Peggy Noonan should haul herself away from her typewriter and face the harsh lights of the camera and stand there for 30 seconds to a minute and tell us all why she’s qualified to be an opinion editor at the Wall Street Journal.

Actually, she should do it on an impromptu basis, also, with a camera just shoved in her face and all the lights popping on at once, without any real preparation.

I think it’s a good idea for her to keep her name out there if she wants to run in 2012. Thank you commercials aren’t the way to do it though. She’s got to show that she has policy chops. I know many people on here like her, but there are a large amount of Americans don’t believe she has the intellect to have a high position of power. Until she convinces these people that she has a firm grasp of many of the issues plaguing America, she won’t be able to win over people outside of her base. She has two years to rework her image.

I think you have to understand something about the left. They don’t want her to go away. They love her because she doesn’t sell herself well outside the Republican party. Exit polling shows it. I don’t think she’s dumb….but she was woefully unprepared. I didn’t need the media to tell me that. I watched her interviews and her debate performances and made up my own mind. Proper schooling, she’ll be fine on 2 years.

The important thing that I think you guys have to do to be successful with her is to start acknowledging she has large flaws and get her to work on them. I know you want to blame the media bias, and they were extremely harsh on her. But, to pretend none of the criticism of her was deserved will only do you a disservice. She needs to show knowledge of more issues (she sounded good on energy policy on the stump and in the debate, so I know she has the ability to grasp complex policy). You can’t keep making excuses, or even facts to try to protect her (Krauthammer arguing that the Bush Doctrine has 4 meanings in the foreign policy community was not only inaccurate, but completely disgraceful…I expected better from him). She needs to give crisper answers to questions. She tends to ramble on in interview. The winking has to stop. It is endearing I’ll admit, but it’s hard to take her seriously too.

I know many of you guys love her. She is an interesting candidate with a solid base. But she is coming in at a disadvantage as a considerable number of swing voters don’t believe she has a grasp on policy. She shows that she knows her stuff, she has a shot in 2012. If she doesn’t, your heavyweights (Jindal, Sanford, Daniels) will eat her alive in a debate where they can ask follow-ups questions. Just my take though.

Great, well-rounded conservatives. Part of me wonders if it would be good for Palin to be elected president at 48 or Jindal at 41? Would it be better for them to spend some time in the Senate? Would it be better for them not to? Pretty much no one runs for anything again after being president, however being elected is not the only way to contribute.

The election is over. Obama and Biden won. By the way has anyone heard or seen Joe Biden since the election. Why hasn’t Jim Martin called Joe Biden to come and hold a fundraier for him and appear in four rallies in one day to help him win an election. For that matter why did Saxby Chambliss not call Romney, Huckabee, Jindal, Perry, Crist, Pawlenty, Sanford, Jeb Bush, George W. Bush, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Arnold Swartzenegger, to help him in a fundraiser and appear in four rallies. I think Gov Palin alone could raise more money than all of the above combined. Her rallies are filled with an energy that is seriously lacking in the party right now. Sarah Palin does not speak to the base, she speaks to the heart. Thats what makes her so attractive. Personally I am not looking for the candidate to answer questions like its jeopardy or quiz show. I am looking for a leader. One who can rally support to a cause and then stand behind it. I am tired of politics as usual. Lets appoint our friends or the friends of our friends. Obama ran on change and yes we can, but we now see he really meant no change and no I won’t. He ran against the Clintons and Bushes and now is appointing their people. His credibiility will be lost and the glow of his victory will be dulled. Sarah Palin is a remarkable political story that is not going away. Even her critics would have to admit she is unique.

DC71 makes very reasonable points about the vulnerability of Sarah Palin. To keep arguing as to whether or not she was or is prepared is not constructive. Even if she were perfectly prepared the best thing we can do is to help her get better prepared. [ I am assuming we see in her a high natural potential (for leading the base) which we don't want to squander].

To help her with the preparation we should discuss which Reagan-minded advisors we would like her to have. We should think of realistic choices. (Fred Thompson could be one). Then, after we reach a consensus, we should lobby these potential advisors (via PACs maybe) to form Sarah Palin’s brain trust. Within a year, writings and speeches by Sarah Palin could begin to leave a Reagan-like imprint. Many will take notice of the improvement.

Let me say up front that I am a moderate Republican. I vote for the best candidate, but honestly, that is usually the Republican as far as I’m concerned. I’m proud to say that I cast my first ballot in a presidential election for Ronald Reagan, and for every Republican presidential candidate since then, including Sen. McCain. I am also a woman. And a professional who has had to think on her feet or get eaten alive (as it should be, since that is what my male counterparts must do).

I have been hesitant to say this, particularly among people who are big fans of Gov. Palin, but I have to admit that I do not understand the attraction that she has — and I emphasize this last phrase — at this point in time. When Sen. McCain announced that she was his VP choice, I had no idea who she was. But I wanted to know her.

I was very dismayed with her performance in the first interviews. You can say what you want (unfair editing, etc.), but the fact remains that she gave awful answers to some of the questions, and she opened herself up to ridicule as a result. I expected better, because she did have seasoning as a politician (small town races can get nasty too). Many people stopped listening to her and were turned off by this. I believe that it was an unfair characterization, but you only get one chance to make a first impression.

I do believe that she can improve and leave the stuff of this campaign behind. She is obviously not stupid. She can deliver (I loved her speech at the convention). But she does need to work on concise answers. And she does need to be able to answer the questions asked, and to familiarize herself with tough policy issues.

If she wants to run and doesn’t make any major gaffes, it will be very difficult to stop Sarah in 2012.

There never has been a defeated national candidate with the following she has or the the level of interest she has generated. Reruns of the Greta interview are on as I type.

Unlike the other potential GOP candidates, her supporters don’t just like her, they love her and they are rabid in their support. Every day there are multiple articles on her on Redstate and other conservative Websites.

TeamSarah.org already has more than 60,000 members. There are other Palin 2012 Websites. People actually are squirreling money away waiting for a Palin PAC to start.

The more GOP primary candidates, the more it will benefit her. She’s already been vetted, like no other candidate before. People know she is a solid conservative and will work unceasingly if she gets the nomination.

If she announces, her supporters will have everything in place for her.

Wasn’t she interviewed by McCain for the VP job in either April or May? If she knew she was under consideration, she should have least studied his votes and positions on the various issues, you know done some prep work, practiced her answers to various questions, studied the issues of the day, so if she had been picked it would not have been so overwhelming.
But McCain lost because he was not willing to fight. He was not willing to fight about Rev Wright or call the Dems out about Fannie Mae. The guy neutered himself.

Sarah Palin is a TRUE modern conservative woman,that has nothing but 110% respect, admiration and support from my sidte. In whatever role the Republicans will use her, they will benefit tremendously in getting a dying patient out of the ICU and back to life.

She will be formidable in Republican primaries if it comes to that, but this is far away. In the meantime, I think she’s got a perfect role as Governor of Alaska…