It's not as if the media was fair to Reagan. As you say, Reagan fought back, and did so effectively. He demonstrated alpha male leadership. People like that in a leader (duh).
In the end, the Palin debate is pointless. She was the undercard. She was held back by virtue of being the 2nd name on the ticket. Did Reagan ever run for 2nd place? I don't think so. Had he been someone's veep pick, he would have been equally saddled. But he didn't run for 2nd banana.
The top of the ticket is the decisive factor. McCain was awful as a candidate. Awful in the debates. And he sealed his fate when he suspended his campaign and got on the wrong side of the bailout issue. After that, he was toast.
I didn’t think Sarah was awful in the debate - I thought she held her own quite well.
I know Couric edited Sarah to make her look bad asking the same question over and over and over to try to get a gotcha moment and now Couric has an award for this for great journalism. BARF. Gibson clearly disregarded Sarah. I think Sarah got angry that journalism isn’t journalism anymore and she let this get to her.
We had 8 years of the media trashing Repubicans - taking our safety and prosperity for granted - and given that we can surprisingly close.
You reveal yourself with that one, she did a very fine job in the debate.
You’re probably right. But her ability to draw Obama-sized crowds and get people excited showed me something. I still think if she declares she’s running she’s going to have a nice sized war-chest to work with.