Palin's Emotional Intelligence

David Kusnet of The New Republic writes about the power of Palin's Emotional Intelligence - that is her ability to connect with people in a way that makes emotional sense, even if it doesn't quite make sense logically when you think about what exactly she's saying.

I found two of his points particularly interesting.

1) "Often her remarks were rambling and disjointed... But people don't parse debate transcripts, they watch the show on their TV screens. Palin looked and sounded friendly, funny, and confident..."

This is so true. Try reading a transcript of her interviews and her debate responses. It's frequently difficult to figure out exactly what she's saying if you haven't already seen the response on TV. If you've watched her give the response, you're able to filter out a lot of the "filler" in her responses and understand, at least emotionally, the general direction she's trying to make her point in.

2) When Biden spoke emotionally of his own experience has a single parent, 'for once, Palin did not respond as a regular human being would. Not even offering Biden a sympathetic glance while he was speaking, she went on to say yet again that McCain is "a maverick."'

I remember thinking that her response was extremely odd. Especially for someone whose appeal is almost entirely predicated on the assumption that she understands and identifies with the average American, her lack of comment and quickness to change the subject cheerily back to McCain's maverick qualities seemed to display an unnatural coldness.

Kusnet adds that "those who watched the debate from start to finish may have wondered whether Palin really is as warmhearted as she appeared."