When Sarah Palin used a bunch of gun-related images to rile up her supporters and get them to "target" certain members of Congress, I guess she didn't count on the fact that "real America" isn't great at metaphors. Commence backpedaling!


Thanks to the always-straightforward and never-self-serving Palin, we now know that those things we thought were gun sights are actually surveyors' marks on the map, according to a spokesperson. Sure, Sarah.

I'm interested to see where this backpedaling will go, but I'm guessing the next step will be to say that "reload" actually means "reload your surveying equipment into the truck so that it does not get damaged as you survey the land for ways that you could improve it." And, in those pictures of her posing proudly with bloody animal carcasses as though she'd just given birth to them or won the blue ribbon for "biggest jerk" at the county fair? She didn't shoot those animals; she surveyed them. In fact, Sarah Palin has never held a gun in her life; that was surveying equipment, nor has she been to Alaska, nor has she ever talked to John McCain; she was surveying at the time. And what's all this talk about her being married to Todd? She's never seen that man in her life and how dare we suggest she did anything that she said she did in the past.


The best thing for Sarah Palin to do at this point (and, quite frankly, if she were to do this I'd just about fall on the floor in shock and surprise) would be to issue a statement fessing up to the misguided and inflammatory gun imagery that she has used in political contexts, promise to refrain from doing so in the future, and shut the fuck up for awhile, out of respect for the victims of this senseless tragedy.

Palin Aide: Crosshairs on Target List Not Actually Gun Sights [TPM]