[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

Your graphic is nice, but Gov. Palin has a ways to go before I would compare her to Lady Thatcher (I apologize if I have her title wrong), although the Governor certainly has the potential.

The Thatcher we know today was much like Palin when she was young. Thatcher had to practice and refine her oratary/debating skills early on.

One might say that a young Margaret Thatcher had a way to go before she became Lady Thatcher.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"One might say that a young Margaret Thatcher had a way to go before she became Lady Thatcher."

Yes, but she is Lady Thatcher today and Gov. Palin is not yet there. The graphic seems to suggest that they are more equal today, which is simply not the case. Understand?

[Al B.]

One might say that a young Margaret Thatcher had a way to go before she became Lady Thatcher.

Exactly. John O'Sullivan, formerly a Thatcher advisor and editor-in-chief of the National Review wrote about this at length in an excellent piece in the WSJ. In it, he spoke of Palin's potential and as an expert on Thatcher, he commented that in the beginning, "Margaret Thatcher was not yet Margaret Thatcher".

Like Palin will have to do, Thatcher prepared herself before being elected PM, and as O"Sullivan points out she took a lot of abuse, including being dismissed by the intellectuals in her own party as a "Daily Telegraph woman", Brit-speak for "narrowed, repressed suburbanite" Sound familiar?

At any rate, O'Sullivan is extremely high on Palin. If you haven't read his book "The President, the Pope and the Prime Minister" I highly recommend it.