Hot damn! Sarah Palin ROCKS!

Before I continue, let me be perfectly clear: I love Mrs. Light Bulb. Second only to my salvation, Mrs. Light Bulb is the most valuable gift Almighty God has ever given to me. She is the best friend I have in this world, she is my exotic-eyed lover, and a wonderful wife.

But did you see Sarah Palin last week? Hot damn! I'm truly beginning to believe some of the little known facts about this woman.

There is so much to like:

• She can wear a skirt and looks great in it
  
• Her life story has no holes and is quintessentially American
  
• She is the most popular governor of all 50
  
• She has more executive experience than the other three guys combined
  
• She has actually accomplished things for her constituents
  
• She shoots guns and kills wild animals with them
  
• She's a real feminist - her achievements come with hard work and without whining
  

Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, sums up the situation exquisitely with three "thank yous". First, for He-whose-middle-name-must-not-be-spoken:

He lacked the confidence or the strength to ask Hillary Clinton, recipient of some 18 million votes, to join him on the ticket. Such a ticket, uniting and exciting the Democratic party, would have been hard to beat in this Democratic year. Having ruled out Clinton, Obama then lacked the nerve to double down on the theme of change, by selecting, say, Virginia governor Tim Kaine or Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius. A change versus experience election wouldn't have been a bad bet for Obama. Instead, he settled on an unimpressive vice presidential pick, a long-time, long-winded overrated senator from a safe state, who gave him no lift at all in the polls, and offers no prospect of doing so.

Sweet. Then, for Senator McCain.

He showed guts with his pick of Sarah Palin. He also demonstrated a shrewd strategic sense. He knew that running on experience would carry him only so far—most likely to a respectable defeat. He understood the implications of Obama's passing over Hillary—not that Clinton voters would vote for McCain-Palin (though if even a few do so, it could make a difference), but that his pick of Palin when compared with Obama's shying away from Hillary would show McCain as a bolder and more confident leader.

And then, of course, for the media.

A special thank you to our friends in the liberal media establishment. Who knew they would come through so spectacularly? The ludicrous media feeding frenzy about the Palin family hyped interest in her speech, enabling her to win a huge audience for her smashing success Wednesday night at the convention. Indeed, it even renewed interest in McCain, who seems to have gotten still more viewers for his less smashing—but well-received—presentation the following evening.

The astounding (even to me, after all these years!) smugness and mean-spiritedness of so many in the media engendered not just interest in but sympathy for Palin. It allowed Palin to speak not just to conservatives but to the many Americans who are repulsed by the media's prurient interest in and adolescent snickering about her family. It allowed the McCain-Palin ticket to become the populist standard-bearer against an Obama-Media ticket that has disdain for Middle America.

There's now a conservative in the race. And a light at the end of the tunnel.