Now by “smart,” I don’t refer to a person who is wily or calculating or nimble in the way of certain talented athletes who we admire but suspect don’t really have serious brains in their skulls. I mean, instead, a mind that is thoughtful, curious, with a discernable pattern of associative thinking and insight. Palin asks questions, and probes linkages and logic that bring to mind a quirky law professor I once had. Palin is more than a “quick study”; I’d heard rumors around the campaign of her photographic memory and, frankly, I watched it in action. She sees. She processes. She questions, and only then, she acts. What is often called her “confidence” is actually a rarity in national politics: I saw a woman who knows exactly who she is.

On a related note, take four minutes to hear the point Glenn Loury makes here.

Update:

Now we have Coastal Elites for Sarah Palin

Do you find yourself telling your squash partner to call you “Barracuda” during a match? Have you set aside a weekend for “snow machining” when you winter in Vail? When someone asks you to make his martini extra dry, do you respond “you betcha”? During your last pheasant walk-up, did you stop to consider that moose hunting might be a good change of pace? Upon seeing Sen. McCain introduce Gov. Palin, did you announce, “Well, Dorothy Parker sure got that one wrong!” If so, this group is for you.