Is Palin for Real?

Andrew Sullivan doesn't think so.

The kicker:

"Her flimsy record of public service has been festooned with so many lies and delusions and fantasies on her part it beggars belief. Her book is self-evidently the product of a dangerously delusional fanatic. She poses as a "real American" from the heartland, yet she has done everything in her power to escape that heartland and find refuge in celebrity."

I dunno. There's a part of me that agrees with him -- or, I guess, would like to agree with him. But I don't think that the "lies and delusions and fantasies" are concocted. I don't know whether she quit her governorship because there was better fame and money elsewhere, although her shady explanations for doing so might point in that direction -- it's possible she honestly thought she could do more good elsewhere. I don't know whether starting the DEATH PANELS debacle was an intentionally (evil) genius move on her part -- I dunno if she or her communication staff are that savvy.

And I don't know if her anti-Washington, anti-intellectual, anti-experience messages are calculated to sway her voting base -- the sentiment that the average man makes the best president, while personally incomprehensible to me, is widely held by others. And it's entirely possible she's exactly that -- an inexperienced average American whose "unconventional" tactics simply show she doesn't know or want to play the game as usual.

But, Sully's grim predictions aside, I'm still convinced she's not running for President.