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Voices From The Flats: Nick Jans Deconstructs Sarah Palin’s Outdoor “Skills”

Last week we learned TLC would not extend Sarah Palin’s Alaska television show. Nick Jans, a writer who lives in Juneau, put perfectly why the news would come with a sigh of relief. He has given his permission to repost his article that ran in USAToday last week. Nick Jans’ latest book, The Glacier Wolf, is available at nickjans.com.

WHAT PALIN’S SHOW SAYS ABOUT US:

Sarah Palin’s Alaska, a TLC miniseries, has been quite a spectacle.

We’ve watched Mama Grizzly mush a dog sled across a glacier; stalk caribou on the tundra; paddle raging white water; and match her frontierswoman sturdiness against Kate Gosselin’s urban diva shtick. In the lulls between action, the ex-governor gushed about family values and her love for Alaska, and threw political elbows. Love or loathe her, this series seems a huge success at projecting the essence of Sarah to the world. And without that myth, what’s left?

However, thousands of Alaskans hold a different view. Those of us who’ve actually lived off the land are less than impressed by Palin’s televised exploits and, more important, by what they tell us about her. Tentative, physically inept, and betraying an even more awkward unfamiliarity with the land and lifestyle that’s supposedly her birthright, Palin deconstructs her own myth before our eyes.

To be sure, packaging and style have often trumped substance in American democracy. From the days of literal stump speeches and catchy but empty political slogans such as “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!” politicians have vaulted into power on the shoulders of charisma and sound bite, projected to the widest possible audience by the best available media. Indeed, Barack Obama’s own ascendance had less to do with his scant political résumé than his ability to light up a teleprompter. You could argue that Palin’s mercurial, tweet-propelled rise is just the latest manifestation of a time-honored tradition. However, Sarah Palin’s Alaska seems to have ushered in a new and troubling era in our democracy: the point where a burgeoning cultural fascination with reality TV and celebrity worship intersected mainstream politics, and the three merged into one.

Since orchestrated reality is about all anyone can expect from Palin — who is uniquely unavailable in unfiltered form to the “lamestream media” — we have no choice but to glean what we can from the offered narrative. Palin is presented as the embodiment of The Great Land itself — tough, unpretentious and aw-shucks alluring. But as she ushers us from bear viewing to bonking halibut, the Palin that emerges just doesn’t live up to her backdrop. You don’t have to be a mountain man to see past the thin veil of smoke and mirrors.

Guided ‘adventures’

From the opening credits, Palin’s not actually leading, as the show’s stirring theme song (Follow Me There) suggests. Instead, she’s tucked far under the wings of professional guides, friends, or family members — in a curious subtext, almost all males.

They instruct and coddle her along, at one point literally hauling Palin uphill on the end of a rope. Even post-production editing can’t hide a glaring, city-slicker klutziness.

Most of the show’s escapades bear scant resemblance to the activities of most outdoors-oriented Alaskans. In fact, about half of the Palins’ “adventures” are guided trips aimed at mass-market tourists. You won’t find many Alaskans on those theme park rides, which require no skills beyond a pulse and the ability to open your wallet.

Of course, there are sequences that feature Palin tagging along with working Alaskans. However, posing for hands-on scenes guided by loggers or commercial fishermen (including her husband, who’s obviously a top notch outdoorsman) doesn’t help. Alaskans would be a lot more impressed if she proved she could gut a caribou or set a gill net on her own — skills at which many bush-wise Alaskan women excel — and still keep those immaculately manicured French nails intact.

The caribou hunt episode provides a centerpiece of the series’ excesses, as well as Palin’s ineptitude. According to script, it’s Palin’s turn to replenish the family’s dwindling freezer with wild meat — from an Alaska point of view, all good. But the logistics of the trip defy common sense. Instead of hunting within reasonable distance of home, her party flies 600-plus miles to a remote camp in multiple chartered aircraft. This isn’t subsistence but the sort of experiential safari popular among high-end, non-resident sport hunters. For all that, Palin ends up with a skinny juvenile cow caribou. Boned out, we’re talking maybe 100 pounds of meat, at a staggering cost per pound.

