NEW YORK – To call Sarah Palin one of the most vapid characters in modern political culture is not news. She is, after all, the politician who couldn’t name a newspaper while campaigning for the second highest office in government.
In recent years, the former governor of Alaska has been forced to limit her media appearances to ever more obscure outlets, her standard shtick of unlettered folksy catchphrases too tiresome for most networks.
Did she say 'speak American'? You betcha!
That was until Sunday when CNN, bent on rare day of ratings, succumbed to temptation by giving the 51-year-old with nothing to say a platform on which to say it. And she delivered.
When ask to opine on immigration and Donald Trump’s insistence that his presidential rival Jeb Bush not speak Spanish on the campaign trail, Palin responded thus:
“I think we can send a message and say, ‘You want to be in America? A. You better be here legally or you’re out of here. B. When you’re here, let’s speak American.'”
It’s worth pondering again: seven years ago Palin was the Republican nominee for vice president.
And Palin could make an unexpected return to the pantomime, with Trump saying he would consider ‘Mama Grizzly’ for a post in his administration. Palin responded to the potential offer on Sunday by saying she would consider the role of energy secretary in a Trump cabinet.
And with the world up to its knees in an rising tide of environmental catastrophe, what qualifies La Palin for such a vital role?
“I think a lot about the Department of Energy, because energy is my baby,” she said. “Oil and gas and minerals, those things that God has dumped on this part of the Earth for mankind’s use instead of us relying on unfriendly foreign nations.”
Sleep well, everyone.