Mocha

by kos [courtesy of Daily Kos]

So people are buzzing about Palin's latest bluster:

At a rally on Saturday in California, Sarah Palin offered up a rather jarring argument for supporting the Republican ticket. "There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women," the Alaska Governor said, claiming she was quoting former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

The statement came after Palin had recounted a "providential" moment she experienced on Saturday: "I'm reading on my Starbucks mocha cup, okay? The quote of the day... It was Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State [crowd boos] and UN ambassador. ... Now she said it, I didn't. She said, 'There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women.'"

For one it was a misquote. Albright actually said "women who don't help other women", and who could argue with that? Furthermore, this was the same Sarah Palin who once said:

Once onstage, together with Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Palin talked about what women expect from women leaders; how she took charge in Alaska during a political scandal that threatened to unseat the state's entire Republican power structure, and her feelings about Sen. Hillary Clinton. (She said she felt kind of bad she couldn't support a woman, but she didn't like Clinton's whining.)

So apparently, in Palin's mind, you go to hell if you don't support other women, unless that other woman is a whiner. So many caveats it's hard to keep track of them sometimes!

But this is all pretty much an inconsequential blip in a week with far more interesting storylines. What really caught my eye about that story was this:

I'm reading on my Starbucks mocha cup, okay?

A mocha? At Starbucks??? So Palin is a latte-sipping elitist? Does she sip mochas while chomping on those gosh darned mooseburgers?

A Café mocha is a variant of a cafe latte. Like a latte it is typically one third espresso and two thirds steamed milk, but a portion of chocolate is added, typically in the form of a chocolate syrup, although other vending systems use instant chocolate powder.

So does that dash of chocolate makes mochas a "Joe Sixpack" sort of drink? Will "normal" Americans, the types that live in small towns without Starbucks "relate" to this? Shouldn't she be getting her coffee and creme the old fashioned officially-approved American way -- at a Dunkin' D's?

Or wait ... maybe -- just maybe! -- trying to define and politically categorize people by their choice of food and beverage (like Obama's orange juice) might just be stupid and idiotic? You betcha, okay?