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Go Home Ready for Her Close-Up

POLITICS JULY 24, 2009

Ready for Her Close-Up

BY SUZY KHIMM

When Sarah Palin abruptly announced that she was planning to leave office, it was clear whom she blamed for her early exit. “I wish you'd hear MORE from the media of your state’s progress and how we tackle Outside interests--daily--SPECIAL interests that would stymie our state,” she said in her July 3 resignation speech, which she later posted on her website. Blasting her adversaries for paralyzing the Alaska governor’s office with charges of “frivolous ethics violations,” Palin and her representatives accused these unnamed “Outside interests” of harming her ability to govern after returning from the presidential campaign. “There were some complaints that were filed under pseudonyms that we believe came from down in the lower 48,” Palin’s lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, told Fox News. “There is a connection to the Democratic Party in the lower 48.”

There’s no doubt that Alaska’s state government has been paralyzed since Palin’s return, with anger and frustration emanating from both the governor’s office and the state legislature. All of Palin’s major bills failed to pass this year’s first 90-day session. But conversations with both Republican and Democratic legislators reveal that Palin’s inability to get anything done has little to do with the media attacks the Alaska governor claims drove her from office. The lawmakers say it has more to do with how national exposure changed her, moving her much further to the right than she had been and making her nearly impossible to work with. And state Republicans seem just as incensed about it as the Democrats.

 

Before Palin left the state to become John McCain’s running partner, she cultivated a good, if not exactly chummy, working relationship with Alaskan Democrats by pushing for an oil-tax increase and ethics reform. And state Republicans embraced Palin as the new face of a party that had been tarnished by scandal-ridden politicians like Ted Stevens. But upon returning to Juneau last fall, “she managed to alienate most of the 60 members of [the Alaska] House and Senate,” says Larry Persily, an aide to state Republican Representative Mike Hawker. “It wasn’t a matter of burning bridges--she blew them up.”

Palin made it clear that she wasn’t going to back away from the hard-line conservative ideology that had propelled her to national prominence--and her first high-profile target was the federal stimulus bill. Rehashing Republican talking points, she called it “an unsustainable, debt-ridden package” and threatened to veto a third of the $930 million in funds, including money for energy efficiency and social services. The move drew criticism from Palin’s Democratic opponents and her closest Republican allies in the state, but seemed to fit into her quest for national prominence. “The little bit of time she spent on policy, she devoted … to issues of national merit,” says Republican Representative Jay Ramras. “It wasn’t when but how she was going to throw Alaska under the bus.” But even as Palin grandstanded on her opposition to the funds and her willingness to withstand what she called “the slings and arrows” from both parties, she failed to communicate the specifics of her positions and dismissed lawmakers. When it came to legislative matters of any substance, “we got very little information from the state,” says Republican House Speaker Mike Chenault. “All I wanted was to know what her response was…. There were many times we couldn’t get a clear answer.” “We couldn’t get any decisions out of the governor,” says Persily, who spent two years working in the Alaska governor’s Washington office. “It had nothing to do with critics harping at her--it was a lack of attention to governing.”

Rather than hash things out with lawmakers, Palin repeatedly rebuffed their engagement efforts, most notably canceling a key April meeting with legislators. When she changed her mind at the last minute, the frustrated legislators declined to meet with her. Palin issued a press release blaming them for the meeting’s failure, prompting both the Senate president and the Republican House speaker to denounce her claims as completely false. “You don’t see that often--the Senate president calling the governor a liar,” says Persily. Then, instead of trying to repair fraying relations with the lawmakers, Palin left town to give a speech at an anti-abortion rally in Indiana. When Tom Wright, an aide to the Republican House speaker, informed her that leaving the state within the last days of the legislative session flouted standard practice, she marched into his office and berated him. “There was no malice on his part to take a dig at the governor,” says Chenault. “I take it very seriously for anyone to chew on one of my staff for any reason.” “It violated all common decency, all protocol,” says Ramras. “It just showed such disrespect.”

