I’m more than tired of Sarah Palin all the time, everywhere, but it seems nearly impossible to steer clear of our former governor and her tour of red America. So I guess I’ll briefly (re)join the fray and mention a couple of recent commentaries that I found enjoyable and illuminating. The first is Julia O’Malley’s Nov. 28 column in the Anchorage Daily News, “She’s everywhere, but don’t ask where Palin is coming from.” Like Julia, I “might even have voted for [Sarah].” Egad, what an admission! Not in her valley campaigns or the general election, but in the Republican gubernatorial primary. My thinking at the time was to do anything that would diminish Gov. Frank Murkowski’s chances of being re-elected. While it seemed a plausible idea, I came to my senses and opted instead for the open primary, where I cast my vote for someone I truly believed in. My sweetheart, Helene, still gives me grief that I once seriously considered voting for Sarah. But I didn’t, I remind her. Still, even the idea, I admit, is nowadays disturbing.

I also have to remind myself that once upon a time I considered Sarah Palin a breath of political fresh air, taking on Alaska’s Republican establishment the way she did. Little did I know that those early political moves hinted of much bigger and more roguish ambitions.

Anyway, Julia’s column is reasoned and thoughtful, unlike many others I’ve seen or heard, both from the left and right. There aren’t many in-betweens when it comes to Sarah, are there? She’s a truly polarizing force, even more than Dubya was, I’d wager. Like Julia I’m “a tired observer” of a phenomenon that’s hard to fathom and yet makes absolute sense. Love her or loathe her, Sarah Palin is a charismatic figure who is also a true believer. And she connects at a gut level with other such believers. (As Helene keeps telling me, it also helps in our celebrity-crazed culture that she's a good-lookin' gal with sex appeal and an attitude, unafraid to speak up for what she believes, in her own common-folk way, and willing to take on those liberals with their immoral and ungodly ways. Would she be as appealing if she weren't so attractive and down-home feisty? Good question, I suppose.) She believes in the Christian God and that she is privy to the Truth. In her black-and-white way of seeing things, she’s on the side of what’s right and Godly, pure and simple. It’s no coincidence that Palin is now in the news for urging us Americans to rededicate ourselves to humbly seeking God’s will. Of course it’s her God we need to seek out, the US of A being a righteous Christian nation.

Somewhere along the line Sarah also came to firmly believe that she ably represents the disaffected, the downtrodden, and the distrustful – at least those who inhabit the political and religious right. She’s a God-fearing evangelical who seems to truly believe the Obama administration represents something evil. Which brings me, in a roundabout way, to a second piece of merit, forwarded to me via email from that lefty leaning online site, the Huffington Post.

“Sarah’s Palling Around with Conspiracists” is a provocative commentary written by Brian Levin, a civil rights attorney, professor of criminal justice, and director of the nonpartisan Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. Levin wrote his piece after Palin appeared on a conservative radio show last week. Asked if she would make an issue of President Obama’s birth certificate should she again run for national office (presumably the presidency), Palin responded, “I think the public rightfully is still making it an issue. I don’t have any problem with that. . . . I think it’s a fair question, just like I think past association and past voting records – all of that is fair game.” On her Facebook page, Palin later backtracked a bit, but as Levin notes, the inference is clear: she’s okay with extreme conspiracy theories that have been used “to demonize the president as being everything from an illegitimate imposter to high office to a secret radical Jihadist Trojan horse.”

Before any readers go haywire at yet another left-wing attack of Palin, I should emphasize that Levin is equally critical of “the horrendous anti-Bush 9/11 truthers” who’ve suggested President Bush “intentionally allowed the 9/11 attacks to occur so that we could go to war in the Middle East.”

“Both sides of the political spectrum offer a disturbing picture,” Levin continues, then goes on to offer some startling statistics. Two examples: One quarter of Democrats think Bush let 9/11 happen so that he could go to war, while 42 percent of Republicans believe Obama was not born in the United States. More amazing – and frightening – is that “10 percent of voters say that President Obama is the ‘anti-Christ’ and another 11 percent aren’t sure.” But that ain’t all; 8 percent of voters believe Bush is the anti-Christ! At least the latter is now largely in seclusion at his Texas ranch.

I suggest people read Levin’s entire commentary, but I’d like to add a few more of his thoughts here: “First, conspiracy theories exploit real and sincere fears and disagreements that many mainstream people have about actual leaders, policies, events, trends and abuses of authority. Second, while these theories are often intertwined with a small element of truth, factual gaps are filled with a much larger dose of emotion and wild conjecture. Third, they are usually part of a much more broad tactical assault on leaders and institutions.”

To bring things back to Sarah, Levin stresses, “[Ex] Governor Palin’s statements are particularly disturbing because they constitute a tacit celebrity endorsement of conspiracies by a former office holder who is viewed as a legitimate political player. John McCain demonstrated a different approach as his campaign mostly rejected the overt use of the birth certificate and related ‘issues.’ ”

Then, sadly, “Whatever you want to say about her parsing of words, Palin knows her base – 82 percent of those who say that President Obama is the anti-Christ have a favorable opinion of the former Governor.”

She’s come a long way, baby. And Palin’s long, strange journey through America’s political theater is roaring full steam ahead, powered by believers who are sure they know the truth, as extreme as it may be.