So despite promising myself a long break from all things related to Sarah Palin, I broke down and read Todd Purdum’s lengthy article about the Alaska governor and former Republican vice presidential candidate in the new issue of Vanity Fair. I won’t dwell on the article, which you can read for yourself here, but Purdum ponders worthy questions — “What does it say about the nature of modern American politics that a public official who often seems proud of what she does not know is not only accepted but applauded?” — while also writing an odd and puzzling paragraph about Palin’s “pheromonal reality.” Except for a nugget about Mark McKinnon, vice chairman of Austin’s Public Strategies, there is a whole lot of nothing new in Purdum’s article.
McKinnon enters the story when Sen. John McCain’s team, prepping an inattentive Palin for her Oct. 2 debate with Sen. Joe Biden, and fearing disaster, goes looking “for someone who could serve as a calming presence.” They find “Palin’s horse whisperer” in McKinnon:
“McKinnon had long admired McCain,” Purdum writes, “and had begun the Republican primary season helping him out — though warning that he would never work against Obama in the general election. But now McKinnon, whose role in helping prepare Palin has not been previously reported, and who declined to elaborate on it to V.F., changed his mind and quietly signed on. Mark Salter, McCain’s longtime aide, says that McKinnon was picked because ‘he’s got a lovely manner. You sort of want a guy who’s very easygoing, gives good advice, and doesn’t add to the natural nervousness.’ “
Palin, Purdum reports, “worked hard” getting ready for the debate, “and the results were adequate.” McKinnon, presumably, went back to not working against Barack Obama.
It’s hard to imagine Palin ever going beyond where she’s already gone. But who knows? She has “remarkable gut instincts about raw politics,” Purdum writes, as well as “the good fortune to have traction within a political party that is bereft of strong leadership, and whose rank and file often demands qualities other than knowledge, experience, and an understanding that facts are, as John Adams said, stubborn things.” Oh, and pheromones. Let’s not forget those.
UPDATE, 5:50 p.m. Friday: Say what you will about Sarah Palin, but apparently she is always going to get all “mavericky” on us. Her announcement today that she’s resigning as Alaska’s governor is a head scratcher. I would not have been surprised had she simply announced that she’s not running for re-election in 2010. But to resign after only a couple of years in office? Is she quitting out of frustration? Because of new ethics concerns? To escape blame for a weakening state economy? One thing’s certain; it’s a lot easier to fly around the country making tens of thousands of dollars giving speeches against this and that than it is to govern, which requires compromises and sometimes accepting that what you can get is good enough even if it’s not everything you want. I’m sure Palin’s supporters will spin her decision positively, but she sure looks done to me.