The would-be Palin

You have to hand it Sarah Palin. She's at least trying to stay focused. Here is her hand with her notes for her celebrated speech at the "tea bag" party convention. It's better than the days when she rambled on and on. For example, her speech resigning as Alaska governor.

Are Americans as stupid as her? Apparently so. Over 80% in a recent poll think she is qualified to be U.S. president. (US News poll) I am appalled but not surprised. She comes across as personable and down-to-earth. That appeals to plains (as in the Great Plains) folks. She is anti-intellectual and anti-East/West coast. Many Americans feel threatened by intellectuals. Witness the anti-Obama stuff going on now. Obama is a smart guy. People elected Bush the Second because they perceived him to be someone they could have a beer with. As if...

While George Bush was born into the elite, Sarah Palin seeks to be part of the elite. She dumped her position as mayor to become governor. She abandoned her governorship to run for vice-president and finally abandoned the governorship to go "rogue" and position herself on the national stage to be a Fox News pundit and eventually, I presume, 2012 presidential candidate. But she wants all her followers to admire her as one of them as she pushes herself as far from them as she fast she can.

Sarah Palin is one of the biggest hypocrites of the 21th century. The mainstream Republicans know this. They distain her rogue-y-ness. She will not be accepted by the Republican old guard precisely because she does not toe the line and because she has abandoned all previous positions. At least, I hope so. There are some rational Republicans.

It would better for the country her followers could see how cynically she uses them. That, I think is unlikely given the their myopia.

Palin's own ambition will cause her to abandon the "tea baggers" as she claws her way to the top. I hope that when the doors of Brahmin Conservatives slam in her face, she is left cold and alone. I hope this happens sooner than later. This would-be empress has no clothes.