Palin auction rejectee/critic issues a $100,000 challenge

By GottaLaff

Remember that lovely Dinner with Sarah Palin auction? You know the one, where she refused to dine with anyone who veered (politically) so much as one hair's width to the left of her (that leaves, what, 90% of Americans)?

One of those rejectees, a very bright, unusually talented one whose pinky has more intellectual heft and curiosity than Palin has in her entire Wasillian dining room table of a brain, is an author named Ken Morris. If you follow the link above, you can read the comment he left on my post.

Mr. Morris posted something wonderful over at The Mudflats. I'll give you a taste, but for the entire meal (he won't reject you), toddle off to this always-fascinating Alaskan blog version of a cozy inn. It's well worth a read and then some:

Dinner Part Two?

[...]

However, I remain concerned over issues I raised when earlier explaining my participation:

There exists an emotional divide in this country that I’ve not experienced since I attended the University of California near the end of the Vietnam War. [...]

Today’s rancor, however, troubles me more profoundly. [...] This period has more the odor of the Civil Rights debate that ripped apart the South during the administrations of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson; a rift that has never been bridged.

How, I’ll ask Ms. Palin, can we work together (“we” meaning not just her and me, but all people on both sides of the political fence) to begin to fix this? I’ll ask her a few questions that might seem harsh, but aren’t intended to offend—after all, we must be honest, no? Do you regret saying several hundred times that our president “palled around with terrorists?” Do you really believe that providing health insurance to all Americans is socialism or fascism or Naziism, or that there are truly ‘death panels’ in these proposals? I’ll likely feel compelled to suggest that she doesn’t, in her heart of hearts, actually believe any of these things (if she does, then this will give her a chance to educate and win me over).

[...]

In the great American spirit of never say die, here’s my challenge: I will donate $100,000 to veterans’ charities for a second dinner with Sarah Palin and four guests, this one on-the-record and taped so as to minimize misrepresentations. In the name of fair play, my list of invitees will include a subset of Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, Thom Hartmann, Oprah Winfrey, James Carville, Randi Rhodes, Arianna Huffington, Frank Rich, Mudflats’ Jeanne Devon, Jane Hamsher and Shannyn Moore. On her side, Sarah Palin may invite guests as well (how about Bill Kristol and Glenn Beck?). The only additional conditions are that the dinner/event last the entire four hours and questions asked are answered and discussed civilly. [...]

This could become a win/win for everyone [...]

~Ken Morris*

What, no invite for me? Kidding, I'm kidding! And kudos for such a creative solution-- with such vast potential-- after having been discarded by someone whose idea of a good time is quitting.

Please read the entire thing here, at Mudflats.

*Ken Morris, a former Wall Street Executive turned novelist (financial thrillers Man in the Middle and The Deadly Trade), founded Morgan Stanley’s International Equity Department in the mid-1980’s. As a senior capital markets executive, he traveled the world and managed operations in New York, Toronto, London, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, and Sydney. His third novel, Evil Shall Break, is currently being shopped to New York publishers. Ken’s offer goes out to Ms. Palin sincerely and in the hopesdialogue might begin to replace rancor and name-calling.