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The Problem With Palin By Quin Hillyer "I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience." - Patrick Henry, 1775 "I told reporters what I still believe today: government experience doesn't necessarily count for much." -Sarah Palin, Going Rogue, p. 84 Sarah Palin, 55 percent unfavorable poll ratings notwithstanding, is a political phenomenon the likes of which American public life rarely has seen. There's something distinctive, something deeply personal, about the way her legions of strong supporters rush not just to defend her but to counter-attack any and all of her...

The conservative intelligentsia are starting to take Sarah Palin seriously, but I suspect they have not got her quite right yet. Within 24 hours of each other, heavyweights Dorothy Rabinowitz and George Will have published op-eds critical of her. Here’s Rabinowitz: “The Sarah Palin of election year fame has not been much transformed since last we met. For many who look to her as a presidential hopeful, and a voice for their social views, this can’t be encouraging news.” What, specifically, does Rabinowitz object to? In part, the fact that Palin has endorsed Ron Paul’s son for the U.S. Senate;...