Sarah Palin Isn't Funny Anymore

Sarah Palin used to be hilarious, God's gift to comedians. Whether it was seeing Russia from her house, or her idiotic tweets, or whatever, Sarah Palin was a guaranteed laugh.

But something has changed recently, especially now that "less PC" tweets "fly from [her] fingers".

Basically, Sarah Palin is dangerous. She’s an idiot and a bitch.

If you're a Palinfan that might seem harsh. You might wonder how I could say something like that.

Well, for starters, her "pallin' around with terrorists" line of attack led to, according to Bush's Secret Service, an increase in death threats against our now-President. At her campaign events, people shouted “kill him!” when she spoke of Obama. In other words, she proved quite adept at inciting a crowd.

She also attacks anyone who disagrees with or challenges her. She threatened a blogger with a libel lawsuit, even though the blogger was, in my opinion, actually defending her in a sort of roundabout way. She fired Walt Monegan, who obstructed her attempts to destroy her brother-in-law's career.

She is a compulsive liar, a woman who seems to derive a sick pleasure from getting crowds high on anger and hate.

Ergo, she's a bitch. Or an asshole, if you think calling her a "bitch" is sexist. But "idiotic"?

Well, during the campaign she admitted, in public, that she didn't know what the vice president does. She thinks that our country neighbors Afghanistan.

That’s enough for me. If you still think she's smart, watch the Katie Couric interview, in full. And remember, just because you can't answer Couric’s question doesn't mean she should get away with not being able to. She was trying to, potentially, run the fucking country. You and I are not.

She used to be funny. But her behavior is just plain frightening.

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I mentioned that Sarah Palin has demonstrated an ability to incite people to violence, or nearly so. And I'm afraid she could do it again.

In her now somewhat infamous "death panel" Facebook post, she has allied herself with the craziest of the crazy. She has poured gasoline on the people who think Obama is out to kill them and she has lit the match.

Which brings us to the health care "protests". Conservatives have legitimate objections to the health care bill. These protesters, however, are fueled by irrational fear; they have been told horrible lies. Obama has been constantly compared to Hitler. Sarah Palin told them that Obama wants to kill babies and old people. In addition, some of them don't think he's legitimately president.

Think about this. What if you believed, really believed, that the President of the United States had usurped his power and was going to set up death panels. Wouldn't any means of stopping him be justified? Wouldn't one be justified in killing him?

Do you think this sounds crazy? Well, a protester brought a gun to the town hall Obama held today. And that wasn't the only incident. A wave of violence is developing. This is what this country is facing.

Remember the teabaggers? The people opposed to them found them annoying at worst. They're finding the health care protesters intimidating. Annoyance, then intimidation.

I think the next logical step is violence.

But what does this have to do with Sarah Palin, who, in fairness, has retracted her earlier statement? Well, she has the most at stake here. She could easily stand to gain the most should anything "happen" to the President. See, the segment of the population which is most frightened is the segment which is most in love with her.

She issued the first statement to position herself as their leader. Her second statement is a sort of "non-denial denial": she retracts her first statement not by admitting that it was a lie, but by saying, "Let's not give the proponents of nationalized health care any reason to criticize us." Those are her exact words.

Thus, she is saying to her loyal followers, "The 'death panel' thing is totally real, but we shouldn't mention it because some people will think we’re crazy, and won't let us stop it."

I've said that Sarah Palin is an idiot, but I think she knows a lot about one subject, the thing which she craves above all else: power, and how to get it. She knows her approval ratings are through the floor, and she knows it's very difficult to correct this (see Dan Quayle’s 1996 presidential campaign).

Despite that obstacle, she has incredibly loyal followers who are afraid that Barack Obama is the second coming of Adolph Hitler. They would fight for her. It may seem easier to gain power by being installed in a popular revolution.

In all probability, this is not true. She probably doesn't know what she is doing. But she is telling people that our President is absolutely evil. She isn't calling for a revolution, but she is enabling one with her thoughtless words. People will stop Barack Death Panel Obama without her ordering it, because they believe the other things she has said.

Either way, Sarah Palin is not a funny woman, but rather an evil woman, an accessory to a treason yet to come.

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Further Reading

I would recommend The Immoral Minority and Palingates if you want some more details. A good summary of Sarah Palin's behavior can be found in this long post, in its first part.