'This lady is the real deal'

If you want to know if a politician is who he or she appears to be, just ask a member of the security detail charged with their protection. It's the job of the officers to stick close to the pol, and they get first-hand knowledge from being up close and personal.

One such officer is Sgt. Robert Goedde of the Vanderburgh County sheriff's office. It was Goedde's duty, as head of the security detail for Sarah Palin, to be at the governor's side throughout her 17-hour stay in Evansville, IN last week to attend two events there.

The Evansville Courier & Press asked Goedde about Gov. Palin:

"I thought, 'I'm going to watch and see if there's ever a sign that this is all a put-on,'" he said. "I never saw it. Never once did I see her say or do anything that made her look less than sincere, like rolling her eyes when no one was looking."

"People looked up to her almost in a rock star way, but it was also with respect, not just 'Oh, Sarah, Sarah,'" he said. "I don't know any other way to say it, but this lady is the real deal."

Another person who has been keeping an eye on the former GOP vice presidential candidate is Nick Hermann, chairman of the Vanderburgh County Republican Party, who has seen Palin in person at the GOP Convention in Minnesota, two 2008 campaign speeches in Indiana and Thursday night's dinner in Evansville. Hermann commented on Palin's personal magnetism:

"She has great stage presence, but she also works the crowd well," Hermann said. "It's unusual to have both. (Former GOP presidential candidate) Mike Huckabee, for instance, works the crowd well but doesn't have the stage presence."

Hermann said that Sarah Palin's personal authenticity could prove to be a key political asset in the rce for 2012:

"The Right to Life banquet (at which Palin teared up over her baby son who was born with Down syndrome and spoke openly of her teenage daughter's pregnancy) was the first time I've seen her really open up and talk about her story, her feelings," he said. "Sometimes, politicians seem too perfect. She really connected with people."

Palin's ability to make that kind of personal connection is nothing new. I blogged about it last November. It's part of who she is. Indeed, the Evansville newspaper reporter says her heard it repeated many times during the governor's time in the town from the servers who worked the Friday morning breakfast to the executive director of S.M.I.L.E.

The Courier & Press also talked to Dr. W.R. Mack, a political scientist at the University of Southern Indiana, who considers the right to life banquet to be the first major event of the 2012 presidential campaign:

Mack said the key to understanding Palin's appeal to social conservatives — a potent constituency in Republican presidential primaries — is her perceived sincerity and strength of conviction about their issues.

"In the past, maybe they felt like they were being used (by national Republicans)," Mack said. "John McCain was kind of a fake conservative to them. But with Palin, they think, 'Here's somebody who is really going to follow through.'"

It's not just Sarah Palin's good looks, her conservatism or her opposition to abortion that makes the Left hate and fear her so. I believe that it is the way she relates to everyday people that truly unhinges liberals, because it's a political asset that is part of her personality. It's something that can't be faked. And that's what scares them the most.

- JP