Todd S. Purdum paints a gruesome picture of Sarah Palin, politically speaking, in his Vanity Fair piece that came out today. It's rife with examples of two-faced moments and old former allies who are now estranged from Palin because, as they intimate, she keeps friends close until they're no longer useful, or she takes disagreements personally, and fallings out ensue.
It's lurid, to say the least.
Purdum's article reads like a post-mortem, but it's not: Palin's political fortunes are still very much alive. A recent round of polling showed Palin neck and neck with Mike Huckabee as the most popular politician among Republicans nationwide.
As noted by John Bitney, a lobbyist and former aide who helped get
Palin elected as governor in 2006--another of the former associates
with mixed, emotional feelings about Palin--she started her
gubernatorial run with a small band of ardent conservatives at her
back, and expanded her support base from there.
Bitney tells Purdum it looks like she might try to do the same nationally in 2012:
"What it looks like to me she's trying to do is try the same formula that got her the governorship," John Bitney says. "You sort of start off with a conservative base. The right-wing base is obviously out on the far end of the spectrum, but it's a very motivated base. They show up, they're committed. It gets you that political beachhead. She did not get started with the blessing of the Republican Party. She started with a dedicated corps of sort of right-wing true believers who killed themselves for her, and got her going. And then she began to build on that, and after she crossed the primary hurdle, she moderated her message on some points."If that's Palin's goal, she certainly has the conservative base to start with: according the Pew survey referenced above, 73 percent of Republicans view her favorably--a full 18 percent advantage on Mitt Romney, for instance. In that regard, she's the most dynamic figure in the GOP. The enthusiastic (cynics would say rabid) nature of her support base--just remember the scene that unfolded at her rallies as the '08 campaign progressed, with people showing up to hear her, not McCain, drawn by her dynamism (with supporters generating an energy that sometimes spilled over into a xenophobic anti-Obama craze)--would certainly help her raise money.
But the big question is step two: can she grow that base into a winning coalition? As Purdum points out, the Wall Street and national security wings of the GOP wouldn't get behind her, and her near-even split of 45/44 favorable/unfavorable among all Pew respondents proves her divisiveness.
Palin made a political foray this month to upstate New York to celebrate Alaskan statehood at the historical home of William Seward, who negotiated Alaska's purchase in 1867--a jaunt similar to the fare of other 2012 hopefuls who have trotted across the country (most notably to Iowa and New Hampshire, but to other states as well) looking to grow some support. Last week, she departed for a trip abroad to visit Alaska National Guard troops.
Whatever you think about 2008's effect on Palin's political career, the aftermath is now hers. The nation is split 45/44 on whether they like her, and it's safe to say most people have an opinion; those are two very large pieces for her to pick up and make of them what she will.
Go Governor Palin! We Love you out here inspite of the continuous assults by the totally unobjective, obama led media. God Bless You!!
Governor Palin has integrity, courage, sweetness, and intelligence. But, more importantly, she cares about human life.
President Obama only sees human life as a means to suit his ego.
The Narcissist-In-Chief will hurt many, during his tenure. But, Americans won't stand for it, forever.
Right now, Obama's minions in the media and public sphere are doing everything they can to completely eviscerate Gov. Sarah Palin - for good reason: they can see that she is not afraid of telling the truth about them, and about their "Messiah." She doesn't need to worship President Obama to feel safe and secure. She only needs to trust in the principles of this great country, as she has demonstrated that she is able to do.
We love Sarah. We will vote for Sarah, if she runs. We will not forget what she stands for. Even if - heaven forbid - Sarah was completely incapacitated by Obama and his minions, we would rise up. We will not stand for America to be overtaken by people who would seek to destroy human life, from the seat of the most powerful country on Earth.
So, so true. She has everything except integrity, sweetness, and intelligence. When Katie Couric asks, "Which newspapers do you read," even our dogs have the smarts to say, "The local Alaska papers, of course, and the New York Times," and leave it at that.
Keep her at the forefront for 2012, Republicans. That's entertainment!
Your devoted worship of Palin mirrors your own beliefs of what Obama's supposed "minions" feel for him. The lack of self-awareness is troubling.
This whole Obama = Messiah storyline that conservatives peddle has always struck me as odd, considering that atheists are likely some of his staunchest supporters. Palin can do what she likes. Let us determine what kind of a nation we are at the ballot box.
