SARAH - THE ANALYSIS - AT 8:28 A.M. ET:  Moderate conservative Ross  Douthat, in The New York Times, argues that Sarah Palin's troubles began when she accepted the vice presidential nomination on the Republican ticket last year.  Douthat is right.  It was after Sarah's acceptance that the wild-eyed attacks on her began.

And Douthat makes another point, echoing something from our own Angel's Corner over the weekend - that the assault on Palin was, at least in large part, cultural:

Palin’s popularity has as much to do with class as it does with ideology. In this sense, she really is the perfect foil for Barack Obama. Our president represents the meritocratic ideal — that anyone, from any background, can grow up to attend Columbia and Harvard Law School and become a great American success story. But Sarah Palin represents the democratic ideal — that anyone can grow up to be a great success story without graduating from Columbia and Harvard.

But, while conceding correctly that Palin has made serious mistakes, Douthat notes that the attacks on her have been stunning, overwhelming, and vicious:

All of this had something to do with ordinary partisan politics. But it had everything to do with Palin’s gender and her social class.

Sarah Palin is beloved by millions because her rise suggested, however temporarily, that the old American aphorism about how anyone can grow up to be president might actually be true.

But her unhappy sojourn on the national stage has had a different moral: Don’t even think about it.

COMMENT:  Douthat's op-ed colleagues - Gail Collins and Maureen Dowd - have been among the most despicable in their attacks on Sarah Palin.  Douthat is new to The Times, and his comments took some spine to write.  Good for him.

July 6, 2009