*sigh* I guess I have to deal with this

"The story she tells is largely incredible if you assume a rational actor at the center of it. But we do not have a rational actor in the center of it; we have an unbalanced, delusional, ambitious fanatic whose relationship to reality is entirely instrumental and can change from minute to minute."

Andrew Sullivan on Going Rogue

Bob Cesca writes in a new piece for Huffington Post ("Famous for Being Famous") that Sarah seems like the first Celebrity Reality Contestant to make a dent into the real world. in other words, she treats the Presidency like a celebreality show. and there are enough idiots in this country to at least let her try:

I honestly believe that Bill Kristol and her other ghost handlers are cynical enough to believe that Sarah Palin could ride a celebreality rocket ship into the White House. In other words, I think they (and Palin herself) believe that there's no real need for her to be a substantive, dignified, informed, insightful public official.

They look at the climate of celebrity gossip and reality show mania and they see an opening in America's love affair with superficiality -- ready to exploit. In their view, where Ronald Reagan was a celebrity in the old-Hollywood framework, Palin is a celebrity in the vapid, celebudoof, Balloon Boy, reality show, new-Hollywood framework. Perfect match.

And it's dangerous. Idiocracy dangerous.

Adding... Regarding the Newsweek cover, if Sarah Palin wants to be taken seriously, then she needs to act like it. You can't be a winking airhead and expect people to portray you as anything other than a winking airhead.

Sarah's own advisors feel they have to step up to defend themselves from Sarah's "bizarre fixation":

Former McCain campaign staffer Nicolle Wallace tore into Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" Tuesday night, saying the book was "based on fabrications" and exhibited a "bizarre fixation" on past events.

In her book, Sarah Palin wrote that Wallace pushed her to sit down with Katie Couric to boost the anchor's "self esteem."

Wallace gave a statement to "The Rachel Maddow Show" calling the anecdote total fiction. "The notion that there was a conversation that I tried to cajole her into an interview with Katie Couric is fiction," Wallace said. "I am not someone who throws around the word self-esteem. It is a fictional description."

As for the book in general, Wallace said, "I think she has a legitimate complaint that things could have been better conceived. A book about that would have been painful, but not unfair. What she gets wrong is this personalization that Steve Schmidt and I were lone villains ... She hated me from the beginning. I try not to take it personally. The fact is, she wrote a book based on fabrications ... This book is a bizarre fixation on things that everyone else has moved on from."

All the while the very serious media trips all over themselves to sell Sarah as a superstar and a sensation, here's the truth, courtesy of MediaMatters:

● A CBS poll conducted this month found that only 23 percent have a favorable opinion of Palin; 38 percent have an unfavorable view. Only one in four Americans wants her to run for president; two out of three don't. One in four thinks she has the ability to be an effective president; more than 60 percent disagree. Only 43 percent of Republicans think she could be effective.
● An ABC poll, also conducted this month, found similar results: 43 percent have a favorable impression of Palin, 52 percent unfavorable. A whopping 53 percent of Americans would not even consider voting for her for president, and 60 percent don't think she's qualified for the job.

● A CNN poll conducted last month found that even more Americans -- 71 percent -- think Palin is not qualified to be president.

We're building up this non-story. Just like balloon boy. But this is the Presidency we're trifling with. The Presidency. Not Survivor:Juneau.