“No, it was more like, ‘Are you kidding me? Are you really asking me? To me, it was in the context of, ‘Do you read? How do you stay informed, you’re way up there?’” said Palin. “It seemed like she was discovering this nomadic tribe, a member of a tribe from some Neanderthal cave in Alaska, asking me, how do you stay in touch with the real world? That’s how I took the question.”
Spin: so easy, a cavewoman can do it. The least-recognized reversal of our time is how the right resorts to political correctness every time you challenge their Stupid™. We’re supposed to believe that the White House is full of socialists because one of them actually read Mao, but we’re not supposed to ask whether Miss Congeniality reads The Anchorage Daily News because it’s an insult to Alaskans, or something.
This is a version of events that could only come from a mind afflicted with Palin-Bachmann Syndrome™. Palin is clearly suffering from a mental illness that her base demographic refuses to see. Yet this woman could very well be the default GOP nominee for 2012:
If Palin launches a 2012 race – and survives the South Carolina primary with her aura intact – she could theoretically sweep the winner-take-all states without ever winning a majority anywhere. The Republican establishment (the congressional leadership, the governors, the major donors and national consultants) could all agree that Palin would be an electoral disaster against Obama in November and still be powerless to halt her juggernaut.
The Couric interview was a defining moment in the 2008 campaign. Oprah gave Sarah Palin a platform to repair her image, but I don’t think Sarah’s going to win back much public approval. Which means 2012 has the potential to turn into the greatest Republican train wreck in history.
