What I’m wondering is: Has Sarah Palin undergone some kind of secret lobotomy?
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Pay No Attention to That Woman Behind the Curtain ...
Reihan Salam convinces himself that Sarah Palin has, sadly, lamentably, unaccountably, turned out to be a grasping, power-mad political hack in a post for the Daily Beast. This seems like the same story from the run up to the Iraq War played again, in the farce section of the program. Once again, everyone eventually comes around to the position that it was a mistake, but no one wants to admit that it was a lementable, hilariously predictable mistake from the very beginning. Read Salam's post for the sad and funny sight of a man trying to square a circle and failing:
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And why, exactly, do we care about Sarah Palin at this point? I'd suggest that, after the ignominious Couric interviews and the utterly undignified (and inexplicably public) Levi Johnston tete-a-tete , we might as well ignore her. If you think of her at all, hope like hell that the Republican Party nominates her in 2012: that'll guarantee them at least eight more years of complete and utter irrelevance.
I don't really care about Palin qua Palin, but I think what's interesting about the situation is Salam's attatchment and subsequent disillusionment with Palin. Salam is far from the most reactionary conservative out there. The fact that Palin appealed to him says a lot about how far out the conservative movement in this country is, even in its less insane Douthat/Salam side of things. It shouldn't surprise us that someone like Bill Kristol would like Palin, but both of those guys were huge Palin boosters.
As for Palin, I think it's a mistake to simply say, "She lost, forget about her." Palin was hugely popular with the conservative rump in this country. As we find out more and more about her, we see that she's a petty, not-terribly-bright standard issue conservative with a healthy fondness for abuses of power. All of that was readily apparent during the campaign for anyone who wanted to open their eyes and see it. McCain supporters, and even those who thought Palin should have been at the top of the ticket didn't want to, and so didn't, see it. It seems to me that that wilful blindness is central to understanding the conservative movement during the era of Bush. They don't seem to be terribly interested in changing it, so it's something that's worth looking at. And if it happens to provide hilarious stories of petty corruption, all the better.
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