Sarah Palin, the Joke's on You

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is ticked off at CBS' late-night host for the barbs he's thrown at her and her daughter. Maybe we all should be ticked off at the obvious farce we had to be subjected to by the Palins when they showed up at the Republican National Convention, with her unwed pregnant daughter and her soon-to-be son-in-law in tow.

It was pretty pathetic to witness the fake relationship that we were told would result in a marriage. I took a bet with some of my colleagues that that sucker never would happen. And we learned in March that it won't.

Sarah, here's the deal: David Letterman is a comedian. And comedians can say some absolutely hilarious stuff, and then they can say some downright dumb stuff. That comes with the territory. As a parent, you have a right to be upset with jokes being made at the expense of you and your daughter. But you know what? We all have tired of this continuing soap opera.

You stood tall at the GOP convention, saying abstinence is the only way to go, and staring you in the face was a clear example that even your own daughter and her dropout boyfriend-fiance didn't listen. Yeah, telling us that and trying to get us to believe it was a total joke.

Your daughter later said abstinence isn't realistic. But then you turned around and contradicted her. Then we had to hear you talk about your loving, happy, adorable, Christian-values family. And Levi says that he stayed over — even though the two weren't married — and that he really isn't being allowed to be the father of the child the way he would like to.

Sorry, Sarah, this continuing storyline involving you is like a bad movie.

Frankly, we've tired of the Sarah Palin act.

She wants to be taken seriously, but when you're spending more time getting into a back and forth with a doggone comedian rather than trying to shore up your leadership skills, then it's clear you're playing out of your league.

In a recent poll, not even 1 percent of the responders saw her as a leader in the GOP. Yeah, she didn't even get 1 percent. I think that's a joke and something to laugh at.

It is clear that Gov. Sarah Palin excites some in the Republican base. But it's becoming increasingly clear that that base is getting smaller and smaller. So while she is spending her time going toe-to-toe with Letterman, the likes of Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are trying to put forth serious policy plans that they hope can revive the GOP.

That brings me back to a conversation I had after the election with a woman who was trying to convince me on a flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C., that Palin is the next Ronald Reagan. This woman, with her Southern drawl that reminded me of women from my native Texas, said Palin would show us all what she is made of. I told her that there was no way in hell she would remind us of Reagan.

But I now take that back. Prior to politics, Reagan was a B-list actor who really found his calling in politics. Watching Palin now is like watching one of those corny Reagan movies you might find flipping through the satellite one late night. You stop for a second, watch this person try to act, and just give a dismissive laugh and keep moving on.

Yeah, that's pretty much my reaction to anything Gov. Sarah Palin does these days. She's just a B-list actress playing a politician, making one bad movie after another.

Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN contributor and the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith." Please visit his Web site at www.RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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