All things considered ...
Goew. Sarah Palin, die Republikeinse Party se popster, het ‘n nasionale verleentheid vir die Amerikaners geword. Palinisme vervang Bush isme vinnig en haar antwoorde in onderhoude is so vreemd dat konserwatiewe vra dat sy haar “om haar land se onthalwe” as sen. John McCain se kandidaat as visepresident onttrek.
Die afwagting vir die debat tussen Palin en sen. Joe Biden dié week is enorm, maar nie net oor haar gewildheid nie – baie Amerikaners wil hoor wat sy volgende gaan kwytraak. Haar antwoord in net haar tweede onderhoud in Amerika op CBS oor hoekom Alaska se grens met Rusland haar enige kennis van dié land gee, het Amerika aan die giggel.
“As Poetin sy kop lig en die VSA se lugruim betree, waarheen gaan hulle? Na Alaska. Dit is reg oorkant die grens. Dit is van Alaska dat ons moet seker maak dat ‘n ogie gehou word op hierdie magtige nasie, Rusland, want hulle is reg daar en hulle is reg langs ons staat.”
CNN se kommentator Jack Cafferty het die onderhoud “'n ramp” genoem. Hy het ná Palin se antwoord oor die ekonomiese reddingspakket gesê: “As John Mc Cain wen, sal dié vrou een 72-jarige se hartklop weg daarvan wees om die president van die VSA te wees. En as dit jou nie ’n helse skrik op die lyf jaag nie, dan moet dit.”
Die Burger | Palin se onkunde laat VSA bloos
We may have political problems in Africa but, hell, at least we try to tackle them as adults.
OK, forget I said that.
On Tuesday, Die Burger's pre-debate billboards shouted Palin net 'n grap (Palin is just a joke), a pretty fair assessment of GOP VP-nominee Sarah Palin and the piss-poor U.S. electoral charade we've suffered so far.
The reason I'm using Die Burger's article is its proximate use of the word verleentheid, meaning — as I understand it, "embarrassment". Like it or not, Palin is both a joke and an international embarrassment.
"Cringeworthy" is the word used by the U.S. media, and it's appropriate. Who can wait for her to be returned, like an American Idol who's outlived its five minutes of fame, to hang in the props cupboard from which she was so unceremoniously pulled?
Reflecting a schizoid society, she and McCain do a good job resurrecting memories of both Leslie Nielsen and the ghastly Police Academy series.
There's a puerile side to this as well. Palin effortlessly evokes a sense of shame I suspect many kids experience when they suspect 'adults' deem them to have done 'wrong'. They, and those offended, seek their return to the closet as soon as possible.
So while the Alaskan governor remains a thoughtless, self-serving joke foisted by John McCain on an unsuspecting globe a month ago, Die Burger highlights and personalises Palin's transcendent "cringeworthiness".
In short, she evokes the infantile. And makes us squirm (especially as the media persists in pretending to take her seriously).
While that might not be an altogether bad thing, it's certainly no qualification for the position she seeks to fill. As Die Burger points out, the only solution is for her to step down.
Die konserwatiewe rubriekskrywer Kathleen Parker het in die National Review verklaar Palin is “uit haar liga”.
McCain kan nie haar onttrek nie, want dan gaan die konserwatiewe in opstand kom en sy oordeel bevraagteken word. Daar is net een oplossing en dit is dat sy self sal moet bedank.
Die Burger | Palin se onkunde laat VSA bloos
Postscript: You can find a transcript of the Biden—Palin debate here and succinct commentary here. Both reinforce the view espoused above.
