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Sarah Palin's dig at community organizers in last night's speech ("I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities") contributed to the overall shrillness and sarcastic tone of her speech which isn't all that suprising when you consider the fact that it was written by one of George Bush's speechwriters.
But it goes deeper than that . . . it's the new Republican meme:
Used the way the GOP speakers used the words tonight (i.e. with a sneer), community = ghetto and organizer = activist.
It essentially was a coded way of pointing out Obama's work in, with and for the black community (see? even I'm doing it) on the South Side of Chicago. Also the fact that his work involved helping low-income people stand up for their legal rights, as opposed to a GOP-sanctioned "real" job like business owner or career military officer (or moose hunter.) They were trying to put Obama back on the same level as Jesse Jackson -- i.e., the black protest candidate -- and mocking him for it.
To cut right to the nasty, they were using "community organizer" as a euphemism for "poverty pimp."
And, as a special bonus, to a GOP audience (country club division, at least) organizer = union. What could be worse than a black, radical activist union organizer from the South Side of the Chicago?
In this video from March of this year Barack Obama talks about community organizing and how he's carried that experience into his campaign.
Watch It:
