When I edited a book of Sarah Palin quotes back in 2011, I was impressed by a her eloquence. Really. Most of her best stuff came before 2009—before she was radicalized.
I was in the convention hall the night she delivered her 2008 Republican National Convention speech. It’s still one of the best political speeches I’ve ever been in attendance for, and I’ve heard a lot.
It’s really hard to believe the same person who delivered that convention speech in 2008 gave last night’s Donald Trump endorsement speech.
In case you missed it, it was a hodgepodge of one-lines, rhymes, now-obscure references, and non sequiturs. Go ahead and read it. I dare you.
I have a weird theory: Sarah Palin has become an aging hippie mom. And I’m not even talking about that outfit she was wearing. Think of it. All her focus on fighting the power—fighting the establishment. Seriously, Palin’s rhetoric isn’t that far removed from the hippie counterculture’s talk about…the establishment. How long before she occupies an administration building?
You know what I’m talking about, right, man? / The permanent political class and their cheap labor scam. (My version of her speech)
At one point, I wasn’t sure if I was listening to Mama Grizzly or Mountain Girl. And then, of course, there was the fact that her speech was essentially slam poetry.
What I’m tryin’ to say is, Palin’s changed, man / And Trump’s “going rogue — left and right, man.” (An actual quote from Palin’s speech.)