Palin: "She's touchable."

Just back in Dallas from St. Paul. On the flight back, I sat next to a woman I'll call Jane. She was 55, a resident and native of a small Minnesota town north of the Twin Cities, and headed to Dallas for a meeting of the company she works for. She's in sales. She and her husband live out in the countryside, in a small house because that's what they can afford. They have a few horses, and a few acres. All their extended family live within easy driving distance. That's the best thing: to have your family around on the holidays, and anytime. People these days are too quick to walk away from their families for money. "Sometimes I think my generation has raised the 'walk-away' generation," she sighed.

Stick with me, this is going somewhere.

She talked about how this country is in serious trouble. Living beyond its means. People don't raise their kids right. Don't teach them to take care of things. People don't have respect anymore. No respect, and no faith. You've got to be willing to help yourself, and quit blaming other people for your own problems. She comes from a military family, and Bush has run the country into the ground with this Iraq war. Jane said she's a Catholic, but to hear her tell it, a rebellious one. She doesn't like "them" pushing people like her around. She's angry over the sex abuse scandal because it was ultimately about men thinking they're all high and mighty, and running over the little people. She admits that she hasn't done as good a job raising her kids in the Catholic faith as her grandma did with her. This bothers her.

The Republicans have royally screwed things up. The Democrats -- well, she can't go for them, because politicians, they'll tell you what you want to hear, but nobody's going to do anything worthwhile. You know who had it going on? Jesse Ventura. "You could trust what he said," Jane said. "He was a straight shooter. He didn't put up with that usual political bullshit. He shut the governor's mansion down because he said the state was wasting the people's money keeping it open."

She respects Barack Obama. "Given his racial background, you know he's had a lot to overcome in this world." But she just can't see voting for the Democrats this time around. Abortion matters to Jane "I don't like it," she said. "We weren't raised to believe in it. I've never believed in it."

"So," I asked. "What do you think about Sarah Palin?"

"Oh, I like her!" Jane said. "She's touchable. You know? I wasn't even going to vote in this election, but now I'm seriously thinking about voting for McCain. I've got no use for him, but I sure like her. She knows what it's like to be a real person. It kind of opens me up to what [the Republicans] have to say."

No kidding, Jane lit up talking about Palin. And then Jane told me how much it meant to her that Palin was standing by her daughter through this pregnancy. Jane said she got pregnant at 17, and married the father of her baby. She and her husband have been together for over 40 years. And Jane's adult daughter, who is 28, is now dealing with a pregnancy, though unmarried ("The birth control pill was giving her migraines, and her doctors were trying different doses"). Jane isn't pleased that her daughter is pregnant, but she is proud that her daughter didn't choose abortion. They're going to get through this as a family. She thinks Sarah Palin can relate to somebody like her, and her values, and her problems.

"From what I can tell, she doesn't take any crap," Jane said. "You watch, that gal is going to bring a lot of people over."

She's touchable. There's political power in that. I'm just sayin'.