a right to be represented on the Supreme Court.” The elitist U.S. Senate, however, rejected Carswell by a 51-45 vote.

King’s denigration of Palin, as spouted on Inside Washington, a weekly show produced and aired over the weekend by Washington, DC's ABC affiliate, but first broadcast Friday night on the local PBS station:

Sarah Palin does one thing very well, she speaks in cliches, but she doesn’t have any substance there behind her. I watched her speak at the Tea Party convention, then I listened to the interview that followed with the Tea Party chairman and it was embarrassing at points, to the point where you just want to avert your gaze when she starts to talk. Simple, simple thoughts, very simple-mindedly expressed.

Look, I understand she’s got a following, but just as the Supreme Court nominee who was defeated said, you know, ‘everybody needs to have a little mediocre representation and that’s what I am.’ That’s what she is.

"

SO WHAT? What is wrong with expressing your thoughts clearly and simply? Why on earth would anyone aspire to unnecessarily complicate their words? I'm frankly sick and tired of pseudo-intellectual Liberals playing "dress up" by choosing archaic, pedantic forms of expression under the guise of being "eloquent" when really, they're just trying to ensure that nobody picks up on what they're really saying.

The etymology of "sophisticated" is that it comes from the Sophists who established the philosophy of Sophistry. These people had a reputation for being intelligently tricky. I learned this 30 years ago and ever since have had an ingrained distrust for such people. Just say what you mean and mean what you say.

I don't care how simply you say it- just be sincere. I suspect and trust I'm not alone on this and for that reason, I have a strange feeling that Palin is going to be our next president or at the very least, vice president.

From NewsBusters