Whenever one enters the political arena, one will first have to become a politician. We can’t have it any other way. There have been politicians who have been upright and driven by love of the country they served.
So what do you propose? Sarah has always been a politician, but she is an honest one. She is Davy Crockett without junk, but is still wouldn’t want to get in a knife fight with her.
The point is that Davy Crockett was also a politician, but a patriot. Sarah is a coonskin patriot.