Faced with that hapless animal, this darling of Second Amendment supporters nervously asks her dad whether the small-caliber rifle kicks. Then, even more astoundingly, her father repeatedly works the bolt and loads for her as she misses shot after shot before scoring a kill on the seventh round — enough bullets for a decent hunter to take down at least five animals. (Given Palin’s infamous tweet “Don’t retreat, reload,” we can infer she plans to keep her dad close by.) Later, Palin blames the scope, but any marksman would recognize the flinching, the unsteady aim and poor shot selection — and the glaring ethical fault of both shooter and gun owner if the rifle wasn’t properly sighted. Instead of some frontier passion play, we’re rendered a dark comedy of errors.

Why it matters

This would all be laughable, harmless television if that’s where this story ended. Yet this show and its veneered presentation of Palin is sadly emblematic of American politics today.

Sarah Palin’s Alaska is just back story rather than substance. But when our candidates can also produce poll-tested commercials, trot out ghost-written websites and deliver telepromptered speeches — all financed by unlimited special interest money — Americans are essentially casting votes for fictional characters. This is not an indictment of one Sarah Palin. It’s an indictment of the system.

How’s that for reality?

Comments

comments

Comments
79 Responses to “Voices From The Flats: Nick Jans Deconstructs Sarah Palin’s Outdoor “Skills””
  1. Itchybiscuit says:

    First time commenter… Thanks for the heads up on all things Palin, Mudflats. My tuppence (from Scotland) is that a person who claims to be all that Palin claims to be would have educated their audience as they took the journey with her. Stuff like – ‘This is the brown bears habitat, notice how they do this or that’. Or, ‘Did you notice that plant over there, it’s great for insect bites (fill in your own use), etc’. All she did was ‘Ooh and Aah’ as if it were the first time she was seeing the wildlife/countryside laid out for her consumption. She reminded me of a townie let loose in the wilds for the first time. Not a great advertisement for Alaska, I’m afraid.

  2. JUST A THOUGHT says:

    SARAH WHO? SARAH WHO? UNEMPLOYED! HILLBILLY/WHITE TRASH!
    NOT WORTHY OF T.V. OR MEDIA COVERAGE. A PUPPET FOR POWER
    BROKERS. A CHEAP BRAND THAT HAS NO SHELF LIFE. NOT QUALIFIED
    FOR ANY PUBLIC OFFICE. QUITER! SARAH WHO? SARAH WHO?

  3. Gasman says:

    Ruh roh. Nick Jans just jumped to the top of Snowdrift Snooki’s enemies list.

  4. kiksadi50 says:

    palin’s latest public speaking debacle in which she painted herself as the real victim of the AZ. massacre, & relegating the people who were shot and or killed to the background may have finally sealed her doom as a PODUS candidate.I read she is now going to be interviewed by sean hannity in a last ditch effort to regain her stature with the lame stream republicans who are presently avoiding her like the plague.Kharma sara,what goes aroung comes around.

  5. Andy says:

    I enjoyed this piece, but I wish writers would cease comparing Obama with Palin. Palin does not have the education, the intellectual power, or the understanding of politics possessed by Obama. We should also be careful to consider historical facts. A number of presidents had what one might call a “scant political record” or little experience. Let’s name some of the great ones that fit this description: John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, and our first president, George Washington. I think Obama is acquitting himself quite nicely in the position. We cannot really know what presidents mean for our democracy or have accomplished without a retrospective view.

  6. Vicki Penwell says:

    Well done. You have captured exactly what I’m been trying to say. She has created her own myth and the TLC show just provided the video. Thanks also for speaking up about her shooting skills. I didn’t watch any of the shows but I did see clips from that episode. It was embarrassing. Not only was it not a depiction of subsistence hunting, it wasn’t even a good depiction of any of the Alaskan hunters that I know.

  7. Henry Porter says:

    Excellent lines in this one, Nick. Alas, you know the media is the message. She is a product like cigarettes & unhealthy food. You’re asking them to open their minds along with their wallets.

