So, Why Do I Keep Talking About Sarah Palin?

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This is a great question I come around to a lot. A lot of left wing bloggers (and likely pundits and hosts) probably do too. Sarah Palin is a political celebrity, a FOX "News" employee with a vague job description, a former elected official from a small town, and then small state. The latter job, she quit half-way through, with a vague explanation. She has no real policy ideas or depth of political knowledge, other than what she may have crammed into her head in the last two years. She's hyper-defensive, knee-jerkingly responding to any slight or negative story about her. She is certainly the oddest, strangest specimen of a potential presidential candidate ever, and that is really saying something.

So, why is Palin's every tweet and bleat handled as though it was said by a politician on par with a president or major congressional or party leader? What in the world has she done to deserve such attention? And why do people like me keep talking about her, when we don't think she merits such a focus? It's a difficult thing to articulate. "Vague" may again be a word to describe how I feel about the answer. I think Mrs. Palin is an intellect of almost no consequence. I think she has very little chance--barring just the perfect set of circumstances--of becoming president. But not talking about her isn't going to make her go away.

Palin is an almost unique "perfect storm" of the cult of personality. Almost any time she says anything, her popularity falls. At the same time, her core supporters love her even more. Ann Coulter used to have a little of that, but has long since lost it. But Ann Coulter was never given this kind of faux gravitas. And grasp as I may for an answer, I'm still not getting my hands around it. But the article excerpted below does. It's great, take a look.

[Excerpt]

Why we can't say goodbye to Sarah Palin




In a perfect world, we would not know her name. Her political ambitions would take her no further than the City Hall of her state's meth capital. Her hyperpartisanship would be limited to smearing the mayor for being insufficiently Christian and asking "rhetorical" questions of the local librarian about banning books she doesn't like. . .

Read more at: Daily Kos