'The Woman is Inarticulate and Uneducated'
Cecelia
I think there's some cases to be made that Sarah Palin would have been better advised to have laid low after the election and to have concentrated on being governor.
I've no doubt that there are forces that are going out of their way to make that hard for her by embroiling her in costly legal hassles, but other pols have faced the same and have done it by going to the Party for help.
People mention the Couric interview as proof that Palin isn't bright, but I think that interview was revealing of something completely different about Palin.
How hard would it be for ANY one who has made public office to have thrown out the names of various news magazines-- Time, News Week, U.S. News and World Report (the Weekly Standard, even) when asked to name one? Not hard.
She surely would have been asked for some details if she had mentioned a news magazine, but it would have been far more understandable for her to have plead forgetfulness over that, than to do what she did do, and that was to refuse to answer the question and, trust me, it was a refusal to answer the question.
It's my belief that Palin IS difficult. That she DOES find it hard to play the political game. I think Palin resented Couric's question and resented Couric's attitude, resented what she'd been put through by McCain's people in preparation for the interview, and then just flatly refused to "prove" herself when asked a pointed question.
In Alaska, a state that values individualism and independence, Palin will allow the cameras into her house and into her family life all day long, she WANTS you to see her energy and drive and her core values. She'll tell you EVERYTHING there is to know about herself.
But she bucks at playing by the rules of the Washington crowd. She can't force herself to dance to their tune, even though, like everyone else, she must.
Palin gets stubborn and she gets her back up in a controlled, passive-aggressive, line-in-the-sand 'Christian' sort of anger, that is intransigent and IS interpreted as being diva-like by people who don't understand her or the culture.
She is determined, steely, smart, stubborn, quietly difficult, etc. She IS a diva.
All these traits are excellent leadership qualities, but they can be detrimental too, and unfortunately she's playing it THAT way, by being the rugged individualist, by ultimately doing a "my way or the highway".
The Party is there to help and there are a lot of smart people there to help her. Again, I think Palin is a charismatic talent on the order of Bill Clinton, if only she would decide to not only be a personality, but to also be a politician.
July 7, 2009, 12:29:39 PM EDT – Like – Reply
Cecelia
I want to add to that I've long admired Liz Trotta, and admire her enough to weigh her opinion even when I don't concur.
Trotta only COMPLETELY wrong on one thing here, I think.
I defy Liz to show me where Palin, herself, has used her looks to leverage her political position.
That's a particularly galling statement from Trotta because you'd have to be completely blind to LIz's own efforts in that department, not to understand that she is fully aware that Palin could be even MUCH more attractive than she ALREADY is, with the scantest of effort on her part.
I hardily disapprove of that statement from Trotta and I REALLY resent the "Caribou Barbie" b####### from Maureen Dowd, especially.
Edited By Siteowner
July 7, 2009, 12:41:46 PM EDT – Like – Reply
