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No Pity for Palin

Salon’s Rebecca Traister says cry me a freaking river to the commentators expressing pity for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in the wake of her painful

Jul 31, 2020506 Shares253.1K Views
Salon’s Rebecca Traistersays “cry me a freaking river” to the commentators expressing pity for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in the wake of her painful nationally-televised interviews.
Sarah Palin is no wilting flower. She is a politician who took the national stage and sneered at the work of community activists. She boldly tries to pass off incuriosity and lassitude as regular-people qualities, thereby doing a disservice to all those Americans who also work two jobs and do not come from families that hand out passports and backpacking trips, yet still manage to pick up a paper and read about their government and seek out experience and knowledge.
When you stage a train wreck of this magnitude — trying to pass one underqualified chick off as another highly qualified chick with the lame hope that no one will notice — well, then, I don’t feel bad for you.
When you don’t take your own career and reputation seriously enough to pause before striding onto a national stage and lying about your record of opposing a Bridge to Nowhere or using your special-needs child to garner the support of Americans in need of health-care reform you don’t support, I don’t feel bad for you.
When you don’t have enough regard for your country or its politics to cram effectively for the test — a test that helps determine whether or not you get to run that country and participate in its politics — I don’t feel bad for you.
Admittedly, when I saw the first segment of Palin’s interview with CBS’ Katie Couric, my initial visceral reaction was to feel sorry for her — and it only got worse from there. It’s hard not to pity someone so clearly in over their head.
Still, Traister makes a compelling case.
Hajra Shannon

Hajra Shannon

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