Palin’s Problem: Inauthentic

Let’s give Governor Palin her dues. She came prepared and she performed brilliantly in the debates. She was on message and she got in her shots where she could. Well done Gov. Palin.

Here’s what bothered me. She seemed strikingly inauthentic. Her “oh, shucks by golly” act seemed put on. Did anyone respond positively when she winked at the camera? It didn’t have the desired affect on me. It seemed like pandering.

Her false-folksy comment “Say it ain’t so, Joe,” was obviously rehearsed. It was a sound-bite wanna-be. And what was it that Joe Biden said that caused Gov. Palin to react so? He mentioned George Bush; a president Gov. Palin insists should only be spoken of in past tense. Trying to burry a sitting president so he doesn’t stink up the hopes of his party is truly inauthentic.

Let’s be clear – John McCain and Sarah Palin are Republicans, the same party that brought you the last eight years of failed policies. To pretend otherwise is the ultimate in insincerity.

When she claimed that John McCain was talking about the American workforce when he said the “fundamentals of the economy are strong,” it seemed disingenuous. Did you believe her?

It seemed contrived when she blamed predator lenders for forcing people to buy houses that they could not afford. After all, it was John McCain who pushed through the deregulation to allow the financial system to get out of hand. When she outright refused to answer the question about deregulation, her words rang hollow.

Her “facts” about Obama’s plans to raise taxes were spurious and will not stand to any fair fact-check. Saying that Obama is proposing nearly a trillion dollars in new spending is patently false.

Governor Palin’s defense of John McCain’s healthcare plan was…well, indefensible. Joe Biden pointed out that John McCain’s plan is to tax our healthcare benefits to the tune of $3.6 trillion. McCain’s plan will cause 20 million people to be dropped from their employer’s healthcare coverage, forcing them to try to replace a $12,000 healthcare policy with a $5,000 tax deduction.

Putting aside for a moment the McCain-Palin plan to continue the legacy of George W. Bush, I have a bigger problem with Sarah Palin. She is inauthentic.