She just won't go away.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the doll of the conservative religious right who got a taste of the rest of America (even the un-American parts) while campaigning as John McCain's running mate, doesn't seem to have such a fondness for her home state anymore.
Palin certainly wasn't in Alaska this past weekend. Instead, she was in Washington devouring some lobster with the nation's political and business elite at the prestigious Alfalfa Club's annual dinner soiree. No word has escaped from the press-free event whether Palin was only invited to hand deliver some of Alaska's finest crustaceans.
Certainly Palin must have felt awkward at the yearly Alfalfa gathering. She told members of the press that she was only going to the dinner because "President Obama is scheduled to be there." That statement comes only four months after she exploited Obama's association with "unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers." Now Palin is willing to give a speech on the same stage as President Obama, who unapologetically "palled around with terrorists."
In Gov. Palin's twisted game of guilt by association, doesn't that make her an accomplice to domestic terrorism, too?
Yet the really awkward part isn't Palin joining in on an elite dinner with the nation's best and brightest, people from the fake America, from places like New York, Washington, Chicago, Miami and L.A. No, the really awkward and uncomfortable part for Palin is her recently formed political action committee, cutely named SarahPAC, a move that all but signals a run for Congress or worst, a place on the GOP ticket in 2012.
Little did she know that the ever-shrinking GOP still had a trick up its Brooks Brothers sleeve.
Enter Michael Steele, stage right.
Steele, a former lieutenant governor from Maryland, was elected the first black chairman of the beleaguered GOP. He's already stolen Palin's spotlight. He's a moderate, modern Anwar Sadat look-a-like, and MSNBC's Chris Matthews even voted for him in his failed bid for the U.S. Senate.
Democrats have a lot to be jolly about right now. Our candidate won, and for the first time in my life, multiple polls show that a historically low number of Americans affiliate with the Republican Party. But there's a new dynamic duo in town.
Palin may be viewed as either naive or vacuous, but she's not stupid - she just hasn't learned enough. Give her four more years and she may be able to recapture the suburban middle-class voters who Amtrak-Joe won over to the blue team. And with Steele, having moderate political roots and a connection to a modern city, such as Baltimore, urban voters may soon be reachable again.
Yet the duo should be reminded that the GOP didn't lose because of demographics. They lost because they were on the wrong side of the issues.
For her party's sake, hopefully Palin listened in on some of the conversations at the Alfalfa dinner. The elitists and so-called "unrepentant terrorists" did pretty well last year.
Matthew Christ is a political science freshman. His column appears on Mondays.
