Sarah Palin Shucks and Jives

Sarah Palin has always been cheerleader for Team Stupid, but she’s also trying out for captain of the Racist Squad apparently. Last Wednesday, she wrote on Facebook:

Why the lies? Why the cover up? Why the dissembling about the cause of the murder of our ambassador on the anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil? We deserve answers to this. President Obama’s shuck and jive shtick with these Benghazi lies must end.

Let’s not even talk about Benghazi, because idiocy and racism are really what’s most important here. She was perfectly capably of criticizing the Commander in Chief without throwing that bigoted barb in there. I’d really, really, really love to just say that the woman is stupid and doesn’t understand why using the term “shuck and jive” in reference to a black man is racist, but she did use it in context. So there’s that.

Just to clear things up, a little history lesson. Shuckin’ and jivin’ (or shucking and jiving) is a slang term for the behavior of joking and acting facetiously. More generally, the term can also refer to the speech and behavioral mechanisms adopted in the presence of an authoritative figure. The origins of the phrase may be traced to when “black slaves sang and shouted gleefully during corn-shucking season, and this behavior, along with lying and teasing, became a part of the protective and evasive behavior normally adopted toward white people.”

The way I see it, then, is that Palin is attempting to strip Obama of his authority by comparing him to a slave.

Palin isn’t the first to do so, either. In 2008, Andrew Cuomo used the phrase in reference to Obama. In response to that, CNN contributor Roland Martin said, “’Shucking and jiving’ have long been words used as a negative assessment of African Americans, along the lines of a ‘foot shufflin’ Negro.’ In fact, I don’t recall ever hearing the phrase used in reference to anyone white.”

But Palin and Cuomo aren’t racist. None of them are racist! They’re just using lingo, man. Everybody does it. All us liberals are just calling racist because we’re losing the election or we’re jealous or something. Yeah, someone explain that to me. Why would we call racism if no one is spouting racist slurs? Yeah, exactly.

Palin defended her comments, saying she used it with her daughter and, “I would appreciate it if the media refrained from using words and phrases like igloo, Eskimo Pie, and ‘when hell freezes over,’ as they might be considered offensive by my extended Alaska Native family.”

I can’t even address how stupid she must look telling her daughter to stop “shucking and jiving” when she doesn’t want to do her homework. It’s more lame than anything and I feel badly for her poor offspring. Parents are embarrassing enough when they’re not using racist terms in the wrong context and looking like idiots in front of the entire nation.

But as for the Alaskan references, I can only say, just how stupid is this woman? Igloo isn’t an offensive word and I’ve never heard anyone use it in a perjorative way. At all. Ever. Can you picture it? “You igloo! You’re as cold as a house made of ice!” Just doesn’t hurt.

Eskimo Pie, well, that’s a brand name. And I can buy why actual Eskimos may or may not be offended by it, but I don’t think I’ve heard of any as yet. Correct me if I’m wrong. And, again, I’ve never heard anyone call someone an Eskimo Pie. There’s a dirty joke in there somewhere, though, I just know it.

But, “when hell freezes over?” Really? REALLY? Look, Sarah Palin, that phrase has nothing to do with Alaska. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. People say that because hell is supposedly really, really hot,  and therefore unlikely to freeze over, which you should know because you’re such a hellfire and brimstone Christian.

I can’t. I can’t deal with her anymore. The stupid. It hurts too too much.

Look, how are people like Palin in any positions of authority at all? How? They’re so completely, utterly stupid, they’re racist, they’re bigots, they’ve hijacked a political party, and they’re taking over the country.

Are you scared yet?

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