Who do you WANT to win the GOP nomination?

[Poundingtherock]

Sarah Palin

[Poundingtherock]

I think she'd be a great president.  Her goals line up with what I would like to see in this country in terms of the spending I'd like to see cut and the military action that needs to be taken overseas.

Her social views line up with mine for the most part.

[Poundingtherock]

What news?  You mean polls?

Polls are snapshots.  Just as the polls changed on her when she was at 60% nationally, they can change again.

Obama was at 60/9 in the NY Times just over a year ago.  Today, the NY Times shows him at 39% favorables.

[Poundingtherock]

Why don't get your facts right Pbrower before I embarrass you.

Obama's "favorable" rating is 39% in that same NY Times poll.  See question #14.

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/poll_Obama_Congress_021110.pdf

[Poundingtherock]

Actually, Pbrower, Palin's favorable rating in the Washington Post poll among Republicans is 70%.

Obama's favorable rating in the NY Times poll among Democrats is 71%.

Now, the NY Times poll and Washington Post poll use different methodologies but if you compare her numbers in the NY Times poll with Obama's numbers, he's not that much more popular than her among independents.  He's at 36% favorables in this poll, she was at 30% if I recall in the last NY Times poll.

[Poundingtherock]

Why don't get your facts right Pbrower before I embarrass you.

Obama's "favorable" rating is 39% in that same NY Times poll.  See question #14.

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/poll_Obama_Congress_021110.pdf

So Pbrower, Obama's favorable rating in the NY Times poll has slipped 21 points in a year.  It just so happens when you are a highly public figure like Palin and Obama, your numbers are going to take a hit because you get attacked more often than other politicians not in the spotlight.

[Poundingtherock]

Nik,

I do consider a strong favorite if the competition is mainly between her, Romney, and Pawlenty.

She has led by margins of 3-7 points in three of the last four 2012 polls.  I don't see why you would believe she has a lot going against her....everyone has a lot going against them!

If you are arguing she faces an uphill climb in a general election, I'd agree at this moment.

If you are arguing that she faces an uphill climb in a primary, I'd disagree because I place a lot of stock in GOP favorables and the current 2012 primary polling.

[Poundingtherock]

Smash,

We don't know what her most recent favorable rating is in the NY Times/CBS News poll is because it didn't poll her.  The one you cite is from early November.

We don't know what Obama's favorable rating is in the Washington Post poll because it didn't poll him.

NY Times/CBS News shows his favorable rating lower than his approval rating.

[Poundingtherock]

Smash,

Even if I apply your comparison between an early November CBS/NY Times poll with the most recent NY Times/CBS News poll, my point that Obama and Palin favorable ratings among indies in the two polls aren't far apart is accurate.

He's at 36% in the most recent poll NY Times/CBS News poll among indies.
She was at 30% in the the early November Ny Times/CBS News poll among independents.

In any event, you've only confirmed that Pbrower was completely wrong when he claimed that I was wrong to write that Obama's favorable rating was 39% in the most recent NY Times/CBS News poll.

[Poundingtherock]

Smash,

I stand corrected on the date of the NY Times/CBS News poll.

I would argue that 36% to 30% isn't a huge difference (I'm not as big a fan of looking at net) among independents.

[Poundingtherock]

AZ,

She's clearly getting better though in the way she expresses herself.  Check out her tough interview with Wallace last Sunday (kudos to Wallace for pushing her as well).

[Poundingtherock]

Softball questions?

Even TIME thought Wallace was a complete professional who pushed her really hard.  Did you even watch the interview?

That's probably the toughest interview anyone has gotten all year except for any Chris Matthews interview with a Republican.

[Poundingtherock]

So you really have a problem with what she said, not how she said it and how she asserted control over Wallace.  That's called interviewing technique.

Of course you are going to disagree with her assessment of politics.  You have a different ideology.

Nobody is claiming that Wallace didn't push her except for you.  She just prevented him from getting the upper hand and that's what all good politicians do to their interviewers.  They take advantage of them and move the interview in their direction.

[Poundingtherock]

For example, there were rarely any of the pauses, stumbles, umms, uhhhs, or improper uses of the word of "like" that Obama often uses in his unscripted interviews.

[Poundingtherock]

Wallace didn't ask her about her son-in-law's comment because there is no proof that she said it besides his word.  Emmanuel admitted that he used the word at issue.

If you have no proof and there has already been a denial on her part, why would Wallace ask it?

It would be akin to someone asking Michelle Obama if she used the word "whitey."  There's no proof that she did, so why ask her?

[Poundingtherock]

I'll give Obama a break on corpseman.  But it's just pretty bad for a guy that the military families already disdain (see the Quinnipiac polling) to make that type of mistake.

[Poundingtherock]

I'll agree about how tough an interview Chris Matthews is.  Nobody comes out looking good after an interview with him.

He was the only interviewer to press Obama on what he meant by only hearing Wright make "controversial comments" and Obama was lost like a deer in the headlights.  Matthews wouldn't get off of it during the interview.

I must say though that J.D. Hayworth did the best of anyone I can have seen with Matthews.  The content of what he said may be controversial but I was impressed with how he controlled and dominated Matthews.

How would Palin do?  I'd guess if she keeps up her aggressive stance that she showed towards Wallace, she'd actually hold her own or perform better than anyone else with Matthews.  Her technique and demeanor in interviews that I've seen recently has been quite strong and may be a good match for Matthews leading-question interviews.