There is Something About Sarah

I find something deeply disturbing about "that woman." It's interesting how many have taken to using that when referring to Sarah Palin.

It's not eerie inflections straight out of the movie, Fargo. It's not when she dropped her first nuc-u-lar, and my mind screamed "sweet lord, please, not four more years of mispronunciation of a force that could turn us all into cosmic lint."

It's not the odorous political flotsam that trails behind her -- the librarian incident, the trooper incident, the bridge to nowhere incident or anything else that might be discovered by the industrious dumpster-divers from the National Enquirer.

It's not just the fact that we have seen all this for eight torturous years.

Go down the line to your far right on every issue: gay rights, reproductive rights, stem-cell research, guns, Russia, Iran. She rewards her friends (without regard to qualification) and punishes her enemies (political or personal.) She insulates herself with a fleecy layer or friends, family and true believers who make sure that dissenting opinion and inconvenient reality do not intrude on her frontier certainty.

Know the difference between George Bush and Sarah Palin? Lipstick.

I can deal with all that.

What scared me as I listened to her tightly choreographed presentations -- and that includes the "Charlie" interviews -- is the sense of a cold and calculating soullessness, an inability to project the person beneath the politician because the person has been tossed overboard long ago.

I look in her eyes and get a feeling that, if you cross her, she would drop you as easily as she would a wolf from a helicopter.

What scares me even more is that she is all part of the plan. Maybe it's true that John McCain picked her in one of his maverick moments. It's more likely that they went out to find a gun toting, God-fearing woman who could get the get the conservative crazies off their backs and, with a little buffing and polishing, might even bring some wandering Hillary women into camp.

They found a narrative, subtracted and added as needed, wound her up and sent her straight at us -- political baggage, obvious inexperience and all -- saying: "Go ahead. Try to stop her."

Credit due, she has played the part beautifully -- hot chick and tough cookie. Even Real Time host Bill Maher seems thrown off his usually reliable game. He admitted that he was so unnerved by Palin's convention speech that, even though he doesn't make political donations, he cut a check for Obama that night. Said Maher: "She is scary."

At the Convention, she let her newborn be passed around like a bong at Snoop Dog's House. She allowed the very private act of sending her oldest son off to war into a photo op. She will continue to say she killed the bridge -- like Bush said Saddam and Bin Laden were racquetball buddies -- until enough people believe it.

She is tough, calculating, photogenic and female. Unless we want to see her a septuagenarian heartbeat away from the presidency, we best take her seriously.

Comments

[BuzzingAlong]

Has she released her medical and taz records?

If not, why isn't the media calling for Palin to release these records?

[realpolitic]

I like that comment about the eerie inflection straight out out of the movie, Fargo. Palin sounds like the tyoe of person who would fire you on Christmas day with a beatific smile on her face and you would almost apologize to her for ruining her Christmas.

[50yrsyoung]

Finally, someone else has the same opinion that I did when I first saw Sarah Palin and is writing about it. I understand that she relates to some "soccer moms" but I would ask yourselves: would you feel you are qualified to run the USA? If you were the Board of Directors of a Fortune 500 company, would you hire Sarah Palin as your CEO? Hmmm

[emcd]

She is soul-less! I tried to post this on another page but it didn't get through. The religious right wackos were throwing the antichrist word around re. Obama earlier this year, but according to this definition, I'm wondering who this REALLY fits?

"Antichrist is a false Christ, according to Matthew 24:24. He claims to be anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and claims to be qualified to do the work in God's name of redeeming God's people and renewing the creation. But he is not. He is a liar. His claims are false."

http://www.prca.org/pamphlets/pamphlet_3.html

[TRUE BLUE AMERICAN]

Emod- the only people tossing the 'anti-christ" label is the far left, I have not comes across it at all. Do a little more research into the characteristics of the anti-christ and you will see that neither Obama nor McCain fit the bill.

[melpomene1]

i believe emod is suggesting that palin fits the bill.

[Citizen54]

"Passed around like a bong at Snoop Dogg's house" --- best phrase on this site today!

