Matthews: 'Is Sarah Palin The Most Important Republican In The Country?'

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NewsBusters Associate Editor Noel Sheppard watches MSNBC so we don't have to. He observed some unusual activity on Chris Matthews' weekend show when Tweety asked his panel if Sarah Palin is the most important Republican in the country:

What made this even more surprising was how his guests -- CNN's Gloria Borger, Politico's John Harris, the BBC's Katty Kay, and former "CBS Evening News" host Dan Rather -- seemed to feel she was.

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DAN RATHER: Well, she's not running at the moment for President. But I wouldn't underestimate her. She's a version now of a Deacon with four aces. She can go a lot of different ways. She is playing an almost perfect hand. If she wants to stay a power in the Party, make a lot of money and not run, she can do that. I wouldn't underestimate her even for 2012 for one second. If she decides to run, it would be hard to bet against her for the nomination.

MATTHEWS: Good point. Is she Richard Nixon? Is she going around and picking up chits, proving that she can deliver, carefully selecting winners, avoiding losers when they're on the right, so that day after this election, like Nixon did in '66, "Look what I did for the party, I should be the nominee?"

RATHER: And goes into the convention with maybe thirty percent of the votes.

Imagine that.

For approaching two years, America's press have been mercilessly eviscerating this woman with every opportunity.

Now, with Obama plummeting in the polls, and Democrats looking like they're in a lot of trouble in the upcoming midterm elections, suddenly Palin is not only possibly the most important Republican in the country, but is also a legitimate candidate for President.

Is hell freezing over, or is something else at play here?

We seriously doubt that hell is freezing over. The moonbats, as they do on rare occasions, just want to build her up to try to tear her down. They will resume their usual attacks on the governor soon enough.

- JP