The Barracuda and the price of smashing that glass ceiling

Wow, Sarah Palin's a scary creature to liberal European eyes. Evangelical Christian; purist 'pro-life' position (though in favour of the death penalty, natch); in favour of the teaching of creationism in schools; fiercely anti-gun control; anti-stem cell research. Green she isn't = she doesn't believe in man-made global warming, she's in favour of drilling in ANWR, she opposed listing the polar bear as an endangered species, and so, depressingly, on.  

Many of these positions are contrary to McCain's own, of course. But it's also hard to think of a set of values and beliefs which are further from Hillary Clinton's. Yet everyone assumes that a key part of the decision to pick Palin was to sweep up some embittered Clinton loyalists. Is the pull of gender communalism so strong that someone who believes in what Hillary believes in could vote for McCain on the basis that he has Palin on the ticket - just because Palin is a woman? How depressing if so.