The Palin Divide (and what I can't wait for in 2012)

I'd venture to guess that the divide over Palin in the GOP is related to education. The Nascar Dads want to nail her and the hockey/football/bull riding moms want to be her, while the think-tank and journalist elitists don't think she is qualified. I'd hate to be another elitist, but Fareed Zakaria hit the nail on the head with Palin: 

Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start.

I think that sounds about right. Admittedly my standards have dropped drastically over the last 8 years, but I don't think Palin is necessarily mentally uncapable of being president (per the job description of vice-president). If she had grown up in normalish area and been surrounded by some kind of intellectual establishment (even without participating in it), I think that she would have enough of a grasp of what was going on in the world for the elitists to feel more comfortable. Consider this: how would Bush's grasp of the world been if he had grown up in the backwoods of Mississippi and didn't have the family resume to land himself spots at Yale and Harvard Business School? I mean, Bush in 2000 was still pretty bad, but it wasn't a total national embarrassment. Palin's problem is that she is a stubborn Alaskan and had (up until the nomination) no interest in concerns outside Alaska. And to throw her out in the national spotlight with a VP pick? What the hell was McCain thinking?

As for the social conservatives who idolize her: the Palin family is essentially redneck royalty. Sarah is a hot mom. They brave the Alaskan chills to go moose hunting, fishing. Todd Palin is some kind of snowmobile race champion. They have tons of kids.  One kid got knocked up, baby forthcoming. They hate abortions. They hate liberals. They love small towns. Todd had some kind of involvement in a successionist party, although an admitted downer that it didn't involve some kind of gratutious overuse of the confederate flag.

So in this sense it is natural for them to become fixated with her. And these people constitute the base of the Republican party. Which leads me to my next point: assuming Obama wins this election (which looks damn likely), who here can't wait for.....

THE 2012 REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES!!! Seriously, this will be amazing! I have a strong feeling she will make a run -- Palin has the arrogance to think she belongs in the top spot in conjunction with the strong support of the raw GOP base and her rabid Obama hatred. What other cast members can we assume will be there? Mitt Romney, of course. He wouldn't miss the chance to be president unless Obama ends up being too popular, in which case he will wait until 2016. Huckabee? You bet he will be there. Ron Paul of course (though is age an issue with this guy yet?). Guiliani? Most probably, again hinging on Obama's popularity.

The outcome? The top Republicans will be forced to take on Palin and finally admit, assert, and explain that they think she is unqualified. Easy you say? This will not be the same Palin. Oh no, she will be immersing herself in national politics, actually reading the papers to see what goes on in the world. She will have an opinion to articulate. 

Imagine that. Palin 2.0, the GOP's worse nightmare: a complete trainwreck as a candidate but carrying a false image of electability based on her fervent conservative following.