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03/02/2011

Sarah Palin vs. 8 SCOTUS justices, free speech, a valid point

by Jeremy Hooper

Some truly odd logic from one Sarah Palin:



Palin rips SCOTUS ruling on anti-gay protesters [Politico]

(H/t: Scott Hutcheson)

So first off: The 8-1 Supreme Court decision, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, deals not with Westboro, specifically, so much as it deals with speech and expression in general. Specifically, the time and space constraints placed on said speech. The court rightly found that Westboro's message was within the parameters of the law, regardless of how heinous the message or intentions might have been. That's the USA, Sarah Palin.

Secondly: Regardless of what you think of WBC's message, there is no denying that the Phelps family's primary interesest is to "invoke God's name in public square." Not in a way that most Christians like, mind you. But last time we checked, the word that Westboro puts before "Hates F*gs" on their signs and websites is not Gourd or Gouda or GED -- it's God. And we're pretty sure we're not inflicted with some highly specified form of dyslexia that makes us read "God" rather than WBC's intended "Dog."

And finally: Who in the H-E-double-hockey-mom-sticks is stopping Sarah Palin (or any other social conservative) from invoking God's name in public?! Seriously. We'd love to know who, exactly, is stopping the governor-resigned from standing on a street corner and tracking Westboro Baptist's every movement, except with alternate signs that express God's love. Because if someone was stopping her, we'd full support her right to challenge that in court. And guess what? The same exact opinion that she is now decrying would apply to her straw man claim in the same way that it applied to Westboro Baptist's more feisty invocations!

***

*Not just invoking God, actually. In this ABC News clip, Margie Phelps quite literally declares herself "the mouth of God on this matter":

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