Beating back the critics isn’t easy for any politician, but Sarah Palin has amassed so many enemies that syndicated Los Angeles columnist and FishbowlLA editor Tina Dupuy felt compelled to compile a list.
“I’m shocked that no one did it before,” said Dupuy. “This is an evergreen piece, and she’s an evergreen subject. I mean, it’s not like she is going to have some kind of change of heart soon.” Dupuy created the list on her personal website last week and it was almost immediately reposted on Gawker, Politico, and The Houston Chronicle. She is still adding names today; the last count was 70, with show stoppers Ashley Judd and Karl Rove making their cameos on the list.
Gallery: Sarah Palin’s Future Enemies
A virtual hit list for Palin is nothing shocking—the real surprise is that one hasn’t already been compiled. The former Alaska governor makes her living off publicly announced half-thoughts that inevitably bring her back into the media spotlight. “This is what defines her and what she’s been able to monetize,” said Dupuy, whose list is bipartisan and ranges from actors to former First Lady Barbara Bush. “She just goes after these people and she just can’t rise above it.”
There is a certain honor to being on Sarah Palin’s Enemies List. When Dupuy unveiled her picks on her website, the list began circulating through Twitter, with followers expressing their own desires to make the cut. Former New York Times Frugal Traveler Matt Gross tweeted: “How can I make Sarah Palin’s Enemies List?”
To help Dupuy in her chronicles of Palin enemies, we’ve collected a number of potentials, who, any minute now, could find themselves the subject of a tweet or the target of a speech.
Shefali Kulkarni is an Editorial Assistant at The Daily Beast. She has written for the Village Voice, Willamette Week and recently graduated from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.