It wasn’t the only instance in which Palin ran roughshod over the legislature. In March, Democratic State Senator Kim Elton announced that he would be leaving to work for the Obama administration, and Democratic lawmakers nominated state Senator Beth Kerttula for the seat. Palin dithered for a month before striking down the appointment, claiming that the Democrats should have followed protocol by picking three candidates for the post. Then, she pushed forward two candidates who had only registered as Democrats weeks earlier--including one neophyte married to another legislator. When Senate Democrats struck down her second nominee, Palin declared that Democratic lawmakers were violating the state constitution by voting behind closed doors. “The arguments by Palin that [the vote] was somehow a secret cabal didn’t hold much water,” says Gregg Erickson, a longtime Alaska political analyst. “A lot of people speculate that she was punishing Juneau for the fact that Juneau didn’t vote for her.” The House Republicans could do little to help resolve the political deadlock. “It was an issue I had no control over--I didn’t wanted to be dragged into the melee,” says Chenault. By the time the governor and the Democrats compromised on a nominee, the Juneau district had been without representation for half the legislative session.

In another controversial move, and in the midst of the deadlock over the stimulus and the state Senate seat, Palin nominated Wayne Anthony Ross for attorney general. A board member of the National Rifle Association infamous for calling gays “degenerates” and accused of making derogatory remarks toward women, Ross was seen as someone who would--in Erickson’s words--“alienate a significant segment of the population” in the state, but “would clearly open pocketbooks of NRA folks around the country.” Palin, for her part, seemed to be more interested in the kind of credibility Ross could give her among national Republicans than in actually getting him confirmed. In picking such a controversial nominee, Palin should have stepped up to defend him, says Ramras, who had supported Ross’s candidacy. But by mid-April, Palin had little will to do so, and the legislature rejected the appointment--the first time in Alaska’s history that a head of state failed confirmation. “He was voted down, and she blamed all of us,” says Ramras. “She’s perfected victim psychology.”

Of course, the barrage of ethics complaints filed against the governor exacerbated in-house tensions and probably served as a distraction. But Juneau's state of utter dysfunction wasn’t due to nefarious Democratic operatives who had crept up from the lower 48 to sabotage Palin; it was Palin’s national ambitions that were primarily responsible for her undoing.

Traveling to Fairbanks to sign a gun-rights bill a week after she announced her resignation, Palin didn’t bother contacting local officials, “but she did contact a conservative talk-radio host,” says Ramras. Surrounded by photographers, Palin defended her resignation on the radio show, “Firearms Friday.” “I’m not cut out to play that game that a lot of politicians are,” the governor told listeners. She couldn’t have been more on target.

Suzy Khimm is a reporter-researcher for The New Republic.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

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53 comments

What a train wreck. Remember how close she came to the white house. The adoration felt for this person by so many republicans is appalling.

- Polaris

July 24, 2009 at 9:06am

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This is a one-sided article. I could easily find a hundred people who would say exactly the same thing about how Obama is handling the office of the presidency, that he is being partisan, pushing his own agenda, and not reaching across the aisle. And by the way, as far as not "letting the locals know" where she is. I would think that would be something her staff should be doing, for one, and for two, she tweets constantly about where she is going and what she will be doing there. You can find out where she's been and what she's done for the last entire month simply by browsing thru her twitter account. It seems to me that the MSM has become far more obsessed with political manuevering than with POLICY. I am much more interested in Palin's POLICIES and Obama's POLICIES than their governing styles and who said what about whom. It would be nice if we could have some decent REPORTING as opposed to speculating and psychoanalysis of our elected officials. That would be refreshing, for both right and left.

- vicki in flyover usa

July 24, 2009 at 9:35am

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Maybe she could try an even bigger flagpin.

- kerFuFFler

July 24, 2009 at 10:24am

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-- "All I wanted was to know what her response was.... There were many times we couldn't get a clear answer." -- This is one of the complaints I've had with Palin, and that's the inability or unwillingness to answer simple questions. And I'm glad someone at this magazine finally brought up the nauseating person that is Wayne Ross, the one who also said that domestic abuse wouldn't be a big deal if women learned to keep their mouths shut, and that if a husband can't rape his wife, who's he going to rape. Also, he drives a big red Hummer with a license plate that reads "WAR". What a class act. (NOT!)

