Saradise Lost - Book 4 - Chapter 51

"Sarah Palin has become the most famous Alaskan in history. Celebrity is her one accomplishment since John McCain selected her as his running mate a year ago.

"The rest of the last year has held, for her, turmoil and failure."

That was Michael Carey a month after Palin's abdication, writing for the Alaska Dispatch. It was a term he had used before, and has since. And it is true.

That doesn't bother me. What is beginning to bother me, though, is that at the rate things are going, there may soon have been more words written about Palin than about everything else in Alaska history. I'm not sure if there's some sort of search engine or measuring device out there that can accurately assess this, but if there is, I'd be interested in seeing how close to being true that statement might actually be.

The fact that there were more media covering the Tea Party Convention than there were actual attendees bothered me.

The fact that I've been to PTA forums at Colony Middle School in Palmer that had more attendees, and better speeches, than the Tea Party convention had, bothers me.

The fact that Palin's rise to national prominence fixation coincides with desperation on the part of our media to find ways, no matter how sleazy, to keep readership up, bothers me.

The fact that I have to keep writing about this person I met 19 years ago this month, bothers me.

The fact that there's little we can do about her continuing, nuisance-like presence in the national dialogue bothers me.

It is good to see how little influence Palin is having on Alaska policy now, though. Gov. Parnell seems to be more comfortable going his own direction every day. He's certainly the best governor since Tony Knowles, though that isn't saying much. Parnell's visit to schools on the Lower Yukon earlier in the week was a case in point. Compared to Palin's foray there with Franklin Graham and Jerry Prevo, bringing Bibles and cookies, Parnell's stopover must have been a breath of very fresh air to villagers.