The day I, along with the rest of the world, was first introduced to Sarah Palin was such a defining moment that sometimes I catch myself trying to recall what life was like before being exposed to the snark, obnoxious, shallow and often clueless attacks only Palin is capable of making on her “liberal opponents”. Have you ever noticed how Palin strategically places that thumb of hers under her point and middle fingers right before embarking on some self-righteous rant?
But what I try to recapture more than anything is what politics was like before a fraud like Sarah Palin came along. Seriously, that is what Palin is. A fraud. Nothing more, nothing less. There is no shortage of examples that show her sheer lack of intelligence (“I read all newspapers!”), or moral double-standards particularly on the issue of teens and abstinence.
But after Palin’s speech at the Tea Party Convention last night in Tennessee, it is clear that fraud is the perfect label for Sarah. If the scribbled notes on her hand for her Q&A session didn’t make that clear for you, let me make my case.
Dressed up all sexy and chic in black with her big hair, Palin’s speech before a small, fiery group of Tea Party Convention attendees in Nashville confirmed her as the leader of the Tea Party. Anybody even have a solid idea what the Tea Party people are even mad about? Do they even have a single unifying issue aside from just being really angry? Who knows?
Not me and definitely not Palin. And that’s the beauty of it. Palin doesn’t need to know what these people are all riled up about. She does not even care! In fact, Palin has convinced this already confused group of people that they do not need to know either:
“You don’t need an office or a title to make a difference, and you don’t need a proclaimed leader, as if we are all a bunch of sheep and looking for a leader to progress this movement.”
How fitting that Sarah Palin of all people should be reassuring anyone that they do not need direction! Palin went on to praise that, “the movement’s strength lay in its decentralization, and its activists’ love of country, political independence.”
To give Palin credit, this is perhaps the single smartest move she has ever made. Ever since the McCain Campaign fizzled and died, Palin has been floating around the world of politics kind of like a little lost lady looking for a home. After her abrupt resignation as Alaska’s Governor, her family’s scandals became staples on grocery store tabloids, and every now and then Palin would emerge in the press going off on some rant about Communism, America, Alaska being great, and crazy conspiracy theories about the Obama Administration.
Who ever even really knows what Palin is rambling about anyway? All I know is that Palin takes dangerous stances that usually do not make sense. She “energizes the Republican base,” but any Republican with a brain knows that Palin is too crazy of a loose cannon for the party to be associated with closely. Palin was hungry for power, but she hadn’t found her people yet.
All that has now changed. Because Palin at the core really is a fraud, with no real core principles or beliefs, there could have been no better crowd of people to associate herself with, or appoint herself to lead than the Tea Party people. A group without a leader for a leader without a group.
What Palin has done is brilliant. She is telling this movement it does not need to be united, but she is bringing it together. Palin is telling the Tea Partiers that they do not need a leader, but she is leading them. It is a great strategy because while we all know that Palin will say and do anything for the spotlight, she is painting herself as the reluctant leader, the reluctant politician:
“This isn’t about money. It is not about a title. It is not about a leader position in this movement…it is about the people. I will live, I will die for the people of America whatever I can do to help. And this party, this party that we call the Tea Party, this movement is the future of politics in America and I am proud to be here today.”
Wow, Palin is willing to “die for the people of America!” That just brings tears to my eyes. Give me a break, where does she get this language from? Maybe from the notes scribbled on her hand.
The thing is, as much as I and many, many other people just want to close our eyes and have Palin disappear, she won’t just go away. She is simply too marketable. There is too much money, and entertainment I suppose, to be made off of her madness. She has already written a book, so what else is left to do but run for President, right?!
By giving herself a group of people to lead, Palin is cultivating a voice for their anger, and giving herself a base for 2012. The words smart and Palin are rarely in the same sentence, but in this case…
On the bright side of all of this, at least Palin is keeping herself and her fellow crazies together. At least they are all identified and gathered in the same place! Hats off to the Tea Partiers I suppose.
Welcome to your party, Sarah Palin. Hate to admit it, but we are all watching.
*This post of mine was also published on The Huffington Post.
Anushay's Point 
I agree. It’s amazing howlow the bar has been lowered. It all comes down to how good one looks on telelvision. A Lyndon Johnson woudl not have a chance in today’s political climate.
