Back Towards The Locus

There’s an interesting comments thread – no, really – over at Iain Dale’s. Iain has latched onto a Daily Kos post alleging that Sarah Palin’s youngest daughter is, in fact, the first child of her eldest, and has therefore insisted that smears against Palin should be ‘condemned‘. Other commenters have demanded that he should therefore be swift in ‘condemn[ing]‘ accusations against Obama.

Both of these demands are, of course, silly.

There’s nothing necessarily absurd about a ‘conspiracy theory’ or a ’smear’. The former is merely a chain of events that suggests a plot, while the latter is usually a chain of events that suggests a misdeed. One can refute the interpretation of these events – and these interpretations, as has been suggested in the cases of Obama and Palin, may be founded upon bigotry – but one can’t dismiss them as intrinsically irrational.

On the subject of Palin smears, however, I echo the truism that the ‘bimbo’ tag is ludicrous. I’ve already given my opinion that she is a symbolic selection that attempts to appeal to both the religious right and the liberal Clintonites, but you had better be very successful before you claim that a former Mayor and Governor is nothing but a pretty face.