E.G. at DiA watched Palin's speech:
Politics is intrinsically adversarial and successful politicians have to know how to win an argument. Although Mrs Palin often attacks other politicians and says that her policies would be better than theirs, she doesn't welcome debate, and her preferred oppositional strategy is abrupt withdrawal. Think about the resignation from the Oil & Gas commission and from the statehouse, or her choice to "go rogue" rather than convince the McCain campaign of the merits of her approach. That's how you get 30% of the vote, not 51%. And it goes without saying that it wouldn't be an effective way to govern.
Frum dead-blogged it on YouTube:
As Palin barrages the audience with statistics about unemployment, both they and she seem bored. It’s very abstract, she does not seem to bring to unemployment anything like the energy she brings to her expressions of personal contempt for the president and (especially) the vice president. Ronald Reagan would have told some heart-rending anecdotes. Bill Clinton would have communicated empathy and sorrow. Palin’s emotion? Resentment that the administration has slighted “somebody up there in Alaska.”