Fred Barnes in The Weekly Standard:
In judging Palin, it comes down to who is more credible. Is it those who've worked with her, or know her, or have at least met and talked with her? Or those who haven't? The answer is a no-brainer. Okay, I may be biased on the subject of Palin, having been impressed after spending nearly two hours with her on one occasion and an hour on another.
Wow. I would love to get to know her. I hope she comes to Ottawa someday!
As an update following JJ's comment, I post this:
Whether the Republican presidential ticket wins or loses on Tuesday, a group of prominent conservatives are planning to meet the next day to discuss the way forward, and whatever the outcome, Gov. Sarah Palin will be high on the agenda.
(...)
“She’s dynamite,” said Morton C. Blackwell, who was President Ronald Reagan’s liaison to the conservative movement. Mr. Blackwell described vying to get close to Ms. Palin at a fund-raiser in Virginia, lamenting that he could get only within four feet.
“I made a major effort to position myself at this reception,” he said, adding that he is eager to sit down with her after the election to discuss the future. Asked if the weeks of unflattering revelations and damaging interviews had tarnished her among conservatives, he replied, “Not a bit.”
In the comboxes, there's been discussion of who's "really" a conservative.
I have personally met Morton C. Blackwell (though he probably doesn't know me from Adam).
And I know he's a conservative's conservative.
He has the pulse of the conservative base. I bet he thinks she's dynamite precisely because she can move the grassroots. She pushes the policies that conservatives want to see implemented.
They don't see Palin as the problem.
The American public is quite ready to support conservatives. Palin, per se, is not the problem. The media might be the problem. The strategy might be the problem. The baggage of George Bush is not the problem.
But Sarah Palin is not the problem.
