Thursday, July 14, 2011

Sarah Palin Will Now Begin to Fade Away

Here let's feed the fantasy a bit....

Kevin Drum makes the appropriate observation about Sarah Palin:
And speaking of politicians and sound bites, does it strike anyone else that Sarah Palin has basically become a social media version of Ann Coulter? That is, they're both conservatives whose schtick mostly depends on generating liberal apoplexy over their periodic word bombs, and who are both fading away because they're having problems coming up with new material that's fresh enough for anyone to care about? I didn't even know Coulter had yet another book out until I saw it at the bookstore today (in almost self-parody fashion, it's called Demonic), and likewise nobody seems to care very much anymore about whatever Palin's latest plea for attention on Facebook says.

Nevertheless, Newsweek just put Palin on the cover, with the shocking revelation that if you ask her if she can win the presidency, she'll say yes. And also she doesn't like members of the news media, who have totally done her wrong, she'll be happy to tell you. And she's misinformed about inflation, specifically the price of Slim Jims.

Palin's game is one you can only play for so long. Once it becomes clear you aren't actually running, people lose interest. About eight months from now, there will be a Republican nominee for president. Suddenly, there will be a Republican politician who is infinitely more important than her. So Palin may try to pop up again during the campaign, but her ability to get attention will be severely curtailed.

In fact, I'll go so far as to predict that this issue of Newsweek is the last time she'll appear on the cover of a news magazine. Ever. The "Gosh, what's Sarah Palin gonna do?!?" period has come to its end. She'll probably try to produce the same media interest four years from now, but it won't be nearly as successful. There are only so many times you can write that story.

It's been a crazy and often fascinating ride, but Palin really has little more to offer as a politician or cultural figure. What's she going to do next – say something ignorant? Complain about liberals? Provide some unseemly family drama? We've seen it all before, and it gets less interesting every time. Unless she goes on trial for murder, most Americans just aren't going to care.

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