As I listened to Sarah Palin in her recent interview with Katie Couric, an image kept coming to my mind of the fictional character Chauncey Gardener in the wonderful 1979 film Being There. Being There starring Peter Sellers is a remarkable film about a situation (and character) somewhat comparable to that of the current Republican V.P. presidential candidate.
Chauncey Gardener (a gardener in life,whose real name appropriately is "Chance") had never been outside the urban estate where he had gardened all his life. When as an adult he is forced to leave, he discovers a world very different than his own, and through a series of misfortunes (including a mugging and a rescue by a wealthy socialite played by Shirley McClaine) he meets the the world of elite political insiders who are charmed by his simplicity. A man of few words (and thoughts) he responds through both simple life statements (compare: the Palin statement that Alaska is next to Russia) as well as the parroting back of details posed in his questioners' queries (compare the Couric interview).
In Being There, ignorance and inexperience are seen to be virtues. When Gardener insists he does not read or write, it is seen as a mark of leadership. When he says that what he likes to do in life is simply to garden, others assume that he is speaking in metaphor. Gardener's utter ignorance of the world in turn is viewed as his being above the fray. Like Palin too, Gardener is accorded the mantle of a person who loves the outdoors - a trait serves to cover alot of other seeming failings. And like Palin, he is deemed (by McClaine at least) to be quite sexy - mostly for his naivite it seems.
In the end Gardener (like the Alaska gov) is invited to run for the highest office because he also is an outsider who will appeal to the populace. Although Gardener is portrayed in the film as far sweeter than Palin, one can well imagine his ingenue-like response to the offer with lines such as those of the Alaska Gov: "and what exactly does a V.P. do every single day?."
Also like Palin, Gardener, a man of no experience, and a notable dearth of intelligence(as attested to by the astonished remarks of the housekeeper of the estate where he worked as this man of "wisdom" is showcased on TV) is selected with NO research into his history, or interviews with those who knew well in his former life. Hmmmm.
Here is another great clip, the funeral scene in Being There. In this scene, the end of the film, as the casket containing the remains of the deceased President is carried to the Masonic tomb where he will be buried, the group of political power brokers (the casket bearers - global Masonic elites akin to skull and crossbones?) run down the possible choices for a successor finally zeroing in on Chauncey Gardener (himself at this point off wandering through the woods). The clincher for them is that no one really knows anything about him and he will appeal to the masses.
And just for fun Peter Sellers' outtakes for Being There running with the credits. (In this scene, Sellers (Gardener) is being treated after the mugging and is trying to reveal (parrot) the lines that his urban punk mugger told him to tell "his people." The difficulty he has in getting out these lines straignt faced (too funny for words) suggests the ludicrousness of the whole situation of someone without any experience in life coming to grips with the real world.