People who write columns are nowhere without readers, and as this year ends, it’s appropriate to give some of mine a last word. Feedback from last week’s column on the general ineptitude of Sarah Palin as a big-game hunter was a mixed bag. Some was from folks taking me to task, some was from folks who said I was right on the mark, and some was from hunters suggesting I look at things from a different angle.
Marcia was representative of those taking me to the woodshed. She said, in part: “As I’m sure you are 100 percent correct on your evaluation of her technique/experience (or lack thereof) … [i]t appears to me that you belong to the ‘I hate Sarah Palin’ club, and want to find fault in anything you can regarding her. She may not be an expert in hunting, so what? But, by golly, she sure has a lot of accomplishments under her belt, among them:
• Mother of five (with one special needs child);
• Governor of Alaska (winning with the odds against her, and not much campaign money);
• Vice Presidential Candidate;
• Fox News Contributor.”
Mike said: “Sarah may not be a marksman with her gun out in the tundra, but she sure hits the target [with her tongue] every time with the lib media. … [S]he never fails to hit her mark and verbally poke them in the eye.”
Someone only identified as “J” who disagreed with everything I said wrote, in part: “I didn’t believe it. You suffer from Palin Derangement Syndrome. When it doesn’t bring out the crazy in the victim, it always succeeds eventually in making him look very petty and foolish.”
Gary was on my side: “She needs to concentrate more on what she is doing now, not on her future in politics. And her father should know better and teach her the correct way to prepare for and execute a hunt. Shame on them both.”
Tony, who said he’s hunted around the globe and in Alaska, said: “I also watched the Sarah Palin show the other evening, and was appalled. … Preparation should be one’s primary goal. Watching this show made my blood boil. … What did she do to prepare for this trip? Possibly just put make-up on and have her hair styled. Up to now, I was on the fence as a supporter of her. Now that I saw this episode, she lost all my trust. I work hard with many hunting organizations to give a positive view of hunting and conservation. She shot all that to pieces in one show.”
I wound up having a nice email conversation with Gary from Illinois, whose first message pointed out a couple possible explanations for Sarah, one being that her fathermay have dropped the rifle she was using and knocked the scope out of whack, which accounted for her missing six times. He also suggested that while I had written that only someone who wasn’t concerned about wounding game instead of killing it cleanly would go hunting with what was described as a “varmint” rifle, as Sarah did, they never mentioned the caliber of Sarah’s rifle on the show.
He said, in part: “I’m not saying to give her a break, but you should have noticed all of the facts, and that what you call a varmint gun (.222 caliber? .223 caliber?) may not be what they call it in Alaska …”
Gary turned out to be a good defense lawyer for Sarah Palin, but I’ll stick with my original thesis that she’s a greater menace in the field than Dick Cheney, who was only using birdshot.
• • •
Regular readers may know that a bill sponsored by Rep. Rush Holt and named after our son, a two-time Iraq veteran who took his own life in 2008, has been making its way through Congress. The bill, called the Coleman S. Bean Individual Ready Reserve Suicide PreventionAct, would save lives by requiring that I.R.R. soldiers, who often fall through the cracks in obtaining services due them, receive a counseling call not less than once every 90 days to determine their emotional, psychological, medical and career needs to make sure they’re getting what they’ve earned. It would also make sure that they receive counseling if the callers determine the veterans are at risk.
The bill didn’t make it in the 2009 legislative session, but we were optimistic that it would pass in this one. This year, it passed the U.S. House of Representatives with bipartisan support, and was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. It was endorsed by many national veterans’ organizations. As part of the larger defense appropriations bill, we believed it would be passed before Congress went home for the Christmas break.
We were stunned to learn on Dec. 16 that John McCain, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, had pulled it. The larger justification by Senate Republicans, who have twice blocked the bill, was on the grounds of cost, even though none of them ever asked what the price of this modest effort would be.
Why did he do it? So far, McCain has not explained, except to tell Holt that “maybe you need this in New Jersey, but we don’t need this in Arizona.”
Oh, really? I’m sure someone will hold McCain’s feet to the fire for that statement, but it’s too late for now.
Late last week, the defense appropriations bill passed without Holt’s measure as a part of it. Holt says he’s furious; so are we. In fact, I’m so angry that McCain — who has dined out for decades as an “advocate” for veterans — made a unilateral decision to squash this fine, bipartisan measure that discretion dictates I write no more about it until I cool down.
I will say this: Holt has promised to reintroduce the suicide prevention bill again next term, despite the changes in the makeup of the Congress. He will continue the battle. And so will we. We didn’t start this fight, but we intend to finish it.
Gregory Bean is the former executive editor of Greater Media Newspapers. You can reach him at [email protected].