Interesting theory! Not sure I can agree just yet. It's too far in advance of 2012. But time will tell.
In any case, even if the MSM do try to bash other candidates with the same intensity, I simply can't believe the "treatment" will work so well against an exceptionally smooth and personable rhetorician like that snake, Gov. Huckabee, or against a very successful and likeable two-term governor like Gov. Daniels or Gov. Barbour.
Palin's already been "vetted", and the media have pretty much shot all of their ammo
Your statement would have carried a lot more weight a week ago, before Sarah's "North Korea" slip of the tongue. I might even have been persuaded by you back them. But if Gov. Palin keeps giving the MSM this sort of "ammo," then I don't see how she could ever recover.
when campaigning begins and the public sees that's she's not the caricature they've been told she is, what then?
If she hires a voice coach and learns to soften her screeching oral delivery, and if she seriously bones up on the great world issues of our time -- the way Reagan did for years when writing his hundreds of commentaries -- then she probably will have a chance.
Otherwise, I find it strains credibility to imagine she can break the template already set in stone by the MSM, specifically the media's "narrative" of a petulant two-year governor who left the field of battle, thereafter earning millions as an author and TV celebrity.
You've got to be kidding me. Anyone who speaks in public for more than a few minutes is going to tip over their words, or misspeak once in a while. It's clear she meant South Korea, from context, and taking a verbal gaffe out of context isn't "ammo", it's deliberate deception, and again, something that would be used against anyone running against "The One".
Now, had the context around the slip not been clear, you may have had a point.