  8. Bob Benner says:

    Well written… and unfortunately for America, also accurate… I’m just waiting for the day the Next President is elected because they won the big money on Cash Cab…

  9. TrueBlueGirl says:

    Thanks, Mr. Jans, for a thoughtful and well written analysis. You rock!

  10. Bobbie says:

    Snooki-nanookie is at it again today. Extremely inappropriate speech.

  11. Dear Quittybritches and Dickhead Cheney obviously get their marksmanship from the same person. I remember a mini-series broadcast on Public tele called 1915,which was about some teens in Australia heading off to fight the Kaiser. At bootcamp,their drill instructor for weapons told his charges that the safest thing in the war would be a German soldier,with the way these kids shoot. Anyway,I personally sent two e-mails to TLC before the show was filmed,suggesting a political figure that sends out political ads with crosshairs on them probably wouldn’t be the best person to have a show on TLC. I got standard replies to both e-mails,the obligatory thank you for your concern and blah,blah,blah. I am happy I took a couple minutes out of my life to send them.

  12. susanthe says:

    Sarah’s no Dick Proenekke, that’s for sure. I may be a lowly east coast liebrul, but camping, as I understood it, did not involve vacuum cleaners or giant motor homes.

    Thank you Nic Jans, for an impeccable look at the Palin product placement. All it takes is money. I fear that with the adoring media (already in place) and enough money, she could be elected president. Hell, with enough money, Charlie Manson could be elected president in this country.

    • jojobo1 says:

      Good God lets hope not! Lets all pray that God slams this door in her face like he did the VP she wanted so badly.

  13. ed says:

    Maybe the tweet should have read, “Don’t retreat, have your daddy reload.”

  14. Steve McKechnie says:

    Great article. Special interest money building images out of nothing hasn’t always been such a failure to society. The main difference is Mickey Mouse wasn’t scared of race, religion, education, honesty, the neighbour, competition, bears,

  15. dreamgirl says:

    PBS, the Nature series, has a wonderful video about wolverines and Alaska is featured quite prominently. It also shows “real” Alaskan outdoorsmen and women, inspired passionate people who care about wildlife and know a thing or two about how to survive in brutal conditions just tracking the beautiful wolverine. Please give it a watch and enjoy.

    It showcases, yet again, just what a complete idiot SP showcases herself to be.

  16. Susabelle says:

    A tariffic article..Sumed up the whole Palin farce perfectly. I just heard she wrote (?) a statement about being blamed for the shooting in AZ..Why is she hiding? The big old Grizzly woman should just put her face out there and explain herself..Yeah and my little dog will talk! As I have said..She is just an empty shell of a person.

  17. Valley_Independent says:

    Is any one else sad that TLC didn’t do a show about Alaska with real Alaskans engaged in the activities and narrating? There are a lot of parts of the state I don’t have experience in, and a lot of activities I haven’t gotten to yet. That would have been a show worth watching instead of Sarah-Palin-Sees-Alaska-for-the-Very-First-Time or however it is that Gryphen says it.

  18. bmccarthy17 says:

    I’d be curious to know if there is a back story to this about Palin being difficult to work with
    while they were shooting the series.

  19. velma says:

    My sister said Palin reminded her of that shiny faced puppet on Mr. Rogers neighborhood. I think Palin would be just good for laughs if we Americans didn’t know ourselves so well. We’re afraid she’ll end up President. Then we’re afraid she’ll be exactly like Hitler. She shows all the symptoms. We know our country is divided in many ways that could just shatter us if someone like Palin becomes President. Hell, we let George W. Bush trample all over our rights in the name of safety, and hardly anyone protested because we were bamboozled into being afraid of being called unpatriotic. It doesn’t help that we Americans have been brainwashed by televised bullshit of Fox news, reality shows, and propoganda. Are we even America? We just hate that Palin might prove otherwise. Are there trustworthy leaders? We know there could be if we the people just kept them within the constitutional guidelines, and have them quit warping the system to their advantage. But in some ways we have sold out to the powers that be too and we know that while we talk about all the things Palin is and stands for, we can’t but mouth our distain because we have weakness for their products. They are the devil and Sarah could very well be their antichrist.

