In which I destroy the "democratic ideal"

Okay, I guess I'm one of the snobby, hate-filled liberal elite that Ross Douthat slams in his NYT column "Palin and Her Enemies" today. Yep, my belief that this particular woman was wildly incompetent to be vice president (and possibly president) of the United States puts me on the side of the privilege-defending destroyers of the "democratic ideal," the American Dream "about how anyone can grow up to be president." Wow, I am evil. I thought I was critical of Palin in large part because her ideological positions and concrete policies in Alaska were harmful to ordinary families, and in particular to struggling women and children. But, no, it turns out: if I really cared about those people, I would have loved Palin.


So, just to double down on my snarky elitist ways: Palin and whoever helped her write stuff this weekend are providing me with lots of hilarity concerning the use and abuse of the English language. (Is anyone helping her? If so, memo to Palin: fire him/her immediately.) This isn't just a matter of things said aloud, off the cuff -- the written texts are just as mangled and full of weird constructions and outright errors.* The 4th of July Facebook posting contains several gems such as "I’ve never thought I needed a title before one’s name to forge progress in America." Now, okay, I know no one who still loves Sarah Palin at this point is going to turn on her because she can't make her pronouns agree. And I know Facebook is not the most formal writing context in the world. (Didn't she understand, though, that in the absence of any other info coming out of her camp, this post was going to get quoted extensively in every news outlet in the country? And by the way SarahPAC has still not updated its website, and Palin's own twitters are also still reading like they're being written in some alternate reality where the only decision made was "to not run again." ) Nevertheless -- and maybe I'm just hyper-attuned to this sort of thing because I earn my keep by being picky with freshman prose -- this there-is-no-proofreader-on-the-premises sloppiness gives the impression that things are a bit out of control behind the scenes in Palinland. In the absence of any real information, it's hard to resist looking for meaning in details like this.

Also, can she please stop claiming that she's being "candid"?

I really will shut up about this whole Palin brouhaha soon. I promise. Maybe.

* Yes, the single funniest thing so far has been Meg Stapleton telling Anderson Cooper that "the world is literally her oyster." But despite the jaw-dropping awesomeness of the image this conjures up, it's a mistake pretty much anyone could make speaking aloud.

Farewell, Barricuda

Wow. Sarah Palin's resignation from the governorship of Alaska today was one of the most bizarre, incoherent things I've ever seen from a politician. I've got no special insight into this, and nothing new to add to all the interesting speculation about what on earth is really going on here, but I'm fascinated. What a trainwreck.

The weirdest part, for me, was the way Palin kept on insisting that she was explaining in full her reasons for stepping down, and being deeply honest with the wonderful people of the great state of Alaska. But in fact, despite the ungodly length of the announcement, she offered no remotely satisfactory reasons or explanation at all (okay, there was some mixed-up stuff about keeping your eye on the basket without looking down at the ball, that then slid into some other mixed-up stuff about how, actually, the important thing is to keep your eye on the ball, but I'm pretty sure in sane-people-land none of that counts). There's no substitute for watching the video itself in full, but my favorite summary so far is Gail Collins:

Basically, the point was that Palin is quitting as governor because she’s not a quitter. Or a deceased salmon.

I have no clue why Palin did this, but I feel extremely dubious toward anyone trying to spin it as some kind of shrewd or "brilliant" political chess move. Who can watch that mess of a rambling speech and honestly think it was given as part of a crafty-genius master plan? It strains credibility for folks like Mary Matalin to even try to pretend they see the method behind the madness here.

Best observation I've seen so far on the "why" front comes from hilzoy, who has this to say:

Nothing I know about Sarah Palin leads me to believe that she would give up power voluntarily, let alone for something that is such a long shot, and in such a transparently self-destructive way.

I think that's a smart psychological read on Palin, so while we wait for more substantive info, I'm putting myself in hilzoy's speculative camp: "there's something we don't know about." Looking forward to the return of 24-7 Palin coverage while we try to figure out what it is.