Not a Pit Bull With Lipstick — A Bush With Lipstick

By Robert Schlesinger

I ran a cartoon over at USNews.com’s opinion page last week showing George W. Bush as Dr. Evil with Sarah Palin as his “mini-me.” I didn’t realize how correct I was.

If you haven’t seen it, I recommend the piece in Sunday’s Times on Sarah Palin’s political career.

Cronies, secrecy … You know who she sounds like? The second coming of George W. Bush.

This from the Times:

But an examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then governor finds that her visceral style and penchant for attacking critics — she sometimes calls local opponents “haters” — contrasts with her carefully crafted public image.

Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials.

Then there’s this.

Interviews show that Ms. Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy. The governor and her top officials sometimes use personal e-mail accounts for state business; dozens of e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that her staff members studied whether that could allow them to circumvent subpoenas seeking public records.

Then there’s the cronyism: “The Wasilla High School yearbook archive now doubles as a veritable directory of state government.”

And of course there’s this:

Witnesses and contemporary news accounts say Ms. Palin asked the librarian about removing books from the shelves. The McCain-Palin presidential campaign says Ms. Palin never advocated censorship.

But in 1995, Ms. Palin, then a city councilwoman, told colleagues that she had noticed the book “Daddy’s Roommate” on the shelves and that it did not belong there, according to Ms. Chase and Mr. Stein. Ms. Chase read the book, which helps children understand homosexuality, and said it was inoffensive; she suggested that Ms. Palin read it.

“Sarah said she didn’t need to read that stuff,” Ms. Chase said. “It was disturbing that someone would be willing to remove a book from the library and she didn’t even read it.”

“I’m still proud of Sarah,” she added, “but she scares the bejeebers out of me.”

Yep. I think that about sums it up.