Fat Fight: Huckabee Says Michelle Obama Right, Sarah Palin Wrong on Federal Role in Childhood Obesity

I had this in the sidebar, but there's a new twist.

Ben Smith digs up an old Sarah Palin speech offering up a little preaching about healthy choices.

We have alarming levels of heart disease, diabetes, childhood obesity – and all of these maladies are on the rise. Now, I won’t stand here and lecture – for very long – but health care reform on an individual basis is often just this simple: we could save a lot of money and a lot of grief by making smarter choices.

It starts by ending destructive habits and beginning healthy habits in eating and exercise. In my case, it’s hard to slack when you have the ever-present example of an Iron Dogger nearby. But many of us could use a little more time in our great outdoors -– and when you live in the Great Land [of Alaska], there’s no excuse.

I don't think this is really a big deal, because Palin was only partly on about mere nagging and nattering-- the gravemen of her criticism seemed about legislation, government coercion:

"Instead of a government thinking that they need to take over and make decisions for us according to some politician or politician's wife priorities, just leave us alone, get off our back."

And:

"Who should be deciding what I eat? Should it be government or should it be parents? It should be the parents."

That said, clarity never hurt anyone (except diplomats), and if her specific beef is with the legislative end of this only, she should say so. If good old-fashioned lecturing is still good policy, she should say that too.

posted by Ace at 03:16 PM

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