I am disgusted about how the media has treated Palin and her family, but this isn’t a valid reason to support her for President.
Palin has been in the public eye for almost 3 years and has been unable to expand her support. Her ratings have deteriorated, now she needs a dramatic increase in support to be competitive and I don’t see any indication that she can do it.
Talk to some swing voters, the people we need to defeat Obama. They will confirm the surveys which show Palin and Gingrich as the weakest candidates. I think your conviction that she can defeat Obama is wishful thinking - much like the predictions here last year that the GOP would take the Senate and gain over 100 House seats.
I don't know what data you're basing those statements on, but I can tell you that they don't match observed reality.
Governor Palin's popularity hasn't eroded one iota in the three years she's been on the national stage. There isn't another public figure who can command as large or as enthusiastic an audience, as she can.
Her following on Facebook and Twitter is phenomenal, and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who's had more press mentions (besides Obama) in the US media since 2008.
To say that "she hasn't been in the public eye" is flat-out ridiculous, and a complete falsehood. Hardly a day has gone by in the three years since she's been a nationally known figure, that she hasn't had at least one article written about her, or has made waves all on her own in the press.
The number of individual supporter groups that are dedicated to her election number in the scores, and her political action group, SarahPac is one of the busiest in the country.
Sarah Palin doesn't need a "dramatic increase in support to be competitive". She's got a greater level of grass roots support than perhaps all of the other Republican hopefuls put together. The proof of this, is that she ranks consistently at or near the top of every poll conducted of center-right voters, AND the left-wing press CAN'T stop talking about her. They're as scared sh!itless of her now, as they've ever been. NO other candidate on the right engenders as much fear and loathing on the left, as Sarah Palin does.
The left fears her for good reason. They know full well (even if many on our side don't) that she will become the 45th president, if she so decides it. Apparently, our enemies understand her a whole lot better than you do.