Saturday, September 06, 2008

Palinpalooza: the gift that keeps on giving

--- "So Sambo beat the bitch!" Shocktisayshocked to discover she's Rick Santorum Dick Cheney David Duke in a skirt.

-- Do you think anyone will get to question her about this, or the now fast-tracked abuse of power investigation known as Troopergate, or her ties to the fringe Alaskan secessionist political party before the debates? Even FOX? Doesn't seem likely.

My suggestion for the first question regarding that last: "Nice flag lapel pin, Mrs. Palin, but why does it only have 49 stars on it? And which 'Country First' is it you advocate -- the United States or Alaska?"

The more information that trickles out about this woman, the more horrifying it is to consider her presence a heartbeat away. So in the absence of the McCain campaign's ability to shape her narrative beyond "Miss Mooseburger" -- this will prove to be a critical failure in the post-November 4th analysis, I believe -- the more the rest of us are forced to do so. Howard Fineman:

On the floor and in the hallways of the GOP convention, the sentiment was a combination of aggressive defensiveness about her -- from evangelicals and other cultural conservatives -- to a cautious wait-and-see hopefulness from delegates who found it hard to believe that McCain had chosen Palin with what appeared to be a hurried-up, last-minute vetting process last week.

It was as if the skeptics were saying: OK McCain, we didn't like you that much to begin with, so you had better be right about Sarah Palin. But for the time being, until we hear her speak, we will give you the benefit of the doubt.

Friends of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, speaking not for attribution, were caustic. "She is unqualified for the job and everyone knows it," said one.

Whether or not that is true, it's hard to imagine anyone who would be qualified for the raft of personal and political challenges Palin faces. Over the next months, and all at once, a list of the things she'll need to deal with:

  • her continuing duties as governor of Alaska
  • a legislature-funded investigation into questions of whether she has abused her office in a vendetta against her former brother-in-law, a probe that prompted her to hire a personal attorney
  • the care of her fifth child, Trig, born this spring with Down syndrome -- a condition that requires close parental attention and care, especially in the first year of the child's life
  • the pregnancy and pending marriage of her teenage daughter Bristol, who is planning to wed the father before Election Day
  • learning the routines and rituals of the national campaign trail, which she will be required to traverse on her own plane, with her own staff
  • getting a sense of the Lower 48 states, most of which she has never visited
  • figuring out how to deal with McCain, whom she barely knows
  • handling whatever national press interviews the McCain campaign allows her to do -- and she will have to do some to prepare herself for later events
  • prep for the nationally televised vice-presidential debate with Sen. Joe Biden, a legislator with 36 years of seniority, who is personally acquainted with the rulers of nations Palin may never have even heard of

-- Then again, as long as the Corporate Media keep regurgitating the lies she tells, the better off the Republicans will be. Have to watch and see if the Gestapo tactics being used -- which they began implementing in Minnesota this past week -- bully the talking heads into cowering submission.

NSFW Update: Seriously though, how far from reality could this be? We're living Idiocracy. (H/T to that nasty bastard McBlogger for the "Something Awful".)

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