  20. Kelly Walters says:

    Today on the Ed Show, Mike Papantonio from Ring of Fire radio, said of Palin, and I attempted to quote as accurately as I could: “Palin was like a political Frankenstein created by a handful of billionaire inheritance babies…Who misjudged her! They thought certain things that just aren’t true. They thought women would love Sarah Palin. They needed to create a Sarah Palin to be like Hillary Clinton or Margaret Thatcher-without the polish and without worldliness and sophistication…”

    “…the more you know about Sarah Palin, the less you like her. Hatefulness, her dollar’dness, her lack of sophistication. These elite Neo Cons have a billion dollar investment and are panicked”

    Pap was in fine form today!

  21. auni says:

    Wow, that Nick Jans fella’ can sure put pen to paper can’t he? He really nailed it. I lived in Alaska for years, have a son who flew tourists up for dog sled rides on the glaciers, have an ex who worked on the pipeline, etc. I had a real life there. I watched bits of Sarah’s show and realized she was doing things well heeled tourists would do on a visit to Alaska. I thought, “Well, thats OK I guess”. But no it wasn’t — Nick explained it– she is a fictional charactor! That would be OK too, except she is presenting herself as the real thing. We can’t put fictional charactors in office and expect to have things go well for this great country. Thank you Nick.

  22. jwa says:

    Unfortunately, I saw a comment about the cancellation of her show that suggested it was to free her up to run in 2012. I still can’t decide whether to be glad or very, very afraid. My problem is that I have no faith in the intelligence of too many of the American public. I am afraid that on the campaign, anything could happen.

  23. Millie says:

    Once again – Palin lies about her capabilities…when she ran for VP there was a photo of her w/a gun and she was not holding it incorreclty which was noticed by many of us in Alaska. She is not and never was a hunter as she has projected herself to be!

    That is why she is falling from grace (FINALLY)! She is a liar and complete fraud.

    • Millie says:

      Oops – ‘she was not holding the gun ‘correctly’ vs the way I wrote it on line two above. Sorry!

  24. North of the Range says:

    Shannyn, thanks for posting the Nick Jans piece here. But could somebody please remove the gleefully glib guppy photo that’s accompanying it? The image is rather painful after the events of the last few days.

    Thanks.

    • beth says:

      North of the Range — but isn’t it totally appropriate? Isn’t the complete disconnect totally how Ms QuittyPants reacts to events? For that spot-on (to me, at least) recognition of $Ps La-La Land ‘brain’ workings, alone, the picture is perfect. Leastwise, that’s how I see it. beth.

      • North of the Range says:

        You’re right that it captures the disconnect, but it still almost physically hurts to see it. At least, that’s my visceral reaction to it right now.

        Maybe I just want her to leave my consciousness entirely, starting with with this photo.

  25. Polarbear says:

    The water has been poured on the witch.

  26. Deb says:

    Even though I visit here almost daily, I haven’t commented on here in quite a bit, only when the events happening in this country push me to frustration…I do come here to vent, as it were. Such is such a time and ok…guess I’m feeling really snarky tonight…but would like to say to the queen of snark, as only she could say – How’s that hatey shootey thing workin out for ya?

  27. Ndjinn says:

    I have never seen the show, but I have seen the spectal. I was volunteering at the governors picnic the day before she strode down. Walked right past me at the end to jump in her SUV for the ride ti Fairbanks. To my suprise she grabed my hand and gave it a shake wht a “thank you”, if that wasn’t enough a relative of a friend snap a photo of it ( not knowing I was friends with her niece).

    What was that, I still don’t know. I even got a thank you note from her (mass produced for all of us volunteers)

    It was a bit like meeting a villain, a normal person so misdirected from inside their head and from those with their own agenda. but unlike Lex Luthor or Agent Smith, I feel sorry for her, yes she damages us all but she’s so hollow, I don’t think she gets joy from normal things. Sun on your face, toes in a cold stream….. Just what will be her next move, plan & hustles.

  28. Baker's Dozen says:

    I’m no great outdoorswoman. But I cross country ski, kayak, fish, and snowmobile better than she does, and my whole family will tell you I stink at all of them, though I have a good time.
    However, I am not attempting to pass myself off as some sort of expert. I was raised in the suburbs of San Francisco and summers near LA, and I’m not nearly the urban klutz she is. And I’m older, also too, without the advantage of Title IX (that’s “nine,” Sarah, not “icks.”) She was bad even for some greenhorn.
    When she was shooting that caribou (do we really know that she shot it, or could that be an editing and scripting job?) if her dad hadn’t reloaded, would she’d have had to retreat? 🙂

    • Paddlefoot says:

      “icks” now that’s funny, thanks BD. And no, she wouldn’t have had to retreat, she would have had to resurvey.

      • A fan from CA says:

        Wonder if she has to call Daddy to change a light bulb?

        Who has to have Daddy load the gun? Really.

  29. leenie17 says:

    Over the holidays, my family went on a holiday train ride to the ‘North Pole’. When we arrived at our destination, the six-year-old in our group said, “This isn’t the real North Pole and that isn’t the real Santa.” When he was asked how he knew that, he pointed to the obviously false fronts of several buildings and said, “Because I can see the sticks!”

    Even at that tender age, he recognized that something about the setting was false and that the ‘sticks’ were holding up pretend facades. Palin is just like those fake buildings…all flimsy show and no real structure. Unfortunately, far too few of us realized that there was nothing to her image but a tacky veneer covered with shiny glitter that lost its sparkle when examined too closely.

    Hopefully, the shine is finally wearing off and she will go back to her compound where she can look in the mirror and ask herself where it all went wrong.

    (p.s. The six-year-old revised his opinion of the Santa after he spent several long minutes chatting with him on the train during the ride home. He decided that maybe it WAS the real Santa after all and it was just the North Pole that was fake. But hey, he’s only six!)

  30. I See Villages From My House says:

    AKM, you manage to pull of amazing coups – your stature rises!

    To have such accomplished writers of Alaskan grit like Craig Medred and Nick Jans “cover” Sarah Palin is in and of itself, an insult to their body of work.

    To be an Alaskan is to be automatically judged by what we think of or know of Sarah Palin. It minimizes us, it defines us and paints us into a corner – and for that I’m sorry, and that’s BEFORE we get into the politics, the demagoguery and narrative.

    Mr. Jans did an outstanding deconstruction of the Palin Brand, in that, Alaska seeks redemption of her co-opting the lure of our Last Frontier.

    Take back Alaska, starts with the mudflats and spreads across our great land. Fly Wild Alaska!

    • Baker's Dozen says:

      We want our Alaska back! Yes, even us 48ers want it back!

    • Kelly Walters says:

      Great comment. That’s exactly what I thought when I read Nick’s piece. He put into simple words, Palin’s deconstruction of her own myth right before our very eyes.

      I did watch a few episodes and caught the very last 2 hour finale that summarized the ones I missed. In that episode, Sarah got to make the excuses for poor, inexcusable hunting form. Any hunter knows if you are hiking with a rifle and fall down, you damn well better sight that scope again. Chuck apologized and took the blame. It was pathetic. CHUCK OUGHT TO KNOW BETTER! What if that poorly sighted rifle would’ve wounded that caribou? There is nothing worse than wounding an animal that then takes off all because the shooter failed to properly sight their scope.

  31. Marnie says:

    I have seen this linked in several sites today but without the last three paragraphs.
    Also too the site that did the actual cost of the caribou hunt/per pound cost.

    But at least they are making the rounds.

    The Grizz seems to be loosing a few teeth over the last few days. Will a long hibernation be next?

  32. seattlefan says:

    Mr. Jans…you have her number. Thank you for speaking out. I wish more Alaskans would. This post is a 5 Star post with 5 stars being the best. She made an a$$ out of herself doing this ridiculous show and your post just confirms it.

