Pew-pew-pewing her way into our hearts

Yes, Republican Vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin is egregiously unqualified. Yes, her interviews with Katie Couric knock shooting a friend in the face a couple of rungs down on the gaffe ladder. And yes, she’s there, not because she can help lead the country out of dire straights, but because Senator John McCain decided to toss up a political hail mary.

But, you know what? She did a doggone good job at the debate today, as she might have put it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan; Ms. Palin has a record of nepotism, backroom politics and veiled religious fanaticism. But the pundits burning her in a verbal effigy over some minor errors aren't accurately reflecting the evolving political situation nor do they give her credit for how far she’s come in a little over a month.

She did exactly what she needed to do tonight. The media had anticipated this debate like vultures following a three-legged, nearsighted water buffalo. They didn’t get their meal. Much like Senator Barack Obama was perceived to have held his own against the more experienced McCain, Ms. Palin held her own. Obviously, she was prepped—you could almost see her eyes running over a mental checklist: pronounce Ahmadinejad correctly; mention Kim Jong Il; pose with newborn. But she has finally managed to grope her way to the thing that has determined the last two elections—the benefit of the doubt.

Hardcore supporters of either candidate would not have been moved by Senator Joe Biden’s performance or Ms. Palin’s performance, no matter what happened. But this election is about the huge block of Americans sitting on the fence. The people who were bombarded with characterizations of a bumbling neophyte trying to deflect journalists’s pointed questions with a school-marm vernacular and a Miss Alaska smile. After today, the phrase “Maybe she’s not as bad as they say,” may well be going through many of those people’s minds.

Ask yourself, did the well-oiled machine that twice elected another folksy ‘regular joe’ with a knack for non-sequiturs really allow McCain to go in on someone they thought was a sure-fire loser? Or was it yet another calculated national mind game? Take some unsuspecting political mannequin and toss her into the fire. Have the nation watch as the media and the opposition burn her. Have her struggle and mature under duress, and maybe, just maybe, have voters feel a twinge of—subconscious or otherwise—sympathy for the underdog who’s trying to navigate a stage a little too big for her.

Don’t count Ms. Palin out. She may yet rear her head over election airspace. And Dick Cheney’s out of bullets.