I think we can agree that it's objectively true that Sarah Palin is a physically attractive woman. So attractive that, whatever her politics, she was destined to be objectified by many who can't get past the superficial.
Sad to say, if she was on our side of the political spectrum, I'm confident that some leftist jerk with a blog would have exclaimed to the world much the same thing Rich Lowry did after the VP debate, saying, in so many words (who know he was such a Romantic?), that she made them horny. (Although that person would then have been bombarded by both ideological sides, rather than just the Left.)
But (BREAKING!) there's more to real beauty than physical appearance, and I think Sarah Palin offers us a pretty stark lesson in that area. Good! It's something our 'looksist' culture (to use an old feminist term) could stand to learn on a regular basis.
When I was a teen my mother worked in an office with a very plain young woman. "Jane" had some physical features that were less than pleasing, and that were something you noticed when you first met her. But Jane was so nice and friendly a person, that I swear, every time I saw her she looked like she'd undergone a miraculous plastic surgery (she hadn't).
Contrast that to Sarah Palin. Don't know about my hypothetical 'hot for Sarah' lefty, but I find that Palin is getting less "objectively" beautiful by the minute.
So I've found some links to info about how the external appearance of other people affects thinking and behavior, and on how to use the Sarah Palin phenomenon as a teaching opportunity for kids all of us, regardless of age.
Teaching kids what being 'attractive' means
Diversity Activity
National Association to Promote Fat Acceptance
USA Today: Do voters take politicians at 'face' value? (published in 2007)
(There have also been studies published that show some biological basis for being attracted to (mating) partners that fit one's definition of "beauty" but can't find anything without more time to search.)
Obviously, the tip of the tip of an iceberg of thinking and writing on this matter. Because, the problem -- if it is a "problem" -- is neither new nor disappearing soon.
But I think we're better to question our own prejudices, discuss the matter openly, and trying to get beyond the superficial, than not.
Surely Sarah Palin demonstrates that, on many levels, from the skin down. I know that every time I see her face, she looks like she's taken another big dose of ugly.
Update:
It occurred to me after re-reading my title, that it can have another meaning. All the ugly nonsense Palin (and McCain and their surrogates) express are in the category of "that's 'a real beauty'" aka -- outrageous lies