“Sarah Palin? She's Family.....”

I remember at one of the 2008 campaign rallies a TV reporter was doing some vox pop amongst the crowd and a man was asked why he supported Governor Palin and he said “She’s my wife, my sister, my daughter, my mom, my neighbour – I know her”

Strangely enough it’s deja vu all over again – the crowds at the book tour are saying the same things even though a whole twelvemonth has passed, months during which this lady has been demeaned, mocked, insulted and characterised as a dimwit, a loser and yesterday’s news by the media hacks, the pundits and those expert Republican “strategists” who performed so well in 2006 and 2008.

“Why do they hate her so much” asked one Hot Air commentator recently. It’s not so much they hate her, replied someone else, it’s because they hate the silent majority, the ordinary, everyday folk who do the work, pay their taxes and just get on with their lives without making any fuss...and recently they have started getting a little irritated with the political class and started asking some awkward questions about healthcare, cap and trade and the ballooning deficit, about questionable political appointments, military strategy and the effectiveness of apology as a foreign policy.

This in turn has grated on the political class because they see the function of the silent majority as being the audience in the cheap seats who pay for their tickets and who are then expected to do nothing but sit back, applaud and be grateful to their betters on the stage and in the front row. Then suddenly this woman appears who had been thrown out of the theatre several months back and she dares to step onto the stage – without an invitation – and suggest that the show is not giving value for money, has gone vastly over budget, the script is rubbish and the acting is pathetic.

The director, the cast and the author are shocked and from the expensive seats their media mouthpieces start booing the interloper when all hell breaks loose as the audience cheers the lady and even start to move towards the stage themselves.

Why has the reappearance of Governor Palin resonated so well with the folks in the cheap seats?

Irritable Pundit at Brushfire Sparks thinks he’s cracked it.

Sarah Palin is Family.

But looking at those crowds on TV, I was struck by how half seemed thrilled for Sarah Palin personally, and the other half seemed wryly just to enjoy the fact that the naysayers were eating a heaping helping of crow again. Thats when it hit me. I finally and fully understand Sarah's appeal. More than that, I truly understand the zealous protective instinct so many seem to have about her.

Sarah Palin is ours, deeply and personally, because she is family.

Family might have disagreements and misunderstandings but when the outside world pushes against you the protective wall goes up and you stick by each other, your support is unconditional. You comfort when there is disappointment and despair, you share in the elation when there is success. Over the years the circle can widen to include wives, husbands and very close friends, people who are not blood but whose emotional ties to us create a bond as tight as blood.

Then there are people outside your circle, people that you might well have never met but whose fingertips in some way have brushed against your very soul, who you feel you just know.....

But someone outside of your immediate circle has to touch you in an extraordinary way in order to be viewed as family. It explains the devotion some have to a songwriter, author, or artist. We are impacted by their songs or stories on such a deep emotional level that we begin to bond our self-identity and close-circle feelings to them, generally all unknowing.

This is exactly what has happened with Sarah Palin. Somewhere along the way, Sarah connected on such a deep level that she has become family. She is ours. Her success makes us joyful for her sake and also allows just a touch of smug satisfaction at her success.

That’s why she is outside the rule book. That’s why pundits and strategists can’t get a handle on her. Flow charts and statistical analyses can only operate on a quantitative level – they cannot easily accommodate the qualitative....

...family always takes care of each other.

I think he’s got a point, don’t you?

*Bumped