- kevincollins

July 24, 2009 at 11:30am

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This was a very well written article. Just the facts were presented. Kudos to the author.

- Janie

July 24, 2009 at 11:49am

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Vicki, you misread the article. It was not about Palin's failure to reach across the aisle. It was about her inability to work with people on either side of the aisle, including the majority members of her own party. There are few easier jobs in politics than being a Republican governor in Alaska: the state is solidly Republican, and our high oil revenues relative to our small population spare us the heartache of budget-balancing that is the core responsibility of any state executive. Governor Palin had incredibly high positives prior to her 2008 selection by McCain, and continued to have high positives afterward. However, she had clearly been seduced by thr attention and (selective) adulation of the national stage. She never turned her attention back to Alaska after the election, and the article accurately describes her failure of governance following her return.

- Listener

July 24, 2009 at 2:25pm

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Thank you for the excellent article, Ms. Khimm. My impression has been that the national attention she received as John McCain's running mate has gone to her head and has interfered with her duties as governor. You fleshed out my impressionistic take in fine detail. Your comments are extremely inane, vicki. To compare Barack Obama to Sarah Palin is ludicrous. As Listener correctly notes, Palin has alienated a large number of Alaskan legislators of her own party. Do you see the Democratic House rebelling against Obama? There are the Blue Dogs and their hesitancy on voting for a health care bill but that is far different from what Ms. Khimm is describing.

- liberal reformer

July 24, 2009 at 4:04pm

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Always need to get the other side of the story. Did the legislatives you talk to talk about all the days they were not in session? Did Ramras talk about his Stock he bought in a Company that would affect his vote on a big issue. It was all Palin's fault. Let me see did this write get one viewpoint from the other side. Did the legislatives talk aboutthe grudge they had with GOV Palin because she criticized the legislatures friend who ended up getting convicted. Did they talk about the CBC that they are members of (The Corrupt Bast$#@S Club). Wow they left out a lot of info didn't they.

- PEC

July 24, 2009 at 4:41pm

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(Yawn) More Palin Derangement Syndrome. Pssst! The stimulus package is not working. The health-care reform bill is fatally flawed. Obama is adjudicating a police matter about which he knows next to nothing. Talk acting stupidly....

- Jack Davis

July 24, 2009 at 4:43pm

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Ummm, if she is such a no good worthless bumbling moron who could not possibly win a national election, why is it that they can't stop attacking her? Relentlessly, day after day, despite the horrible sink hole that the Bamster and Ole Joe "Im Lyin" Biden have run us into, apparently these members of the media find it more important to write articles about an Alaskan Governor. I think thou dost protest to much, it is becoming evident that the left is seeing something in the polls that they are afraid of, and they are trying to take her apart. Good luck with that, oh and I hope you and your family dont suffer any ill impact of the new Socialist Administrations policies.

- Gryphon

July 24, 2009 at 4:48pm

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Yes, you all have a fine time trashing Sarah Palin if you want. I guess that's better than watching Obama trash our country.

- Steve from Wisconsin

July 24, 2009 at 5:10pm

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Hay gryphon, no one is "attacking" her... they are just calling her out on her lies!! we are not scared of her, we are scared of people so sheeplike they think she is qualified and not full of it. please, i hope she runs for president... can't wait to see the RNC destroy her first.

- kirsten

July 24, 2009 at 5:14pm

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Strange the way the Palin supporters appear out of nowhere on a site they normally ignore. Like calls to like and it's in evidence on this thread. Whatever. Luckily the more Palin courts the spotlight, the less presidential she appears. Besides, she clearly finds governing boring. She's more interested in the camera and the money. I wish she'd just take the job at Fox News or Christian radio and be done with it.

- kld

July 24, 2009 at 6:15pm

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When Alaskan republican's are quoted against Governor Palin, it must be reiterated that, unlike Barrack Obama in notoriously corrupt Chicago, Palin rose to prominance by confronting the corruption of her own Republican Party in Alaska. The political opponents have mostly been on the Right of the GOP. Also, Alaska is with 43% independent voters, is hardly a Red state.

