So for geoff and others suffering from any of the above why don't we cut to the chase regarding questions of policy and check out this excerpt from Cashman and Nelson's Sarah Takes On Big Oil [STOBO]. Since the question isn't really is Palin smart or even is she secretly, beneath the freakin vernacular, a policy wonk, but is she an effective executive? And this book answers that question.
Cashman and Nelson offer a slightly technical and politically detailed report from their vantage point as oil industry newspaper editors and in doing so show Palin's unusual gift for grasping a complicated, gordian knot type issue and slicing into it by recruiting and assembling uniquely insightful experts that are willing (that's the rub, since most experts are invested in outcomes, some legit some less so) to actually solve a politically calcified problem.
Cashman and Nelson are senior editors at Petroleum News, an Anchorage oil industry newspaper whose subsidiary published their book. Petroleum News has an interesting website that explains its philosophy:
Petroleum News' editorial objective is to provide readers with solid, trustworthy and timely information about the oil and gas industry. The news bulletin service and Petroleum News are frequently the first publications to break significant stories from Alaska and northern Canada.Our news staff does not rely on press releases for information. Rather, we keep abreast of permit filings, lease reports and interactions with government agencies that often prove to be the forerunner of major happenings.
So geoff, go at it. Invest in a copy of STOBO. The link is to the publisher, who's electronic version is cheaper than the Kindle version of the book. Or at least read the 9 page excerpt.
h/t Conservatives4Palin
UPDATE:
Must see video from the 2008 campaign, featuring a Lloyd Marcus cover of Sarah Smile:
