There is something sadly revealing in this post by staunch conservative, Brad Schaeffer.

I used to be a fan of Sarah Palin, but even I can see that the best thing for her to do now is to step aside.

When Sarah Palin first exploded on the scene at the 2008 Republican convention as John McCain’s running-mate, I was enthralled.  Yes, I admit, I thought she was terrific.  Here was this attractive, confident governor from a state as far away from the Washington D.C. beltway as one could hope for.

She came to breathe new life into what was already a tired campaign. Finally, we had a vibrant GOP candidate who was not of the older white male variety to balance the ticket with the older white male.  [...]  She presented herself as a happily married woman who had welcomed into her world with open arms a Downs Syndrome baby while her son was being shipped off to war to serve his country.

What a story!

But that was then.  They say familiarity breeds contempt, and for me it has been a long and reluctant decline from genuine enthusiasm for this (if I may) ‘rogue’ breed of Republican to dismay, and then irritation.

Why so, Mr. Schaeffer?

I noticed that she often answered serious questions by reciting what sounded like hollow and rehearsed platitudes.

[...]

…sound-bite answers to substantive questions have been her forte since 2008. I was patient at first since, in all fairness, she was a relatively unknown governor from the hinterland suddenly thrust front and center into the bewildering arena of a national election and thus she had to get her political sea legs.  But she’s been in said arena for over three years now. This is ample time for her to demonstrate that she can put forth coherent arguments that do not sound like they’re ripped from a handbook of pithy Tea Party slogans.  After so much time, my patience with fluff answers from someone demanding to be taken seriously as a potential occupant of the highest office in the land has run out.

Oh please. The only sad thing here is that it took Schaeffer three long years to come to the realization that Palin was, and is, a shallow, self-serving, know-nothing, moronic fraud who has ridden a pretty face and an uncanny ability to not feel shame or embarrassment all the way to fame and fortune.  Most of us understood who Palin was after the first three weeks. And if not then, then certainly after she quit her job as governor of Alaska in search of more riches.

What took conservatives like Schaeffer so long? Here’s a smart little analysis I found in the Comments section.

And now we get to the fundamental problem with emotions of allegiance to today’s Republican Party.

In the wake of Medicare Part D, the Bush deficits, the misleadingly sold and incompetently prosecuted invasion of Iraq, plus NCLB, Raich, etc., there’s no philosophical or ideological reason to be a Republican.

Instead, being a Republican is an emotional choice, like choosing to root for the Philadelphia Eagles. Like Eagles fans, Republicans are characterized by deep hostility toward other groups.

So when someone who’s not a member of the Republican tribe says, “gosh, Gov. Palin doesn’t seem to have done much as governor but violate government transparency laws, campaign for the “Bridge to Nowhere,” and raise taxes on oil companies; and she doesn’t seem to be all that insightful or well-prepared for interviews … ”

What a Republican/Eagles fan hears is: “COWBOYS RULE!!!!”

And the Republican responds in turn with, “E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!!!”

Schaeffer’s deeply felt allegiance to his tribe and hostility to (mostly imaginary, but let’s leave that aside) other groups (“femi-Nazis hate her!”) led him to disable his brain’s critical thinking capacity about Gov. Palin until the interests of the Party permitted him to reactivate it.

But just wait– tomorrow, we’ll see a column from this guy about how Rick Perry’s comments about Ben Bernanke reflect a well-considered Burkean suspicion of government power.

Because that’s what it is to be a Republican, in their current, post-policy phase– you just have to be perceived to irritate liberals, and you’re good to go.

Exactly. I envision a column by Mr. Schaeffer a couple of years down the road, writing about a broken, hopeless and totally fragmented Republican party, lamenting the fact that the Tea Party was not the “rousing, feisty, roll-up-your sleeve” populist, grassroots entity he once believed them to be. How sad, he’ll tell us, to discover that the Tea Party was anything but a spontaneous uprising of angry, concerned citizens and was instead a carefully crafted idea fabricated in the smoky backrooms of millionaire, GOP operatives.

Pardon us, Mr. Schaeffer, if none of us shed a tear over your tragic loss of innocence, be it for Palin, the Tea Party or your beloved Republican party.

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