Sarah Palin Just Finished Speaking in Madison (and now she’s running for President)

If you don’t like her, then she gave you a ton of reasons to continue not liking her; and if you’re on the fence, then there’s little chance she won you over.

Her speech was mercifully short, but still packed with the kind of childish zingers above which Palin can not seem to rise. It was very thin on Wisconsin-specific commentary. She talked about Scott Walker and unions for about a paragraph and threw in an obligatory reference to the Packers at the end, but the real target of the speech was President Obama, who has been largely absent from events here in Wisconsin.

This was basically a speech she could have given anywhere in the country with minimal revisions … you know, kinda like a stump speech?

It’s hard to look at Palin’s speech today in Madison as anything other than an off-Broadway opening for her presidential campaign. She even hinted so herself when she said “The 2012 campaign starts here, starts today!” (or something to that effect).

I wasn’t sure that Palin was going to bother running for the White House next year, but I’m more sure of that likelihood now. I’m also convinced she has no prayer of being the GOP nominee. Her talk to day was so generic that it could have only appealed to ideological adherents only interested in hearing the sound of Palin’s voice. She missed an enormous opportunity to connect with a larger audience that didn’t make it to the rally, but will pay attention to the news coverage by not taking an hour or two to bone up on Wisconsin-specific issues that would have directly impacted voters here. (Of course, not doing her homework has been part of Palin’s M.O. for years now.)

If she does end up running, her campaign will look a lot like it did today, in which case it will flame out swiftly.