The meme that Sarah Palin is some uncouth, unaccomplished and unqualified hick is crumbling under the weight of actual facts. The Washington Post editors have the blow-by-blow on her role in renegotiating a natural gas pipeline in Alaska. The editors observe that:

while her style has been minutely analyzed, very little commentary has focused on one of the few substantive claims she made about her brief tenure as governor of Alaska: that she “fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history . . . a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.” Is Ms. Palin right about the importance of the pipeline and her role in moving it forward? Ms. Palin is indeed correct about the need to tap the 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas under Alaska’s North Slope, the same region whose oil made the state wealthy but which has begun to run dry.

And it is not just that she had the right idea — it is that she overrode a plan of the incumbent Republican governor, a plan championed by Senator Ted Stevens and Vice President Dick Cheney, and threw the project open to bidding. The Post editors conclude:

Meanwhile, BP and Conoco Phillips have announced plans to build a pipeline of their own without the state’s backing — a sign that the political and economic wrangling over this immense and risky project is far from over. But it is also a sign that Ms. Palin’s outflanking of the oil companies injected some competition and urgency into a process that was previously stalled. Perhaps her Democratic opponent for the governorship in 2006, who campaigned on similar ideas, would have achieved these results. Nevertheless, Ms. Palin actually did.

This raises several issues. First, is there a single item in Barack Obama’s record that compares to this? Nothing comes to mind. Little wonder that the Democrats want to stop talking abut Palin. It turns out she is an accomplished person with demonstrable skills and good judgment.

Second, let’s be clear about who was vetted and who was in the dark about Palin’s record. It seems that there are many reasons — ranging from one-in-a-generation public speaking ability to amplification of McCain’s maverick skills —  for selecting her. It’s fair to conclude the McCain camp knew about some or all of this and the media did not.

And third, there is little doubt in my mind that had Palin been a liberal, female governor with the same expertise in energy and record of reform none of the vicious initial criticism would have been launched. Stories like this instantly would have tumbled out of every newsroom. The temptation to paint her as a fundamentalist hick was simply too great to ignore..

What this suggests is there is indeed a story yet to be told — one of savvy political skills and accomplishment. Provided she  successfully navigates her media encounters and the VP debate, she may be even more popular by Election Day as voters learn who the real Palin is.