What are they writing about Sarah Palin in the UK?
Here’s one example. Here’s what Michelle Goldberg, writing for the UK Guardian, has to say about Sarah Palin:
Evidently, Palin’s pre-debate handlers judged her incapable of speaking on a fairly wide range of subjects, and so instructed to her to simply disregard questions that did not invite memorised talking points or cutesy filibustering. They probably told her to play up her spunky average-ness, which she did to the point of shtick - and dishonesty. Asked what her achilles heel is - a question she either didn’t understand or chose to ignore - she started in on how McCain chose her because of her “connection to the heartland of America. Being a mom, one very concerned about a son in the war, about a special needs child, about kids heading off to college, how are we going to pay those tuition bills?”
None of Palin’s children, it should be noted, is heading off to college. Her son is on the way to Iraq, and her pregnant 17-year-old daughter is engaged to be married to a high-school dropout and self-described “fuckin’ redneck”. Palin is a woman who can’t even tell the truth about the most quotidian and public details of her own life, never mind about matters of major public import. In her only vice-presidential debate, she was shallow, mendacious and phoney. What kind of maverick, after all, keeps harping on what a maverick she is? That her performance was considered anything but a farce doesn’t show how high Palin has risen, but how low we all have sunk.
The governor of a US state also very unlikely has financial worries concerning sending her kids to college.
The whole reiteration of the “maverick” image reminds me of an old adage:
“Those who say that they don’t care what other people think are usually desperate to let people know that they don’t care what other people think.”
Palin is a symbol of what’s most wrong with politics in America-make a speech written by someone else because you can’t string together two coherent sentences, much less two paragraphs, and read it well before a TelePrompter, and a career is born.
The fact that Palin hasn’t taken an unscripted moment after her initial diasters tells us she simply is the most incompetent person ever to be nominated to high office in America ever, or so insane she even scares her handlers!