Why Sarah Palin scares them

I also saw a glimpse of the woman who terrifies some when I met her in person at the Long Island Association’s February 2011 Annual Meeting and Luncheon. There’s absolutely nothing about her — from the way she greets you to the tone of her exchanges — that fits into the mold of “conventional politician.” I suppose that must be terribly frustrating to those who struggle so hard to stand out, but don’t … because when it comes down to it, they’re not all that different from the rest.

And, perhaps most significantly, I saw a glimpse of the woman so many fear when I recently revisited her 2007 State of the State Address. If you haven’t watched it, you should. There’s a passion she possesses to cut through the garbage and get things done, as well as an ability to connect with people without even trying. She’s not telling you what she thinks you want to hear. She’s simply telling you what she thinks.

A liberal Manhattan acquaintance of mine recently hit the nail on the head: “The thing about Palin that’s so scary is that she actually means what she says. She actually believes it. And she’ll do it. She’ll make it happen.”

To borrow the words of the first female governor of Alaska, “Game on.”

Jedediah Bila is a conservative columnist, television commentator and author of the new book Outnumbered: Chronicles of a Manhattan Conservative. For more information on Jedediah, please visit jedediahbila.com. Follow Jedediah on Twitter.