Why conservatives like Palin

Found this at the Contentions blog, by Jennifer Rubin:

 Rod Dreher makes a convincing case that it is her small town and blue collar appeal that are truly shaking up the race. It may not be gender, but class and geography that are the keys to her appeal.

After reviewing an insightful New York Times column (which of course means it is in the style section) on Palin's small town associations in her hometown beauty shop, Dreher comments:

I understood more than anything else I've read about Sarah Palin why she's made that gut connection with so many Americans. She really is from a small town, and does not seem to have forgotten that. Think about the powerful message this sends to small-town, rural and working-class voters. Think about what it says about the place she comes from internally, and how she interprets the world. This is a woman who goes to the small-town beauty shop to trade hunting stories with her girlfriends, and to pray with them through their crises — and she didn't stop going there when she became governor of the state.

This is actually one of the qualities of a leader.  As Kipling put it:

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,

....

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!