A saying about birds and feathers springs to mind

I came across a fascinating little column yesterday by way of The Atlantic's politics page. It's all about why Jews hate Sarah Palin. (My guess? Because she's an idiot. The same reason everyone else hates her.) I've punted it over to Elizabeth, and am hoping I can goad her into responding at length. However, there was one little point Jennifer Rubin made near the beginning of the piece that I think I'll use as a starting point. She writes:

[Palin's] association with Buchanan consisted solely of her attendance at a speech during a 1999 visit to Alaska by the candidate at which she wore a Buchanan button, “out of politeness,” she later explained.

Well, then that makes it OK, right? Just because the man has odious views that are anathema to not just Jews but a whole mess of other people, that's no reason not to politely wear a campaign button. Sure, people might assume that you support that particular candidate, since typically that's what's meant by wearing a candidate's campaign button at a campaign event. But who can argue with the "politeness" defense?

Now, of course, Palin is slated to headline the newly-minted Tea Party Convention. That she is choosing to associate herself with that lunatic rabble comes as absolutely no surprise to me. And it's fascinating to see (via Andrew) who else will be making the most of the nascent political movement:

I was surprised that Sarah Palin, who has twice passed on chances to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, agreed to keynote the National Tea Party Convention. Undoubtedly the Tea Party event has more to offer her financially–tickets for her speech, as I reported last month, are selling for $349. But while CPAC is a well-established event with a filter for extremism, the Tea Party event is an unknown quantity. And right on cue, the conspiracy-minded site WorldNetDaily is joining the program, with Editor-in-Chief Joseph Farah getting a plum Friday night
speaking slot.

First of all, I think this makes it plain why the GOP establishment should (and almost certainly will) do all it can to kill any possibility that she lands the nomination for president in 2012. (*shudder*) She has no interest at all in working with the national party. All she wants to do is promote herself. The Republican Party leadership does not comprise a bunch of morons, and so they are doubtless perfectly aware of this. My guess is that Palin has no chance at the nomination, and if she gets it it will be in spite of the party leaders, not because of them.

Just as importantly, though, I think this should also put to rest any notion that Palin is anything other than a joke as a political leader. WorldNetDaily is a... fascinating source of political "thought." At one point they had a column that told readers what a "real Christian" believes (I don't qualify, it seems), but I got too nauseated searching their site to find it. Suffice it to say, no politician who could come within a country mile of the Oval Office has any business appearing at the same convention as the maniacs behind WorldNetDaily.

Naturally, Palin will be there.