A couple days ago, Sarah Palin wrote a piece for Newsweek (which apparently is merged with the Daily Beast) about her life with Trig. The launching point of the piece was a blurb about Bella Santorum, Rick Santorum’s daughter:
Last week, Rick Santorum and his family offered us a reminder of what really matters. When his 3-year-old daughter, Bella, born with Trisomy 18, was hospitalized with pneumonia, Rick left the campaign trail to be by her bedside. In the middle of this very heated campaign season, many of us prayed through tears for Bella’s health and added prayers of thankfulness for a public example of someone’s sacrifice made with the right priorities.
And then for the rest of the piece she talks about Trig. Now, I suppose if you have a very cynical view of the world your reaction to the piece could be that it’s an attempt to use Bella Santorum’s moment to bring attention back to yourself. A stealing of the spotlight. But then perhaps you should read the story behind the piece (emphasis mine):
A Daily Beast spokesperson says the Palin piece was assigned last week following the news that Rick Santorum’s daughter, Bella, had been hospitalized and he was briefly leaving the campaign trail.
“We asked Sarah Palin if she would like to share her personal story about life with a child with special needs upon learning about Senator Santorum’s decision last week to place his campaign on hold to be with his daughter,” the spokesperson emailed.
Palin wrote the piece the magazine asked for, a piece centered on her life with Trig. Hence the title, “Life with Trig.” But apparently Mr. Eddie Scarry over at the Blaze didn’t get the memo:
What’s the first thing that came to mind when you heard that Rick Santorum‘s special needs child was in the hospital with pneumonia late last month? I bet all of Mitt Romney‘s money it wasn’t Sarah Palin unless you are Sarah Palin.
In an op-ed for “Newsweek,” a magazine she loves to hate, Palin ever so delicately tied her experience raising her son Trig, who has Down syndrome, to Santorum.
Of the roughly 900-word article, 123 of them relate to Santorum and his daughter Bella who was born with Trisomy 18, a disability similar to Down syndrome.
It’s all downhill from there. For more perspective, the names “Rick” and “Santorum” appear three times total and are all found in the first paragraph. The word “my,” in reference to Palin herself, appears 15 times throughout the rest. I didn’t bother searching for “I” and “I’ve.”
That’s because she was asked to write a piece about herself and her family, not the Santorum family. And that’s what she did.
And you counted the words? Really? How bored are you?
TweetThank you, Rick and Karen Santorum, for living the Christ-like example of sacrifice and right priorities. Nothing is more precious or important than the life of an innocent child. Our prayers are with Bella, a perfect child in an imperfect world.
God bless the beautiful Santorum family.
- Sarah and Todd Palin and family