If ridicule is the strategy that Democrats are intending to use as a cudgel against the opposition party nominee for vice president then they better rethink it very quickly.
All the usual suspects in representing the Left in the media have been quick to use derision in their commentary. Eleanor Clift, ( dumb as a rock) Sally Quinn, Maureen Dowd and Campbell Brown among others all think that women won't fall in line behind the Alaskan hick with "extremist" views and a very thin resume.
Those women aren't the ones that would be independent in this election anyway. They aren't on the fence. However, a good many in middle America that are on the fence in swing states are going to bother to take a look at this very intriguing young woman.
Even a short and shallow examination shows a woman of substance in the political arena. Forget the fact that she rose to the occasion with flying colors in the biggest public event of her life. Simply take a look at her experience in public and private sector management. The fact is that she has more hands on government experience than everyone else on both tickets. City council, mayor and governor are all on her resume compared to her running mate and opponents who have experience in the windy halls of the senate but not much else in the way of managing anything beyond a small senate staff.
The Boston Globe did a quick trashing of her college credentials. They aren't Ivy League but they apparently weren't filled with proven accusations of plagiarism as Biden's record contains.
She has been a governor for only two years however in that two years she has negotiated what appears to be the largest single construction project in the history of the United States. To give you an idea just how big, the total money spent will be three or four times as large as our Big Dig public swindle here in Massachusetts.
Her approval rating in her home state is the highest of any governor in the country and apparently her peers in Alaska thought enough of her to elect her President of Alaska Conference of Mayors.
So there is comparable if not superior substance to this woman against her male counterparts. Add to that a good deal of superficial stuff like beautiful faces on her and her family as well as the ability to generate a good deal of excitement when she speaks and you have what turns out to be an asset for McCain. She simply is everything that McCain is not. The difference between her and Joe Biden is just as stark.
Other derisive strategies that will not work against her involve her role as a mom. All the feminists who have championed the breaking of the glass ceiling for women cannot send this woman home to mind her kids. In this day and age there is no reason why the husband can't take on a good deal of the weight. All over America it is being done, and besides, being vice president is likely to be more of a vacation than being a working governor.
Yes, McCain has the democrats very worried about this woman. You can see that illustrated in our own home town rag. This week American forces handed over Anbar Province to the Iraqi military. You would think that this would merit some sort of notice by the Boston Globe. But guess what was on the front page below the fold on that day? A story about Palin's 17 year old daughter being pregnant. This is the same paper that completely ignored the John Edwards pregnancy story until almost every other outlet in the union had printed it.
By this time next week McCain will be even or perhaps ahead in polls. This is going to be a horse race and is likely to hinge on a single gaffe by one of the participants. If you are wagering it might be Sarah Palin that stumbles, don't put the house on it.
