What Palin weathered was horrific.
But she also was part of her downfall with her decision first to resign before the end of her first term as governor and then to go the reality TV cashing in route rather than continuing to burnish her policy chops on the national level.
Outwardly at least Todd seemed to be something of an emotional anchor for her, but I think he also culturally helped to keep her and her kids from rising out of a dysfunctional working class culture that also kept pulling them down.
He was her childhood sweetheart from a very limited world.
And I too had the opportunity to attend such a private screening, with Bannon in attendance speaking on her and his film. But enough about Bannon has come out since to make me really wonder if he was another glommer on, looking to use her for his own populist-deplorable infiltrating purposes.
That is an excellent point in rebuttal.
I, too, was disappointed when she chose not to continue in public service like that.
Perhaps she knew she had lurking issues with her daughter (who was promiscuous), or with her son (who has anger issues), or she needed to raise her special needs child.
In any case, she did raise expectations and then failed to follow through on them for whatever reasons. She did extend whatever coattails she had by endorsing Tea Party candidates while she could, but I think the political capital that she banked has not kept up with the cost of living in today's political atmosphere.
That doesn't mean that she can't mount a comeback... if Mark Sanford thinks he can, so can Sarah Palin!
-PJ
a) Palin was a very well-read, self-educated person. She was not as ‘physically’ well-traveled as her parents, but the mere fact that they were avid travelers (and teachers) says something about the kind of innate curiosity she was raised with. Also, maybe you’ve been to Alaska — I also have. And I am aware of how actually international it is (I remember meeting with Koreans and eating at a Korean restaurant there in the late 90s) and diverse even in terms of having a sizable native population compared to the ‘lower 48.’
b) In her dealing with oil companies, she had constant exposure to international realities and she knew (and stood up to) the likes of former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of ExoonMobil before any of us in the public knew who he even was. (He’s mentioned in her book ‘Going Rogue.’)
c) As stated elsewhere on the thread: Gov. Palin had to resign because she could not financially afford to fight off the frivolous lawsuits thrown her away (as Trump would have been able to do...with the best lawyers at that) and as governor in AK, did not have the same legal immunity as a sitting President does.
d) Not only did she not have legal immunity, but even pre-McCain, the AK State GOP was against her as she took their most powerful figure (Frank Murkowski, RINO Senator Lisa Murkowski’s father) out of office. Yes, she beat an entrenched *REPUBLICAN* for higher office, not Democrat. And without her own party backing her...
e) I realize that not everybody here followed her career prior to the veep nomination, but some of us did and plus there is literature by Alaskans and others out there who profiled the early rise of Palin — and Todd’s presence loomed large in the key decisions Sarah made and even in the dealings she had to maneuver through while in office. He’s no dummy. And people’s comments here are proof that the media rather than reality has shaped the perspectives of people even sympathetic to them. That’s the power of the media in setting the narrative.
f) Finally, upon leaving office Governor Palin was arguably the most instrumental figure in the Tea Party movement and setting the stage for MAGA — her endorsements catapulting then little known figures like Rand Paul and Nikki Haley into front-runner status, her ‘death panels’ comment (referring to govt. rationing) on Facebook forever rocking the national discourse surrounding Obamacare, and she fought tooth and nail for all our Congressional gains in 2010 — permanently impeding the very worst of Obama’s legislative aspirations.
WE owe her a THANKS.