Sarah needs no excuses or apologies, not even from the 24,000 pages of stolen private e-mails.
Whether or not she needs them, many of her fans feel compelled to make excuses for her time and time again. In any case, if Palin is going to run for president as a Republican, she has, at most, another eight weeks to make up her mind and announce. She has yet to do any of the really critical preparatory things necessary for a credible candidate, however. Other candidates are well ahead of her in this regard. Well ahead.
Just some examples:
There are legal and filing requirements at the federal level and in each of the 50 states. Those requirements have deadlines. No one just announces and presto! They are magically on all those ballots. The candidate needs to hire the appropriate attorneys and/or surrogates in each state to do the necessary work. The candidate needs an organization of campaign offices in or near every congressional district in every state. Those offices need to be staffed both by hired employees and volunteers. Phones need to be set up, voter registration rolls need to be acquired and updated, volunteers need to be organized, campaign materials (signs, handouts, position papers, etc.) need to be created, approved, printed and distributed. A campaign strategy needs to be planned out in detail. The campaign needs to hire advance people, security, and various other aides. The tactics of the campaign need to be planned at least a few weeks in advance so that the candidate can make appropriate appearances, travel arrangements can be made, hotels and venues booked, and so on.
To date, Palin is not doing any of these preparatory things. Sure, she took that half-hearted bus tour. But that didn't last long or accomplish much of substance. Now I know from reading comments on FR that many of her supporters think she can wait until late in the fall. Not possible. By then the other candidates will be so far ahead in terms of organization, fund raising, planning, commitments from key state people, etc., that Palin would be at an enormous disadvantage. For her to jump in so late, alone, would tell me (and many others) all I need to know about her character, management style and seriousness.
In short, there's a reason why it's called a CAMPAIGN.