Justin Elliott in Salon:

“I think she’s a lot smarter than most people credit her,” says [“longtime left crusader” Ralph] Nader. “Judging by her comments, she is squarely in the camp of conservative populism, opposed to corporatism and its corporate state.” …

“When she was governor of Alaska she really did take on the oil industry, and [she also] approved a statewide referendum that resulted in the first state in the Union to regulate cruise lines and their pollution offshore,” he says. …

If Palin continues down the conservative populist path — and that’s a big “if”; let’s face it, she’s not exactly known for ideological consistency — Nader thinks the message will be a political winner.

“It’s endlessly elaborative. She could elaborate it with all kinds of newsworthy examples — abuses, prosecutions, convictions,” he says.

That will apply especially if she jumps into the current “corporatist” GOP presidential field, Nader says. “She’ll really draw a line between herself and the others, who will never encroach on this.”