You can’t win an election with negatives that high and the entire media establishment sniping at you. Endless questions about all those trumped up ethics cases, her resigning and working for FOX, and a host of other issues would make her a hard sell for moderates. She is great where she is (and probably needs to move into RNC leadership and clean house) but I don’t think she can capture the white house. Then again 2 years is an eternity in politics. In 2006 everyone was gearing up to fight Hillary in the wake of losing Congresss remember?
And you don't think the media would go after with just as much vigor with whoever filled the void she left? Come on. Pick your favorite candidate and assuming he wins the nomination, they will do to him what they did with Palin. If you are only going to choose people teh media will play friendly with, I would really worry about that candidate.
6 months is an eternity in politics. Ronald Reagan was behind double digits nationally to GHW Bush 8 months before the Nov. '80 election. He was 25 points behind that miserable wretch Jimmy Carter 5 months before the election, despite Carter's 3 1/2 years of failure. 10 days prior to the elections, he and Carter were dead even, but Americans were by then listening closely. He closed the deal. His supporters never waivered.
Republicans need to realize the all-out war we're in and as Sarah Palin says, "buck up or stay in the truck". The media will not play nice with any candidate that can beat Obama, and they're screaming every day who they fear most.