Going Postal err Rogue

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's new book, "Going Rogue" is being released this week (Tuesday).

(photo courtesy AP)

Bob Schieffer, long-time CBS newsman, political conservative, and host of "Face the Nation", has described her book as, "This is Sarah Palin's turn to get even, as it were."

He goes on to describe her national political future and the book as, "I think she'll be a great attraction as an amusement. She's interesting, she's a celebrity. But I can't imagine that she has much future in politics, I really don't."

A little more than a year ago I told a local conservative blogger (just after the Republican National Convention) that Sarah Palin was an albatross, that her political star was ascending temporarily because she was an unknown who had given a fiery speech, but as her past and especially her comments became public, she would be a boat anchor on McCain's campaign.

I was told by that blogger that I was mistaken, that Palin "was exactly what the campaign needed right now." His point was of course that to the "tea party set" McCain was too liberal, and so to get the 'base engergized" an issue light-weight, but ultra-conservative photogenic candidate like Palin was needed. Perhaps that was the case for the right-wing base, but as the election bore out, it was the undecided and independent voters, not the base, who would ultimately decide the election and who needed to feel 'safe' with the VP candidate, and Sarah Palin made virtually no one feel safe thinking she was John McCain's heartbeat away from being President.

In the year (plus) since, Palin has time and again proven herself to be a goof-ball, a daffy ill-informed, fire spewer ready to mouth idiocy like death panels, and one who talks about having to 'work for a living' (as compared to a 'community organizer), but who then went and quit her job because she was not seeking re-election. She berated Levi Johnson - who maybe even deserved derision, but she appeared cheap and petty - and got into a national TV fight with David Letterman - a stupid move that could have resulted in her becoming the same kind of clown Dan Qayle proved himself to be with "Murphy Brown"/Candace Bergen.

That this women continues to enrapture the right-wing tea-party crowd speaks only to their enormous ability at self-delusion (rivaled by Palin's own ability in that regard). She appears to be a petty and shallow back-biter, looking more like a mean-spirited and dishonest hick queen dressed up in Versace than a serious and educated candidate and this books seals that impression in gold-plated tell-all tin-foil hats.