Stumbling to New Lows

Every once in a while, Sarah Palin just suddenly appears out of the Alaskan wilderness. Everyone has long since gotten used to erratic interviews and statements from the one-time Republican candidate for the vice presidency as John McCain’s running mate. The darling of the tea party has never held back from coming out with precipitous theories.

She recently announced she was considering running again for the White House next year putting herself in the spotlight during an appearance in Iowa. But this time, Palin may have gone over the edge because even party colleagues and conservative opinion makers turned against her after she gave a speech that can best be described as simply absurd. Iowa is traditionally the first state where potential presidential candidates begin their primary campaign. Before that 2016 event, Palin spoke at a “summit meeting of conservative leaders.”

But Palin completely missed the leadership talent target with her, at times, incoherent rant about Obama, energy policy, the origins of the term “status quo” and the hero movie “American Sniper.” Describing Obama as an “overgrown little boy who is acting kinda spoiled,” she remarked that “the man can only ride you when your back is bent” and then admonished the audience to straighten their backs. All of which were received as typical Palin quotes that get little more than a bored shrug. Listening to her talk about a photo of her daughter Bristol wearing a racy leather outfit while she actually was referring to her dog and his new leash was a new low point, even for Sarah Palin.

John Fund, writer for the conservative National Review, described Palin’s speech as “bizarre” and Byron York who writes for the equally right wing Washington Examiner said her speech was “barely coherent” and Scott Conroy, author of a book on Palin tweeted “I don’t say this lightly. This is the strangest speech I’ve ever seen Sarah Palin deliver.” Iowa Republican Kevin Hall was a bit gentler remarking, “I like Sarah Palin, but I’m not a fan of this speech.”

Whether Palin was intoxicated or the teleprompter malfunctioned, as has been speculated, will remain Palin’s secret. When the 33 tortuous minute speech was finally over, Palin left the stage to the strains of Taylor Swift’s song, “Shake it Off.”

But Palin will find it somewhat harder to shake this appearance off. Even the right wing of the Republican Party will be unlikely to support a Palin candidacy as things now stand. On the up side, her performance did at least please someone: Democrats. The party published a two word statement on the Palin performance: “Thank You.”