There were Vine-ably absurd moments about “right-winging, bitter-clinging proud clingers.” There were references to “squirmishes” in the Middle East. There were claims that establishment politicians wear their political correctness like “suicide vests.”
But if I may be allowed one moment of sympathy for Palin, it came near the beginning of her speech, when she explained her rationale for endorsing Trump:
I was told, you know warned left and right, “You’re going to get so clobbered in the press, you are just going to get beat up, chewed up, spit out,” and you know I’m thinking, “Aaaand? Yeah?” Like you guys haven’t tried to do that every day since that night in ‘08 when I was on stage nominated for VP and I got to say, “Yeah, I’ll go, send me, you betcha. I’ll serve.” And, like you all, I’m still standing. So for those of us who have kind of gone through the wringer, as Mr. Trump has, makes me respect you even more.
If you believe that Palin was a reasonably talented politician who may have gone places if she hadn’t been thrust, totally unprepared, into the insanity of a presidential race, then it’s easy to see how the disaster of that campaign, which is clearly seared in her memory, turned her into the half-crazed person she is today. If not, well, that’s one thing we can’t blame on the McCain campaign.