the kicker

Echoes of Hank

Remember “McCain/Palin Tradition,” Hank Williams, Jr.’s re-working of his song “Family Tradition” that was unveiled last week on the campaign trail (and played and replayed on...
October 20, 2008

Remember “McCain/Palin Tradition,” Hank Williams, Jr.’s re-working of his song “Family Tradition” that was unveiled last week on the campaign trail (and played and replayed on cable news)? You know:

Like a mama bear in Idaho

She’ll protect your family’s condition

If you mess with her cubs

She’s gonna take of the gloves

It’s an American female tradition…

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(Mom’s clawing the eyes of anyone who would harm her young? That’s as American as her apple pie, at least. Love those “American female traditions!”)

Anyway, if you haven’t been able to get this song out of your head since, you’re not alone. Per the New York Times:

Gov. Sarah Palin said Sunday that the hardest part about public life as the Republican vice-presidential nominee was the news media coverage of her children. That, Ms. Palin said, brought out the grizzly bear in her.

“The toughest thing has been the shots taken against the kids, against the family,” said Ms. Palin, according to a partial transcript of an interview with WWOR, a television station that serves New York City. “They’re my kids. The mama grizzly bear in me comes out, makes me want to rear up on my hind legs and say, ‘Wait a minute.’

“It’s a little bit unfair there…

Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.