I respect Governor Palin. I think she made an Obama quality speech last summer. I voted Republican in November primarily because she was on the ticket. I am a registered Independent and am very disappointed in the Republican Party. That makes me unlikely to support Governor Palin for president in 2012. In order to unseat Obama conservative voters-estimated to be 40% of the electorate-together with a significant portion of the independent voters-estimated to be 35% of the electorate-need a candidate who is decidedly conservative, not an extremist, and certainly a person who does not bring a lot of baggage with them. I do not think that Governor Palin will survive the media hype. If the White House is to be taken back it has to be someone who is strong, with a near perfect past, not a maverick, and with a clear message that resonates with conservative Americans and who has Obama-like eloquence. Who is that? Nobody I know of right now.
Very insightful analysis Larry.
To the other two posters....wow; just wow. MattieEE, seek help.
Palin needs to improve her off-the-cuff interview abilities. I was disappointed she didn't improve between interviews in the fall. If she can't improve in four years, she won't get far.
We have different politics, but I'd almost like to see her succeed just to spite the left for the absurd reaction so many had to her (e.g., claiming she's not a woman, all of the frivolous ethics charges, etc).
Oh please, please let Palin be the one the Republicans end up running against Obama in 2012. Let the "we need to get *more right wing*!!" base of the party not only put that ridiculous little theory to the test in the next election but do it with Palin of all people and I'll be able to spend the entire year laughing uncontrollably at the resultant glorious and spectacular train wreck.
Hold your head up Sarah! Don't let the haters get you down! First they came for Michael, and they destroyed him with their accusations of child molestation, etc. Now they've set their sights on you. Don't back down! Take no prisoners! These "writers" are just a bunch of jealous nerds, who sit on the sidelines and make fun of those who have achieved the unbelievable!
a rough baseball analogy for Sarah Palin:
she is like the talented, but inexperienced player a major league team will call up too early from AAA ball -- and see moments of brilliance but also too many rookie mistakes.
McCain wanted a game changer in his campaign -- he knew he needed one and Palin gave him that. In a perfect world for him -- Palin would have been governor of AK for maybe 4 years and more seasoned. He didnt have that luxury. Never the less, it almost worked as he as even /ahead in September before the banking crisis hit.
Back to the baseball analogy, sometimes those players called up too early take their lumps, go back to AAA and re-appear better than ever a year or two later. Others -- it destroys their confidence and they arent heard from again.
we will see with Palin.
I don't buy the whole "raw talent" meme, which is basically the same as saying she "looks the part, but can't act." (imo Politics-Showbusiness is a much better analogy than Politics-Athletics)
This idea was perpetuated by a media interested in building up the horse race aspect of the '08 campaign, just as they're still pushing her as a legitimate GOP candidate in 2012. She only qualifies as "good" copy as long as they can claim she's a contender. It would be more obviously patronizing if there wasn't also a sizable group (but still far from an electable majority) of Americans willing to buy into the idea that someone so blatantly incurious and unknowledgable in national/international affairs could be/should be POTUS.
Palin's popularity with Republicans is totally irrelevant if she's a nonstarter with Independents. She's not even that popular in AK anymore, which tells you something in a state with only a few hundred thousand people and oil money to pass around.
I have to think a bit on the implications, but if you look at Palin - ie she have very high favorables with equally high unfavorables and with very few no opinions/meh's there is an obvious parallel, which is with Hillary Clinton who similarly had high favorables, high unfavorables, and little in between. Hillary's strategy, which probably wasn't all that wrong, was that she was going to have to seek a 50% + 1 type of victory yet the country was really looking for something different and we know how that played out. Still there is much Palin can learn from Hillary if she puts her mind to it.
Here's the thing, though... Hillary knew what she was talking about. She was running as the tested, experienced candidate, remember? Had Barack Obama not demonstrated a clear vision that proved he understood the issues, he would have lost the election.
Mr. Purdum wrote a similarly harsh article on Bill Clinton last year, also in Vanity Fair. All sorts of things were alleged. Both the writer and the magazine seem to have a pattern of such "hit pieces".
(and market karma: good baseball analogy)
The fact that Palin is viewed positively by around 75% of Republicans effectively disqualifies them as a party of governance. I read the article. It's well researched and well written, and probably 95% accurate. The fact that we have people who are posting here and are therefore somewhat interested in politics and have a positive view of her or even treat her seriously is completely bizarre. She is literally incoherent whatever other strengths or weaknesses she may have. Some may this is not a total disqualification for the presidency but it demonstrates a cavalier attitude to the national interest.