Palin, like Bush, is the empty vessel the corporate masters will fill with whatever it takes to ensure 4 more years of corporate rule. She, like Bush, is Chance the gardener from Kosinski's apparently prophetic book, Being There.

[TexMex69]

While I know that the family is "off limits". I think it's pretty unusual that such a "well educated" master of foreign policy would encourage her son NOT to attend college. Don't you find that a bit odd.
Let's see Track joined as private and makes if he's lucky 24k/year. He could have attend a college with an ROTC program and enlisted as an officer @ probably 40-60k.
What kind of judgment, does that show as a parent, much less as an Executive?? Was the kid not able to get into college?? While I understand the desire to serve and make a difference, if you have the means, which the Palins do, then what rational reason is there??

[TRUE BLUE AMERICAN]

Simple Tex- you have a weak concept of patriotism, for many ,college and the pursuit of the mighty dollar doesn't mean a whole lot. I hope you don't buy the lefts weak arguement that the military is just for dopes. I ,as well as many others would be deeply offended..­..

[DryBrook]

"She will continue to say she killed the bridge . . . until enough people believe it."

Isn't it about time that the real bridge-killers stand up and take credit for their work? How about Sen. Tom Coburn (failed amendment, 10/18/2005)?

[pericles21]

"Cosmic Lint". Peggy, u r great...a phrase of a decade.

[juneaugal]

Greetings from Nowhere, Alaska
Letter to the editor - appeared in the Juneau Empire Sept. 15, 2008

I am a three-term Ketchikan City Council member. I am, and always have been, an opponent of the Gravina Bridge - but Gov. Sarah Palin is taking a cheap shot.
The purpose of the bridge was not a quicker way to the airport (which actually it wouldn't be), but a way to reach developable land. Ketchikan is 30 miles long and four blocks deep - jammed between the Pacific and mountains.
A large hydro project will come online in two years, but there are very few places suitable to build additional businesses or industry on this island.
The bridge was to open up a large expanse of flat land for development on Gravina Island. It was not a project created so greedy buffoons could drive to the airport. Palin knows this but continues to trot Ketchikan out for national ridicule.

What does it say about a leader who is willing to ridicule constituents to make political points?

Marty West
Ketchikan

[blaqntelligence]

"What does it say about a leader who is willing to ridicule constituents to make political points? "

Passing her baby around like said bong....
Outing her daughter's pregnancy.­..
While touting her ability, not to mention RIGHT to make an intensely private decision about her own......
While openly stating the rest of us are undeserving of that same right.

As unfit and undeserving of this office as mccain.

[CellarDoor]

I am utterly filled with dread. The Republicans are going to win. It is so absurd that it is like living in a bad episode of the Twilight Zone but, against reality itself, the Republicans are going to win.

How's this for melodrama: I don't believe we will ever have a democratic president again.

[onlinesavant]

The Democrats will win. Obama will win. The Electoral College projections are solidly in his favor. He has a magnificent ground game. He just bought in 66 million dollars in August, with 500,000 new donors, for a total of 2.5 million. Unless you are just some troll, I don't see how you can figure the republicans are going to win. The truth about Palin is coming out all the time, and more and more people don't like what they see. Never was afraid of her anyway. Their best crowds have only equaled a small crowd of Obama's. And just wait until the debates. Biden will wipe the floor with her, as Obama will with McSame.Our time is just beginning. It's gonna be great. Obama/Biden 08.

[CellarDoor]

Thank you everybody for your words of hope. I am not remotely a troll! I am so saddened by what has happened to this great but crippled country of ours that the thought of another "cake walk" election for the dems that would yet again be a stunning, if not impossible in any just world, electoral defeat is too much to bear. I don't believe in any magical "you're negative and that attracts negative outcomes" but in looking beyond sites like HuffPo, etc, and seeing the malleable polls continuously saying 'neck and neck' or 'McCain pulls ahead" is so soul crushing that I loose sight of the bigger picture which you guys made mention.

Thanks!

[blaqntelligence]

Not if we do as Obama has asked from the beginning.
If you are filled with dread, DO SOMETHING!
Go to his website, get a list of names to call, volunteer for voter registration, knock on doors, find something happening in your area, sign up and GO!
Each time a name is added to the voting rolls, I feel a deep satisfaction. ONE MORE voter the republicans can't have.

