'08
Everyone was pretty much squared firmly against Sandra Bernhard’s supposed comments that she thought staunch pro-life VP candidate Sarah Palin, would be “gang-raped by my big black brothers” if she visited NY City. Bernhard was dropped from a charity event for a women’s shelter after those very offensive remarks were made public. A spokesperson for the charity, Rosie’s Place, said that “we don’t think violence against women is a laughing matter.”
The only problem is, Bernhard said she didn’t say “rape” at all in regards to Palin and that she didn’t make those specific remarks. She’s pretty vague about what she did exactly say, though, and sort-of admits it was on that topic without that particular wording. If she wants to show the public that she wasn’t out of line it seems like she needs to produce some kind of video or audiotape.
Not true, says Bernhard, who is speaking out now because of the shelter, Rosie’s Place, and the harm she fears this story has and will cause them.
“I really feel bad for Rosie’s place,” she told Huffington Post Thursday afternoon. “It was definitely manipulated by whoever put this out there to begin with.”
So what happened during her show in DC? She said:
“I always contemporize my show and open with something of the moment. It so happens we are in the middle of a highly charged political time. And I’m a woman. And I’m concerned not only for myself but for my daughter and the future of all young women, specifically with Sarah Palin and her stance on reproductive rights.
“Being a comic, you go of on these really funny stream of consciousness tangents. So what I said, only funnier, was ‘are you willing to have the experience of getting raped and then keeping your child?’ Only I said it much funnier, and more fluidly. I never once said gang rape. Actually I never said rape. Of course what I said was outrageous, it’s insane, and I’m completely unapologetic about it.”
[From The Huffington Post]
The Huffington Post does include one firm piece of evidence on Bernhard’s side, and perhaps the quote that got so badly misconstrued. The Washington Post gave Bernhard’s performance a great review, and wrote “Bernhard declares in the D.C. Jewish Community Center that if Palin were to step onto her Manhattan turf, ‘I’ll tear her apart like a Wise natural kosher chicken.’”
That’s a lot more palatable and understandable. If that’s all she said it should be more widely reported so that whatever career she has left isn’t ruined by this false story. It would help her case if she was a lot more certain about what she did actually say, though.
Written by Celebitchy
Posted in Sandra Bernhard, Sarah Palin
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32 Responses to “Sandra Bernhard denies saying specific derogatory remarks about Sarah Palin”
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her face continues to hurt my feelings.
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Is she even relevant anymore? And quite frankly, dumb as I think her to be… I wouldn’t be surprised if she made this comment and was quoted accurately.
@ what
— Absolutely hilarious!
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well even if she did say it — she has a point! nobody wants to say it, but keeping a baby from a man who raped you is something women will have no choice about if sarah palin gets anywhere near presidency.
and I dont see why Sandra Bernhard should be apologetic. it’s true whether you want to admit it or not.
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Does anybody really think Congress is going to ban freedom of choice??? Come on, we don’t live in the Stone Age. Don’t care who is president – this is just not going to happen.
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From yesterday’s article – On her Web site, Bernhard said the gang-rape joke was part of a larger piece from her show about “racism, freedom, women’s rights, and the extreme views of Gov. Sarah Palin.
Is this not confirmation that she did say it?
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@gg – Yes, the outlawing of a woman’s right to choose is a very real and well-founded fear. Considering the Republican party included it in their platform, and local, state and federally elected Republicans have tried and are currently trying to not only limit and eliminate choice, but women’s access to RU486 and contraception.
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OMG! People pay to see her to hear her stand up routine….your kidding me……
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Here’s a link to a Sept. 19 article about Sandra’s show, which also includes a link to audio of Sandra’s act. She said it.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1049499/sandra_bernhard_rants_about_sarah_palin.html
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MSat can you please send the link to the audio of her act? I can’t find that specific link in the article.
—edit—
Nevermind I see it on the second page. I watched the video and there is no specific footage of her saying that.
http://theaterjblogs.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/first-footage-of-sandra-live-on-stage-at-theater-j/
All there is for now is a reference to the line, and no footage that I could find.