- Genecar

July 24, 2009 at 6:26pm

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Well, another jealous lesbian bitching about a straight woman. Keep grovelling in the gutter as your One, the dolt who can't stop talking gibberish screws up the US economy and paves the way for a Democrat disaster in 2010 and an early exit in 2012. The amount of ranting on the left against Palin just shows how much fear she generates that she will help the Republican Party (with all their warts and all) to absolutely clobber the Democrats next year. I will be laughing all along as liberals turn red in the face, rant and rave, blow a gasket and just generally crap their pants.

- James

July 24, 2009 at 6:53pm

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Palin is in the "top tier of the elite level of the GOP" (James Carville). Some of us still ridicule Sarah Palin, Gryphon, because John McCain thought her (or pretended to think her) qualified to be the Vice-President of the United States. 71% of registered Republicans still believe that. Here's the problem: more people think she's nowhere near qualified and, in fact, is painfully ignorant. And so she probably won't be representing our entire nation anytime soon. Of course her supporters can persuade her to run for something in 2010 or 2012, but she'll need to have developed very thick alligator skin. I for one think she would make good LensCrafters commercials. Okay, I got that from David Letterman.

- Suds

July 24, 2009 at 6:59pm

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accept for the most partisan of obama defenders, it is pretty much decided that the stimulus is train wreck legislation. so maybe, just maybe her opposition to it had something to do with principle. now i realize that if the writer would say something like that she would lose her membership to the "look how smart i am i hate palin" club but maybe, just maybe her opposition to the stimulus was the fact that it sucked.

- spaceman

July 24, 2009 at 7:11pm

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Jack Davis: Pssst! "[I hope] The stimulus package is not working." "[Oh, if only] The health-care reform bill is fatally flawed." Conservative wish-fulfillment.

- tomeg

July 24, 2009 at 7:56pm

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Vicki, Palin does not have any policies, that is why you don't hear them. She talks in shallow talking points to appeal to conservatives that don't understand issues. Believing in small government, low taxes, strong defense and individual liberties are what you will hear her say over and over but with no depth or detail. This article and conversation have nothing to do with President Obama! Please can't people discuss Sarah Palin without bringing him up. This article is about the relationship with the Alaskan legislature. Most are disppointed she did not do the job she was elected to do! Some of us campaigned and raised money for her and she quits after 2 yes 7 months in office tellining us a load of lies as to the real reason!Sorry Sarah, we know moosepucky when we see it and you are leaving our state in a mess! The MSM hasn't even picked up on the story of elders and disabled folk dying while waiting for help! The program overseen by Palin was so mismanaged that the federal government had to step in! After 277 people died. So long Sarah don't let the door hit you on your way out!

- Wasilla Tango Lady

July 24, 2009 at 8:02pm

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Why do you quote people in this article who have lied about Sarah Palin in the past and have no credibility? It is obvious to any clear thinker that you are trying to destroy her because you do not like her just like the MSM. It makes me sad for you.

- Dan

July 24, 2009 at 8:18pm

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Yeah, palin si stupid and Barry is smart, clean and articulate. Which is why he sat for twenty years in a racist church, called its racist pšastor his spiritual adviser, is torpedoing US economy, associating USA with dictators from Iran, Cuba, Venezuela etc., making racist statements about US police... yeah... he is indeed sooooooo "smart".....

- Frederik

July 24, 2009 at 8:41pm

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You wonder why so many Republicans revere Sarah Palin? Well, it's simple. The more you and your leftist ilk despise her, the more we love her. It is, in short, because we so passionately hate and despise you and all your works that we embrace someone who has been so unfairly maligned by, yes, deeply malignant people.

- Rick Ring

July 24, 2009 at 8:58pm

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To kld: What's actually more strange is the way liberals can't stop talking about Sarah Palin. But like I wrote earlier, I guess it's more appealing to you than trying to defend Obama as he runs America into the ground. But check the polls - people are finally catching on to him, despite the mainstream media fawning all over him. What a joke!

