Here is a fact of life that is also a fact of politics: You have to
hold open the possibility of magic. People can come from nowhere, with
modest backgrounds and short résumés, and yet be individuals of real
gifts, gifts that had previously been unseen, that had been gleaming
quietly under a bushel, and are suddenly revealed. Mrs. Palin came,
essentially, from nowhere. But there was a man who came from nowhere,
the seeming tool of a political machine, a tidy, narrow,
unsophisticated senator appointed to high office and then thrust into
power by a careless Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose vanity told him he
would live forever. And yet that limited little man was Harry S Truman.
Of the Mars...

Here is a fact of life that is also a fact of politics: You have to
hold open the possibility of magic. People can come from nowhere, with
modest backgrounds and short résumés, and yet be individuals of real
gifts, gifts that had previously been unseen, that had been gleaming
quietly under a bushel, and are suddenly revealed. Mrs. Palin came,
essentially, from nowhere. But there was a man who came from nowhere,
the seeming tool of a political machine, a tidy, narrow,
unsophisticated senator appointed to high office and then thrust into
power by a careless Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose vanity told him he
would live forever. And yet that limited little man was Harry S Truman.
Of the Marshall Plan, of containment. Little Harry was big. He had
magic. You have to give people time to show what they have. Because
maybe they have magic too.

But we have seen Mrs. Palin on the
national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she
has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical
grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office. She
is a person of great ambition, but the question remains: What is the
purpose of the ambition? She wants to rise, but what for? For seven
weeks I’ve listened to her, trying to understand if she is Bushian or
Reaganite—a spender, to speak briefly, whose political decisions seem
untethered to a political philosophy, and whose foreign policy is
shaped by a certain emotionalism, or a conservative whose principles
are rooted in philosophy, and whose foreign policy leans more toward
what might be called romantic realism, and that is speak truth, know
America, be America, move diplomatically, respect public opinion, and
move within an awareness and appreciation of reality.

But it’s unclear whether she is Bushian or Reaganite. She doesn’t think aloud. She just . . . says things.

I think this sums up Palin in a nutshell and expresses more articulately than I ever could, why she is frightening. People who do this are people who merely want power -

Her supporters accuse her critics of snobbery: Maybe she’s not a big
“egghead” but she has brilliant instincts and inner toughness. But what
instincts? “I’m Joe Six-Pack”? She does not speak seriously but
attempts to excite sensation—“palling around with terrorists.” If the
Ayers case is a serious issue, treat it seriously. She is not as
thoughtful or persuasive as Joe the Plumber, who in an extended cable
interview Thursday made a better case for the Republican ticket than
the Republican ticket has made. In the pas...

I think this sums up Palin in a nutshell and expresses more articulately than I ever could, why she is frightening. People who do this are people who merely want power -

Her supporters accuse her critics of snobbery: Maybe she’s not a big
“egghead” but she has brilliant instincts and inner toughness. But what
instincts? “I’m Joe Six-Pack”? She does not speak seriously but
attempts to excite sensation—“palling around with terrorists.” If the
Ayers case is a serious issue, treat it seriously. She is not as
thoughtful or persuasive as Joe the Plumber, who in an extended cable
interview Thursday made a better case for the Republican ticket than
the Republican ticket has made. In the past two weeks she has spent her
time throwing out tinny lines to crowds she doesn’t, really,
understand. This is not a leader, this is a follower, and she follows
what she imagines is the base, which is in fact a vast and
broken-hearted thing whose pain she cannot, actually, imagine. She
could reinspire and reinspirit; she chooses merely to excite. She
doesn’t seem to understand the implications of her own thoughts.

Frankly I don't think this woman really cares about anyone but herself..I am never wrong, at least not yet, about people I 'sense' to be 'wrong uns'. And I certainly 'sense' this about Palin..I admittedly have been VERY wrong on occasion thinking people were ok, or even great and they turned out to be..oh really really bad. But never, in my now substantial years, have I EVER been wrong about someone whom I think from the get go is not good to be around..in short,not a 'healthy ' person. My husband now knows that if I say 'so and so is no good, let's get out of here"..we just go, or whatever is necessary to sever ties if any with that person, because he has learned to trust my instincts. I th...

Frankly I don't think this woman really cares about anyone but herself..I am never wrong, at least not yet, about people I 'sense' to be 'wrong uns'. And I certainly 'sense' this about Palin..I admittedly have been VERY wrong on occasion thinking people were ok, or even great and they turned out to be..oh really really bad. But never, in my now substantial years, have I EVER been wrong about someone whom I think from the get go is not good to be around..in short,not a 'healthy ' person. My husband now knows that if I say 'so and so is no good, let's get out of here"..we just go, or whatever is necessary to sever ties if any with that person, because he has learned to trust my instincts. I think it is just a built in bullshit detector that I have acquired over .lo these many years. can y'all tell I am feeling very middle aged today?