NPR: Palin-Truman

Palin-Truman

--Nihar Patel

In Sarah Palin's convention speech, and today on the stump in Wisconsin, she talked about Harry Truman being from a small town:

A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.

The only reference to this quote I could find was in a Pat Buchanan book called Right from the Beginning. Apparently the writer is Westbrook Pegler, and he had also written this when Harry Truman was nominated for vice president:

"This Truman... is thin-lipped, a hater, and not above offering you his hand to yank you off balance and work you over with a chair leg, a pool cue or something out of his pocket."

And reading this old obit of Mr. Pegler, I found out that Truman referred to Pegler as a "gutter-snipe." Probably with honesty, sincerity and dignity. There are more fun insults traded between Pegler and Truman in the obit.

Obit courtesy of ProQuest Historical Newspapers Database.

Tags: Harry Truman | Sarah Palin | elections | speeches

12:50 PM ET | 09- 5-2008 | permalink

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So is she making an allusion to the fact Roosevelt died in office, and Truman became President?
... Lets hope she's not that ... grim.

Sent by Thomas | 1:55 PM ET | 09-05-2008

Politics is no different today than 60 years ago. The diffence is then the candiate or office holder said it and was quoted directly. Today they can use innuendo and hide behind the anonymous blogger with complete denial of any complicity. Thinking back in history, the same techniques existed in the times of Jefferson and later, Jackson, without the benefit of electronics. Human nature doesn't seem to have changed or improved. The Truman reference might be a Freudian slip.

Sent by g. prestin shriver | 10:16 AM ET | 09-08-2008

I was born and raised in a "big town", Miami Florida. Is she insinuating that I'm not "good people"? Why is she going out of her way to inflame a big-city vs small-town culture war?

Sent by Jill | 5:18 PM ET | 09-09-2008

Because that is standard tactics with the Republicans, take the focus off the issues and make a fuss about nothing...like lipstick on a pig, small town values being better than anything else, they are masters at manipulating the media, and getting in print trivial issues in order to ignore real problems.

Sent by Sheila DiUlio | 1:18 PM ET | 09-14-2008

Not all republicans think that way... most republicans are just like most democrats, sheep being led hoping the leaders know what they're doing...

Sent by Eugene | 4:12 PM ET | 09-19-2008

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