If the Birthers spent all of their time sticking up for Trump, his campaign money to democrats, his gaffes and everything else Trump had said in the past, Obama never would have had to come out with a newly released fake Birth Certificate, now would he?
Best to focus on Obama (NOT the "gaffes" of your own candidate).
Ignoring blatant, and very public, smears is not good stategy, as Bush found out. Sarah is still going strong today because she fights and so do her supporters. We don’t need candidates who are intimidated into silence by the left, allowing them to run roughshod over conservatives. If Bush had fought back, like Reagan did, we probably would not have Obama as prez.
And again, your point was comparing how Obama reacts vs Palin, and of course, they are two completely different situations given how the press treats Obama vs Palin. The Obama stategy of ignoring the gaffe is certainly the proper strategy when the press is also ignoring it. It would be suicidal for Palin to take the same strategy, especially when she did not make a gaffe at all, and in fact, it was the press that gaffed.