I just read a good piece in Harper's (by Jack Hitt, and unfortunately behind a subscription wall) comparing Palin's career path--if it can be so called--and Ronald Reagan's. Hitt's point was that Palin is essentially a reversal of the Gipper, since he went from entertainment to politics while Palin has gone from politics to insane...I mean, to entertainment. This is a lady who will stand up and say anything, as long as it's written on her hand in permanent ink before the speech. For example, yesterday she blamed environmentalists for the so-awful-I-can't-even-think-about-it BP oil spill. See, if only the environmentalists hadn't been all protest-y about drilling right by the shoreline, where it's easier, then the oil companies wouldn't have had to go to all this trouble and work so gosh dang hard just to get a lil' oil for Real Merkuns.
So, yeah. I've figured it out. Sarah Palin is a reality show. This is why her sheer, flabbergasting idiocy doesn't bother people: they're used to the Jersey Shore and Real Housewives of Suburban Nightmares. Sarah Palin is the "dumb Christian hick girl goin' to the big city" character that was obligatory on The Real World from the get-go. And when she gets up and says things that even David Brooks couldn't believe, well, it's just cause she's so innocent and whatnot and it's mean to make fun of her, cruel critical liberals, etc. The fun part is, we all know what happens to this character, her inevitable fate: to get drunk and have sex in a hot tub in front of cameras. This is what everyone is waiting for Sarah Palin to do, and this is why she is still on TV. Everyone is just pulling up lawn chairs for the inevitable downward spiral, hoping for a paparazzi crotch shot when Sarah exits a sports car (or snowmobile).
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