Who's the dope?

Certain liberal journalists have preened in print about Sarah Palin's alleged lack of intelligence. One called her a "Grade A Dope." Others have been even harsher. None, of course, have stood toe-to-toe with a veteran U.S. Senator and held their own in a debate, or flawlessly delivered a brilliant convention speech. Here's what the former editor-in-chief of Ms. magazine, who has spent hours with Palin recently, said about her:

Now by "smart," I don't refer to a person who is wily or calculating or nimble in the way of certain talented athletes who we admire but suspect don't really have serious brains in their skulls. I mean, instead, a mind that is thoughtful, curious, with a discernable pattern of associative thinking and insight. Palin asks questions, and probes linkages and logic that bring to mind a quirky law professor I once had. Palin is more than a "quick study"; I'd heard rumors around the campaign of her photographic memory and, frankly, I watched it in action. She sees. She processes. She questions, and only then, she acts. What is often called her "confidence" is actually a rarity in national politics: I saw a woman who knows exactly who she is.

She went even further.

For all those old enough to remember Senator Sam Ervin, the brilliant strict constitutional constructionist and chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee whose patois included "I'm just a country lawyer"… Yup, Palin is that smart.

Palin will be a formidable force in national politics for years to come, if she chooses to pursue that path.

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2008 election, Barack Obama, John McCain, journalism, liberals, Sarah Palin