Really, Sarah Palin? Does every issue have to be politicized?!?

It seems that every statement coming out of her is drummed up by political consultants to satisfy a constituency base.

For example, take her response to David Letterman's apology for a joke he told about her daughter:

"Letterman certainly has the right to 'joke' about whatever he wants to, and thankfully we have the right to express our reaction," Palin said. "This is all thanks to our U.S. Military women and men putting their lives on the line for us to secure America's Right to Free Speech - in this case, may that right be used to promote equality and respect."

Really?!? She pulled the military into that one?

Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for our military and for free speech rights. But I think that was an extremely tacky reach to make.

And let's be serious, our military isn't fighting to secure our right to free speech. You could argue that part of their function is maintaining it along with all of our other freedoms. But even the fight for independence against the British wasn't over free speech. As a history major specializing in U.S. history, I'll be embarrassed if I'm wrong here, but I can't remember free speech ever being a point of contention that had to be solved by our military.

It's fair for her to argue that Letterman's joke about her daughter was in poor taste. But in fairness, Letterman was NOT targeting her 14-year-old daughter as she suggested and the military has nothing to do with the controversy.