Peggy Noonan on Sarah Palin

“In television interviews she was out of her depth in a shallow pool. She was limited in her ability to explain and defend her positions, and sometimes in knowing them. She couldn't say what she read because she didn't read anything. She was utterly unconcerned by all this and seemed in fact rather proud of it: It was evidence of her authenticity... In another age it might not have been terrible, but here and now it was actually rather horrifying.”

“Most qualified? No. I think they went for the — excuse me — political bullshit about narratives... Every time the Republicans do that — because that's not where they live, and it's not what they're good at — they blow it.”

“It's arguable that membership in the self-esteem generation harmed [Sarah Palin]. For 30 years the self-esteem movement told the young they're perfect in every way. It's yielding something new in history: an entire generation with no proper sense of inadequacy.”

“In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and not for the country.”