Recently, there have been more than a few people noticing that Palin doesn’t just lie, she does it compulsively and for no reason. Andrew Sullivan has joined the ranks of those who espouse the theory that Palin doesn’t just make putatively typical political fibs, she lies about everything all the time. Akhbar points out it’s not just the degree to which she lies:
“She has the related problem of being a compulsive liar. This may seem like hyperbole, but I want to stress that I’m not talking about the fact that she lies frequently, but rather about the fact that she lies in situations when it doesn’t benefit her at all and when it is obvious that she will be caught.”
In evidence of this he cites what on first glance seems like the most trivial thing to lie about ever: asking her daughters about her VP nomination. It turns out, Palin decides to change her sports allegiance whenever it suits her.
A few weeks ago, Kissing Suzy Kolber noticed that Palin, who claimed at a rally in Pennsylvania to be a Steelers fan, was in fact a registered member of a Seattle Seahawks fan club.
It doesn’t end there. Last night, as Jonathan Martin noted, she was in a Philadelphia bar with a “newly purchased” Phillies jacket!
I wonder what hockey team she roots for? Let me guess:all of them!
Palin seems to feel the need to pretend that she is/always has been a fan of the hometown team, regardless of where she is. Does she think this helps her identify with the public?
In contrast, Biden has been a Steelers fan for the vast majority of his life and doesn’t hide it. More impressive in terms of the honesty in sports, Obama not only openly admits his Chicago fandom, he’s actually used it to talk smack in Minnesota!
Growing up as a Red Sox fan in Connecticut, I had to learn that differences about sports ended when the game was over, mostly to avoid fighting my Yankee-rooting friends and family members. As such, trying to pretend you like my team curries no favor with me as I’m not going to be distrustful of someone simply in virtue of their rooting for a different team. When we get down to it, are other people all that different on the issue (six beers into a game at the stadium notwithstanding)? Does lying about sports fandom really gain favor?
I don’t know if there’s a definitive answer to that question, but it’s the wrong question anyway. The right one, it seems to me, is “Is there any explanation for Palin’s behavior other than the following? Either A) she actually enjoys lying or B) she at least feels it categorically has no negative moral ramifications. If changing your sports allegiance when you travel isn’t the icing on Palin’s cake of amassing evidence toward her compulsive lying, I don’t know what is.
Tags: politics, Sarah Palin, sports
