Plenty of liberals would line up any day of the week to say that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has an authenticity problem. But it’s not every day you hear that kind of opinion voiced from the halls of right-leaning Fox News, which employs Palin as a paid commentator. Even more unusual is to hear it from a fellow Fox News contributor and former Bush White House press secretary. But yesterday on Fox News Sunday, Dana Perino told host Chris Wallace: “It’s weird to at night be having a camping trip with Kate Gosselin, Kate Plus 8, and then the next morning read in USA Today this very serious and thoughtful piece about a nuclear Iran.” While Perino pointed out that many politicians have people do their writing for them, this “discordance” could be a problem for Palin in particular. “It doesn’t sound like her when you read the materials,” she said. “And authenticity matters almost more than ever, and I think that’s what mattered in 2010, and people wanted not to just hear the message, they wanted to hear the authenticity of it.” Now, the question really is whether Perino is worried that Americans can’t swallow the idea of any person being bright and opinionated but also goofy — see Ben Stein, Jon Stewart, Joy Behar, Al Franken, Glenn Beck — or just Sarah Palin specifically.
Inauthentic? Dana Perino: Sarah Palin’s Writing “Doesn’t Sound Like Her” [Mediaite]
