I think the key point, though, is that she wanted there to be more than one character. If there’s just one token character representing a minority, there’s pressure on them to represent the whole group. Any flaws they had could be taken as impugning the entire category of people, so the safest path is to idealize…

That’s really easy: the party that tanked their own prospects by fielding Sarah Palin was just insane enough to field Sarah Palin. 

You mean besides full-throated racism?

These are a bunch of scared old white men who horde guns to protect themselves from blacks, Muslims and Mexicans. There won’t be a violent uprising because that means they’d have to go outside where there could be blacks, Muslims and Mexicans.