One should never underestimate the power of a candidate who can make an emotional connection to voters. Ronald Reagan said all sorts of outrageous things, both as a candidate and as president. Often, he would cull them from magazines and would not bother to check whether they were true. “Like any other speaker,” Reagan once told a reporter, “I’d see something and I’d say, ‘Hey, that’s great,’ and use it.”

Did people care? Nah, they loved Ronnie. Palin is no Reagan — she lacks the ideological footing he had, for one thing — but she does know how to connect with people, even if they are not the same people most of the media hang out with.

The best thing you can probably say about her whole cross hairs/reload/blood libel thing is that it was a mistake, and if you are going to make mistakes in a presidential race, it is best to do so early.