Forgetting Sarah Palin

I'VE NEVER forgiven John McCain for foisting Sarah Palin on us. But that, as the cliché goes, is water under the bridge. She’s here. And we have to live with it.

Apart from the occasional glancing blow, I’ve spent virtually no digital ink on Palin, here on The Portal. And I’ll likely continue that policy into the future in the interest of keeping my blood pressure down. Obviously, if she decides to make a presidential bid (a subject of endless speculation) or does something above and beyond the call of just-plain-craziness (a distinct possibility), I’ll be forced to revisit my policy. With those provisos, Sarah Palin is dead to me. In my humble opinion, she is an empty vessel adrift in a sea of her own ignorance and self-gratification. Palin's manipulative magnetism and symbiotic relationship with an obsessed press make her a "clear and present danger" to the body politic. She’s not even a nice person. Pondering Palin simply isn’t worth my time or, if I might boldly suggest, yours. (What? You're waiting for me to tell you what I really think? Heh.)

That said, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat has a very good piece on her political prospects (virtually nil in his view) in the wake of the midterms. It’s actually worth a quick read, if you’re so inclined.

But that’s not why I really brought any of this up. It was something Douthat said during the course of his discussion that knitted my brow:

”But having watched Sarah Palin pretty closely over the last few years, first with great interest and sympathy and then with frustration and disillusionment ...”

Wha’? How could Douthat, a rational, highly intelligent (conservative) dude who lives in the same reality-based universe as I do, ever view Palin with “great interest and sympathy?” If memory serves, it took me maybe 2 days of due diligence to discover that Palin was – um, well, I’ll be nice – spectacularly unqualified to be McCain’s VP, let alone president. And yet, conservatives rushed to rationalize how she was eminently qualified for both jobs. Indeed, as qualified as Obama. Remember? It was utterly jaw-dropping. Ushering Palin into the White House is akin to asking an airport porter to pilot Air Force One. Sure, the laws of probability say there’s a chance our skycap could pull it off. But would you make reservations for the flight? Me neither.

This is something that profoundly confounds me. Just how does one intellectually get to a place where one believes Palin is qualified to be president? Why do some voters fawn over candidates who say “I’m you” (as in I know nothing and I’m proud of it) and therefore I’m qualified for office?

Well, at least Douthat came to his senses. Good boy. And with that, I’ll go dark on the subject of Sarah Palin. With any luck, my blackout it will endure far, far longer than an Alaskan winter night.