I have a letter, then a quote, then a comment. First, the letter:

Jay,
As a conservative in deep-blue New York, I am often forced to listen to, and then try to make sense of, the liberal viewpoint. And every four years I rehash the same argument with friends and relatives: why red is better than blue.
But something dawned on me today, and Palin crystallized it. You see, I “get” Palin. And I “get” why my liberal friends don’t “get” Palin. But my liberal friends just don’t “get” why I “get” Palin — and they never will.
That really bothers me.

Right — old story. I believe it was John Podhoretz who once said, “All conservatives are bilingual — we have to be. We speak both liberal and conservative. But liberals are monolingual — they don’t have to be anything else. They speak liberal, and are completely ignorant of the conservative tongue.”

And my comment? Bill Clinton’s no dummy, politically — he “gets” Sarah Palin. Or, as he put it, “I come from Arkansas, and I get why she’s hot out there.”