Alaska Governor Sarah Palin insulted us last night at the Republican National Convention:

“I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities” [laughter]

This line was carefully planned and released a few hours before she gave the speech. Apparently the attack was worth more than any community organizer backlash.

It visibly angered Roland Martin:

It got me pretty jazzed up, too. I have, we all have, worked hard on the campaigns we commit ourselves to. Community organizing, is, if not by definition alone, hard work.

From Giuliani earlier in the night:

“On the other hand, you have a resume from a gifted man with an Ivy League education. He worked as a community organizer. What? He worked — I said — I said, OK, OK, maybe this is the first problem on the resume.”

And this morning, McCain advisor Nicole Wallace on MSNBC’s Morning Joe said that community organizers only create trouble and protest at the GAP…

The GOP is clearly out of touch. If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably familiar with the profession of community organizing. The long hours. The low-pay. The stress. The battles combating institutional distrust and community apathy. Community organizers help facilitate the conditions necessary to encourage a community to give voice to their concerns and take specific action to see that those concerns are addressed.

Whether it’s organizing for environmental justice, living wages, expanding affordable housing, improving the quality of public school or getting health coverage for the poor and elderly, community organizers have made and will continue to make our communities and our country better for all of us.

When Sarah Palin demeaned community organizing, she didn’t attack another candidate. She attacked an American tradition - one that has helped everyday Americans engage with the political process and make a difference in their lives and the lives of their neighbors. All candidates should be courting these community values, not belittling them.

But in the end, our job as community organizers is not to be recognized, only to help social problems come into the proper light. It is not to be figurehead front-page news, although some certainly deserve more personal praise than they are publicly given. Palin, the GOP, and individual republicans need to be asked, “What do you think you’re accomplishing when you demean us?” We work with schoolteachers, accountants, local governments, students, just so we help our communities thrive, full of better change for all. How are you against that?