The September, 2009, issue of Vanity Fair featured a lengthy article about former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin which, not unexpectedly, painted her national election campaign for Vice President, her personal life, and her Gubernatorial exertions in a light that might be called unfavorable by a lefty such as myself; the same article might be called slanderous, or, possibly libelous by Governor Palin - depending on what the truth really is. The October, 2009, issue published some of the letters to the editor in response to Todd Purdum's article, one in particular disturbed me:
"I didn't even like Sarah Palin that much, but after reading Todd S. Purdum's article I'm crazy about her. I've never come across anything so vicious and cruel, sarcastic and unsupported."
Ronda Pullen, Dallas, Texas
In "Poetics" Aristotle states "Tragedy, then is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgatioon of these emotions." (2) While the play and the tragedy which has been the story of Sarah Palin is not yet completed, the striking part of the entire process, for me, has been watching this person slowly hang her career out to dry. Not in many years have the American people seen a person with a bright future turned into the laughable and decimated skeleton of a future which now remains.
"The plot , then, is the first principle, and, as it were, the soul of a tragedy..." (2). While nobody can predict the end of this tragedy, Sarah Palin is finished as a political force. Except in the same vein as a Rush Limbaugh, appealing to and offering advice to rabid and unteachable supporters of the extreme right, Sarah Palin is a tragic figure that is Oedipal scope and magnitude. The plot, however, still unfolds. The discursive practices of our political debate fascinate me in the same way coming alongside a major car accident does: I know there is suffering and tragedy present, but I just can't look away. I listen, I read, I watch, I am attracted and repelled in almost equal measure (favoring repulsion, slightly).
One may suppose that I feel some sympathy for Palin from the framing of my words, but nothing could be further from the truth; I am more than happy to see this politician removed from the world stage, if only temporarily; it is in the nature of the fall where I find myself feeling some sadness. The national stage in the United States is unforgiving, this is not unknown to anyone who has aspirations for national office, but there is a spitefulness and a cruelty that has been applied to Governor Palin's bid. This candidate was set out in the desert tied to a stake and left to dry out. Even her running mate could not distance himself from her quickly enough, once he found out that she could not debate, interview, or even speak coherently about any national or international policy. I do not feel sorry for Senator McCain or his staff - they had their chance; but just as I would not hesitate to walk up to a horse with a broken leg, draw my sidearm and shoot the horse, to end its suffering, so would I have liked to have seen the Palin horse put out of its misery; compassion is what we lack in politics today.
Ideological polarization and ad hominem rhetoric have become the rule. Tragedies like those seen in the rise and fall of Governor Palin are sad to see, but I am much more disturbed by the letter sent to Vanity Fair, has a new supporter of Palin been created by this article? How many more might have been created?
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I absolutely abhor Sarah Palin. The only political figure's tale that can remotely resemble Palin's fall from political prominence to laughing stock of the entire country is Dub-ya. It is pretty clear, after the fact, that the McCain team chose Palin because they thought she would 1) reach your average ("Joe the plumber") American and 2) offset Barack's historic potential as the first African American President with her attempt at being the first female VP. Apparently they never interviewed her themselves or else maybe they could have stopped this train wreck from happening. Although it isn't Shakespearean, Palin's story is certainly a tragedy.
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