[MsCanadian]

With all due respect, it is this kind of negative thinking that creates losses! An attitude of negative expectation only generates despair and can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The most positive thing you can do is Vote for Obama on November 4th.


Go Obama!

[SEQUOIABISON]

Your fear and trepidation is well founded the horrible thought that a Palin/McCain victory following on the heels of the most disastrous administration in history is enough to make anyone tremble in fear.

The thought of another 8 years, living in the midst of 1984 the George Orwell novel and moving directly into his Animal Farm novel where we all recall the pig without the lipstick becomes the controlling totalitarian force, demanding more work from the animals and less food, sought of the way republicans rule.

[druidlady42]

Just put aside the "character issue" for a moment, and look at the resume:

This woman is WOEFULLY UNQUALIFIED and DANGEROUSLY INEXPERIENCED! The total number of people who have ever voted for her in Alaska is less than one precinct in many of our large cities! The thought that she could quite possibly be stepping into the Presidency at a moment's notice is CHILLING!

The fact that John McCain chose her over many more qualified, wiser candidates is REPREHENSIBLY IRRESPONSIBLE! So much for putting "Country First"!

[bdfu2]

You are absolutely right on this fact - McCain did chose her over much more qualified candidates - that shows very poor judgement on his part.

[tablesedge]

Peggy, you are great. I have a nightly mare that I wake up and by some quirk of fate Sarah is at the helm of our country as the scary world turns!

[jackie4444]

"... a cold and calculating soullessness, an inability to project the person beneath the politician, because the person was tossed overboard long ago".

You nailed it.

[mergina]

Very perceptive of you my dear, because that is exactly what i see in those eyes. That, and a world of hate, lies and death, which does not make her that much different than Bush and Cheney.

[Paz3]

This is anecdotal, though certainly no more so than the way the Republicans campaign these days, but about a week ago my fiancee, looking at Palin, said if "...you cover up her smile and look into her eyes, you see that she's mean." This is before much of her ruthless history as a politician was revealed. Women (such as my fiancee) generally get these things right much better than men, as what we are learning lately about Palin shows all to clearly.
Those designer eyeglasses are quite the cover!

[SEQUOIABISON]

Nice article Peggy.

What troubles me more than anything else about governor Palin is her lack of sensitivity toward animals.

I understand the pioneering spirit and the living off the land attitude of some Alaskans but I think it is time for them to join the rest of Americans as we enter the twenty first century.

Being a vegan for the last 30 years I personally do not think it is necessary or healthy to be living on Moose meat but the pros and cons of meat eating can wait for another day.

What I do find disturbing about the Moose hunting governor is her indifference to the beauty and majesty that is Alaska. "Lets drill anywhere baby."

Approving aerial hunting of Wolves to help increase the population of Moose and Caribou is a callous mindless attempt to control the forces of nature so she and her fellow hunters will have more game to shoot at.

The Wolf if raised from a puppy can be just like any pet dog, loving and loyal but Sarah Palin is unconcerned with the rights or feelings of animals, her priority is having fun killing one of god’s creatures.

For a person who is such a religious fanatic when it comes to protecting a fetus but so pro death when it comes to other forms of life, she should be aware that god created all creatures great and small.

Obama/Biden

[PrincessZelda]

Thank you. Beautifully said.
People say Palin is "pretty" or "hot" but I dont see it. I don't think she is attractive at ALL (I'm a man age 59 On the contrary; she gives me the creeps.
I see a ruthless person in her supposedly "pretty" face. I think she is a liar, a religious fanatic, an enemy of the environment, and very dangerous. Some people get a rush out of killing animals, and she is one of them, and it is just sick.

[siney]

i would agree. as a lesbi of 41 i don't see the attraction either. all i see is a borderline on a mission from god. ick. after the last 8 years of the surealness of bushworld, here we are again full circle. logic would say our fellow americans will reject the republicans this go around, but there seems to be an absence of logic as well as loads of other mental and emotional tools when it comes to electing our presidents.