Frankly ... I still think Palin reminds me of a typical American.

Not quite. She reminds me of a made-up American. The kind of American created to populate movie screens and paperback novels. She's an embodiment of he mythical strongly independent American frontiersperson, a myth in which most of us have received a thorough indoctrination. She's a modern version of Calamity Jane. As long as people believe the frontier myth, they'll believe in Palin. But the fact is that the frontier myth is not only irrelevant, but counterproductive to the welfare of both our society and the planet. She may be just what Alaska needs, but she's certainly not what most of the rest of us need.