Excellent point.
The fact is that they do fear her a great deal. They feared her before she was even named to McCain's ticket. Many of them said that she would be the worst possible candidate to run against.
Take a listen to this podcast of the PBS show "To the Point" from April 2008. They interviewed Palin, and afterwards, the Dems on the panel were blown away by her. One of the panelists, U.S. House Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), was absolutely wowed by Palin and started throwing out lines like, "You better embrace this woman quick!", "That is a VERY attractive candidate!", "She's just what your party needs!", and "that was some McCain straight talk you just got from that girl!".
The stupid Democrats think that she's a joke. The smart ones are frightened by her. The stupid ones believe the lies they read about her. The smart ones write and broadcast those lies. It would be a shame if conservatives fall prey to these lies too. We've got a real winner here. We should allow her to be thrown under the straight talk express bus just because McCain ran a bad campaign in a bad year for Republicans.
All this talk about her not appealing to anyone but social conservatives is nonsense. Alaska is a fundamentally libertarian state. You don't get 90% approval ratings in Alaska by governing as a theocrat! (and you don't get them by writing blank checks either -- they like fiscal conservatism up there! They are serious about it, and they see Sarah Palin as a fiscal conservative for a reason. They know her fiscal record and it's quite impressive.) She has never sought to impose her social conservative or religious beliefs through government. She is clear about her own values, but she does not seek to impose them. She is famous for being a strict constructionist when it comes to the Alaska state constitution. She will not do anything that infringes on that constitution. She is no theocrat nutjob and all attempts to paint her as such are intellectually dishonest.
BTW, I'd be happy to argue this point on this thread or any other thread if anyone still questions this point. I'm really tired of seeing a good conservative get smeared unfairly.