The Bitch is NPD

Sarah Palin made a lot more sense to me after I read this, in Todd Purdum's Vanity Fair article:

More than once in my travels in Alaska, people brought up, without prompting, the question of Palin’s extravagant self-regard. Several told me, independently of one another, that they had consulted the definition of “narcissistic personality disorder” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—“a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy”—and thought it fit her perfectly.

Oddly, Bill Kristol's criticism of the article singled out that paragraph:

Is there any real chance that "several" Alaskans independently told Purdum that they had consulted the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders? I don’t believe it for a moment. I’ve (for better or worse) moved in pretty well-educated circles in my life, and I’ve gone decades without “several” people telling me they had consulted the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

All I can say to Kristol (apart from "This republic cannot endure any more of your jokes, Sir!") is "Clearly, you've never worked for a narcissicist." Because, if he had, he'd know that the DSM article makes the rounds. (I have, and it did.) Further, if I were a political consultant, one who'd worked my way up, I'd have the DSM for NPD memorized, because it's a singular occupational hazard. In politics, you don't want to work for an NPD, because they aren't going anywhere.

The first reason NPDs aren't suited to politics is that they make too many enemies. Part of Palin's original popularity was that she was willing to "stand up to the corrupt Republican establishment." Another way to look at this is that she wasn't sane enough to make play nice with the Republican establishment. Her being elected Governor in the first place was a fluke, and her getting the GOB veep nod was a fluke, squared. She had no future, and has no future, as a politician.

The second reason NPDs fail at politics: they can't take criticsm. It drives them to do even crazier things, and I think we've just witnessed one of them.

I've said it more than once, and I'll say it again: within five years, she'll be selling real estate.