- Steve from Wisconsin

July 24, 2009 at 9:03pm

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Palin is as competent as the next politician. Palin has that "something". Bill Clinton had that "something". The Palin obsession is born of fear of that "something". Since the MSM has hailed her as a moron, all she has to do is complete a single sentence to prove the MSM wrong and look like Einstein. There is something about Sarah. Her book will be a best seller on the day of its release, can this author do that?

- Real Voter

July 24, 2009 at 9:23pm

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If any of you toe-the-line Palin supporters care to defend her appointing such a coarse and chauvinistic pig for the state's attorney-general position, have at it.

- kevincollins

July 24, 2009 at 9:27pm

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There is no exaggeration in this article. Palin quit working when she got back from her clothes buying spree, ummm, I mean failed bid for veep. She wouldn't work with anyone, even those in her own party. She leaves a trail of dissolutioned former comrades soon as she is done using them for whatever purpose she needed them. She behaved vindictively when it came to appointing a replacement for Kim Elton. It was like high school politics. This is not a person who is looking out for the needs of others--keep believing that she does to your own detriment, folks. She is out for Sarah and only Sarah. None of this stuff is over-blown, it is fact. And it is coming from both sides of the political aisle.

- a Juneau citizen

July 24, 2009 at 9:30pm

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I find it hilarious that there are quite a number of conservatives celebrating the know-nothing Sarah Palin. I was a conservative a third of a century ago and being conservative back then was synonymous with quality of thought and intellectual standards. It was the age of Bill Buckley. Even though I have long been on the moderate left, I took a lot away from my conservative days. All that high action has been subverted by conservative populists and even conservative intellctuals with their ridiculous posturing as tribunes of the people, cheerleading idiocy from the likes of Sarah Palin.

- liberal reformer

July 24, 2009 at 9:43pm

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As a Democrat, I have felt saddened about my Party's turn to personal destruction instead of honorable debate. I disagree with Palin's views on many issues, as a Democrat. However, I was open-minded enough to attend one of her rallies, and you know what? After I left, I admired her. Unlike many of my fellow Democrat's rallies, I left feeling wow...an actual honest politician. Many of my fellow Democrat's rallies I left feeling like they were willing to say anything to get elected. Part of it may be I only attended on rally of Palin's and several rallies of other Democrats. I long for the party I joined...you know, the tolerant party, the inclusive party, the party that believed you could attain your highest dreams, the party that was proud of America, the party that actually listened to the folks they represent. Now? The party of if you disagree with me, I will do everything I can to destroy you personally. Civil debate on issues is lost in blaming yesterday, blaming Republicans even though my fellow Democrats had the majority of power since 2006...then trying to destroy fellow Democrats because they don't want to vote for ill-conceived bills? Since when are folks in Washington supposed to fix our problems? They are supposed to represent us. All of us Americans, for that is what we are. We are NOT the Democratic Party, the Republican Party or the Independent Party. We are ALL Americans. It would be wise if my fellow Democrats in Washington might remember that.

- Belle in Las Vegas

July 24, 2009 at 9:46pm

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Palin will become President in 2012 for she is GOD's CHOSEN ONE, GOD INCARNATE and the LIVING EMBODIMENT of GOD HERSELF! She will be America's GREATEST President of ALL TIMES! Palin will PWN Obambi in 2012 and the GOP will retake Congress in 2010 and 2012 with filibuster proof majorities. Palin's 8 years will be the best years for America and she will be the 1st in a long unbroken line of conservative white women presidents and vice-presidents! The Democratic Party will die a slow, painful and agonizing death and will be EXTINCT by 2021 and Liberalism will be a defunct ideology as the whole country under Palin and the whole world will convert completely to Palinistic Conservatism.

- Palin Power

July 24, 2009 at 10:28pm

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I cancelled my newsprint and cable TV subscriptions because of propaganda just like this article. They can do without my financial support (maybe), and I certainly can do without their bias and lies. Obama is the biggest liar of all, and never called on it. Forget talking about Palin - she will eclipse the MSM soon. They won't know what hit them.

