Sarah Palin says election 'refudiates' Democrats. Yes, 'refudiates.'
Sarah Palin’s analysis of the GOP election victories – do you want to hear it? Of course you do. Ms. Palin’s supporters are eager to hear what she has to say. So are her opponents, who sometimes appear to enjoy getting riled up by the leader of the Mama Grizzlies.
Well, at about midnight on Tuesday Palin tweeted this, repeated here in full: “As always, proud to be American! Thanks, Commonsense Constitutional Conservatives, u didn’t sit down & shut up . . . u ‘refudiated’ extreme left.”
Yes, she used “refudiate” again! In case you did not know, Palin coined that word, perhaps inadvertently, when she tweeted in July that Muslims should “refudiate” plans to build a mosque and Islamic community center near Ground Zero in New York.
Linguistic controversy ensued. Finally Palin tweeted that people should just get over it, English is a living language, and that Shakespeare invented words.
That’s true, of course – the living English and Shakespeare parts. And Palin’s not backing down here. Somehow we think she won’t. So it’s official – “refudiate” now is part of the Vote blog list of allowable words. No matter what the copy desk thinks.
Palin said other things, of course. Appearing on Fox News, she said the Republican gains in the House are a “big darn deal.” She added that in her opinion the GOP’s strengthened ranks should now reach out to Democrats for possible compromises – but compromises based on Republican principles.
“What the Republicans need to do is reach out to the Democrats, reach out to the White house and say, the train is leaving the station, come on board, we invite you to come on board, but we are heading in a different direction,” said Palin, according to Fox News.
So how did Palin’s female Republican Mama Grizzly candidates fare?
Well, a number of them won. Victors included Nikki Haley, new governor of South Carolina; Susana Martinez, who became the first female Hispanic governor in the US by winning that post in New Mexico; Mary Fallin, the first female governor of Oklahoma; and Kelly Ayotte, who won a Senate seat in New Hampshire.
But the Palin-endorsed candidate for Delaware Senate, Christine O’Donnell, lost, as polls had long predicted. Sharron Angle, another Palin pick, lost to Senate majority leader Harry Reid in Nevada. And Joe Miller, who is not a Mama Grizzly per se but was certainly endorsed by Palin, early Wednesday remained locked in a tight race with write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski in the Alaska Senate race.