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But Roth, the AD of the theatre where she’s performing refers to it in detail in his blog, and SB herself, in the same blog, says the ‘joke’ was part of a much longer piece. SB is lying and backtracking and doing both badly. Dumb bitch.
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Agree Geronimo, she is full of hate and a liar.
GG, try this link it might help you;
http://catholicism.about.com/od/thechurchintheworld/p/Rep_Abortion.htm
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Geronimo, I agree with you, she is hateful and a liar.
@GG, try About.com, then search under;
Where do John McCain and Sarah Palin Stand on Abortion.
I tried to paste the link and it went to spam.
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Sarah Palin never said she would outlaw abortion. She would want counseling for pregnant women desiring abortion. Incest and rape are devastating and Palin stated she would present having the child and allowing it to be adopted. Outlaw abortion? Don’t think so, although it should be. The long-term effects of termination of preganancy are scary. Terminating a life sets a woman’s body up for breast cancer in future years.
Palin has never not once said in any way shape or form that abortion would be outlawed.
Anyone who thinks whatever Bernhardt said is remotely funny is very sick.
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Considering the GOP would like to force rape victims to bear the children of their attackers, I’m not sure which one is telling the sick joke anymore.
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Many a rape victim has had the child and been glad later that she did, the child included, so that is not “sick.” Abortion is never going to be outlawed in this country, although when used as a contraceptive, it should be.
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RAN –
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I grew up in a very conservative family, and not once have I ever heard anyone say that rape victims should be forced to follow through with an unwanted pregnancy. That’s just ridiculous. The fact is most of the GOP realize that there are certainly circumstances in which an abortion is warranted. The biggest frustration on their side is the fact that abortion is used entirely too often. To say that the GOP as a whole would move to ban rape victim abortions is insulting. Sure there are crazies who want to ban the whole shebang, but there’s extremism on all ends of this.
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Don’t be silly. Us republicans are not against choice! We simply think the choice should be what kind of birth control to use…not the choice of killing their baby.
As for the rape victim argument…kindly stop being so ignorant. I know of no one who is against the morning after pill, as it doesn’t terminate a pregnancy; it prevents the pregnancy from happening. Any high school freshman knows that fertilization and implantation do not occur for a few days after having sex. RU486 stops that fertilization/implantation from happening.
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Agreed – the rape victim argument is trying to characterize all Republicans based on the views of a very small minority.
A Democrat claiming that Republicans want to ban abortion for rape victims is like a Republican claiming all Democrats support partial birth abortion. Are there extremists in both parties that believe this? Yeah. Are they anywhere near a large enough majority to influence anything? Nope.
I can’t speak for everyone (obviously) but most Republicans I know kinda lost interest in abortion once partial birth was banned. The most extreme view anyone I know holds is that it should be limited to the first trimester.
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@feelingbetter, lauri, and scott f:
where have you been? you’re saying that only crazy extremists want to ban abortion in cases of rape and we should ignore them? our potential vice president, and god forbid potential PRESIDENT, is in favor of banning abortion in cases of rape and incest.
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@what
“Sen. John McCain is opposed to abortion, with exceptions for rape, incest, and the health of the mother. Many pro-life groups regard these exceptions as a “slippery slope.” Senator McCain, for instance, told the New York Times (January 25, 2000) that a woman should not have to prove that she was raped in order to abort her child under the rape exception: “I think that I would give the benefit of the doubt to the person who alleges that.” He has opposed both partial-birth abortion and public funding of abortions and organizations that perform or advocate abortion. He has supported parental-notification laws.”
If you would have taken the time to read my comment you would have seen where to search for this info. Palin’s views are on that link also.”Only exception for abortion is if mother’s life would end.” (Jul 2006)
Grow a set and sign up for Gravatar.
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Hey What – can you say tired propaganda? Seriously.
Know why that argument doesn’t hold water anymore? Because the same Chicken Littles who have been trying to convince us the abortion sky was falling for 40 years have gotten tiring. How many Republican Presidents have we had? How many Republican Legislatures? Have they banned it? Hell, have they even made a concerted effort that came CLOSE in that time? Nope.