This article was not "well researched and well written" by any means. In fact, I found it to be horribly researched, relying on supposed "anonymous" sources. Case in point: He writes,
"Several told me, independently of one another, that they had consulted the definition of “narcissistic personality disorder” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders"
Uh, really? Out of the blue several people just happened ot look that up and then tell you about it independently? Give me a break. What a joke of an article, and a joke of a "journalist."
> Uh, really? Out of the blue several people just happened ot look that up and then tell you about it independently? Give me a break.
Yep, really.
Palin having a borderline personality disorder was a common theme during the election on several blogs I read. Heck, I think Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish here on the Atlantic was one. Plus, in general, the term "borderline personality disorder" -- and variants thereof -- has been passed around for a while in other contexts on sites I've frequented, child custody sites for instance.
Thus, I have no trouble believing that 2 or 3 people mentioned it to the author independently of each other.
As far as the "anonymous sources" go -- welp, either you believe the author's telling the truth about them or not. If he's telling the truth, then the article *is* well researched. If not, then not. Since, except for a couple of items, most of the contents of the article is stuff already well-publicized about Palin, and since what they are credited with saying matches my impression of how Palin comports herself, I'm inclined to believe that the "anonymous sources" are real, and as accurate as eye witnesses usually are.
I think the item of biggest import about the article is that someone in the MSM is finally calling "bs" on Palin -- putting into print the commonly understood yet unvoiced evaluation that she wasn't qualified at the time for national office, and in fact might *never* be suitable.
The little boy has finally spoken -- the governor wore no clothes.
Todd Purdum's article on Sarah Palin was badly written. It doesn't matter if Sarah Palin has a personality disorder, or she was suffering from post-partum depression. He should had not written those strong judgements with anonymous sources or using the old Fox News standby, "Some people say".
I have a big problem with Mr. Purdum for writing those two judgements with the arguments he used for his article. Mainly, those two observations are clinical diagnoses, and should be handled with the utmost care. How Mr. Purdum used them in his article came across more as slurs, they shouldn't be use with anonymous sources as their main support.
Looking up Narcissistic Personality Disorder in DSM-IV doesn't mean that it validates the assessment that Sarah Palin has it. The personality disorder could apply to most politicians, if any journalist want to rationalize it. If Mr. Purdum is going to state that in his article, he should back it up with people on the record or some strong empirical arguments. If he can't, he should not had written it, no matter how tantalizing the assessment.
I am far from a fan of Governor Palin. However I thought Mr. Purdum's article should had never been published as is. He should had at least some of the McCain/Palin campaign staff members go on record for the most poignant judgements. Besides, the campaign has been over for many months, the campaign staff are no longer being paid or need to show allegiance to Senator McCain or Governor Palin. I don't see the need for complete anonymity. Ed Rollin did go on record to explain the big problems with the Katherine Harris Senate Campaign after he left for example.
Can we forget about her perceived support and demographics and focus on what is real? Sarah Palin was extraordinarily popular for a time. She lost that. And nothing she has done since shows signs that she'll be back on top. She has a dirty habit of lying outright on easily provable facts and an even dirtier habit of being what Tina Fey called "high school b****y".
She didn't flop on hard, policy-related questions, she flopped on the easy ones. And the only reason that she didn't have to answer the policy-related questions is because she was only running for VP. Can anyone here say that they truly believe America will vote for someone who doesn't claim to know or care about any serious policy issues over someone with as much of a mastery of said issues as Barack Obama? That just seems ludicrous to me.
Sarah Palin carries out personal vendettas with her power. That alone disqualifies her from the Presidency. I hope she runs. Nothing will expose the ugly nature of the GOP like their love for this awful person.
Anyone who thinks that Sarah Palin is qualified to be President of the United States needs to take another look at the Katie Couric interview.
There are many segments on YouTube.
Anyone who watches those meaningless, meandering, nonsensical, laughable, childish answers and still supports Sarah Palin needs to get professional help. Really.
Sarah Palin is a narcissistic joke. She obviously thinks more highly of herself than who and what she actually is. This is typical of narcissism. Her followers are also blinded by narcissism and projection. They love the hate and the red meat that fuels her political discourse. Other tell tale signs of her deep sickness are her black and white thinking, religious fundamentalism, and low IQ. She is a disgusting, pathetic human being.