What is your definition of "heavy weight thinker?"
Someone that can understand the exact agenda of the opposition, and develop a strategy to thwart it in real time in an active public forum.
Palin does it daily, hourly, sometimes minute by minute, but Jindel couldn’t do it once, even with a pre-written speech.
Those that bury themselves in academia are never heavy thinkers; that’s why they are there, where they are protected. Can’t ride around the block without their training wheels, no matter how long they’ve been riding.
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