Sarah Palin is standing by her statements opposing President Obama’s call for a “Sputnik moment” — referring to America’s rapid development of technology in the 1950s, after the Soviets were the first to put a satellite in orbit — following ridicule of her statement that the USSR won the space race but “incurred so much debt at the time that it resulted in the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union.”
In her latest statement, Palin does not seem to address the alleged victory in the space race by the Soviets — when in fact their early lead was overtaken by the United States landing on the moon. Instead, she elaborates on the “Sputnik” vs. “Spudnut” line that made up the other main component of her statements on Fox News.
In a new post on Facebook, Palin writes in part:
The analogies I mentioned obviously aren’t comparable in size, but highlight a clear difference in economic focus: big government command and control economies vs. America’s small businesses.
If you’re near Richland, WA, you should stop by The Spudnut Shop, where you’ll find an all-American success story of a family owned small business that for over 60 years has been serving up a product that people want to buy. Businesses like this coffee shop don’t receive big government bailouts. They produce something with their own ingenuity and hard work. And here we see the former communist Soviet Union’s advancement (before its government debt-ridden demise) vs. America’s small businesses that are the backbone of our economy.
Palin also links to an article on the Big Peace website, which is run by Andrew Breitbart, in which writer Peter Schweizer argues that Sputnik really was an example of Soviet overspending, and that the USSR’s debt was a chronic problem as early as the late 1950s, over 30 years before they collapsed.
I checked on whether Palin’s promotion of the Spudnut shop was in any way coordinated with the business itself. Store owner Valerie Driver told me that she does consider herself a supporter of Palin, but they have not been in any recent contact. Palin last came to the store about a year and a half ago when she was visiting family in the area. (Palin’s mother grew up in the area, and Palin’s maternal grandfather was a frequent customer at the shop.) The two said hello at the time, but the recent promotion of the store is not connected with any recent contact.
