You are correct: Palin is a charming and charismatic sociopath, almost like Ted Bundy.

However, Palin also fits a profile previously called psychopath; which traditionally meant disconnect from reality. A sociopath or anti-social personality describes people who can discriminate fantasy and reality, right/wrong but are lacking a conscience; sense of guilt or remorse.

Palin is a hybrid. On one hand, she seems to believe her own psychobabble; drink her own Kool-Aid. She is an ideologue who does not wish to be confused with facts as she has already made up her mind.

On the other hand, she is (or her handlers are)cynical enough to know where the cash and the adoration is; making big dollars to spew simple platitudes lacking any factual basis.

She is seemingly immune to fact checks and any information that proves her claims are not accurate and her supporters think any countering facts is just “sissy American hating librul spin.”

Her Death Panels claim, which was PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year in 2009 poisoned the well of healthcare reform debate and instead of offering a true public option, Obama and Dems caved in and crafted another insurance company skim bill.

Her claim that Alaska produces 20% of gross domestic energy has been proven incorrect several times. Recent estimates by Energy Information Administration show that AK’s energy production was less than 2.9 percent of total U.S. energy. Oil production was highest energy output; 14.3% in 2007, most recent year EIA has information on.
http://factcheck.org/2010/02/tea-party-fact-checking/

Her claim that ethics charges cost the state millions was another lie. According to the Anchorage Daily News, the ethics complaints did not cost Alaska millions but rather $296,000; $187,797 being attributed to Palin’s “complaint against herself” in Troopergate probe.
Source: http://www.adn.com/2009/07/01/850854/ethics-investigations-cost-state.html

Nobody was paid overtime or anything more than routine salaries that would have been paid regardless of Palin being investigated or not.

I would place her as some hybrid of delusional and ani-social/sociopath; low information/low knowledge sociopath.

The difference between Palin and Bundy is Bundy actually had the smarts to fake or “normalize” charm, sophistication and had a way with people well outside of his echo chamber. Palin only gives interviews to Fox (her current employer) and only went on Oprah and Barbara Walters to promote her book and do a fluff piece (most likely ABC News had to promise Palin and her handlers that she would not be called to task for the innacuracies in her book, some of which were pointed out by REPUBLICANS who worked for Senator McCain; nor her factually challenged statements on healthcare, energy or any other subject). Like Kate Gosselin’s stint on Dancing With The Stars, Palin’s appearances on Oprah, Good Morning America and Barbara Walters generated highest ratings for those programs in several years. However, just as Kate Gosselin is no Blythe Danner, Ginger Rogers or Meryl Streep, Sarah Palin is no Tricky Dick Nixon, Everett Dirksen, Alexander Hamilton, Russell Kirk or even Reagan. She possesses no deep insight of any issue; reduces discourse to snark and soundbites/slogans and is constantly having a tense relationship with facts.

Judy Booth is absolutely right.

Read the CORRECT history and purpose of the modern tea party which started in 2007.

There is no leader, no head, and it is not a registered party.
So there is no way Palin can ‘jump on the ticket’.

She merely spoke at ONE event, which does not make her a ‘leader’. I like Palin but she has NOT been adopted as our ‘leader’.

As for you, I suggest you move to Canada with the rest of the socialists RIGHT NOW, because it seems you would like it better there as it is already…and we don’t need more socialists in this country.

Zack Christenson, a producer for Chicago neo-con radio host Milt Rosenberg, registered first tea party domain name ChicagoTeaParty.com, which activted just after Rick Santelli’s PR stunt on CNBC.

FreedomWorks is headed by former GOP congressman Dick Armey and receives funding from the health insurance and pharmaecutical industries and has received funding from the far right Sacife family (who helped push some of the more outlandish Clinton rumors in the 1990s).

Americans For Prosperity is funded mainly by Koch Industries, the largest privately owned corporation in U.S; oil/gas exploration; chemicals and financial services. The father of Koch Industries, Fred Koch, was a founder and leader of the ultra right John Birch Society and his sons are key financiers of the Tea Parties.

The Tea Parties are simply extensions of the more conservative branch of the GOP. While the rank and file claim independence, the big players funding the parties or hyping them-FreedomWorks, Americans For Prosperity,Fox News-are as GOP as they come. Their major political speakers or champions are Sarah Palin and Michele Bcahmann. They swung into force only after Obama became President; only tea party when Bush was in power was a relatively mid sized one hosted by Ron Paul, who advocated withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan, reconsidering support to Israel and the Saudis and auditing the Fed, themes NEVER heard at the current tea parties.

The Tea Party’s goal is simply to revive and perpetuate Bush and Reagan economic policy-tax cuts for the rich and deregulation for corporations. Yet, when these free market fundamentalists fail i.e. S&L, the housing and banking crsis, the insider trading scandals of the 1980s or accounting fraud of Enron and WorldCom, we the middle class taxpayers end up having to save everyone, including the screwups i.e. Keating, Milken, the Wall Street boys.

Sorry but I don’t like the tea the astroturfers are brewing up.