When Will We Find Out Who The Real Sarah Palin Is-- And How?

Roland and I were in a supermarket today. He doesn't follow politics as assiduously as I do. After viewing the magazine rack at the checkout stand he had a different take on Sarah Palin than anyone else I know. Roland's in his early 30s and looking for a new girlfriend. Sometimes he uses online dating services. He said that occasionally women with a psychotic look in their eyes-- someone, he said, "really disturbed who might burn your house down if she got mad"-- puts her picture up. He says he takes one look and skips to the next entry. And that's what he says he saw staring back at him from the cover of... I don't remember if it was the National Enquirer ("Sarah Palin's Dark Secrets!"), US Weekly ("John McCain's Vice President Sarah Palin: BABIES, LIES & SCANDAL), or People ("Sarah Palin's Family Drama"). And I don't know anyone who reads these magazines, although I do know they have huge circulations. Are they going to turn her into some kind of a tragic heroine? Or make the readers think she is a sympathetic character who has no business being a heartbeat away from the presidency? Mostly they're read by white women of modest means who didn't graduate college. In fact in the case of US Weekly 73% are women; 75% are white and the median age is 33. A typical People person is female (85%) whose age is 38, lives in a household with a $72,000 income and is more likely than not (57%) to be employed full time. Nearly 8.5 million people read the National Enquirer and 5.5 million (66%) of them are women. The median age is 46.6 and the median household income is just under $45,000.

Obama's lead during the convention period has held up and now people are starting to get to know who Sarah Palin is (and that includes, of course, John McCain). McCain is keeping her away from legitimate media interviews that could show her as an extremist or as someone who doesn't know anything about the stuff national leaders are supposed to know about. Instead their strategy is to paint her as a martyr and a victim of the "angry left's" anger. Yet people in Alaska who seem to know her well are getting out a frightening message about what kind of a person and leader Sarah Palin is.

Until the Double Talk Express feels she's ready to meet America, we'll just get gossip, melodrama, conjecture, and speeches written by Inside the Beltway professionals about what an outsider she is. Don't expect to see her sitting down for a chat on any of the TV news shows today. So... here's a little video you can watch if your skin crawls when you listen to Lindsey Graham lisping his way through another canned interview that says nothing at all. It grapples with a question more and more Americans are demanding an answer to: Is McCain Palin's bitch?




UPDATE: THE BLOOM IS OFF THE ROSE ALREADY?

This morning's L.A. Times posits that Palin's appeal to working-class women may be limited. "For many of these critical swing voters," offers Time's writers Faye Fiore and Peter Wallsten of voters in the tabloid demographic in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, "economic interests trump any admiration of the Alaska governor's maternal grit, and some are repelled by her sarcastic jabs at Obama."

Trish Heckman, a 49-year-old restaurant cook and disappointed Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter, watched last week as the country's newest political star made her explosive debut.

She followed the news when John McCain introduced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate, paid attention to the raging debate over her qualifications, even tuned in to watch her dramatic speech at the Republican convention.

But when it came down to an issue Heckman really cares about-- sending a daughter to college on $10.50 an hour-- her desire to see a woman reach the White House took a back seat to her depleted savings account.

"I wanted Hillary to win so bad, but I saw Sarah, and it just didn't work for me," said Heckman, taking a break in the empty courtyard of J. Paul's restaurant in a downtown struggling to revive. "I have no retirement. Obama understands it's the economy. He knows how we live."

...Interviews with some two dozen women here after Palin's convention speech found that these voters were not swayed by the fiery dramatic speeches or compelling personal biographies that marked both the Republican and Democratic conventions. Instead, they were thinking about the price of milk -- nearly $5 a gallon -- or the healthcare coverage that many working families here cannot afford.

Even if they admire Palin's attempt to juggle political ambition, an infant son with Down syndrome and a pregnant unwed daughter, these women say that maternal grit is not enough to win their votes.

Waitress Judy Artice, "Miss Judy," as she is known at Glisan's roadside diner, declared Palin "the perfect candidate" after watching her Wednesday speech. That said, Artice had already decided that her vote would go to the first candidate who mentioned gasoline prices.

"And-- I'll be danged-- it was Obama," Artice, 46, said between servings of liver and onions during the lunch rush.