SISTER SARAH AND THE TRAVELING BARBIEHOOD
Snowmobiles.
Caribou.
Mooseburgers.
Before the Republican National Convention, most people wouldn’t have been able to pick Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska out of a beauty queen lineup. Now she’s the toast of the Republican base, a virtual Annie Oakley, a champion of the weak, the poor and the repressed. Guns and God.
Who could ask for anything more?
However, to her detractors, Sarah Palin is a flash in the pan, this week’s Britney Spears, a walking train wreck ferrying her chaotic personal life around on the campaign trail. As US Weekly put it, “Babies, Lies and Scandal”: a distraction from the real issues.
And she didn’t sell the plane on E-Bay!
Since the Republican convention, Palin hasn’t deviated much from the speech she gave. The media has clamored for press conferences and interviews. After all, this is the woman whom John McCain has touted as fully capable of being President if he’s unable to fulfill the duties of his office should his ticket be elected. The public wants to hear what she has to say on such weighty issues like Iraq, terrorism, immigration, Social Security, the economy, abortion, etc.
Not so fast: while Sarah Palin may be ready to take on Osama Bin Laden, she’s not ready to face Meet the Press. The reason: people don’t give a flying leap.
In an appearance on MSNBC with Joe Scarborough, Nicole Wallace of the McCain campaign opined that “ the American people don't care whether Sarah Palin can answer specific questions about foreign and domestic policy. The American people will learn all they need to know (and all they deserve to know) from Palin's scripted speeches and choreographed appearances on the campaign trail and in campaign ads.”
As one could imagine, this went over about as well as McDonald’s announcing their intent to use caribou meat in their Big Mac’s instead of ground beef.
Later though, Todd Harris, a Republican strategist, allowed that Palin eventually would take questions from the press--oh say, in a couple of weeks--but only and until she’s properly briefed. As Harris said, to do otherwise, the McCain campaign runs the risk that if Palin “ goes out and makes a mistake, that is something that [voters will] care about, and that’s something that will haunt [McCain] for awhile, so I think this is a smart move.”
But never fret. While Sarah Palin may not yet be ready to talk about bank failures and unemployment, she has no compunction about discussing her predilection for “skinny white chocolate mocha” --courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.
In this biting, haunting, no-holds-barred interview, Palin also reveals that she loves to run, has dumbbells at home, and in a stunning revelation sure to ignite a fiery debate among Christian Evangelicals, confides that her workout pitfall is “being pregnant every few years”. She also shockingly admits that her ideal fantasy “is to be running on a hot dusty road just wearing running shorts and some kind of top that wicks away sweat.”
It’s comforting to know that while Palin may not yet be available to appear on Face The Nation, she serves her family a healthy diet of “wild Alaskan seafood, moose, caribou and fresh fruit."
Somewhere, in a dank Afghan cave, Osama must surely be trembling.
by CB
images: CB; wall street journal
* CB writes for PJ McIlvaine at www.pjmcilvaine.blogspot.com