So I caught the Sarah Palin interview on Oprah yesterday. Meh. I used to think it would be awesome if she got the nomination and ran for President in 2012. The combination of her militant ignorance, beauty pageant vapidness and the rabid, mouth-breathing fringe she inspires promised to be an epic flaming train wreck, one that would hopefully doom the GOP to irrelevance for a generation or more.
But then I moved here.
The interview led into the local news, and the breaking headline was a breathless, live report from one of Bakersfield's two bookstores about the imminent breakout of Palin-mania! The reporter was overcome with excitement, detailing how many copies would be on hand and what time the stores were planning to open (in case you wanted to camp out). One of the store owners opened a box of the books (which were embargoed until today) and let the reporter hold it. I thought she might faint. You'd think she just touched the Holy Grail. I suppose for the deranged people who worship her, it probably is. She proceeded to interview random passersby about the Second Coming of Caribou Barbie, and their plans for buying the book, and in Bako's defense, a few of them offered a fairly blunt "not a chance in hell". But the rest were rapturous. Palin had "important things to say" and "we wouldn't be in this mess right now if she were running the show..." ("John who? McCain you say? Never heard of him...). And to think I used to believe there was no possible way 51% of this country could be so gullible and brain dead as to elect an imbecile President. Again.
Never, ever, underestimate the aggressive stupidity of the American people.
But the good news, such as it is, is that I don't believe she's going to make a run for it. Oh, she's going to milk the speculation for all it's worth for the next year. But at the end of the day, I think she'll pass. She wants the fame and celebrity, maybe a talk show. And more than that, she wants the cash. But she doesn't want to work for any of it. She wants it bestowed on her, like a sash at a pageant. I think it's really all about the money to her, and for the foreseeable future she can make big bucks traveling around to all the fringe groups and delivering her stock Hockey Mom schtick. She may be dumber than a post on most issues, but when it comes to fleecing the rubes, I think she's got it all figured out. If she runs, and loses (and loses badly), it's going to drastically slash her speaking fees. Better for her to remain the what-could-have-been Wingnut wet dream and ride it all the way to the bank.
