I have read some blistering commentaries on Sarah Palin’s obtuseness to her own stupidity and to the bottom-feeding political impulses that drive those to whom she seems to have the most enduring appeal. But, even given the savageness with which she has often been criticized and characterized, the following critique still manages to stand out:

“Man, the 12-minute speech Sarah Palin gave to the NRA Convention is awful. It’s just witless, red-meat blathering, delivered in that nasal whine of hers that makes it sound like she’s chewing wads of tinfoil. For people who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like.

“Fast-forward in the video to the 6:30 mark, though, and listen to what she says about terrorists. It’s part of a long harangue about lily-livered liberals, delivered in such a way that makes Archie Bunker sound like Cicero. Money quote:

“’Oh, but you can’t offend them, can’t make them feel uncomfortable, not even a smidgen. Well, if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.’

“OK, stop. Not only is this woman, putatively a Christian, praising torture, but she is comparing it to a holy sacrament of the Christian faith. It’s disgusting — but even more disgusting, those NRA members, many of whom are no doubt Christians, cheered wildly for her.”

What is most surprising about this article, “The Sacrilegious Sarah Palin,” is that it was written by Rod Dreher for The American Conservative.

We have become so used to the relentless Far-Right criticism of everything Obama and their complete unwillingness to say anything critical about anyone on the Far Right that this article is the proverbial breath of fresh air.

It may not signal even a remote possibility of bi-partisanship, but it does provide a needed reminder that the conviction that your side is always right and that the other side is always wrong—and the corollary conviction that those on your side are paragons of wisdom and righteousness and those on the other side are craven idiots—doesn’t really leave any possibility for getting anything done that has any chance of enduring beyond the next electoral shift in power.

The complete text of Dreher’s article can be found at: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-sacrilegious-sarah-palin/?mc_cid=cd29ab5031&mc_eid=36a8ba8978