Well, does the GOP establishment like her now? Does the MSM like her now? Why would the GOP establishment and the MSM like her more if she wasn’t the VP nominee.
Yes, she’d be a successful ..., and our most, and all that.
If the MSM didn’t like her, they wouldn’t have destroyed her, they just would’ve ignored her. They wouldn’t have run her up the flagpole, if they didn’t like her. She’d be more ex Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer (not mentioned at all by anyone) and less like ex Utah Governor Jon Huntsman (treated like a serious candidate almost a frontrunner in delusionland.) Why is one Governor not mentioned and another treated like a frontrunner. Because those are the prepicked acceptable candidates. Palin wouldn’t have been one. If she had run in 12 (and wasn’t VP nom), she certainly could’ve won a lot of fans in the process of running, but she would’ve had a very large name recognition deficiency. Would’ve ended up in a better place for a later race. At this point in the race she’d be pretty low in the polls.
What’s this “like” business ? The media doesn’t like Republicans, period (although they are quite successful with baiting liberal ones and pretending to be their friends until it’s time to lower the boom). As long as Palin was in Alaska, there was no “threat” to the national establishment. She was, however, a threat to the establishment in Alaska (she was never a part of the old Stevens-Murkowski-Young power structure). Frankly, McCain didn’t have her as a first choice (indeed, his first choice was Lieberman, but he was told that was simply a no-go - the base would’ve crucified him) and he picked her more as a stunt (and to appease the base).
Anyway, they still take a two-pronged approach with her, by deriding and by dismissing her. If she had cozied up to the GOP establishment, it would be a different story (although she has shown them more respect than they have ever shown to her). If the media believed their own propaganda as to how much of a “loser” she is, they’d be falling all over themselves to promote her candidacy. You want the weakest opponent the opposition can put up. It’s why they float the scum like Slick Willard or Huckster or (C)Huntsman or even long-damaged goods like Gingrich, who turned from hero to zero with respect to the party base. They don’t want her as the nominee because they know she could win. The media despises her for obvious reasons and the RINO establishment hates her because they know she’ll end their gravy train and stop this pro-big government collusion dead in its tracks.
The only debatable point here is where she’d be now had she not been selected as the VP running mate. I do think she would be a top-tier candidate for President regardless, but where she would’ve been hamstrung is being tied to her duties in Alaska. Now, she is free to reach out nationwide. Of course, we would’ve eventually seen the vicious attacks and hysteria, albeit delayed.