This base of support for Palin — maybe not that large, but very passionate, and very powerful in places like the Iowa Republican Caucuses — isn’t going to abandon her just because the Serious People in the GOP laugh her off in favor of blow-dried flip-flopping pols like Mitt Romney or blandly “electable” figures like Tim Pawlenty. To her supporters, mockery is like nectar.

National Review’s Jim Geraghty and Hugh Hewitt provided some proof of this today:

My first thought was that it tied heavily to her appearance; in liberals’ minds, conservatives are supposed to look like the couple from the painting American Gothic: Dour and joyless, aged, spartan and frail. Political leaders aren’t supposed to be young, really good looking women, full of energy, smiles and winks.

Hugh suggested it tied to the contrast between her lifestyle and her critics: “She is the embodiment of the anti-choice, the opposite of every choice that lefty elites have ever made — as to going back home instead of moving to the west coast, having children, having a child with Downs, staying married to one man the whole time, choosing rural or suburban over urban and living a generally conservative lifestyle, working with her hands… That everything she is is the antithesis of everything that liberal urban elites are, so it’s not just enough to say, ‘I disagree with you,’; she has to be repudiated and crushed.”

The argument that liberals despise Palin because she had a child with Down syndrome probably makes less sense outside of the talk radio sphere than anything else said about her.

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McCain then sought to define Palin by her reformer bona-fides, including the time she unseated the incumbent Republican governor and when she resigned from a state energy board over her disgust with a member’s ethical lapses.

But then McCain headed into muddy territory, where he made a number of errors on Alaska and Palin’s overall record. I’ll break down the paragraph in question line-by-line.

She’s given money back to the taxpayers.

Alaska doesn’t tend to talk about the public as “taxpayers.” The reason is that there is no state income tax or property tax here. Alaska is run by taxing the companies that tap the state’s rich natural resources, mainly oil companies. To say she gave back “taxpayer” money isn’t entirely accurate. Alaskans received a $1,200 check this year to offset the high cost of energy, which coincided with huge state revenues because of high oil prices. This check was in addition to $2,000 that every Alaskan received this year as part of the state’s Permanent Fund Dividend program that shares oil profits with residents.

She’s cut the size of government.

Palin actually increased government spending in Alaska by about 28 percent this year, according to The Associated Press. Her $11-billion budget spends about $16,000 per person in the state.

She negotiated with the oil companies and faced them down, a $40 billion pipeline of natural gas that’s going to relieve the energy needs of the United — of what they call the lower 48.

It’s true that Palin has agreed to subsidize the company, TransCanada, with a half-billion dollars in public money to explore a possible natural gas pipeline. But that doesn’t mean any dirt will be turned for years – if at all.

McCain wrapped up talking about Palin by noting that she understands the challenges of families with children with special needs, including autism. This was a bit of a surprise, as the Palins have a 5-month-old baby boy, Trig, with Down syndrome. The Anchorage Daily News reports that she does have a nephew with autism, which she noted during her 2006 gubernatorial campaign.

One thing McCain left out of his points on Palin was the story that’s put her in the headlines up here lately — Troopergate.

The news clears up rumors that have been swirling on the Web — and in Anchorage bars — these last few days that Palin’s fifth child wasn’t her own, but her daughter’s. The theory was that Palin, a staunch pro-life conservative, faked giving birth to her 4-month-old son, Trig, to cover up the scandal. It seems the rumor, which we didn’t report here as there was no evidence to substantiate it, prompted the decision to release the news of the younger Palin’s pregnancy. One official told Reuters that the campaign was tired of the “mud-slinging and lies.”

Palin’s views on abortion have energized the evangelical wing of the Republican Party, who were wary of McCain’s stance on the issue, though he has said publicly he does not support abortion rights. Palin has told the media she doesn’t support elective abortions, even in the case of rape or incest. When she gave birth to her fifth child with Down syndrome, the pro-life movement considered her a true believer in the cause.

It will be interesting now to see how her support of her daughter will play with that group.