Finally, at paragraphs 14 and 15 of an 18-paragraph column,
he gingerly grows bold:
Here are lessons of the Sarah Palin experience, for any
aspiring politician who shares her background and her sex. Your
children will go through the tabloid wringer. Your religion
will be mocked and misrepresented. Your political record will
be distorted, to better parody your family and your faith. (And
no, gentle reader, Palin did not insist on abstinence-only sex
education, slash funds for special-needs children or inject
creationism into public schools.)
Male commentators will attack you for parading your children.
Female commentators will attack you for not staying home with
them. You’ll be sneered at for how you talk and how many
colleges you attended. You’ll endure gibes about your “slutty”
looks and your “white trash concupiscence,” while a prominent
female academic declares that your “greatest hypocrisy” is the
“pretense” that you’re a woman. And eight months after the
election, the professionals who pressed you into the service of
a gimmicky, dreary, idea-free campaign will still be blaming
you for their defeat.
