Cavett's piece in the NYTimes, complaining about Sarah Palin's pushy appearances on TV, is epitomized by this explanation of how she talks, "...frayed syntax, bungled grammar and run-on sentences that ramble on long after thought has given out..." He wonders at the people who praise her and find her refreshing and appealing.
I am reminded of the line from that wonderful radio show, "Many years ago, in the Orient, Lamont Cranston, the Shadow, learned how to cloud men's minds..." To paraphrase, "Many years ago, in Alaska, Sarah Palin, the Governor, learned how to cloud men's minds..."
She's like that person in the movie by Truffaut, The Wild Child. All she knows is controlled aggression. Her feedback loop, except for delivery of one-liners, has apparently been disabled and it doesn't seem that she is capable of learning anything subtle or even substantial.
But, I submit, what is striking about Sarah Palin, and frightening, is the relish with which she rouses the rabble. When people yell epithets at rallies, when they spew out such emotionally-charged words as "Kill!" and "Traitor!", she evokes the darkest, most base part of the American psyche. That is how she seems at times to be most energized, and it is what we all need to be mindful of, because, if the situation gets bad enough, it can happen here. Some of it already has.
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