If I'm not mistaken the article quoted by JM is from a political satirist... I actually read it yesterday on the Huffington Post... it's more a stab at Bush than anything else...

Palin gets mocked not for being cutesy and folksy but for being (or at least appearing to be) a moron (basically a female G.W.Bush)... There is absolutely nothing wrong with being from a small town and being friendly, but if you intend to run for the highest (or 2nd highest) office in the land you need to be Smart, Experienced or Both - if you don't desire to be mocked relentlessly by the media and the public...

My hope still remains that 1) Obama can do a good job and help move both parties closer to the center and turn America into one big purple state... 2) The Republican party not only moves towards the center and lets the extremists (whether pro-guns, pro-life, pro-war or pro-evangelical) start their own crazy little parties... but also gets back to basics with good old fashioned fiscal prudence... it's a damned shame when the Democrats have more credibility with balancing the budget than the Republicans...