I've mostly been trying to avoid Sarah Palin, actually, because I have mixed feelings about the whole Palin phenomenon. So I don't know what-all she said or has been saying, except in a very general sense.

I based the not-talking-about-the-military statement solely on seishonagon's first comment to this entry. Likewise, I was just looking at the few sentences of hers that you quoted. If the rest of her speech shows that my comments were wrong or incomplete, I am not surprised.

About identity: I broadly agree with you, but I would also say that identity can be mutable; what is important to a person's identity can change over time, and what is essential to one person's identity might not be to another. I suspect we agree that each person is the best interpreter of her own identity and what is central to it.