In the midst of one of the most precipitous political crashes in the Mountain West, Sarah Palin made a mad dash into Boise on Friday, urging the election of a man who had plagiarized his campaign speech from Barack Obama, had been rebuked by the military for misusing the Marine uniform and had called the American territory of Puerto Rico a separate country.
And why not? Vaughn Ward, the Republican congressional candidate from Idaho, has the dubious character trifecta of the Palin brand: bone-headed, defiant and willfully ignorant. When told that Puerto Rico was not a country, he said, “I don’t care what you call it.”
On Tuesday, this Palin protégé was routed in a huge upset, despite a big early lead in the polls, a 6-to-1 fundraising edge and that Friday fly-in by the former half-term governor, who has Idaho roots.
Between surreal appearances from Wasilla as the caged pundit of Fox News and quick, splashy landings in the lower 48 states, Palin has shown she still has the attention span of a hummingbird on a nectar jag. She does not do basic homework. Never has. The result is a string of endorsements for people whose lives are living contradictions of their stated philosophies.
But in deciding to get rich quick, the demi-governor has ditched whatever grounding she may have had in what Bush aides dismissed as the “reality-based community,” and lost her way in the Last Frontier State. Her brand is toast there, as well.
Of late, whenever a candidate with the Palin blessing blows up, she blames it on the “lamestream media,” not personal responsibility. It’s a curious claim, coming from a person who said she studied journalism in college, but is appalled by real journalism.
The attacks on her man in Idaho, Palin told a half-empty arena in Boise on Friday, were “a violation of our press freedom.” In fact, it was the press — led by the venerable Idaho Statesman newspaper — simply doing the thankless job of trying to keep politicians honest. The real piling on came from Idaho conservative bloggers, who were unrelenting in pointing out how the Palin candidate lifted his campaign speech almost word-for-word from Obama’s stirring 2004 Democratic convention address.
It’s early in the campaign season, but these car wrecks on the Palin highway are piling up. As for the Palin brand, it seems to represent no consistent philosophy, no guiding principles, no remedial vetting. It stands for one thing — Palin — and in that sense, she does have a legacy, though it can only be measured in dollars.
Go read the rest. It's schadenfreudelicious.
Politically, her 'brand' is turning into 'Typhoid Sarah'. Or maybe 'Yugo'. I doubt if she cares, or even notices, as long as the checks cash.
She's going to give one of her screechy addle-pated rants against reality at Cal State Stanislaus (rhymes with 'slaw') for $93,000 and bendy straws. I won't go into the brouhaha out here over paying this kind of money for lies and delusions when our institutions of higher learning are in a precipitous financial state.
I just hope her speech doesn't undo their educations and make the students stoopid.
Note to Typhoid Sarah: Keep up the good work until your brand of nutjob politics is an even worse bad joke than it is now and the rest of us can move on. When we're free of your wacko politicians trying to take over, you'll still be fine. Since ill-gotten gains are best quickly spent, take the money and run to the place of your dreams where right-wing religion rules and there's no government intrusion in your daily life or Constitutional rights for people who don't agree with you, just like you want to see here, and you can be on your own like the rugged American individualist you think you are. May I suggest Somalia? You'll love the tropical breezes and diseases and the down home maritime approach to international trade too!
When you get there, live fast. Your life expectancy will be about the same as a Marine radio operator's on a hostile beach. It's worth it to be 'free', huh?
