Dylan Hales

October 02, 2009

As if we needed more evidence to indicate the end times are upon us, Sarah Palin’s soon to be released autobiography has shot up to number one with both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  All it took to activate the hive of Palin fanatics was the announcement by HarperCollins that the books release date was being moved up several months.  Conveniently the book will now be ready for the totality of the holiday shopping season and will no doubt maintain momentum into the new year thanks to the inevitable talk radio push.

I have never understood the Palin cult and I understand it even less so now.  She is not a social conservative.  She is not a neocon.  She is not a libertarian.  She is not an immigration restrictionist.  She is not a deficit hawk or a serious proponent of fiscal restraint.  She has no built in constituency, is by all accounts poor with words and has been exposed as a fool more times than I can count.  She is a relatively attractive woman (especially for her age)  but in a more sensible era this would have been a disqualifying political trait for a politician – especially among the many “conservatives” that are her most adoring adherents in the present. 

And yet even if we ignore all of the above and just accept the fact that Palin is a beloved figure to many Americans, I still cannot fathom why anyone want to read a book about her – let alone one written by her.  One can only hope that the throng of folks who rushed to their computer terminals to reserve their copies yesterday are recreational gawkers and gossip hounds who’s subscriptions to US Weekly have lapsed.  Otherwise John Derbyshire may in fact be right to note that We Are Doomed.