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With a solid, articulate, polished performance during Thursday night's vice presidential debate, Alaksa Governor Sarah Palin made liars of the mainstream media (MSM), which has used edited interviews, elitist snobbery and repeated abuse to try to convince the American people that Sen. John McCain's running mate was nothing more than an ignorant, backwoods hick.

Palin showed that real, ordinary Americans -- like us, and like her -- can go toe to toe with the political class (personified by long-serving Sen. Joe Biden), and reclaim our government.

Palin smashed the expectations game out of the park. She denied the MSM the opportunity to play and replay a gaffe that supposedly would justify the contempt and vituperation they've heaped on her.

Certainly, there were a few missed opportunities -- as there are in any debate. For example, when Biden conceded that Sen. Barack Obama might have to cut back on his foreign aid plan, it would have been great if she had pointed out that Obama wants all of us to become global taxpayers.

Palin could have pointed out several misstatements Biden made about his own and McCain's records. For example, unlike Obama, McCain never voted to raise taxes on those making more than $42,000; Joe Biden has argued that there should be no coal plants in the United States, a stand he backed away from in the debate.

But Palin was fabulous in pointing out that Biden supported most of McCain's approach to the war in Iraq . . . until he landed on Obama's ticket. And she was the only one explicitly to link the Wall Street crisis with the issue of personal responsibility.

Palin was able to attack with a smile -- she called out Obama brilliantly on a reckless, anti-American comment about our military supposedly bombing villages in Afghanistan --and held her own with Biden every bit.

Palin has a delightfully down to earth, "real" quality about her that makes it clear as she pointed out (again, brilliantly) that she's no Washington insider. Her "Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again" moment was utterly charming (and it provides a stellar example of how female leaders can be tough without coming across as unappealing).

What's become clear is that anyone who has tried to smear her as stupid or ill-equipped owes her a deep and profound apology. I'd trust her instincts and judgments over Obama's any day. Why, by the way, does no one ever point out that when Obama opposed the war as a state senator, he had no access to any of the intelligence possessed by those who actually had responsibility for casting a vote?

Of course, the MSM may try to argue that "anyone" can study for a debate. Well, I'd point out that the same goes double for their candidate, Obama, too. He's a good student and a well-spoken Ivy League professor. She's a leader -- and a real, regular American.

Carol Platt Liebau is a political analyst. She has appeared on numerous media outlets to provide political commentary and currently blogs about the campaign on TownHall and Huffington Post. She has also worked with Barack Obama on the Harvard Law Review. She has provided analysis and commentary on television for PBS, CNN, the Fox News Channel, MSNBC and “The Dennis Miller Show” and cultural commentary on network television.