Yet we’re supposed to believe that today, when abortion is more accepted than it’s been at any time in the nation’s history, we’re suddenly going to reverse it?
Well, perhaps if it had been passed into law properly, rather than decreed by the Supreme Court, you wouldn’t need to be constantly worried about it being overturned – would you? But that’s another argument entirely.
After 8 years of Bush, half of which he had a Republican majority in the legislature, and you can still kill your unborn child. Yeah, we REALLY need to panic about it being repealed.
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Boots – Where on earth did you get that information? Having an abortion in no way predisposes a woman to developing breast cancer. Those are some ridiculous scare tactics.
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@what – I ignore the crazy extremists who are in favor of partial birth abortion because *gasp* I don’t care about the crappy excuses they come up with to justify putting a woman’s life in danger to kill a almost-term baby. So yes, in addition to you actually checking out the facts rather than believing everything you hear you should indeed ignore the crazy extremists because this country is thankfully smart enough not to give extremists much power.
BTW, just because someone says they wouldn’t personally abort in that case in their own life, does not equal attempting to put policies in effect that would ban it. For instance, I would never have an abortion myself, BUT I can’t make that decision for every woman and am glad we have the choice, therefore if I were a politician I would not ban abortions. I should also clarify that I believe there are ENTIRELY too many abortions being performed a year, and I wish that that would change.
It’s unfortunate that a woman’s right to choose is only applicable if she is choosing to abort. Any woman who chooses life is seen as an enemy who wishes to take woman’s rights away.
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Boy…I didn’t think anyone ever cared about what this broad ever thought about anything. She was never funny and always hard to look at. Palin has a few women out there that are just jealous. A woman finally getting a chance to help run this country for a change. It’s about time.
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Radio stations were playing it when she first said it. I don’t remember is the word “rape” was specifically used, but the meaning was crystal clear. It was beyond disgusting, even for Sandra.
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I hope you’re right Scott. But they’re pushing Amendment 48 here in Colorado with the hopes to dismantle not only Roe v. Wade, but Griswold v. Connecticut. It’s a dangerous amendment and a serious threat to women’s health. And with the Focus on the Family constituency championing it, the amendment is gaining momentum.
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@Scotty:
The only woman deserving to win the title of first woman president was and still is Hillary Clinton. Sarah Palin is a oblivious “hockey mom” who thumps the bible way too many times and doesn’t read history books. She doesn’t deserve the title, all she deserves is the title of former beauty queen.
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hey guys.
palin has stated time and again that she is against abortion even in cases of rape and incest. daisy, i wasn’t talking about in the case of ending the mother’s life.
she said “i’d just counsel them” in one interview. don’t know why she did that, since her views on it being made illegal are well known by now.
(here is just the first thing i found on youtube, she says she would defend a law that would outlaw abortion in cases of rape and incest. i’m sure there are many more.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEN-c0zRH1c
so i’m still confused about how only crazy extremists hold that opinion, when the potential VP has been so vocal about it herself.
and maybe i wasn’t clear. when i said “god forbid president” i meant, god forbid something happen to mccain, and palin becomes president. i was talking about palin.
as for scott, you have a point. but we should still be vigilant about our rights. even if it isn’t likely to happen, i find it scary that someone is campaigning for VP on the basis of taking away our rights. we should be sending the message that this is not OK, no matter how unlikely an actual change in the law might be.
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i dont give a rats ass about that bimboo palin or insane mccain and no one’s going to force me to have a baby if i dont want it. palin should be worried about her own family and council her daughters about abstinence.
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The breast cancer-abortion link is false. Look up the term “recall bias” as it applies to medical research.
http://tinyurl.com/74w6f
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Whether she used the word rape or not doesn’t matter. I think we all received the joke in the vain in which it was delivered. She acts like she’s such a bad ass but when she receives some well received backlash from the garbage that comes out of her mouth, she can’t stand up and own it.
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