Feminism's Heir: She Can Fake It Like the Boys

Sarah Palin is a “genuine heir” to feminism’s tenet that women can compete with men at any level: She “clawed her way to the top” in Alaska using all the same cutthroat tactics men do, writes Gail Collins in the New York Times. In the debate, she proved she can mimic another tactic of the boys: She won cheers not for her knowledge, but for her ability to cover up her lack of it on issues relevant to the presidency.

Palin “did indeed answer each question with poise and self-confidence, reeling off a bunch of talking points that were sometimes totally unrelated to the matter at hand.” Now that she’s survived the debate, the McCain team will likely hide her from reporters, a “terrible shame” for us and “for Palin, whose intelligence and toughness may wind up buried under the legend of her verb-deprived ramblings.”
(More Sarah Palin stories.)