"If Sarah Palin Weren't a Fanatic, I Might Feel Sorry For Her" blares the headline for Bonnie Erbe's June 30 blog post up at USNews.com. Gov. Palin joins blogger Michelle Malkin as a target of Erbe's rather catty disdain.
The PBS "To the Contrary" host and US News contributing editor alerted her readers of her antipathy for the former Republican vice presidential nominee in light of Todd Purdum's drive-by hit piece in Vanity Fair [see NB contributor Mike Sargent's excellent takedown of that here]:
Gov. Palin is a woman on a right-wing mission. She's clearly not ready for prime time. She's easy grist for any journalistic mill. If she weren't such a fanatic, I could feel sorry for her. But since she enjoys killing moose, wolves, and anything else in her rifle sight, I'll pass, thanks.
Erbe generally has been harsh on Palin, but once lauded the Alaska governor for admitting that for a very brief moment she considered aborting her youngest child Trig:
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin displayed one minute aspect of her personality that even I could take a shine to. Speaking last night to an anti-abortion rights dinner in Indiana, Gov. Palin said publicly that she considered having an abortion on that trip—not an easy admission, especially before such a judgmental group
[...]
I see this as brave on her part because when she mentioned she understood "what these women ... go through," that is precisely the problem with much of the anti-abortion rights movement. Many members don't understand or don't care, quite frankly, what women and girls with unplanned pregnancies do go through, except to the extent they want to try to persuade them to have children they're ill-equipped to raise. To go up against that lack of compassion, even though her audience knows she did decide to carry her pregnancy to term, shows Gov. Palin truly does understand what it's like.
The bottom line seems to be that for Erbe -- a radical feminist obsessed with abortion-on-demand and fearful of gun rights -- a popular, politically viable Gov. Sarah Palin is her worst nightmare.
In light of that, may I humbly suggest a campaign theme song for the governor: "Enter Sandman."
