As America's most infamous woman, Sarah Palin needs little introduction. But could she become president? In a country whose voters chose a B-movie actor as their commander-in-chief, and then later an ex-drug user, it would appear that in the United States, anything is possible.
The Review: Books
Get the scoop on which of the latest titles are worth making part of your personal collection.
Here, Geoffrey Dunn attempts to besmirch Palin's record as a politician, impugn her integrity and excoriate her drive: "Her ambition is as unbridled as it is morally corrupt. How far will her lies take her?"
Fine, but since when was ambition a vice? And which incumbent of the Oval Office has ever been as pure as the driven snow? The more you seek to deprecate a candidate, the more you risk engendering sympathy for her.
Dunn chronicles Palin's background, her VP candidature, her record as a mayor, governor and family woman while lambasting her lack of intellectual rigour (apparently she couldn't distinguish between Great Britain and England), her gullibility (she fell for a hoax phone call by a Nicolas Sarkozy impersonator), her duplicity and her incompetence.
His style is reminiscent of a Kitty Kelley biography: punchy, bitchy and very readable.
As for Palin? To quote her former campaign manager Laura Chase: "She's scary. She's good at what she does and she's very dangerous."
