I don’t honestly think she’s stupid. Or, at least, no more than any other politician. I think Peggy Noonan (who usually annoys the hell out of me) got it right when she said that Palin had two significant weaknesses in politics.

In the first case, she was born into a political point of view (conservatism) and has never really had to argue its merits with the other side. She doesn’t understand the other side of the argument mostly because she’s never really had to deal with it full bore until recently.

The second problem is that she doesn’t seem to want to do her homework. This is not an uncommon problem among politicians (vide the current Democratic leaders). Had she spent more time studying both the opposition and her own point of view, or had a staff that could really handle the grunt work, she would have been more successful.

Her future success lies in finding a niche and staying there.