Sarah has you and the rest of the extremists ( progressives ) terrified,,,,, seem to remember Obama using full metal teleprompters and monitors to speak to a 6th grade.. You like the ilk of HuffPalinPost are obsessed with a strong, attractive , CONSERVATIVE woman , who doesn’t follow the abortion on demand mantra,, Hell Arianna devotes her entire tabloid to her
While observing the Palin checker board, one thing to keep in mind that right now is that the presidency is not an attainable target and Sarah Palin knows it. She is just trying to keep the tea partiers’ cups warm with her mind boggling nonsensical rhetoric filled with hateful innuendos.
Palin’s targets right now, as she so willingly admits, are the congressional seats. While our beloved democratic politicians are either too busy throwing mud at each other or asleep at their preverbal wheels, it is the perfect time for the grass-roots tea-baggers to sneak up the seats that are open for grabs.
This movement, though ineffective in a national setting, can be very successful in mobilizing their congregation in a local and regional setting, which to my dismay is cloaked to the Democratic Party leadership.
Unless we democrats can generate the same kind of unity and solidarity amongst ourselves with the greater good of our country and fellow Americans in mind, boldly standing by our principles and communicating them loud and clear, all the while exposing the true faces and intentions of those who represent only the special interests and not the well-being our country regardless of whether they are Democrats or Republicans, whether they are Liberals or Libertarians, instead of counting what President Obama should have done yesterday, I’m afraid my foretold scenario is deemed to materialize in the near future.
I find it pathetic that with all the political capital, senate and congressional seats, the democrats in Washington have wasted the first year either bickering amongst themselves or obstructing the President from accomplishing campaign promises the while pointing at the campaign promises he hasn’t fulfilled yet.
So, as we watch Sara Palin on her path to who knows where, we need make sure our Democratic Congressional Representatives don’t echo her sentiments in their actions and are actually able to follow the LEADER (with a title) of our country.
It’s perfectly okay to regurgitate Limbaugh and have the soft spot in ones heart to speak so affectionately of one’s heart-throb. How is that relevant to this blog?
No complainst about Barack Osama reading all his speeches off a teleprompter then?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anushay-hossain/au-revoir-minarets-the-sw_b_383196.html
Not Europeans, but muslims are the haters. Islam is terror and fascism and oppression and muslims demand special treatment. ISLAM + NAZISM were friends in World War II. Islam cannot be trusted and all muslims must be removed from Europe because they are fifth columnists for fascist death cult islam. Islam is our enemy.
That’s all ya got? Teleprompter?! Listen; you right wingers are going to have to do *some* homework. For god sakes there are plenty of tallkimg points out there- taxes, aborton, gay marriage. There’s always that old chestnut, socialism.
When you use Obama’s use of a TelePrompTer as criticism you’re only embarrasing yourself Hell, I’m embarrasssed for you!
Take a deep breath before you suffocate in your own hate. Try to look at yourself in the mirror every once in a while. Introspection is very therapeutic.
There was a time when I would have said that Sarah Palin hadn’t a chance at holding real office, given that all of her proposed policies are at their core about not governing – cut taxes, deregulate, decentralize, throw long-term economic planning to the wind.
But that was until the Citizens United decision two weeks ago.
Thanks a lot, Supreme Court. Sarah Palin is suddenly a lot more scary now that there are no restrictions on how much BP and TransCanadaPipelines (and Mattel) can spend on her. A candidate defined by almost nothing but a rabidly deregulatory stance is really everything corporate American could have asked for.
I’m just saying… there are more important issues than teleprompters on the table.
I doth think she has us all fooled. If I was an opportunist…which some say I am…AND…I was Sarah Palin…which is a somewhat scary thought…I would do the following after having lost the general election:
1. Demand to make a concession speech
2. Start a PAC
3. Quit my job in a far away obscure state
4. Have someone write me a book
5. Sign onto as many speaking engagements as possible
6. Make absurd remarks
7. Feed off the media obsession of myself
8. Make millions
9. Pretend I care
10. Buy an island
She is using the extended 15 minutes to milk it for all its worth. No likely candidate for president actually declares that he or she will actually run until they have mechanism in place. No conservative signs onto speak as a platform where even Michelle “completely bonkers” Bachman has backed out. Nor would a likely candidate sign up to “contribute” to Fox. These are stunts for media attention.
Palin is milking it and who can possibly blame her.
@Sanjay
You sound so much like the extremists you deride. I dare say – you are a part of the problem and no solution.
@ Aliya
Agreed – but Palin is nowhere close to the corporate choice for president. Even the money/power-hungry curmudgeons of the world have limits.
@jackfish
As an FYI Ronlad Reagan – the great conservative president – started the use of the telepromter. Reaganomics-man also is notorious for leaving America with its largest national debt in recorded history.
Progressive / exetremist / factual I might be – but i will give credit where credit is due.