"Reconsideration' of Palin by Washington Post masks the ‘walking middle finger’

Vanity Fair writer T.A. Frank calls for a “reconsideration” of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in a long piece he wrote for the Washington Post Magazine.

Frank deals almost entirely with Palin’s greatest hits Outside in 2008 and 2009, mentioning those years 18 times in his “reconsideration.”

“If we can tell a human story of Sarah Palin, maybe people can wish her victory or defeat instead of vengeful triumph or destruction,” Frank lectures his readers, suggesting that we really need to find things we can agree on.

In writing of Palin’s 2009 decision to quit her job as governor, Frank tries to elevate her lame excuse into a noble decision.

“Cynics have said Palin chose to resign as governor in the summer of 2009 because she wanted to grab a book deal and run. But the book deal was already signed. Maybe Palin believed, as she implied in a meandering statement, that she was no longer good for Alaska,” he wrote.

But when Palin draped herself in the flag for her July 3, 2009 announcement, she claimed to be quitting to pursue a “higher calling” when she abandoned her post.

The higher calling was to be free of all the work required of the governor and to pursue the rich life of a celebrity.

"I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is unconventional and not so comfortable," Palin said.

"Independence Day is so significant to me it's sort of a way for me to illustrate that I want freedom for Alaskans to progress, and for me personally,” she said.

Her higher calling claim met with derision, prompting the Palin PR machine to position her once more as the victim of meanies.

"How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country," Palin was supposed to have said.

"And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make."

Even Rich Lowry, the guy who claimed that Palin was winking at him on TV, said no one believed her claim that she had to quit for the sake of Alaska.

“It's just too absurd. Palin mentioned Alaska or Alaskans 34 times in a 17-minute statement that must be a new record in the history of protesting too much.”

Frank concluded his tortured reconsideration with this bit of nonsense:

“On March 11, 2020, the reality show “The Masked Singer” featured a performer in a fuzzy pink-and-blue ensemble of dress, boots and giant bear head who rapped Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” famous for its opening line, “I like big butts.” The judges, whose job it was to attempt to guess the star’s identity, were stumped, although one suggested Tina Fey. When the singer took off the bear head and revealed herself to be Palin, jaws dropped. “It’s unity,” Palin said. “It’s something our country needs right now, too.” Was she wrong?

Was she wrong?

Better to ask, “Was Frank wrong?”

In his attempt to present Palin as Ms. Unification, Frank neglected to mention what Palin said about why she had chosen to go on national TV in a bear costume and try to sing.

She told the host of the show she did it as “kind of a walking middle finger to the haters out there,” Palin said, not as an attempt to bring unity to the country.

At the least, the Washington Post magazine could quote her in context and correct the record.

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