It's Official: We Can Feel Bad for Sarah Palin


Over the weekend, the New York Times ran a story about preparations for the GOP convention in Tampa, Fla., which included—what else—strippers! A few paragraphs into the story is this little tidbit:

And Thee DollHouse is all Americana: women plan to slip out of red, white and blue corsets and offer red, white and blue vodka. The headliner that week is expected to bear an uncanny resemblance to a certain ex-governor from a wilderness state, known for her strong jaw and devotion to guns and God.

“She’s a dead ringer for her,” said Warren Colazzo, co-owner of Thee DollHouse. “It’s just a really good gimmick to get publicity.”

OK, here goes: I know this stands in contrast to Blue State orthodoxy—after all, we’re talking about the the Fox News-commentating politician who coined “death panels” to attack universal healthcare—but since Dems pretty much have a lock on compassion, politics-wise, I think we can say it and mean it: We feel bad for you, Sarah Palin.

The thing is, Colazzo’s probably right. In just about one presidential term, Palin went from a governor of an out-of-the-way state to a punchline that everyone’s in on. Even Dick Cheney threw her under the bus a few days ago in another Times story. The skeptic in me thinks maybe this is strategy to make whoever Mitt Romney chooses for a running mate look good by comparison, but I’m not sure that’s true. Does anyone remember a Geraldine Ferraro-looking stripper after Mondale got trounced in ’84?

I’m not saying that Ferraro had Palin’s prime time-ready looks (I mention this because presumably that’s the main reason for the stripper parody). But both were pioneers (both were the first female VP candidates for their respective parties) tossed into hostile situations where the press grilled them while the voting public seemed enamored.Only now maybe we’ll see that the love for the Grizzly Mama was really lust for some other version of America, not a sustainable long-term relationship.

Maybe that’s exactly what’s being peddled to the GOP conventioneers next month.