Vanity Fair: Palin’s world of ‘fear, anger, and illusion’

Sarah Palin’s political road show has a new spotlight, thanks to a new article in Vanity Fair, starkly revealing two faces of her personality: a political iron fist and an issue of ever-increasing secrecy as she readies herself for a fall media blitz.

A new article in Vanity Fair, by Michael Joseph Gross, paints a phantasmagorical picture where politics, right wing media, religion, a questionable sex appeal, delusion, and noise combine to create a sad wake that Sarah Palin gleefully tromps ahead of. Indeed, the article delves deeply into the cacophony her audience supports, noting those supporters wear their resentments like “badges of honor.” Her rock star-like explosion on the national political scene is only two years old, a fact traced back to John McCain’s ill-perceived idea that a hockey mom from Alaska could help land him in the White House. Back then most residents of the lower 48 were asking: “Sarah who?” That quickly morphed into an overnight sensation fueled by “a litany of untruths and half-truths,” the article notes. “A small and shrinking number” of people wanting to protect her is based on loyalty or because they believe hanging onto her skirt will help keep their options open in the world of dirty politics. Or because “they fear she will exact revenge, as she has been known to do.” Gross labels the Palin sensation an “astonishing phenomenon.” He notes that while hundreds of people have been more than willing to talk openly about a diverse group of national political candidates including Bill Clinton, Al Gore, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, “people button their lips and slink away” when the discussion turns to Palin. She is “a closed book and a constant noisemaker,” the article points out. In her role as an ex-governor and full-time marketer, Palin makes herself available as a news item “almost every day” but does so on her terms, keeping control of her appearances, choosing her delivery settings and her audience, all while keeping reporters at bay. And delivering “canned commentary” for Fox News, a job reported to include a $1 million annual contract. To prepare and complete the article, Gross followed Palin’s “road show” this spring and summer through four midwestern states, speaking with whoever would make themselves available, by inducing them “to talk under whatever conditions of anonymity they imposed.” That group included longtime Palin friends and associates, political strategists, hotel staff, hair stylists, shopkeepers, and high-school friends of Palin’s children. While their comments include a detailed version of the subject, there is also the short and simple version of her: “Anywhere you peel back the skin of Sarah Palin’s life, a sad and moldering strangeness lies beneath.” Palin likens herself as the North Star, a fact known to front desk clerks at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Wichita, Kansas, as well as to hair stylists and make-up artists. The North Star is a part of the Alaska state song, and appears on its state flag. Fairbanks is situated in a region called the North Star Borough. Gross suggests she might use it as her Secret Service code name should she envision herself presidential material. Palin’s high-priced speaking contract “demands deluxe hotel rooms, first-class air travel, and bottles of water with bendable straws.” He notes Palin once yelped: “I want my straws! I want ‘em bent!” Palin is preparing for her fall media blitz, a campaign that includes a TV show - Sarah Palin’s Alaska, set to premier in November on the TLC network and one which she is being paid $2 million - and a new book, America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag, which will be published the following week. The article notes Palin’s strength is due in large part to identity politics “pitched with moralistic topspin.” While she appears “warm and effusive in public,” her private persona is “indifferent or angry.” Gross notes a comment from a one-time gubernatorial aide to Palin: “The people who have worked for her -- they’re broken, used, stepped on, down in the dust.” The article points out Palin's severe mood swings, saying her tirades during McCain’s presidential campaign were often displays of boiling anger. Witnessing her behavior of lashing out at the slightest provocation, screaming at staff members, and throwing objects, an aide once asked Palin’s husband, Todd, if that was her typical behavior. According to the article, Todd responded: “You just got to let her go through it... Half the stuff that comes out of her mouth she doesn’t even mean.” First doubting the severity of her mood swings descriptions, Gross heard “corroborating tales of outbursts” dating back to her days as mayor of Wasilla and even before that. Gross reports that, according to a Palin friend: “As soon as she enters her property and the door closes, even the insects in that house cringe. She has a horrible temper, but she has gotten away with it because she is a pretty woman.” Elaborating on that point, the friend continued: “Once, while Sarah was preparing for a city-council meeting, she said ‘I’m gonna put on one of my push-up bras so I can get what I want tonight.’ That’s how she rolls.” Meanwhile, the Tea Party dreams. Gross also points out Palin’s public voice as “an instrument of great versatility,” a voice that, within moments, can “turn from kind to hateful, rational to unhinged.” Her messaging strategy includes help from The Weekly Standard’s editor, William Kristol, and Fred Malek, an aide to former Presidents Richard Nixon and George H. W. Bush. Others within that small circle of voice shapers include lobbyist Randy Scheunemann and lawyer Kim Daniels. All told, the article presents a tale of delusional grandeur, a fact - based on America’s track record of presidential material over the last 30 years - may convince even the harshest of critics that Palin is, indeed, qualified to run for president of the United States. With a political war chest in excess of $13 million, and growing due to the fact she rarely gives out interviews without monetary compensation, there are those hoping she will do just that. Despite repeated requests, according to Gross, neither Palin nor her staff would provide commentary for Gross’s article.