- mad_as_H

July 24, 2009 at 10:46pm

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Can someone explain to me exactly why and when very large segments of this country--mainly decent, working-class folks--surrendered their brains and began voting against their own interests for profoundly stupid, sound-bite mediocrities such as Sarah Palin? I mean, Andy Jackson wasn't any genius, but at least his populist hatred of big money interests--he wanted to dismantle the US Treasury--made good sense on the streets. By contrast, this ignorant martinet from Alaska stands for absolutely nothing. She hasn't offered a single original idea--just 10-second platitudes cribbed from talk radio. She has a one-plank platform: keeping her world view very small, and pumping up her own vast ego.

- hillbilly

July 24, 2009 at 11:49pm

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This is a load of trash. Sounds like you work for Axlerod.

- Drewe

July 25, 2009 at 3:28am

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another BIGOT republican you are, James. you should be ashamed of your hate.

- Cheryl

July 25, 2009 at 6:03am

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Just more Palin Derangement Syndrome. What is it about this woman that makes those that lean left set their hair ablaze? She may or may not run for President but it is delicious to watch her make the left crazy. They keep her in the news just so they can get all worked up. Really, get a life.

- Tercel

July 25, 2009 at 8:02am

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The media's obsession with destroying Palin continues. Every conservative woman (Palin), African-American (Clarence Thomas), Latino (Linda Chavez) reaching for national influence threatens the stereotype rainbow coalition supposed to lead America into socialist nirvana and must be destroyed.

- Gus Malanga

July 25, 2009 at 8:03am

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It seems that most of the media and many of the bloggers would attack and destroy Jesus Christ or Mohammmed or Buddha or Confucius if they suddenly were to come back and run for any political office in America. Criticism is all one sees or hears. No Solutions. America and the world needs Solutions. Obama was the MEssiah and that is showing that it was a false assumption. This magazine is totally biased but that bias is without any helpful substance.

- Cottonboy

July 25, 2009 at 8:23am

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I certainly hope the media continues to do its job with Palin, but I think it tells us everything we need to know about this person that A) she stole 150K from the McCain campaign B) the people who know her the best - former mentors, friends, her professional peers and her FELLOW PARTY MEMBERS are the people who are the most disgusted by her. This does not matter to the poor me patrol who lives for her. Please find me another Republican politician (ever?) that dozens of her own party members go *on the record* as loathing for her arrogant, unprofessional behavior and five alarm ignorance. The only people who suppot her are petulant, bitter partisans who live a country and ten states away who have never laid eyes on her, let alone worked with, for or around her. Professional competence hasn't mattered to the right for years, they are animated entirely (as a typical brain donor poster made clear here) by incessant whining about those lefty meanies. Scary, childish, absolutely representive of what the Republicans have degenerated in to.

- WandreyCer1

July 25, 2009 at 11:14am

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Palin and her supports are adorable. They are the most entertaining thing in contemporary political discourse today. The smug self-importance, the cheerfully ignorant self-satisfaction, the conviction--based on nothing more than wishful thinking--that they're privy to a great truth and are a powerful force in the world. Delicious. More, please.

- erlking

July 25, 2009 at 11:14am

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From Rick Ring: "It is, in short, because we so passionately hate and despise you and all your works that we embrace someone who has been so unfairly maligned by, yes, deeply malignant people." Remind me again who are the malignant people involved in Palin Derangement Syndrome? If you're in Alaska, you'll appreciate the factual basis of this article: Mrs. Palin was a terrible governor. She was shiny and pretty and lazy and easily distracted. Any elected official who uses Twitter and such juvenile press releases as a main means of communication with her constituents is someone who is afraid to answer real questions and to offer real solutions. She prefers adulation to action. She is all sound bite and no bite. A governor who responds to a genuine food and fuel crisis in Alaska Native villages by baking cookies and riding the PR coat-tails of Billy Graham's son is too ridiculous to take seriously. I was just speaking to one of her deputy directors in an important part of the governor's office, and the best word to describe her feeling about Palin's actions is "disillusionment." We're well rid of her. She was ineffective, incapable of paying attention to detail, and clearly more interested in her own image than in her job. Bottom line: She's a quitter, and there's no other way to spin it. Those of you who "passionately hate and despise" those of us who've been paying attention are welcome to her. She's clearly one of you.

