“President Obama should be vulnerable in the next election given the current arc of the economy, but his personal popularity and the power of incumbency still make him a formidable opponent. For a Republican to beat him it’s either going to take somebody who already holds enough popularity to finish the march to the finish line or a new face with a lot of room to grow in both name recognition and approval.

“Sadly, you don’t fill the bill for either description. You have an impressive army of followers who are loyal to the bitter end, but that’s exactly what the end will be. There is virtually no one left in the country that hasn’t gotten to know you and formed an opinion, and there are no second chances at a first impression in this game. Your disapproval numbers are north of fifty and stubbornly show no signs of budging. If you run you’ll probably come close, but close won’t be good enough. The president knows he is in trouble politically and your best indicator of your prospects should come from looking at a boatload of those less than $200 ‘anonymous’ contributions that have been mailed in to SarahPAC lately. (Hint — they’re coming from Obama.)”

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“In fact, there is only one reason I can ask Sarah Palin to brave the sewers of a presidential run. The reason is that we need her.

“The brutal reality of America is that an aristocracy has developed in Washington against the wishes of the founders of this country. The Republican Party ‘insiders’ are just as deep in the corruption and aristocratic thinking as the liberal elites. If anyone ever needed convincing of the deep disregard in which the aristocracy holds the serfs, the ‘insiders’ reaction to the Tea Party movement answered that question. In such an atmosphere of aristocratic minds, who else would be able to cut them down to size and remind them that they work for the people of America? Would Romney, with his own aristocratic flair and his own version of Obamacare, be willing to curtail the reach of the aristocrats into our lives? Would politician-turned-talk show host Huckabee be willing to rein in the very people who supported him in his political life? Sarah Palin is one of few politicians who have fearlessly taken on the establishment, both Democrat and Republican, with a consistent message about the enforcement of the constitution and the returning of government to the people.”

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“If Palin runs, I think the entire Republican primary process will be hijacked. With ardent fans and a rabid media, it will become Palin-palooza. A celebrity fest will follow with even more amplitude than the adulation and adoration that surrounded Barack Obama, who was so revered he was sometimes referred to in biblical proportions as ‘The One.’ An all-consuming super nova, Palin will suck the oxygen out of every room, everywhere she goes. And one of two things will happen. Discerning conservative voters in early primary states will be offended by the circus-like atmosphere and the presumption that they could so easily fall for a ‘cult of personality.’ And they will vote against her. And she will lose. Or, Republican voters will be completely swept up in the mania and nominate her as the GOP standard bearer to go up against President Obama. And she will lose—perhaps the only Republican nominee who could lose in 2012.”

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“Here in flyover country, we see an honest woman with our values and our best interests at heart. She is not a liar, nor is she a fool, and she is as angry as we are. The ‘we love her but don’t want her to be president’ push poll is meaningless two years out from 2012. It is a tool to mute enthusiasm for her. The electorate is tired of ‘old boys’ and their endless manipulations. The Tea Party and Sarah Palin are not sitting back, content to savor the latest victories. The spin-masters and talking heads who lament Palin’s lack of ‘gravitas’ forget that Obama has ‘gravitas’ aplenty. Obama’s attitude is a façade and an affectation, while Palin, love her or hate her, is the real deal. Unlike Obama, you can read the details in her résumé. That counts for something now.”

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“But the biggest possible silver lining for Obama is, ‘S-A-R-A-H P-A-L-I-N,’ according to one Democratic operative who lovingly sounded out each letter of the former Alaska governor’s name.

“‘There is no doubt that the GOP today is dominated by a half-term resignee who helped her party blow an historic chance to retake the Senate,’ adds Begala. ‘[T]he party of Palin is so far to the right it makes Newt look like Che Guevara. If President Obama can move the needle on jobs — a big if, I grant you — I think Mrs. Palin’s powerful pull to the fringe can allow Obama to reclaim the center and win reelection.'”

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