[fortunate sun]

It makes me shudder when I read of "Eastern Elites". I'm behind enemy lines in NJ and I would put my bona fides up against any "real conservative". Conservatism, to the Noonans, Parkers, Wills and others of the pontificating class was nothing more than fly-fishing or martini bars; a place to make the scene or where the nerdly could feel hip. They were never the doers, they were the Plimptons, the dabblers and they were never secure in their positions among us.

Sarah Palin is everything they are not. She is the "libertarian" conservative of the west, she is the "religious" conservative of the south and midwest and the bare-knuckle, get it done conservative who lives under the yoke of blue-state political tyranny of the northeast. That is why they fear her, she is the real deal. Conservatism in all it's forms personified.

Governor Palin may be as great a transformational force in American Politics as Elizabeth I was to England.

[hellbender]

You’ve nailed it eloquently. People like Brooks, Will, Kristol, etc. are just the “house conservatives” or “Potemkin conservatives” of the Leftmedia. They are mere tokens kept on board so the MSM can claim they are “open to other views.” These “nuanced” intellectual pundits know they will have their jobs even if the Demonrats win every election. (At least until the Marxists set up their concentration camps for everyone to the right of Mao and Pol Pot.)