  33. Wow! Nick Jans tells it all, succinctly and convincingly. How true, how pathetic, and how sad for all of the wonderful real women of Alaska, to have this mockery of Alaskan womanhood out prancing around.

    • fishingmamma says:

      Thank You!!! I have lived in the woods and killed my own food and foraged wild plants and grown my own garden. Without a $40,000 trip to the North Slope so my dad could help me shoot a ‘bou. Also, too, my kids did not have to join the military to avoid jail, and did not drop out of school to give birth. She is an affront to all of us that really can do those things. She is a pretender.

      • allan says:

        Believe me, fishingmama, when it comes to anything mentioned anywhere about Palin, “all of us that really can do those things” have the biggest voice of all. You will be heard when most others will not. You have Alaskan women gravitas.

        Sarah has her religiously radical, secession-inclined husband’s standing as an authentic Alaskan of the kind Sarah pretends to be, and her smoke and mirrors. You are the Dorothies capable of pointing out that she is merely a phony wizard hiding behind several varieties of curtains.

        Until I read this article I had no idea about the many evident clues to her novice status or the fact that the trips were packages such as out-of-state tourists might purchase.

        Please continue to speak out, and get many others like yourself to help stem the bloodflows coming from the many wounds to U.S. unity caused by her ravenous, endless, anti-humane, golddigging campaign. Help bring down her business of being a phony by telling the truths you know.

        She’s out there now, affecting the actions of people in offices top to bottom, private and public. She imagines herself as president and it pays her better for everyone to think she is running in 2012, but she doesn’t want to work that hard, or be tested that much, or have to answer to everyone in the country.

  34. Lacy Lady says:

    Jans has this woman pegged to a tee!!!!!

    • Deb says:

      Lacy Lady- I think Jans point is that no one really has her pegged…it’s all smoke and mirrors. That is what she excels at (with the help from her promoters, clueless donors, and backstage hands)

  35. aussiegal77 says:

    http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2011/01/the-view-from-tucson.html

    I just want us to go back to being neighbours again. You know? We don’t always agree and we have the occasional heated debate or even a heated argument. But we’re still neighbours. And we’d stand up for each other if someone were to threaten us and our loved ones. We don’t always think or feel the same about every issue but we can talk about it and have a beer about it afterwards. And not hate each other! Or judge each other! Just so tired of broken relationships, strained friendships and having to bite my tongue all the time around my conservative friends cuz I am tired of them going apoplectic every time Obama or the Dems are mentioned. Geez enough already.

    • Baker's Dozen says:

      Well, it’s obvious that we can’t get along. Our differences are too great. I mean you can’t even spell “neighbors” correctly. Rill English is spell The American Way. 🙂

      I’m with you Aussie–can’t we just talk about things? The country is beginning to feel like the urban high school I worked at–most people in or sympathizing with one of two gangs and the threat of a weapon being pulled out at every disagreement. Does the country really need to imitate a bunch of teenaged gangbangers?

    • Laurie says:

      I am beginning to think that we are silent about too many things that we should be more vocal about. Why don’t we let elected officials and the media know when we are offended and concerned about the hate talk.
      Good people have to push back against this or we have no hope of change.

      • A fan from CA says:

        Yes, we need to speak our truth. I’m sick of being muzzled. I didn’t put stickers on my car during the last election because I was afraid of being hassled on the highway. I had a few minor problems in 08 from biker types with my Obama stickers.

        It’s time to push back with dignity and not be afraid. We can’t let the bullies keep us silent.

        • jojobo1 says:

          Your right about that My daughter took off my Obama stickers because they were driving thru Memphis ,going down to New Orleans and she was afraid of the hassel.I only found out later when they got back and asked what happened to my stickers.My ex son-in -law worked at a very conservative company GE and the only sticker left is my mudflats one because I told him it was a blog name and nothing else.But it is getting bad when you have to be afraid for your life for showing your beliefs. I live in a conservative village with spots of liberals.thank God at least one of my neighbors is an Obama fan.I have an Women for Obama pin on my winter coat but I have seen people pushed and shoved around when someone sees someone wearing an Obama T-Shirt. I have 3 or four I now wear only around the house

      • nats says:

        I’ve often wondered why there hasn’t been more outrage at the hateful words and threats of violence. Silence speaks as loud as words.

