This is only the latest manifestation of a long American tradition. My father was a long-time operative of the California Democratic Party, and his biggest disappointment in life was that he didn’t make Richard Nixon’s Enemies List.
This was a problem because his best friend, banker Ray Lapin, was on Nixon’s Enemies List, and Ray never let Pop forget about it.
Ray got on it because, having been appointed as Chairman of Ginnie Mae (Governmental National Mortgage Association) by then-President Lyndon Johnson, he refused to resign early at the request of later-elected President Richard Nixon so Nixon could appoint some more deserving crony of his. And Nixon’s Attorney General, John Mitchell, even sent some FBI agents to Ray Lapin’s apartment in the Watergate Hotel to threaten Ray about it. Ray asked then if they were aware that his appointment expired in a few months, and they shame-facedly admitted they didn’t. It was pretty funny.
So Nixon got his (sort of) revenge by naming Ray Lapin as one of his most hated enemies. This did not merely make Ray’s day, but brighten his whole career, and he never tired of ribbing Pop about it.
Because Pop took such things seriously, too seriously in my opinion.
I personally find the victims of Palin Derangement Syndrome to be delightful specimens of people who have WAY too much time on their hands. As well as the adherents of a centuries-old American tradition.
