Ah, meritocracy! Not so long ago, conservatives had a lock on it: no affirmative action, no A's for effort, no competitions where everyone gets a prize. People who complained that racism or sexism or any other ism was holding them back were whiners looking for excuses. They either didn't want to work hard or, as Charles Murray claimed in The Bell Curve, they weren't smart enough to make the grade.
Well, never mind. Sarah Palin has done for meritocracy what she's done for those other conservative obsessions: working mothers (you go, girl!), teen pregnancy (a challenge!), masculine authority (the first dude?)--to say nothing of gravitas, statesmanship, wisdom and all those other weighty abstract nouns George Will likes to talk about. "I'm in love. Truly and deeply in love," Murray told the New York Times's Deborah Solomon. "The last thing we need are more pointy-headed intellectuals running the government." Palin is new, young, attractive, charismatic, a natural speaker. She's a fascinating combination of opposites--relatable (horrible word) and down to earth but also intense and weirdly thrilling--half Rachael Ray, half Boudicca, a warrior mom. Feminist triumph or feminist nightmare? Maybe both! She's hot in all senses of the word. If she wasn't a big reactionary, she'd make a fantastic community organizer.
But let's be real: there is just no way Sarah Palin is equipped to be vice president, much less president. Read on.
"Sarah Palin, Affirmative Action Babe"
Pollitt writes in her latest Nation column:
