A fascinating article in the Guardian yesterday casts an intriguing new light on the Republicans' vice-presidential candidate in the coming US election. Admittedly it's just one article and the author is almost certainly writing from a position of left-wing bias, but it nonetheless rings true with everything I've so far seen from Sarah Palin, especially in the interviews, the convention speech, and the debate. It all seems to fall into place now. And the result is an even more disturbing picture than the one we already thought we were seeing. A montage of quotes from the piece to illustrate:
Lyda Green, Republican president of the state senate, speaks for many in the party in Alaska when she says Palin has been "disappointingly liberal" since she was elected governor.
Larry Persily, a senior civil servant who has worked for three Alaskan governors and is a former associate director of Palin's office in Washington, says: "She was just not interested. She had no interest in public policy beyond the populist drive to raise oil taxes and push through ethics reforms that the Democrats had already drafted."
Rebecca Braun, editor of Alaska Budget Report, a non-aligned political newsletter, adds: "If she hasn't pushed the teaching of creationism in schools, it's because she hasn't pushed the teaching of anything in schools. She hasn't promoted her rightwing views because she hasn't promoted any views at all. She really hasn't done very much."
Laura Chase, who managed Palin's campaign, recalls her not as doctrinaire but as seriously ambitious. "We were sitting at my kitchen table at about 11 o'clock one night, talking about term times, and she said: 'If I haven't moved on to higher things after two terms, I don't deserve to be in politics.' I said: 'Sarah, you'll be governor in 10 years.' And she said: 'I don't want to be governor, I want to be president.' I glanced up and she was looking down at a piece of paper, she was on to the next thing we were doing. I just chalked it up to the adrenaline of the campaign."
"She's really pretty insecure.
"She likes being in the limelight, being the centre of attention. What she really craves is popularity, she wants the warmth and love of the public." Laura Chase says Palin has an uncanny ability to be all things to all people. "She can walk up to people and quickly have a perception of what they want her to be, and she will instantly be that person."
"She draws on something inside herself to make them like her. She's a natural actress. And then she wants to do it again, with even more people. She's a brilliant politician, but it's all about getting more and more people to love her."
Now, I can sympathise to some degree with Palin's desire to be liked and her chameleon-like attempts to be everything to everyone. I'm prey to similar insecurities and I tend to do the same sort of thing (albeit with less success). But Sarah, well, she takes it a good few steps further.
It would seem, in fact, that this woman is doing nothing less than trying to seize control of the most powerful country on earth for ultimately no purpose other than her own personal need for approval.
Breathtaking though that is, it does seem to make sense. And that, viewed together with her relentless ambition and her undeniable charisma, rather freaks the hell out of me. Sure, she probably won't get into the White House this time. But she's still relatively young, and the Republicans have a recent history of favouring populist charismatic candidates with highly dubious qualifications.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if she comes back in a few years, older and wiser and even scarier.
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