Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Palin Makes a Splash in East Peoria

Sarah Palin came to East Peoria and did what she does best. She took the podium like an Alaska cowgirl and "you betcha'd" her way into the hearts of a crowd looking for cheerleader detachment from reality. Her strong suit relies on catch phrases, sound bytes and zingers to elicit crowd cheers. Save me! Am I the only one in America who finds irony and patheticism in Palin's call for family values and leadership when we all know she heads a dysfunctional clan and quit the only real job she had that could have shown her leadership qualities (or lack thereof).
I know her motivation. She wants to be popular. She wants to make money. She wants to have her 15 minutes of fame (albeit extended ad infinitum). Well, she's got it. She can say anything she wants. She is not representing any constituency, she's not holding any office; heck, she doesn't really have a job! Fox News something or other is as much of a job as Ozzie Osborne's on his reality show. Anybody can spout rhetoric if they hold no responsibility for their words. Rush can say anything. The lefties on MSNBC can say anything. None of them is held to any scrutiny (except by each other) because none of them hold political office. None of them have any responsibility to implement their views in the real world. None of them chance losing their jobs by lobbing vitriol.
If Palin really wanted to be anything more than a cheerleader, I think we'd have seen a different approach to her future. I saw Palin lobbying for John McCain in Arizona (where he's battling), and body language showed me that he would have given his lame arm not to have to share the stage with her. He will never fully recover from his misguided decision to draw her out of Alaska. He might have done better with Octomom (had she been an octomom when John was looking for a VP running mate).