A key Palin defender turns attacker: Proof she's unelectable?

One of Sarah Palin's most ardent supporters — talk-radio host and filmmaker John Ziegler — dropped a bombshell on Monday, saying Todd Palin asked him to consider working on his wife's presidential campaign, but that he rejected the offer because "there is absolutely no way that she can be elected." Ziegler, who made a pro-Palin documentary in 2009, was one the few people who publicly defended the former Republican vice presidential candidate when she resigned as Alaska's governor. But now he says at The Daily Caller that the decision will help Palin's enemies in the media portray her as a quitter. Is Ziegler's pessimism a sign that Palin can't win?

If Ziegler has no hope, Palin is doomed: "It's not going well when even those with the brownest noses turn away from you," says Joe McGinnis at his blog. Of course, Palin "has the intellectual engagement of a bored seventh-grader." But when a "right-wing huckster" like Ziegler recognizes that those traits make her unelectable, it should serve as "a warning to Palinists to get out now, while you still can, otherwise risk being found in the rubble."

"Palin suck-up has hurt feelings, whines"

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Ziegler is the loser, not Palin: Ziegler is right about one thing — the mainstream media's constant attacks and distortions have left Palin "unfairly but extensively damaged," says William A. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection. But judging by the polls, plenty of voters think Palin is perfectly electable, and they are the ones who count.

"Palin can't win [does not mean] Palin shouldn't run"

Relax. The man is entitled to his opinion: Palin's supporters are treating Ziegler like a traitor, says Erick Erickson at RedState, but they're the ones who are guilty of trashing a friend. "It is clear from his column that he still greatly admires Sarah Palin" — he just doesn't think she can win in 2012. "It's a shame we are so quick to eat our own for daring to disagree on the matter of Sarah Palin."

"On John Ziegler: How easy we trash our friends"