Post Loss Depressing

After her defeat in her bid to be Veep, Sarah Palin returned to Alaska hoping to put the bad press, the bad image, and the bad news behind her. Then came TurkeyGate.

We all saw the pictures of Governor Palin pardoning the Thankdsgiiving Turkey and then having an impromptu press conference while, right behind her, turkeys were beheaded and allowed to bleed out. Quite the metaphor for the post-election beheading and bloodletting Palin felt was unduly aimed at her.

But then there was LeviGate when the Baby Daddy and the Baby Mama broke up. Levi said he stayed at the Palin house with Bristol many nights before the abstinence-ending pregnancy; Palin denounced him and denied the claim and lashed out again at the liberal media out to get her.

Then we had Levi'sMamaGate when Levi's mother, Sherry Johnston, pleaded guilty to possession of Oxycontin with intent to sell it. All eyes again were back on Sarah Palin and what she knew and what she did about what she knew. It was guilt by association, but once again the spotlight was on Palin and it wasn't the light she liked.

DianaGate came next, when Todd's half-sister Diana was arrested for twice breaking into a home to steal money. no further explanation was given. More bad press linked, unfortunately, to Sarah Palin, whether she ahd anything to do with it or not.

All these 'gates' had Palin lashing out almost constantly against the media, saying they were hounding her, looking for ways to smear her. She had begged and pleaded with the media to stay out of her children's lives, but then she began talking about Levi and his mother, Todd's half-sister,. She didn't seem to see the contradiction.

She also didn't see the contradiction when it came to the stimulus package. Palin announced she wouldn't take it; she was the fiscal conservative battling big government and wanted no part of this hand out. But then she and her staff announced that she had never said No to the stimulus money, she just had never said Yes. It was, once again, the truth as Palin sees it. In the end Governor Palin accepted all but 3% of the stimulus package. The fight had left her tired.

People in Alaska were growing tired of their governor as well. People in Juneau were tired, too. And ready to stand up to her.

Sarah Palin had nominated ultra homophobic, gun-toting right-wingnut Wayne Ross to be attorney general, but, in a first for the state, a governor's cabinet nominee was rejected. It was the beginning of the end of the glory days of Sarah Palin. The national spotlight that had been on her since her addition to the Republican ticket in August had finally reached home, and Alaskans were none too pleased. Palin's approvals ratings, once in the 80s, had now fallen into the 50s; respectable, yes, but proof that she wasn't as popular or trustworthy or likable as she had once been seen.

Todd Purdum, researching his article for Vanity Fair, began to hear people talk about Sarah Palin not seeking reelection as governor; this was long before there was even a hint of quitting. But most people knew that Sarah Palin didn't want to be a lameduck governor; she didn't want to be seen as having one foot out the door for an entire second term, but what could she do? How could she turn the talk from a negative to, what she thought of as positive, and keep the light shining brightly on her?

So the talk continued and the whispers grew. People suspected she would run for Senator from Alaska, but she said nothing about that; not that that's anything new. Palin never shows all her cards. That way she can change her hand at any time and no one is the wiser.

She hadn't done much politicking, either. There was little time, and too few people willing to listen, for Sarah Palin to campaign. She was charged nearly constantly with ethics violations. She was under attack by the very people who had once worshipped her. Now all she could offer were opinions on the controversy surrounding Carrie Prejean and the Miss California pageant. Now she was left with sparring with David Letterman over several bad jokes--or maybe just one bad joke.

And then came her admission that she, of the anti-abortion, no way no how, stance had once, even as she says, for a "fleeting moment" considered terminating her last pregnancy. Only at the last minute, upon seeing an amniocentesis that showed some disturbing abnormalities., did she stop thinking about an abortion. Yet she still believes that no woman should ever have that option; an option she very nearly chose. Remember, she'd kept the pregnancy a secret from her friends and family, from her constituents. No one would have ever known.

Palin was seeing her star falling, even within the Republican Party. Once the Golden Girl, she was now finishing with the Bronze, or worse. Bobby Jindal seemed a better choice, until he opened his mouth. Mike Huckabee may have a better shot, if he's willing to give up his TV show. Sarah Palin, in just a few short months since the McCain defeat, has gone from first to worst. And no one seems to know why

Maybe it's because Sarah Palin doesn't listen to anyone, except maybe her husband, Todd. She has a long history of aligning with people who can help her, then tossing them aside when their work is done. She did that to John McCain the night of the election when she thought it was her place to speak; many thought her concession speech would really be the beginning of her run in 2012. And she has a history of pointing the finger at people when she, herself, is just as guilty. She's run her campaigns based on the truth of the moment; the truth moment to moment, because, for Palin, the truth doesn't matter.

And she's become not just a has-been, or in the case of her quitting her job as governor, a never-was, she's becoming a victim. Listen to her speak today and you're sure to get an earful of all those out to get her, everyone from the liberal media, to national political figures--let's not forget McCain neglected to mention her as a force in the GOP. She believes in some all consuming conspiracy that people are trying to bring her down.

We don't need to do that, Sarah, you're doing a fine job all by yourself.

The Vanity Fair article is HERE.