Hoots Mon, there’s a Moose Loose… No, not that Moose

Today’s episode of the Sarah Palin chronicles comes via Matt Yglesias who asks:

I continue to be baffled as to how moose hunting, which surely almost nobody in the United States does given what a small portion of the country is within moose range, has been construed as an all-American hobby.

I assume Matt is being arch here, since really this is not something that should baffle him or anyone else. Hint: the moose is not the heart of the matter. It’s the hunting that counts and, of course, the unapologetic, natural way Palin talks about hunting and outdoor life. It’s not a ploy or a fatuous attempt to curry political favour (cf. Mitt Romney’s “varmint” hunting or John Kerry’s trying-too-hard shooting trip days before the 2004 election), it’s just something she does. It’s part of who she is.

Other politicians talk about respecting gun-owners and hunters, she is a gun-owner and hunter.