We didn’t set out to thrust the Shelby County Reporter into the national spotlight last week when I covered Congressman Spencer Bachus’ address to the South Shelby Chamber of Commerce.

I’ll bet the congressman didn’t think his comments about the election, specifically about his opinion about the outcome and Sarah Palin’s role in that, would make national news, either.

That’s exactly what happened.

The congressman was very candid in his discussion at the chamber luncheon.

His interpretation of the election results was interesting and not the same-old same-old we were hearing from other politicians. I thought it important to share his comments with his constituents in Shelby County.

When I write stories, the only thing on my mind is Shelby County. The last thing on my mind is the impact of that story anyplace else.

Yet, within hours of loading the story on our website, it went “viral,” so to speak. In the two-day period, visits to our website more than doubled. Several of us got calls from friends who heard us mentioned on Anderson Cooper or Rachel Maddow, or saw our story mentioned in the Washington Post.

Unfortunately, many of the blogs and websites that picked up our story focused on only a couple of paragraphs of it, the Palin comments.

In the midst of a backlash from Palin supporters, a representative of the congressman later tried to soften the blow of the congressman’s comments, but stood by them, though he claimed they may have been taken out of context.

For the record, we stand by our story.

Further, we think Shelby County residents should be proud we have a representative who will speak his mind to us.

He certainly didn’t do so in an ugly way. He certainly said nothing at all demeaning about Palin. He simply shared his opinion about the results in some of the contested senate seats and Palin’s impact on those.

After all, many other political figures were thinking the same thing. Bachus simply had the courage to share his opinion with others.