Sarah Palin reckons she could beat Barack Obama … in a running race, but her chances of competing against him in the 2012 presidential race may have been diminished by a devastating article about her in the August edition of Vanity Fair. A piece by Todd Purdum reveals that senior figures within John McCain's team had major doubts about Palin. Purdum's 9,800-word demolition job highlights how raw she was politically when she was chosen as McCain's running mate. But it also suggests that her advisers believed she suffered from "narcissistic personality disorder".
"They all know that if their candidate – a 72-year-old cancer survivor – had won the presidency, the vice-presidency would be in the hands of a woman who lacked the knowledge, the preparation, the aptitude, and the temperament for the job," Purdum wrote.
The piece has torn open fresh wounds within the Republican Party according to Politico, and sparked a row in the former McCain-Palin camp between rival advisers Bill Kristol and Steve Schmidt.
The prominent blogger Andrew Sullivan said the piece showed how close the US came to "having this farce of a candidate running the most powerful country".
Palin still hopes to secure the Republican nomination to run for president in 2012. Asked this week by Runner's World magazine whether she could beat Barack Obama in a race she pointedly remarked: "I betcha I'd have more endurance."
Matthew Cooper in Atlantic thinks she will survive the attack published by Vanity Fair. And he suggests it could even help her.
"Ronald Reagan got bashed as a simpleton with a messy family life – but his basic adherence to conservative principle was enough to guide him to the presidency and to reelection … the derision of elites is a calling card , even if it's the elites in one's own party."
