The Clever Badger I'm not dead yet!

Vanity Fair Goes Barracuda Fishing

Vanity Fair has an article up containing a fairly unflattering profile of my favorite Alaska Governor turned failed Vice-Presidential candidate turned ex-Alaska Governor turned talking head/public speaker.

Yes, none other than Sarah Palin.

Two years after she first achieved national recognition as John McCain's perplexing choice of running-mate, Palin still manages to keep her name in the news.

I remain puzzled.

PalinWorld is just weird.

On one hand, there is the whole circus side-show vibe that follows Sarah's ex-future(x2) son-in-law, Levi Johnston.

What a Tool...

It's not enough that he did the whole Playgirl thing, but now he's running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.  Wasilla, of course, is where Sarah started out her illustrious political career.  Yeah, OK, Levi.  Hope that works out for ya.

On the other hand, you've got daughter Bristol landing a spot on Dancing With the Stars, which I guess is OK, but it's kind of surreal.  I have a hard time deciding what I think of Bristol.  At one point, I thought she might be the only person in the whole Palin-palooza circus that had any sense about her, but her brief re-engagement to Johnston, discussions of a reality TV show, and apparent desire to remain in the public eye have me questioning that.

And finally, on the other other hand, you've got Sarah, the matriarch of the clan, and the subject of the article I linked to above.

The Vanity Fair piece is sourced from a lot of people who didn't want to be identified for fear of reprisal, and it's got something of a hit-piece feel to it, but nevertheless it has an internal consistency that lends it some credibility.

The thrust of the article is that the well-maintained public image of Palin that we saw in the '08 campaign and that we see now is little more than a distorted reflection of the reality.  According to the sources of the article, most of what we think we know about Sarah Palin, from her family relationships to her public piety is fabricated.

I wasn't particularly surprised to read that she's got a vindictive streak to her, or that she and her husband fight a lot, but I was surprised to read that she may have accepted the VP nomination without much (if any) discussion with her family.

There's also some discussion that suggests that she may not be as religiously conservative as she seems, although I'm not really convinced of that - she speaks the language of ultra-conservative Christianity far too fluently to be putting on a facade.

Anyway, it's an article worth reading whether you think that Sarah Palin is a genius or a vapid twit.  Check it out.

-Jay

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