I just think it's precisely those reasons that will make her a viable candidate and will get her in. It's her not backing down, it's her resistance, if you like, that will see her all the way through.
no. not only is she loathed by many, many - both personally and as the embodiment of the stereotype zhao is so wildly expounding upon - but more importantly, the thought of her scares the hell out of even more people, including a not inconsiderable portion of the right. the saner portion, you know david brooks & all that, as well as plenty of people who are fiscally conservative but socially liberal, not to mention anyone who calls themself a moderate. there's also the question of whether the gop would be stupid/crazy enough to let her run in the first place, after the fiasco with mccain. i doubt it, the party heads have got to know she's nowhere near their best shot to unseat obama, who'd I suspect would be overjoyed if she was his opponent.
I reckon she does have smart people around her tho. I just also reckon they're not setting her up for a presidential run, just to continue being queen of the american right wing. the whole "resistance", maverick bit is largely a manufactured image, albeit a well-done one, more evidence of the skill of her handlers.
Sarah Pallin is a true American. She is the living embodiment of the qualities, ideas, convictions and faith that the Best Country On Earth was founded and built upon...
we are talking about...
so, 2 things. first, every powerful country or empire in history has grown powerful by injustice at home & abroad. that's how power is accumulated and empires are forged. the difference is that nowadays, unlike in the times of Rome or the Hundred Years War or the Ming dynasty, being a conqueror is in bad taste so Americans don't like to admit that their empire had as unpleasant a founding and rise as any other. the hypocrisy of it is galling, I admit, but hardly unique. the second point, perhaps more important, is that your view of U.S. - from your far-off expatriate's perch - is nearly as distorted as, indeed, Sarah Palin's. all the things you named - segregated cities, rampant inequality, and so on - undoubtedly exist, sometimes with awful frequency, but they are hardly the entire picture and to claim otherwise is to surrender to all the worst aspects of this country and those who would enshrine and further them. not that I don't understand your sentiments, because I grew up with and still have sometimes feelings even more vitriolic than your own, but there's a difference between venting spleen and appraising reality.
it should go without saying that this isn't an argument in favor of empires or for that matter, the U.S., simply a check on hyperbole about the "greatest country" etc which is, all said & done, as complicated and complex a place as any other, that cannot be reduced any single vision.
but isn't there some legal recourse to stop people telling actual, clear lies for their own profit in the political sphere
there is, but as you mostly likely know the libel laws in the U.K. are famously much, much stricter - that is, far more generous to the plaintiff - than they are here.
