Sarah Palin's Media Mockery Tour

By Alan Caruba

Watching the mobs of media folk chasing Sarah Palin’s bus resembles paparazzi chasing Lindsay Lohan more than anything related to serious politics in America. But, hey, if we were truly serious about politics, would we have elected Obama and Biden, or any of the other Leftwing loonies in Congress?

Fox News anchorette, Greta Van Susteran, hitched a ride with Sarah on a huge bus whose exterior is illustrated to demonstrate it is NOT a campaign bus, but just your typical family recreation vehicle as the Palin clan arrived in Washington, D.C., just in time for the Rolling Thunder motorcycle tribute to the nation’s fallen heroes.

Reportedly, Palin has not provided the mainstream media with an itinerary of her trip although we are told that she will head to Gettysburg at some point; probably right after having dined with—are you ready for this—Donald Trump.

While in Washington, she took her family to the National Archives to view the “foundation” documents on display. Something, frankly, every parent should do. My Father took me to the nation’s capital when I was a boy and we toured all the sites from the Lincoln Memorial to the Smithsonian. It’s not something one is likely to forget.

Palin, however, is beginning to sound like some windup doll where you pull the string and it spouts the same message over and over again. There’s no doubt that many on the Right welcome it, but at the same time it tends to sound trite after the fiftieth iteration.

I am among those who think that Palin will not take a run at the presidency. I think this bus tour has layers of reasons that include demonstrating her political viability, her potential kingmaker status, her “brand” to sell future books, and to prove she can draw a crowd anywhere in ways that the current crop of candidates cannot.

It is no accident she will be in New Hampshire the same day Mitt Romney officially announces his candidacy and you can imagine how thrilled he is about that! It also demonstrates the early lack of enthusiasm for most of the Republican field of candidates. That is not unusual. Things don’t begin to heat up until the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries.

Palin, though, despite all she has been through since John McCain picked her from the anonymity of being Alaska’s Governor, still cannot handle even softball questions. She can deliver a speech to audiences eager to hear all that good stuff about the Constitution, the Founding Fathers, and conservative values, but there is little indication, as Brit Hume, a Fox News analyst, recently observed, that she has “schooled” herself in the greater global issues of our times.

In the meantime, she has got the usual media mob trailing her bus around, intoxicated by the carbon monoxide fumes, and desperate to get a sound bite. It is Palin’s revenge for the way they normally savage her.

It is her Media Mockery Tour.

For my part, the notion of a President Palin borders on farce. It’s a lot like the Broadway myth, “You’re going out a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star!” The 2008 campaign made Palin an instant star.

Everything she has done and said since then has maintained that status, but it is a theatrical term, not a political one. The media, Left and Right, is fascinated with her and she has coined that fascination with bestselling books, a television travel series, and well-paid speaking engagements; nothing wrong with that.

But President? Get real.

© Alan Caruba, 2011