Why Palin is so scary to the left
...When she is unscripted, she is difficult for liberals to follow, because they think conservatism is an unintelligent approach to problems so they suggest that anyone who believes in that approach is not smart. They use ridicule and insults rather than argument, because they think conservatives are not smart enough to see the "wisdom" of liberalism. When liberalism fails as it is in the Obama stimulus plan, they seem flummoxed, but they still strike at with their name calling at those they fear most and Sarah Palin is someone who scares them to the core.
The reason why Palin appeals so deeply to so many "middle Americans" in the "flyover country" is of course the same reason she is so profoundly detested by the pointy-heads of the coastal elites. In words, in deeds, and in electrical resonance, she expresses the life-wish of the former, and exposes the death-wish of the latter. And at the moment when the American electorate had resolved upon the Obama adventure, she presented herself as the iconic anti-Obama.
...One of the things that makes her an unusual politician, and also the opposite of Obama, is her sincere disbelief in plans and planning. She could be running for President in 2016, or even 2020, and will not be John McCain's age until the presidential election of 2036.
Moreover, I don't think anyone has a clearer view than Palin herself of her need for more breadth and national experience. Nor of the needs of her family, for that matter, given the taste she has received of what the media are eager to do to them (compared to the halo of protection they extend around, say, Obama's young and impressionable children).
Her course cannot be easy: she knows the enemy, and she knows that the enemy "debates" by demonizing people, not by rational argument. From her view, she has received a significant personal insight into just how degrading her political enemies can be, and the whole "progressive" culture that supports them.
The word "populist" could mean many things, both good and bad. To my mind, Palin currently has both good and bad populist qualities. But these include the very best quality: a real, visceral identification, amounting to love, for the people who actually do America's work, take America's risks, raise America's children, and believe in God. These people are held in contempt by the progressive elites -- they are tax fodder -- just as Palin is held in contempt, as "Caribou Barbie."
Quite frankly, she has scores to settle, and on behalf of all those people. That is what got her into politics to begin with, at the PTA level, and that is what will animate the woman on the national stage. She has the heart of a lion, and she will not run away.
Her resignation is the kind of political courage they cannot comprehend so they call it crazy or nutty. Palin responds by saying that if it is the end of her political career, "so be it." That kind of independence drives them to distraction.
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