Who do "they" say are the real Americans?
I actually empathize with the impulse that makes the Palin crowd feel not everyone is a "real American." But the part they won't like is that, in the world's mind, they are the irrelevant Americans.
Those silly "Old Europeans" or pagan Third Worlders do not envy Wasilla or Walla Walla. But they lust after New York and San Francisco. They wouldn't fit in in Tuscaloosa as well as they'd fit in around Portland. They love the Blue States.
The America that makes the world turn turquoise in envy, the America that makes the world go round, is Blue State America. When the little guy from Liverpool or the little girl from Karachi or the young prodigy from Singapore dreams about America, he or she dreams about the America that is captured in images of New York, Hollywood and that dreaded Boston. Places marked by opportunity and equality and openness unseen in other parts of the world or in many parts of Red State America.
Sorry, Sarah, but the world doesn't share your view about what (and who) makes America great. (And it would be good for you to care what they think beyond your own shores.)
Rob,
Blue State America and Red State America are not static entities. For instance, in 1972, Nixon won a second term by winning every state except Massachusetts (gee, what a shock). In 1984, Reagan defeated Mondale by winning every state minus Minnesota (Mondale's home state). The point is, what might be Blue State America on November 4 was once Red State America and will surely be Red State America again.
True, they're not static entities. But when Palin et al are discussing the "pro-America" areas of America and when more objective analysts are examining voter demographics, we're generally talking about smaller towns and places in the South and Midwest.