Sarah Palin Is A Hater

I'm really trying to understand the appeal this woman has to a large portion of the country, including some people I know personally. Everything I find out about her makes me dislike her a little more. She leverages power to help personal friends who have no experience and to fire political opponents who are good at what they do. She has fought to censor books in a library and to get people who won't do her bidding fired. She has a history of spinning history to fit whatever is politically relevant at the time. Instead of offering anything even remotely about herself in her first nationwide appearance on primetime TV at the RNC, she attacked Obama and turned "community organizer" into a slur. Her nickname is "Barracuda" and she apparently is proud of this fact. From what I can tell, she seems like the worst kind of leader, the worst kind of politician, the worst kind of parent (completely hypocritical - can anyone say "abstinence only education" in the Palin household without stifling a snicker?), and the worst kind of human being: raw ambition mixed with the willingness to do anything necessary to win; insular counsel that doesn't allow for dissent; favoritism and nepotism at the expense of competence.

Please, someone help me understand why anyone would tolerate this woman, let alone support and like her.

Here's another good summary of her career.

Here's the funniest thing I've read about her yet.