I would hope that conservative support for Sarah Palin has NOTHING to do with the fact that she is a woman.
While right now Sarah Palin is indeed the candidate I am looking at. I agree with you 100%! I suspect that there are conservatives who support her because she is a woman. They tend to be the ones who ... well just keep an eye on the photos posted. You'll see what I mean. Rather chauvinistic.
I have a hunch that she could have been a McCain-like republican and she would still have atleast 90% of their support. The fact that she is a conservative and Tea-Party supporter and knowing that conservatism and tea partiers are very popular these days especially in FreeRepublic, that's the reason they keep reminding you that she is a conservative (not for benefit but to convince you to vote for their "girl"). I say this as a supporter of Sarah Palin and quite frankly those particular supporters are sickening.
She could share Susan Collins political views and still have their support.
It is them that are overlooking Sarah Palin's political views and what a shame. They could be gaining more support for her on the issues rather than try using her sex as tool to win the Republican nomination.
Conservatives support Palin for the same reason they support Thomas Sowell; they articulate principles embodied by the US Constitution and liberty.