Look, I'm not one of Palin's bigger fans, but I absolutely love the way she tweaks the news media and refuses to play their little "gotcha" games. It's perhaps her best quality.
She can do that all that stuff she wants as a non-candidate but I guarantee you, with a 60% disapproval rating, there are a lot of people who are turned off by her style MORE than her policies.
I say that because other conservatives with similar policy positions don’t have anywhere near the negatives that Palin does. Take Michele Bachmann for instance.
For me, it’s the fingernails-on-the-blackboard voice that does it. Get her a little agitated and she turns it on reflexibly. Get her more than a little agitated and she turns into a hysterical harpy.
She reminds me way too much of my ex-wife screeching at me to do this or that chore when a rational tone of voice would have gotten much better results.
It’s not helpful for female politicians to make male voters think of their ex-wives.