      • Liz says:

        You do notice how quickly the TP/GOP hammer comes down when any attempt is made to defend spurious allegations and untruths. I’ve heard a few from the extreme right complaining that we’ve been picking on them for too long and they are sick of it. Whenever they are confronted, they just turn the table and accuse us of doing what we are attempting to defend. It’s almost comical but I don’t find myself laughing. I’m just concerned that there is no way to bridge this gap, Palin has constructed another ‘bridge to nowhere’ with her vicious, strident rhetoric.

  36. WC is a big fan of Jans. He’s simply an outstanding writer. It isn’t often that WC gets to a story before the Mudflats, but just this once, WC did.

    http://wickershamsconscience.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/nick-jans-nails-sarah-palin/

  37. nswfm says:

    Didn’t her father say when she resigned that she “wasn’t retreating she was reloading?” I had no idea he was into surveying so much. That must be why he had so many antlers piled outside his home–he was trying to make a mountain so he could survey it.

    • Rob says:

      As a retired surveyor of 30 years and a gun nut, all I saw was crosshairs of a rifle scope.

  38. aussiegal77 says:

    Praise the LORD that awful show will not be extended!

    I really really really pray that this is the beginning of the end of Palin political and public career.

  39. Mr. Jans, it is my great honor to know of you and your writing…Thank you..!

  40. Krubozumo Nyankoye says:

    All too sadly true, especially the fictional character parts. Can anyone imagine what an unmitigated disaster it would be for our country if this woman was ever elected to high office?

    Perhaps we should all be grateful to Murdoch for tempting her with a few millions. Perhaps Alaska (to use an Edwardian phrase) had a luck escape in her quitting as Governor before she could do any more damage.

    If we are indeed lucky, we will never learn much more than we already know about her twisted personality and lack of character.

  41. Ice Gal says:

    Bulls eye!
    Thanks great read

  42. Sue Evans says:

    Thanks. We could only bear to watch a few painful clips of this show. That was enough. At any given time there are a half dozen or more far better shows on *real* people in Alaska. The world doesn’t need this fraud, and neither does America.

    • I See Villages From My House says:

      I’m pleased to say, in an attempt to not give into my PDR, I did not watch a single episode. : )

      • MonaLisa (inCT) says:

        Me neither… not even a single clip. Just not interested enough to.

        • Waay Out West says:

          Ditto.

          I did go out and buy Over Alaska a DVD of a program that was shown on PBS and it was excellent. My husband and I both enjoyed it.

      • Denise says:

        Me either. I even muted the commercials. Sarah’s voice is like fingernails (french manicured, of course) down a blackboard. All I do is take care of 14 Samoyed dogs and 6 chickens and I can’t keep a decent manicure…well, that and there aren’t any nail salons within 100 miles of where I live.

      • Laurainnocal says:

        I absolutely refused to tune in for any of them also. The whole charade made me want to vomit.

  43. Well written – thank you so much for this piece.

  44. Bootsy says:

    She is so friggin’ lame also, too.

    • Writing from Malden, MA says:

      There should be more WOMEN like Sarah, She GREAT and I whatched with my daughter every episode and sorry to see that it ended. She is just a FABULOUS WOMAN aand I know the LIBERALS ARE RUNNING SCARED!!!! GOD bless Sarah and her family!!

      • Alaskasue says:

        There are lots of us up here in Alaska, far more educated, better looking, and more capable in any venue than this false “WOMAN” who is anything but a little girl playing, toying around in the real world. She just isn’t all she may seem to be, and you don’t need to look too hard to determine this. She may have fooled you once, shame on her, but to fool you twice? You know the rest.

      • Harmonika Savingsbonds says:

        My goodness; you are a simple one.

      • sierraseven says:

        No one is “scared” of Mrs Palin. That’s one of the most worn-out talking points the far right has trotted out all year.

      • Frances says:

        From Scituate, MA – Are you friggin crazy?