Sarah Palin Responds to MSNBC Host's Comments; Says God has Enabled Her to Defend Herself
Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin responded for the first time to MSNBC host Martin Bashir's statement that perhaps someone should poop and urinate in her mouth, calling his remarks "vile" and "evil" and saying she is not affected by them and God has blessed her with a platform to defend herself.
"When a conservative woman says something that they're -- they take offense, they usually just kind of pooh-pooh it, laugh it off; it's no big deal," the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee told Fox News host Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday."
Bashir's remarks followed Palin's speech comparing the national debt to slavery while promoting her book, Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas, at the annual Iowa Faith and Freedom Conference earlier this month.
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"In a case like this, you know, I don't have to accept his words, his vile, evil comments, so they don't have to affect me," Palin said. "I move on. And I charge forth."
In his remarks, Bashir referred to Thomas Thistlewood, a British landowner and estate overseer in Jamaica who allegedly forced slaves to eat human feces, saying "she confirms that if anyone truly qualified for a dose of discipline from Thomas Thistlewood, then she would be the outstanding candidate."
Bashir later apologized, saying, "I made some comments which were deeply offensive and directed at Governor Sarah Palin. I wanted to take this opportunity to say sorry to Mrs. Palin. My words were wholly unacceptable."
The Fox News host on Sunday backed Palin, saying her comparison of federal debt to slavery was "fairly unobjectionable."
"The definition of slavery is to be beholden to a master and we will be beholden when that note is due," Palin told Wallace. "As for the network's condoning those type of statements, because there's been no punishment of the fella who said these words, that's hypocrisy."
Palin also said God has given her means to defend herself. "If Mr. Bashir or anybody else in this media elite bubble that they put themselves in were to attack someone who is defenseless, like a vulnerable child, who does not have that podium, that microphone that God has blessed me to be able to express my opinion, if they don't have that type of platform to defend themselves -- well, if you want to see a mama grizzly get riled up and slap that person down, then you come after a vulnerable child. In this case, he didn't come after a vulnerable child. I can defend myself and, you know, I can take it."
Wallace asked Palin if she has accepted Bashir's apology, noting, "They have taken no public action to what Bashir said about you."
Palin responded saying, "Well, obviously, you know, who am I to not accept an apology? Everyone must humble themselves and accept that offer to, you know, of apology."
About the lack of action on the MSNBC host, Palin said: "Well, that's the executive hypocrisy that is so prevalent in that media elite bubble, where it depends on the target of the vile rants that it doesn't depend on what their rant itself actually is. And conservative women are a target of them."
