Wasilla-illa
I don’t like Sarah Palin anymore.
Not that I ever really did! But all the kitschy fun of ‘you betcha!’ and the snap of trigger fingers (perhaps, literally!) has worn off. I always hated her positions on issues, or lack therof, and the fact that she’s so casually homophobic. Her shrill complaints about evil bloggers and their criticism of her also rang hollow and desperate.
But is was after watching some clips of her sit-down interview on the Oprah Winfrey show that has finally turned my stomach of her, which is interesting because it should have been her moment to shine. She was collected, not to mention well-rehersed, and the treatment from Oprah was easy; mostly softball questions, and Winfrey didn’t press her on anything more than whether or not Levi Johnston was invited to Thanksgiving dinner.
On the surface it would appear that Palin aced the interview, doing what she had to do to add a little polish to her image, sell her new autobiography, Going Rogue: An American Life, and show a softer, friendlier side of her tough, Annie Oakley persona. But it was just more of the same.
More of the same vague paranoia that haunted her with Katie Couric. More of the same acute desperation that frames her Facebook musings, and more of that impeccably poor sense of timing and tact that seems to hover over her like an age-old curse. Past interviews have been a disaster for her and this one was no different.
Her “I can see Russia” moment with Couric, or the infamous turkey slaughtering fiasco are classics, and there was also a little interview she did with Sean Hannity for Fox News. In an obvious attempt to frame her as more of a serious politician, less of a former beauty queen, they shot a standing interview that featured an over shoulder perspective that would face Hannity as he would lob off questions. A shot that was a little too far back and instead seemed to perversely exploit Palin with nothing but minute after minute of her backside in careful view.
What struck me about this latest interview was her passive-aggresive slaps she delivered to Couric (“the perky one”) and Johnston (“Ricky Hollywood… aspiring porn”). It was telling that, lacking so much confidence in herself, she had to continually attack whatever was in easy reach or else she might cry bias and foul; another backwoods Tonya Harding crying that the skates are too tight.
It’s that kind of staggering, slurring grace which often makes me wonder who hates her more: real progressives or true conservatives. Do people resent her for her political posturing? Or is it the unpredictable looniness that she gleefully conveys as she struggles to carve out her leadership within the Republican party?
I didn’t think much of her book being #1 everywhere until I saw her promoting it to Oprah, as shrill, eager and breathless as a pig nearing it’s trough. Now that I’ve seen the latest re-boot to the Palin dynasty, I’m disheartened by her sales. Her abandoning of the governor’s mansion in Alaska seemed like a political career imploding, and an unnerving heads-up of ensuing scandals. Whereas I once was certain that she had sabotaged her career in politics for good, I’m starting to seriously consider that she’s going to gauge her viability at retail as an omen for the ballot box. And she’s on a book tour, too. Dare I say a campaign!
Sadly, if there really are enough stupid people, moderate and conservative alike, who take her book at face-value, then they might just be stupid enough to hand her an early primary, in which case we are, in fact, looking at Barack Obama’s competition in just a few years time. Thing is, I can’t tell if that’s bad news for the Democrats, or bad news for the Republicans.
UPDATE: I should add, and make a full disclosure, that I have not read her book, and it’s unlikely that I will. My lack of professionalism and my cheap handling of this matter is merely a testament to the “author” herself.
