I learn in the adjacent post by John that the Palin family has a service dog for Trig by the name of Jill Hadassah. Sarah Palin demonstrates her wit in response to the unhinged attacks elicited by the photo of Trig standing on Jill Hadassah.
Palin announced the addition of Jill Hadassah to the family by Facebook this past summer. The Hill’s Judy Kurtz took note, observing: “No word on the inspiration for Jill Hadassah’s name.”
I have no idea about the dog’s first name, but Hadassah is the Zionist Women’s Organization of America. It is a venerable outfit, having celebrated its hundredth anniversary in 2012.
My mom was an active member of Hadassah when one of its major causes was devotion to the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. My mom worked hard to support the hospital that opened in 1961 and took pride in its success through the 1960’s; it was certainly my mom’s major cause in her work with Hadassah.
O’Sullivan’s law holds that any organization or enterprise that is not expressly right-wing will become left-wing over time. Hadassah boasts more than 300,000 members and is an important supporter of Israel. As such, it is a (nonpartisan) 501(c)(3) organization. Nevertheless, Hadassah succumbed to O’Sullivan’s law in 1987 when it joined the left-wing assault on Robert Bork during the fight over his confirmation to the Supreme Court.
I’m writing from memory about Hadassah’s role in the borking of Judge Bork. Confirming my memory, however, I find the Jewish Floridian reporting here on September 11, 1987, that Hadassah had “broken with its tradition of neither opposing nor endorsing political candidates or presidential appointees by voting unanimously to oppose Bork’s candidacy for the Supreme Court.”
Why in the world was Hadassah weighing in the Bork nomination? I think it had something to do with abortion.
Now I note, incidentally, according to Haaretz, that “[Hadassah’s] Jerusalem hospital is in financial crisis.”
I think that Palin’s naming Trig’s dog Jill Hadassah is in part a straightforward expression of Palin’s long-standing support for Israel, but it is also funny as hell.
UPDATE/SECOND THOUGHT: If the dog’s name pays tribute to Jill Biden and Hadassah Lieberman, only my last point stands intact.
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