GOP Insider: Sarah Palin the "Jon Gosselin of Politics"

Former Alaskan governor is acting more like a D-list celebrity than a politician

By Ted Casablanca Mar 11, 2010 5:00 PMTags
Sarah PalinABC/ DONNA SVENNEVIK

While George Clooney's pals were telling us at the Oscars what fun the jokester had putting together his Sarah Palin Swaggate spoof, it made us wonder:

What the hell is Sarah Palin thinking lately?

She's sauntering all over Hollywood with greasy fingers at expensive gift suites, continuing to push her proposed reality show to any network that will take a meeting.

Is Palin morphing into the celeb freak zone, or is she still a viable political figure?

We checked in with a high-level Republican D.C. insider to get the goods on the moose hunter's future. Here's what the Potomac big-wig, who prefers to remain behind the scenes, had to say on all things Sarah.

But be very brave before you read on:

Tell us about Palin's chances for future political office.
Conservatives think Sarah is fantastic, and they do have serious voting power. They're incredibly party-loyal, and they're great at grassroots advocacy and in turning out the vote. The thing is, the elders of the Republican Party don't want her on the ticket in 2012—because big-money donors don't like her, and let's face it, money talks. So the Party will struggle a bit in 2012 to back someone the entire party can get behind.

What about Palin's grabby little gift-bag hands? How does that make her look now?
I believe the story was that she was invited to all those suites and offered all that loot, and she had already prearranged to take it all back home and use the goods as giveaways for all the Party-related charity auctions she is involved with. I'm also guessing that with every speaking engagement she does, there is some sort of silent auction or giveaway or something, so these gifts may well be used for that.

Including her monogrammed stationery? Who's that going to, somebody named Suzy Pickle?
There's nothing illegal or unethical about what she did. But was it odd? Yes. That said, 99 percent of America won't give a s--t about it, and they hate Hollywood anyway, so they'll probably see it as her pulling one over on the entertainment business.

No way!
I kind of see her as the Jon Gosselin of politics: Way out of her league, thinks she's something more than what she really is and is desperate for attention and tongue-bathing. She doesn't know when to just go away and be quiet for a bit.

What about her future on TV?
I think at this point, she's doing speaking engagements, traveling, meeting people and spending some time figuring out what her next big move is. She's spending lots of time with [TV producer] Mark Burnett, talking to networks about some kind of reality show that might have her traveling across America, meeting people, hearing their stories, etc. So essentially, it seems to me she's damn smart if she can get a TV network to fund what essentially will be the very early stages of a campaign/fundraising tour. So while the idea is smart, I can't imagine it would be an interesting series. I think she's more savvy than people give her credit for. Notice I said savvy not intellectual."

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