Points well-taken - yes the MSM trashed her because she had the image of being very conservative and it shattered their idea that a woman President has to a Hillary Clinton type. But at the same time she stumbled on the global warming questions from Charlie Gibson and didn’t seem to know how to answer Middle East conflicts, etc. So the question is - does she really understand conservatism completely and can she articulate the message? If not, then she might not get as many conservative votes in a general election as she needs.
You’re right, the MSM wants to destroy conservatism. But is Palin really the best advocate for it? The MSM might be betting that she’s not and has become too much of a caricature for the majority of the electorate to take seriously.
Having said that, the latest Rasmussen poll as of January 29, 2009 shows...
Excerpt:
Coming off a shellacking at the polls in November, the plurality of GOP voters (43%) say their party has been too moderate over the past eight years, and 55% think it should become more like Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in the future, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just 24% think failed presidential candidate John McCain is the best future model for the party, and 10% are undecided.Regarding the future of the party, 46% of unaffiliated voters say follow Sarah Palin, while 26% like McCain. Just five percent (5%) give the nod to Bush, and 22% are not sure which way the party should go.
Put them all together, and 42% of voters say the GOP has been too conservative in the last eight years, 29% say too moderate, 16% about right, and 13% are not sure. Thirty-six percent (36%) say the party should become more like Palin, 32% like McCain, seven percent (7%) like Bush, and 25% are undecided.
For Palin, her favorables are 52% (28% Very Favorable) and her unfavorables are 46%, with 26% who see her in a Very Unfavorable light.
Palin fares better with unaffiliated voters, too. For McCain, unaffiliated break 10% Very Favorable and eight percent (8%) Very Unfavorable. But 35% of unaffiliated voters have a Very Favorable opinion of Palin, compared to 15% who have a Very Unfavorable view.
Even right before Election Day, Republicans were happier with Palin, their vice presidential candidate, than with their presidential nominee McCain.
Just after losing the election, 69% Republican voters said Palin helped McCain’s bid for the presidency, and nearly two-thirds said she should be the party’s 2012 presidential nominee. Sixty-five percent (65%) of GOP voters had a Very Favorable view of her at that time.
Fifty-one percent (51%) of conservative voters say the Republican Party has been too moderate over the last eight years, while 56% of moderates say it’s been too conservative, a view shared by 75% of liberals. Fifty-five percent (55%) of conservatives like a GOP future with Palin in it, but pluralities of liberals (48%) and moderates (42%) say McCain is the model to follow.
Younger voters are more likely than their elders to think the GOP has been too conservative during the Bush years, but voters in nearly all age groups are more closely divided on the future direction of the party between McCain and Palin.
Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Evangelical Christians say the party should become more like Palin. Other Protestant voters are more closely divided, giving Palin just a four-point edge over McCain, while Catholics prefer following McCain by eight points. link
As you can see from this latest poll, Sarah is popular with conservatives, ranking number one in the field. However, we can't let our guard down because the mainstream media will always relentlessly trash our leaders. They will do it to the next conservative, and the next, and the next. They simply will never be fair to our side and we can't expect them to treat our side with any kind of fairness and respect. We need to toughen up and keep our minds open. We need conservatives on our side fighting for us. If we start attacking our own, then don't expect Republicans to regain power any time soon. And that's just what the Democrats and the mainstream media want.