Before she was picked as John McCain’s running mate in 2008, most who knew about Sarah Palin had a very healthy respect for her and her rise from small town mayor of Wasilla to governor of Alaska. It really was an impressive run. Back then, Palin was seen as tough, smart, charismatic populist.

Palin had not only defeated the establishment wing of the GOP, but the “Old Boys Network” as well, to become the first female elected governor of the state, as well as its youngest. The kind of accomplishments feminists and the left-of-center media would have been heralding nonstop had Palin been a Democrat.

But then McCain and his campaign waved its magic wand, and everything started to go south for the very competent Palin. Without getting into all the not-so-ancient history of that campaign, I have long believed the McCain campaign “leadership” left Palin to twist in the wind, and still owes her an apology for their incompetence.

That incompetence was on full display during the interviews Palin did in September of 2008, first with ABC’s Charlie Gibson and then NBC’s Katie Couric. And from those two mishandled interviews began Palin’s agonizing journey from “highly respected” to regularly mocked and smeared. No matter her real talent level, the negative perceptions of her soon became an unbreakable reality.

Flash forward 16 years and........

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