Sarah put the kabosh on any chance of ever being elected to national office with her cutsie-cutsie “now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t-maybe-I-will-maybe-I-won’t” bus tour fun and games in the run up to the 2012 nomination. And I speak as a die-hard Palin fan (back then, anyhow).
It would be impossible for me, and I suspect many former Palinites to work up the same level of enthusiasm we had in 2012 again. That’s just the way it is.
What she needs to do is decide on a good Conservative candidate to support, and then get behind him or her with everything she can muster.
So your wife has been disappointed for years.
WHAT?
Palin did not run in 2012.
That is the thing. She generated a lot of enthusiasm, but never entered the race. She bowed out at the last moment.
I understand she has a higher level of proof to generate the same level of enthusiasm in 2016 now because of that, but I firmly believe she is still 100% valid as a candidate.