the Boxer Opposite

Amba links to this piece by Harry Stein. Read the whole thing. Here's a taste:

My initial reaction to the news that Sarah Palin was John McCain’s choice for number two on the ticket was incredulity. What the blazes was he thinking? ... Liberals are the ones who pander that way, in the name of “diversity”—seeing people not as individuals but as members of this or that group. Conservatives recognize it as the scam it almost always is.

Then, at noon, I tuned in to see Palin in Dayton. I suppose I’d half expected a female Dan Quayle, the unknown sprung upon us as George H.W. Bush’s unexpected choice.... But the moment she strode on stage, accompanied by her fisherman/oil worker husband and a gaggle of kids with strange names, it was apparent that she was different. No deer in the headlights, this was obviously a confident woman.

More to the point, there’s what she is confident—and forceful—about: fighting for energy independence and against earmarks; cutting property taxes and otherwise taking on even those special interests which generally have a hold on her own party. ...

... Lots of liberal women politicians call themselves strong and independent—and spend their careers relentlessly working for programs that increase people’s dependence on government. Palin could hardly be more different. She is the anti-Barbara Boxer.