Another reader writes:
Continuing on your theme this morning, I just want to point out that women of any intelligence recognize Palin as a female archetype we've had to deal with for years. In modern vernacular, she's a "mean girl," who is ambitious and has no trouble stabbing people in the back to get what she wants. This type of woman is terribly divisive, splitting women between adoring acolytes who want to be "just like them" and women who see clearly what's going on and can't believe that no one else (especially males) can see through it. If Rich Lowry has a girlfriend with a brain, I bet she'd like to strangle him. Right now, Palin is cocky, self-satisfied and believes she has fooled the world. This is good news. It's frequently the state of things just before a mean girl gets toppled from her throne. The waiting can be hard, though.
This female archetype knows no generational boundaries. My mom, who is a serious fundy and believes the Bible is a scientific review of creation, had not seen much of Palin prior to the debate.
Her only sense was that Palin was being persecuted for believing in the Bible. Even she was appalled by Palin's performance at the debate and thought the flirty phoniness was totally unbecoming a national political figure. You could almost hear a collective embarrassed groan from educated, non-neoconservative women all over the world who have worked their asses off to be taken seriously only to have this bimbo blatantly and on camera attempt to reduce the role of women to their ability to flirt.