UPDATE: No official list in Sarah Palin controversy, Republicans respond!

I’m trying to avoid getting too political in this blog, because that’s not what this blog is about. Although the subject of literature and free expression tend to easily get pulled into the political arena, so I’m forced to confront these issues head on.

Many have rightly pointed out that the alleged book list I linked to in this post is probably not the list of books Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin wanted to ban from her small-town public library. In that post I expressed my doubts, as I could not find a reliable source to back the list up. For all we know, the only true list of books Sarah Palin wanted to ban from the library only exists on a lipstick-smeared napkin tucked between her bible and the corpse of the latest moose she killed.

All this attention given to Palin’s attempt to have certain books pulled from the library is finally catching the attention of the McCain Campaign, and they’re fighting back. Nothing surprising there. I did find this article on the Huffington Post blog about the issue and thought it raised some interesting points – despite there being no official list:

Certainly, there was no official list drawn up. However, in a fact the McCain email leaves out, Palin approached the librarian three times to ask about the possibility, which could legitimately appear to some as something of a pressure campaign (especially considering that Palin attempted to have the librarian removed afterward).

I should note that the lack of some official list is not evidence that Sarah Palin did not want to ban books. The McCain Campaign might even point to the fact that there is no list. They may even challenge someone to list one book Palin wanted banned. That is just pure political spin, however. At the very least, the absence of a list only indicates that Palin never made it that far, it appears a courageous librarian stopped her cold before Palin could put a plan to remove certain books from the library in motion.

Nevertheless, Republican spinsters are trying to make it appear Palin is the victim in this case. Here’s what Republican strategist Alex Castellanos said:

"A mom being concerned about what kind of books our kids read and
asking rhetorical questions about what can legally be done to protect them? What’s wrong with that? … This kind of foolishness is making her a hero to more than the evangelical right. It will make her a hero to working class women."

He gives legitimacy to Palin’s alleged activities under the guise of "protecting her children." Also, approaching a librarian 3 different times about this issue and then having tried to remove said librarian from her job after offering only resistance, hardly seems like just a "rhetorical question." And still Castellanos asks the questions: "What’s wrong with that?" What’s wrong with using your position as an elected official to remove books from a public library because they don’t line up with your personal views on morality/religion/science or whatever the issue might be? Hmmmm, let me think about that for a minute…

This is serious stuff folks! This is a woman who could very well be the leader of the free world in the not-so-distant future. I’m not going to get into the other controversies swirling around Palin at the moment, but this issue of banning books is a serious one and should not be taken lightly. This country was founded on the very basic idea of freedom of speech and expression. How easily can one person take that away?

Related Posts

• UPDATE: What books did Sarah Palin want to ban from library?
• Republican VP pick Sarah Palin wanted to ban certain books from public library!
• Ebooks offer perfect solution to the problem of banned books!
• Golden Compass brings controversy to US schools
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Read More: Censorship, Literary News, Reading