What To Make of Romney's Scuffle with Palin

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There's nothing like a little intra-party scuffle to enliven the Internet on a Friday afternoon. Staffers for leading 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney have insulted other leading 2012 Republican presidential nominee Sarah Palin, calling her "not a serious human being." The blogs are all over this one.

• What Romney Staffers Said  Time's Mark Halperin reports, "One adviser to Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and, by traditional standards, the putative 2012 frontrunner, says of Palin, 'She's not a serious human being.' Another Romney intimate warns, 'If she's standing up there in a debate and the answers are more than 15 seconds long, she's in trouble.'"

• Get Used To This, Palin  Libertarian blogger Doug Mataconis shakes his head. "It’s fairly obvious that anyone who runs against Sarah Palin, assuming she ever runs for anything ever again, is going to hit her on her relative lack of experience and her disengagement with issues beyond repeating platitudes — something that can be seen fairly evidently in this recent appearance on The O’Reilly Factor. And if the Palin camp thinks that this little comment from an anonymous Romney aide is 'disparaging,' just wait for what the media and the Democrats are going to put her through."

• Palin Staffer Hits Back  Politico's Andy Barr talks to an anonymous Sarah Palin staffer, who says, "It shocks me that anyone would try to do that. ... You’d think we’d all be working together toward a common goal – that being 2010 – and that should be the focus right now. Those who try to claim the mantle of Reagan would be good to follow one of his most sacred tenets. ... For Washington consultants to sit around and personally disparage the Governor anonymously to reporters is unfortunate and counterproductive and frankly immature."

• Romney Disowns Staffers' Comments  He tweets in praise of Palin:

• Shows Republicans Have to Care What Palin Thinks  Politico's Ben Smith writes, "The dynamic here: People who want to be the Republican nominee may not expect Palin to run, but they do want her supporters to like them."

• Shows Palin Still Viable 2012 Candidate  The Weekly Standard's Matthew Continetti sees this as proof "that Sarah Palin remains the most underestimated and unpredictable figure in American politics. Despite all the twists and turns over the last year, she continues to be popular among Republicans. And it will be Republicans, not Democrats and (most) independents, who will decide the 2012 Republican nominee."

• Polls Show Palin Matters  Conservative blogger Ed Morrissey notes, "Right on time, Gallup polls Republicans and Americans in general on favorability among the perceived 2012 contenders.  Among Republicans, Palin gets a 76/20, while Romney gets a 54/19.  In general, Palin’s slightly underwater at 44/47 (and has the highest levels of both favorability and unfavorability), while Romney gets a 36/28.  At least as a candidate and an activist, Palin should be taken seriously by Romney."

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.