Heather Mac Donald of City Journal scoffed
at John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as "playing the
identity-politics game," but Mac Donald's colleague Lisa
Schiffren puts her finger on why the choice is so popular with
the GOP rank-and-file:
In the first 36 hours after McCain announced his pick,
$7 million in new contributions poured in online. This isn't
because Palin is making history as the first woman on a GOP ticket.
It's because of the type of woman and politician that she is. She's
a normal person, a mother and wife, who entered politics in 1992 by
running for city council in Wasilla, Alaska to oppose tax
hikes.
In short, Sarah Palin is an Ordinary American -- a graduate of
the University of Idaho, rather than an Ivy League college; a
high-school basketball player, not a windsurfer; a beauty-pageant
contestant, not a lawyer; a member of the PTA, not NOW; a hunter,
not an environmentalist. Palin clearly identifies with, and shares
the interests of, the middle-class majority, rather than the
elite.
(Cross-posted at The Other
McCain.)
topics:
John McCain, Sarah Palin, Environment, Law, Alaska
