What? I mean...What?

I just do not get it. I know the Republican party is dying for someone to step up and be their Barack Obama, but is Sarah Palin really it?

I watched a news report where they showed her rock star like following at a book signing. People screaming and waiting in line for hours to get their book signed. There was even an overflow area where people just waited to catch a glimpse of her as she stepped off the bus.

She is not the first politician to have such a following. We all know that Barack Obama had similar turnouts at his events. My only question is, 'Why Sarah Palin?'

I have no doubt that she is a decent enough person. I also recognize that I completely disagree with all of her politics. But my concern is that when she talks it is clear that she does not really have any politics of her own. She is just spouting what other people are saying because that is popular right now. It is like an author writing a vampire or boy wizard book because that is what is popular right now. That doesn't make them a great author. It just makes them opportunistic. As the buying public, we have to know how to tell the difference.

Consider this. In her interview with Barbara Walters she used the word 'dithering' to describe the time it is taking for Obama to announce his plan for Afghanistan. That is not a common word. Yet, it is the same word that Dick Cheney used to describe the same thing a couple weeks ago. It is one thing to share an opinion with someone else, but to use the same unusual word demonstrates that you may not actually have your own opinion on the matter.

She was asked if she still thought that being near Russia constituted foreign policy experience. She said, 'Yes.' I still do not understand how someone can claim meaningful foreign policy experience just by being near a foreign country. There is a big difference between governing a state that maintains entry points to the US and negotiating treaties and such. I am not saying Obama had any substantial foreign policy experience himself when he was elected, but he had no less than George W. Bush and Sarah Palin and Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan either. Just don't claim to have something you don't. That is like embellishing your resume and no one likes that.

She is very keen on blaming the media for making her look bad. Okay. But exactly what are they doing? She never provides specifics. If something was twisted or taken out of context, then set the record straight. Say what it was that they did wrong and correct it. Don't just make a sweeping generalization.

For example, during the Barbara Walters interview, Palin was shown the Newsweek cover. She made a comment about how she expected more from Newsweek and that the picture was sexist. As though the picture was the problem and not the headline 'How do you solve a problem like Sarah?' By the way, just because someone is critical of you in an editorial, does not mean the media is biased. That is someone's opinion. If you cannot recognize the difference between a news report and an editorial, then that is your problem, not the media's.

One more thing about biased media. I know things can easily be taken out of context for the purposes of editorializing. I know that news reports can often show the most unflattering pictures and sound bites. But, if you watch an interview from start to finish. Just questions and answers. And you reach the conclusion that the person is not someone you want running the country, that is not the media distorting the truth.

Now do not get me wrong. I have no issue with the Republican party trying to find a voice. I would love to see honest debate in this country rather than party line bickering. But just supporting Palin because she is popular is ludicrous.

There were some teenage girls at the rally I saw and one made the comment that Palin certainly has more experience than Obama. What??? Is that what people really think? You can debate whether serving a partial term and resigning to go on a book tour is more experience than serving a partial term as US Senator and resigning to become President. But to act as though Obama's experience can't even hold a candle to Palin's is ludicrous.

Please Republican party, find someone worthy of your support. Find someone that will speak for themselves and bring their own ideas to the table. Not someone who will just rehash what they heard on Limbaugh or O'Reilly. Not someone who was thrust into the spotlight and is just riding the wave. Eventually that wave will break and you will have nothing.

One last thing for Sarah. The phrase is 'Ass Backward' or 'Bass Ackward'. Not 'Back Assward'. The idea behind euphemisms is to avoid swearing. If you say 'Back Assward' you have still said the naughty word.