Despite Sarah Palin’s horrific performance in interviews, and her simplistic answers in the debate, many conservatives are still defending her.
Andrew Sullivan has an interesting theory explaining this phenomenon.
What I think has happened to some otherwise very brilliant and perceptive people is that they have become so hostile to “liberal pundits” or “Hollywood liberals”, that their reactions are really reactions not to Palin herself but to those criticizing her and the selection of her. These people are anti-anti-Palin and if forced to be pro-Palin, they’d have a very hard time explaining it. Actually, Camille is pro-Obama, so she doesn’t have to go that far. But just because liberals are annoying and Hollywood liberals make you want to vomit doesn’t mean Palin is qualified to be vice-president. Look: Tim Robbins is about the only person who could make me support McCain. But I’m not stupid enough to let my loathing of idiotic Hollywood liberals affect my judgment of this farce of a veep candidate.
I don’t think Palin is dumb; she is just proudly ignorant, a cynical opportunist and a pathological liar.
This makes sense. In the heat of a campaign, people get very emotional about supporting their own side. It makes it very difficult to acknowledge the obvious – that Sarah Palin is a joke of a candidate. Perhaps when the election is over many conservatives will sober up and acknowledge this as well. On the other hand, some are talking about Sarah Palin in 2012. Of course this is silly. She would never survive a protracted primary season. But this is the best thing that could happen to the Democrats, though it might not be the best thing for the country. If the GOP loses this year, they will need to rebuild the party, and they’ll need to do it with qualified candidates who can enunciate a governing philosophy for our times from the conservative perspective. Sarah Palin cannot do this.
Regardless of who is in power, we need a robust party in opposition to keep the ruling party honest. The Democrats didn’t live up to this responsibility in the run-up to the Iraq War.
