Why Sarah Palin Is The Most Brilliant Political Mind of Our Era

I don't think it's being too radical or cynical to suggest that today's major politicians are much more about style and image than substance. And in their defense, you really have to be at the highest levels of politics. While you might be able to get away with actually making an argument about policies or governing philosophy in a run for city council, you simply can't do that if you're running for President or a high-profile Senate seat or the like. With the 24-hour news cable shows and the internet and hack partisan attack ads et al waiting to tear apart every word you say, there isn't much room for nuance. Really, there's only space for making bland and banal comments while posing in front of a flag/factory workers/soldiers/school children.

And this is why I think Mz. Palin represents the pinnacle/nadir of modern politicians. She has completely mastered the style without even attempting any of the substance. Whether it's her answering which newspaper she reads with "all of them" or answering the question of which Founding Father™ is her favorite with the same, she clearly realizes what she says is not nearly as important as is looking vaguely attractive, very white, and/or posing with her mentally challenged child.

So when it was discovered that (surprisingly!) she's not a folksy, salt-of-the-earth regular Sally but instead someone who demands multiple SUVs and luxury hotel suites and even bendy straws over regular ones (though I have to agree with her there), this should be damaging to her image, right? No, for in the next speech she delivered after this came out, she mocked it as if it were all a made up smear, saying something to the effect of "oh, look, I've even got one of those bendy straws they say I insist on."

And this is what makes her brilliant -- "they say I insist on." No, "they" don't say that, you say that in a legal contract you signed demanding they be provided every time you give a speech. This is not a random baseless accusation, it is a literal reading of a document you signed your approval of.

But you see, that's substance. And substance does not matter. Style does. And she sure used her folksy, you betcha style to make it look like this very real substance was just another ad hominem attack. And her supporters, who love her style and probably have no idea what her substance is, ate it up. And that is why she is so brilliant.

Of course she didn't address the veracity of the claim the contract demands "children's caretaker must be of Korean ethnicity or higher," but then she can't respond to everything...