Nailin’ Palin: Some People Just Don’t Get It!

There are many things for which I am grateful this Thanksgiving season. I have a job, albeit one which will afford me little time to spend with my wife over the next four weeks – it’s called retail, or hell as it is better known to those of us who are in it. Maria and I are both healthy. There don’t appear to be any major household expenses on the horizon, other than an oil contract for home-heating fuel that I foolishly signed back in August before the prices dropped in half. Next time I will be a little more patient and wait before signing with an oil company. Both of our cars are in good shape, and will probably remain that way for the foreseeable future. And Maria and I have some money saved in the bank for a rainy day that we both pray will not turn into a monsoon. Given the economic unrest in the country, not to mention the whole planet, things are pretty good here in the Fegan household. And yet there is still one more thing for which I am immensely grateful this season: Sarah Palin will be stayin’ in Alaska next January!

Not to pile it on, as it were, but the prospect of this woman bein’ a heart beat away from runnin’ the world’s number one democracy was sendin’ chills down my spine. It wasn’t just that she was unaware that Africa was a continent and not a country, or that she didn’t know which countries comprised NAFTA, though you would think a major candidate for the office of vice-president of the United States would at least look up that information before talking about it. What continues to appall and frighten me is that the more I learn of this woman’s views and past, the more relieved I am that she will not be any where near the vicinity of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, unless that is she buys a ticket for a tour of the place. Apparently though this sentiment is not shared by all. The website http://www.ourcountrypac.org/ is out to not only keep her memory alive and well – as though we could ever forget her comedic contributions on Saturday Night Live – but to run a “Thank You” ad that will run oddly enough right around Thanksgiving. PAC spokesman Sal Russo said they have received $2 million in donations for the ads, which will start running tomorrow in Alaska and will include a national buy. "We wanted to give Sarah Palin the reassurance that despite the critics, Americans by and large appreciated her service and want her to continue to be a voice." “This woman’s reputation is going to be so damaged that she can never be a national political figure,” said Joe Wiezbicki, the PAC’s coordinator. So the goal of the ad is to “preserve her options.”

Not to beat a dead horse, but some people just don’t get it. The reason John McCain lost the election so badly was because his vice-presidential nominee, while unifying her base, alienated many independents and moderate Republicans. So long as the bulk of the Republican party continues to allow the extreme right flank to dictate its agenda, it is going to have an extremely difficult, if impossible, time winning back the Whitehouse. If you take away the Plain states, the Deep South and the Appalachian Trail, the Democratic party routed the Republican party about as badly as any party could expect to get routed. Now is not the time to be obstinate and arrogant. It took the Democrats two more election cycles after their defeat in 1980 before they finally nominated a centrist among their ranks. Bill Clinton, for all his personal flaws was the most effective President the nation has had since Eisenhower, another moderate. It is time the Republicans woke up, stole a page or two from the Democrats and booted the xenophobes and fanatics out of the party. Reagan courted the religious right, but he always kept them at a healthy distance. For the good of the GOP, Sarah Palin needs to be given he walkin’ papers ASAP. Maybe then Tina Fey can go back to her real role on 30 Rock.