Swimming with Barracuda: The Continued Adventures of Sarah Palin

What next for Sarah Palin? Todd Purdum’s Vanity Fair profile is designed to be, as Jason Zengerle puts it, brutal. But, as the Economist’s Democracy in America notes, there are times when it also, perhaps unwittingly, makes one feel a little sorry for Governor Palin. Whatever her shortcomings, she wasn’t the one who put her into a national race she was ill-prepared to handle and, whatever else may be said about her behaviour on the campaign trail, unattributable sniping from John McCain’s advisers should be taken with some salt, not least because it so conveniently absolves McCain of the mistakes that helped doom his campaign.

Palin is a useful target for just about everyone these days. And while I agree with Philip Klein that there’s not much that’s truly new in the piece, it does actually show how, in different circumstances and, perhaps, a different time, Palin could have offered the campaign something significant.