Sarah Palin, that is. I really, really did. I tried very hard. I kept telling myself that maybe she just got into this too early, and that might be true. I held onto this vague hope that, really, she’s not like McCain, and she’s just using him to get to office and do something different – and good – for conservatism. I’m not against folksiness, and the fact that she’s a small-town sort of person works in her favor, in my opinion.
But what I’m seeing is exactly what I suspected. She’s not ready for this, and she’s acting like she is. She’s not ready for this, and she’s adopting views that crossed the absurdity line about 8 exits back.
And then there’s Peggy Noonan’s recent comments, which floored me.
She is not a person of thought but of action. Interviews are about thinking, about reflecting, marshaling data and integrating it into an answer. Debates are more active, more propelled—they are thrust and parry.
I’m sorry. What? Um…give me someone who thinks for my president, please and thank you. We’ve had 8 years of a president “not of thought but of action,” and it’s got us into a LOT of idiotic action that a little bit of thought could have prevented (Exhibit A: Iraq; Exhibit B: insane spending; Exhibit C: growth of government; Exhibit D: Bailout).
Combine Mad Bomber’s temperament with Sarah Palin’s “action,” and you’ve got 8 more years of disaster for conservatism.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Bacevich addressed her citation of American exceptionalism in the debate, if you’re interested.
You know, as soon as she made that statement, I thought, “I wonder what would happen if she traced that all the way back to its original use by Winthrop.” Thanks for the link.
I told someone the other day that it kind of seems to me that she really doesn’t want to be in Washington, D.C. but would rather stay in Alaska. I don’t blame her one bit if that is the case. But I’m pretty certain the Obama and Biden want to be elected far more than McCain and Palin do.
Travis,
Since I have five kids (one with Down Syndrome) I too, for about two days, wanted to like her. But not only is she not intellectually curious (as you already pointed out) and ignorant, but it appears to me that she is the worst kind of Christian for a pluralistic democracy like the USA. Even though I am an evangelical, I am much more comfortable with a believer who is truly and genuinely committed to pluralism. I think the gospel would have a much greater chance of flourishing if we weren’t so divided and if unbelievers didn’t despise us so much. (Jesus said we would be despised, but I don’t think he meant we would be despised for clinging to political power. ) I think Palin would have all the philosophical and personaility defects of Bush / Cheney, only more ignorant, and therefore useful as a pawn. Anyway, I have moved to really disliking and at the same time pitying Sarah Palin. She’s just a tool. And she scares me.
Scott