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Easy solution: when you see her name in the article title, don’t click on it. She left you when you needed her most? She isn’t a parent who abandoned you, she’s an adult with a family of her own who prayed about her decision before announcing it. If you have any problems, take it up with the Almighty. I’m sure He’ll be happy to be chastised by you and interested in why you think His answer to her and her family was the wrong one.

Of course, I suppose she could have misunderstood what council the Lord was giving her. Do you think her decision was illegitimate? Or that perhaps the message in her heart wasn’t from God? I’m not a theologian but I know when God is talking to me. Can you explain why you think her decision was prayerfully made with God’s guidance? That’s essentially what you’re saying.

Cindie

You're basically correct.

Palin has shown, both in word and in deed, that she is just not interested in running.

Yet there is a “draft Sarah”/”convince Sarah” cottage industry. Nothing wrong with that. Folks have a right to chase rainbows if they want.

But it is silly. And other folks have the right to call it out as silly.

It reminds me of the old Russian peasant lament. If only the tsar would come to our village, if he only knew...

Well, guess what peasants. The tsar isn't coming to your rescue. And Palin isn't coming to your rescue either.

I have to throw in with some of the other posters and take issue with the whole "Sarah left us in the lurch when we needed her most" mantra that yourselves and other spread around here. That line of thinking does have some creepy undertones to it and seems to suggest that some of us are helpless children who need an adult to take us by the hand and lead us out of the wilderness.

During the past summer, I was one of those who was absolutely convinced that Palin was running this year. All the signs seemed to point to it. The Iowa and NH speeches on Labor Day weekend. The campaign-style ads that PAC groups put on the Internet. Her delayed announcement seemed to be part of a well-thought out strategy to enter the race late as possible, after many of the other candidates had flamed out.

So when she announced in early October that she wasn't running after all, I was surprised, but quickly got over it and moved on. I didn't feel betrayed. I didn't pout and stamp my feet like other so-called Palin supporters seemed to do. For those who felt led on by the "tease" - grow up. It was the Palin cheerleaders who kept raising the expectations. It was the Palin cheerleaders who obsessively micro analyzed Palin's every move during the past summer to find signs of her running. It was the Palin boosters who attached undue importance to every key date as a possible announcement date and who even obsessed over the hidden meaning of the artwork on Palin's tour bus - like it was a Beatles album or something.

So to the Palin fans out there (of which I am one), stop blaming Palin for falling short of the expectations that we artificially created for her. Stop treating her as a messiah-figure. Respect her decision not to run this go-around and support the next best candidate that can beat Mitt Romney for the nomination and advance the conservative cause.

Also, do not become so focused on the presidential campaign that we lose sight of the congressional elections. Even a Palin presidency will be for naught if we fail to capture the Senate and lose ground in the House.

In fact, so important is Tea Party control of Congress that faced with the two scenarios of either Obama getting re-elected with the GOP gaining control of the Senate and super-majority in the House OR somebody like Palin getting elected president but failing to capture the Senate and losing the House, I would prefer the first scenario in a heartbeat.

The Obama agenda was virtually stopped in its tracks when the GOP took control of the House earlier this year. If we can continue the momentum and secure a super-majority in the House and control the Senate in 2012, it simply will not matter if Obama gets re-elected. The conservative agenda will get advanced and any presidential vetos will get overridden. With super-majority in the House and Senate control, we can give Obama a set of golf clubs and tell him to make himself scarce the next four years. He'll be a non-factor.

We focus too much on the presidency when the real power is in Congress.