- Bluedog Alaska

July 25, 2009 at 1:32pm

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Y'know, I am so sick and tired of seeing these hitpieces I may decide never to vote again. "She's perfected victim psychology." Bullscheisse. Empty-head, simple-minded cut and paste. Not even worthy of a thought-out response. Shame on you!!

- Geez

July 25, 2009 at 2:32pm

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I think Rick Ring's comment (#22) does us all a great favor. He unintentionally exposes the wrenching personal inadequacy and self-loathing that is at the true core of the Palin cult. Like all people who fear change, who feel inadequate, who are steeped in grievance, they project their fury through a "champion" who will "teach the enemy a lesson" for ignoring or forsaking them. Ideology or politics is just a screen. The raw hatred in Rick's language reminds me a lot of the Balkans, where impoverished Serbs were whipped up by venal egotists like the dictator Milosevich to carry out horrendous acts of violence. Our brothers and sisters who worship Palin, a straw woman, don't need political remedies; they need to see a pastor or a therapist. Otherwise, they'll never feel any peace.

- Roman

July 25, 2009 at 2:52pm

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The validity of this article is completely confirmed by the troll eruption evidenced here in the comments section. My congratulations to the author for a job well done!

- Bbucko

July 25, 2009 at 4:28pm

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cottonboy, Palin is attacked because she is willfully ignorant and Republicans seem to champion that fact. I am astonished how her word-salad remarks are celebrated, but after the past 8 years perhaps they've become accustomed to a leader that can't speak in complete sentences. I am so glad to have someone in the White House who is smarter than me. I am very sorry to hear, however, that Obama has been in office for 6 full months and your life is not perfect. I certainly hope he manages to solve all of your personal problems before leaving office.

- babs

July 25, 2009 at 5:32pm

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Many of these comments -- Cottonboy, Tercel -- exemplify the Right's complete disregard for facts. It is evident from the article and other credible sources that Palin never had any intention or ability to govern. The facts of Palin speak louder, clearer and more consistantly than does the woman herself.

- Everyman

July 25, 2009 at 6:18pm

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Assessing Palin is not the same as hating Palin. Some of you seems to live in a state of frothing at the mouth anger toward fellow Americans. How nice for you. Do you even know what "liberal" means? Or is this just knee-jerk "thinking" you absorbed from Fox "News". You probably come from states that my state of New York subsidizes. Did you ever hear of the Federal Balance of Payments to the States? Look it up, it's very interesting. Obama is just an upright black man trying to clean up a some white fool's mess. Eight years of slackness is gonna take some time to fix. Forget if you can that it is a conservative mess we're wading through. But why are we talking about Obama when it's all about Palin? That G.W.B. was the "CEO" President like Palin was the "anti-corruption" Governor. Her little old head just got too swelled to stay in the largest state in the union. How you gonna make her stay on the tundra when she's seen the big city? Plus Alaska was fun when Palin had oil money to give away but now that things are tough and easy money is drying up and real work is required who needs it. Identify and support her if you must but her actual work history reads quit, quit and quit. What does that say about her supporters?

- Dana in NYC

July 25, 2009 at 9:52pm

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Since Obama is sure to be unopposed in the primary, and assuming there aren't any important down-ballot primary races, I will cross over and vote, for the first time in my life, in the Republican primary for Sarah Palin if she is on the ballot. Not because she is anything other than a narcissistic half-wit, but because her nomination would guarantee, not just an Obama victory, but a sweep of LBJ/Reagan proportions.

- ktheintz

July 25, 2009 at 10:30pm

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"The more you and your leftist ilk despise her, the more we love her." This is the real reason why we "lefties" keep on talking about Palin. Her support even among Republicans is necessarily limited, but the more her remnant loves her, the worse it will be for whoever is the GOP nominee in 2012. We "leftards" would like Palin (and her crazy supporters) to get as much press attention as possible, because she is such an embarrassment to the GOP that independents will be turned off voting Republican in 2012 if she is seen as a leader of the party. It's the same reason why we talk about the birthers. Like Palin they embarrass sane Republicans, and make it less likely that swing voters will support the party.

