“What’s troubling is she has missed an opportunity to go beyond the platitudes and deepen her knowledge,” said Mrs Wallace, who was formerly communications director in the George W Bush administration. “It’s incredibly cynical to think you can win an election without having a thoughtful intellectual discussion with the country, thinking you can just scare people into voting for you.”…

Though she regards Mrs Palin as unsuitable for high office, she recognises that “anything could happen”. “What infuriates her detractors is she has got charisma, tons of it, and she really knows how to please, satisfy and animate a crowd … She is simply riveting, just like Lady Gaga is riveting, you can’t look away. She [Mrs Palin] might as well be wearing raw meat.”