“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” –Michael Corleone

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin delivered a surprise left hook Wednesday night that whomped the national Democrats in the gut and knocked the “community organizer” off his Styrofoam stage.

It was an awesome sight to behold.

And it was about time. Wary conservatives were flocking to John McCain like chickens run to KFC, but that momentum changed last night. He shrewdly picked One Of Us.

A wife. A soccer mom. A small-town mayor. A hunter. You know, normal.

It was a gamble, and a lot can happen between now and November 4. But it was a masterful thing to do.

In national politics I tend to think our elected leaders trip over themselves to appear to us like they’re just another Six-pack Joe when they’re really Dinner Jacket Joe in Washington. While we’re grumbling over the phone to some under-paid staffer about oil prices, the senator is wining and dining over lobster with some lobbyist for Big Oil.

Cindy McCain has a gazillion houses, and Michelle Obama can relate to a family’s budget crunch because she spent $10,000 in a year on after-school activities for her girls. But Palin seems like the real deal, and it’s driving the Left crazy.

Black conservatives like Clarence Thomas and Condeleezza Rice have already felt the wrath of the Left. A USA Today columnist once wished that Thomas would “die early” of heart disease, and a left-wing cartoonist depicted Rice as a house slave for George Bush.

Why such hatred? It’s an illness of the far-left called Ungratefulitis, and it’s pretty common.

I once witnessed that myself at The Commercial Appeal. I was leading a Memphis politician – a black woman active in city government – to a photo session. When I mentioned Condeleezza Rice’s selection as national security advisor, a look of disdain washed over her face. Apparently the thought of Ms. Rice, black Republican, caused an acute case of Ungratefulitis.

Now the Alaska governor is feeling the wrath of feminists. Feminist columnists and TV pundits are blasting Palin for being a working mom with five children, which is a funny thing to hear after 50 years of bra-burning, you-can-have-it-all declarations that women belong in the workplace and the children belong in daycare.

The talking heads are asking how Vice President Palin will find time to take care of children Corinne, Christine, Jacqueline, Paul and Alexandria, not to mention her seven grandchildren.

Oh, wait. Those are the children of Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, who enjoyed fawning praise from the media as a mother and grandmother when she won the Speaker’s post.

“I believe if I become Speaker of the House and in that highly visible role show the American people that women know how to use power, then I think it helps all women in the political process or whatever field they’re in,” Pelosi said before she was chosen as Speaker.

Pelosi this week blasted McCain’s pick of Palin as his running mate. Apparently if you’re a woman who is pro-choice with guns but not Down Syndrome babies, you are the exception for empowering women.

Before Palin spoke Wednesday night, I had shrugged at the November election, figuring that an Obama presidency might be the best thing for the wandering Republican Party to rediscover its beliefs.  

“Let Obama win and Republicans will be reminded about what they stand for,” I have told more than one person.

But Gov. Sarah Palin and the sick, desperate backlash against her wooed me back.

What I rediscovered this week is that the Democratic Party hates Sarah Palin. If they hate her, when I believe she symbolizes what is still great about our country, then they probably hate me, too.

On November 4 I’m punching the letters for Sarah Palin. I will vote for the “white-haired dude,” too, since it’s a 2-for-1 deal.