- Nancy Irving

July 25, 2009 at 10:59pm

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How DARE you criticize Palin the Magnificent!!! She is the most intelligent person in the world, more intelligent than GOD. And stronger than ten men put together, I once saw her fight a moose bare-handed, kill it, strip it down and feed it to all the hungry orphans in Wasilla. You have no right to attack such a wonderful person! Oh, and a a true, red-blooded conservative I am required to throw in an ad-hominen, out of context insult to Obama that has nothing to do with the topic at hand, so...his mother wears combat boots, so there!

- Amurrikun

July 26, 2009 at 10:15am

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It is a fact that in the Netherlands in the 80s, feminist groups organized discussion about abortion. Much less known is that also the famous Madonna song "Papa don't preach" originates from Holland. Pictures of a pigeon in Amsterdam start the video, for which I designed the story. There is nothing wrong about Sarah Palin being a supporter against abortion. The dismissal of father Mike Wooten was wrong and also non-trooper fathers need protection. Last year it is deeply felt that Palin needs to evaluate her ethics on both parents right and duty to raise children after a divorce. Dutch Christen democrat prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende visited the US eleven days after Sarah announced resignation as Governor. He has busy times answering many questions from Dutch civil organizations. Prime minister Wouter Bos became father of his third child, a son, at April 19th this year. Daily politics and lives makes it difficult to give the attention Alaska needs. But we want to let know that the achievements of Palin with oil tax increase and environmental issues are in line with social democratic good governance. The Dutch democrats support the US Democrats campaign for presidency. Despite Palins family background, it is our belief that Sarah will come along with the Government administration. Because of her openness and honesty to my opinion she deserves a proper place. More Dutch interests are needed for Alaskans. Our suggestion that she can be a good fundraiser, cannot wait any longer.

- Bert Kerkhof

July 27, 2009 at 1:54am

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Uh, PalinPower@29 - I am assuming (and hoping) that your comment was satire. I mean, it WAS satire, wasn't it?

- phoebes

July 27, 2009 at 10:51am

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Couple of points. 1. I don't know a single Democrat who is "afraid" of Sarah Palin. She helped increase our fundraising in September and October. As far as I'm concerned, if the Republicans want to nominate her in 2012 for national office, go right ahead. 2. Most intelligent and rational Republicans are turned off by Palin. As well they should be. If you really want to think about it, consider that Palin was NOT the only woman McCain could have picked as his running mate last year. There are many - Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas - come to mind as REPUBLICAN WOMEN who are smart, diligent, and are willing to serve the people of their states. These are women who worked their way up in the power structure and have not resigned their elected posts when the going got tough. I may not agree with their politics, but I sure as hell respect them. And I bet a whole bunch of other voters - Republicans and Independents - would have voted for a McCain ticket with a Republican woman like of the three above.. THEY are the women politicians MOST like Hilary Clinton - not Sarah Palin. 3. I only get one vote for each office in an election. If I saw Sarah Palin's name on a ballot, would I waste my vote on her, figuring if she won, she'd "move on" to "affect change" in some other, more lucrative position than I was voting for? Uh, no I would not. Sarah Palin will/should do well on Fox News. That's fine with me. If the Republicans want to look even more stupid and pandering than they already do, nominate her for national office in 2012.

- phoebes

July 27, 2009 at 10:54am

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I love Palin fans. They remind me of kids extolling the virtues of their favorite superhero. It's sort of like reading the letters at the back of a comic book, only, you know, more deluded.

- tmich

July 27, 2009 at 3:40pm

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The few people I have met who like Palin have two things in common, they tend to be woefully ignorant of the world outside the narrow circle of their lives, and at the same time extremely self rightous. If fascism comes to America it will come as a cross wrapped in a flag. I could see Palin as the flag bearer!

- charles rehberger

July 27, 2009 at 6:44pm

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