Ironically enough, my problems with Sarah Palin is the same problem I have with the progressives. What she says and does strikes me as political gamery and oneupmanship. I could say the same thing about the "progressives" reaction to outrage of everything she says and does.

If the ridicule of Sarah Palin had a point, such as passing real health care or a jobs bill, I might care.  But it all seems so tit-for-tat and stupid that there's no point in thinking about it beyond this:

Obama used a teleprompter to talk to sixth graders.  Doh!

Palin wrote notes on her hand.  Doh!

Ridicule for the sake of being funny has it's place, but it's a tiny, tiny little place and it doesn't make me think the Dems are all that and a bag of chips, either.

Dear ***,

Did you read about last weekend's "tea party" convention in Nashville? Attendees paid $549 apiece for a weekend of activism and education capped by the main attraction: a speech by everybody's favorite half-term former Alaska governor, Sarah Palin. For her efforts, Palin received more than $100,000 in speaking fees - and the adoration of legions of fans.

In honor of the tea party convention, we came up with a way for you to tell us what you think she's saying. Just click on the link below, fill in the speech bubble, then submit it to us. We'll post the best creations at dscc.org.

Click here to fill in what Palin's really saying.

Be creative! Sarah Palin wants to be the voice of the tea party movement. Let's help.

Whatever she is or isn't in terms of intelligence and personality, it's beyond dispute that she is a politician who is quite adept at mining her supposed victimhood at the hands of evil, hypocritical liberals.

Every time she is demeaned and ridiculed in sexist ways, or in ways that can be presented as such, it weakens Democrats' arguments for themselves as the champions of feminism and female participation in public life -- and strengthens Republicans.'

The Dems lost ALL credibility with me as a party when I saw the "progressive" blogger boyz, and people like Olberman, and Matthews trash Hillary.  Then, Brazile so much as told me I was part of an old coalition in the Dem party and not needed anymore.

As you say, Emma, the Dems have lost their credibility on women's issues.  When the proposed Senate HCR bill threw women's health issues backward it sickened me.

 The Mass election was just a start.  The Dems are so dumb that they think they can continue to alienate a big chunk of their former base.  

Palin's chances for getting the nomination are exceedingly slim. Her chances of winning the Presidency are zero. Not because she writes notes on her hands, but because her experience is extremely limited and she quit, without finishing her term, the only political job of major substance and responsibility she's ever had.

No male candidate with that background could expect to be taken seriously as a Presidential candidate and no woman should either. Looked at objectively, this woman's actions actually represent a setback in women's struggle to be taken seriously as qualified candidates in the political arena.

Democrats can afford to, and would be better served by, taking the high road and refusing to attack her on a personal and petty level. It's true that no one would be expected to show such restraint if she was a man, but so what? She's not a man. She's only the second woman in history to appear on a major party presidential ticket.

When women achieve equality with men in national politics -- after a president or two or twenty -- we will undoubtedly be able to criticize and demean them with equal insensitivity and lack of concern about the political consequences and implicatons.

Too early to tell how she'll do in the primaries, but she's a formidable energizer and gives the malcontents a real voice.

Speaking as someone compelled to search out her virtues in 2008 (I supported McCain/Palin) jbindc and jondee have touched on the key points.

Palin is robustly and enthusiastically anti-intellectual. She'll point to being able to balance budgets as mayor and governor (whether she did or not is another question) and point to Larry Summers, who has to be the poster boy for hubris and fiscal mismanagement. Count on Larry being gone well before 2012.

The gender and appeal are an absolute mine-field for Dems. Should Palin win the nomination, she's going to alienate every self-described smart Dem voter and appeal very strongly to a whole lot of women who watched Dems trash Hillary.

That's the real risk, IMHO. Palin can make a convincing argument that Dems only talk about peace, equality, good governance. When the 'pedal hits the metal' (so, she'll claim) Wall st, not main st. gets invited in behind closed doors, wars are mis-managed or fought with 'one-hand tied behind our backs', and Democrats will never elect a woman President.

Republicans will because the party of Lincoln and Eisenhower is the real party of all the people, irrespective of creed, color, race and gender.

Palin put a couple buzz words on her hand to make sure she stayed on message.  

Jeralyn wrote this on an earlier post about the subject...

To make it worse, check the video... it was for a q and a session where she likely knew the questions in advance