I’m quite tired of some of the whining about these posts. Let’s be very clear. Sarah Palin has ruined her image. She ruined it. I say this as a former Palin fan. A big Palin fan. I mean, Palin for President 2012 fan. I was with the 64% of Republicans who supported her for 2012 (the first Rasmussen poll on the 2012 nomination).

But let’s go back a bit. Let’s remember what exactly happened. When McCain picked Palin, we loved her. The blogosphere loved her. Rush loved her. The base all around loved her. The convention came, and she became very popular. Many people forget this now, but there were a couple weeks when America, as a whole, loved the woman. It was just the liberals who hated her.

Then came the Couric interview. We all knew she stumbled, but she’d come back. We had faith in her, her intelligence, and her conservative values. And she did, in part, in the vice presidential debate. We were very happy about that, and we loved her.

McCain then lost the election. Speculation about Palin soared. Rasmussen conducted a poll for the 2012 Republican nomination. Palin had 64% of Republicans behind her. Let’s not forget this. She was not always on the fringe, like she is now. Conservatives across the board loved her.

Then she resigned as Alaska Governor. This is when many of us began to have our first doubts. We loved her as a person, but we weren’t quite sure that she was our candidate for 2012 anymore. A political activist, definitely. A candidate? Maybe. We hoped she’d challenge Murkowski for Senate. But nope, Palin was content writing books and starring in a reality TV show. Nothing wrong with this, except that she quit being governor of Alaska to do this.

Now, her excuse for quitting may have been valid. Maybe she was so bogged down with legal challenges that she was unable to fulfill her duty. Fine. Then she should have run for Senate against Lisa Murkowski, who is a true RINO. But nope, she left that for Joe Miller to lose. Thanks. Then she endorsed Christine “I’m not a witch” O’Donnell, who was a fringe perennial candidate and NOT an articulate leader in the conservative movement. This was the first time I thought something she did was unacceptable. She lost us that seat. Thanks, Sarah.

But I still had faith. Perhaps she could continue being politically relevant. Maybe not the presidency, but at least a star political commentator. A true conservative who represents the conservative, Tea Party movement. A leader in the movement. That was my hope.

But, as we discovered, Mrs. Palin chose to lead not the movement, but her own personality cult. She was “considering” a run. Okay, good. I hoped that if she ran, she would have solid policies to run on, and be able to mount a serious presidential campaign based on issues. She was unpopular in general, but still popular with the base. If she won the nomination, she could overcome her unpopularity. So, I still had faith.

But time kept going by. People were announcing left and right. The campaign was progressing. Palin became less and less relevant as a political figure. And she saw it. This is where she began to seriously hemorrhage support within the movement. I was one of the supporters that she lost. Instead of buiilding up leaders within the movement, she chose to tear them down. A couple of examples from recent weeks- the bogus charge that Rick Perry engaged in “crony capitalism.” and the stupid remark that Herman Cain was the “flavor of the month.” These are two recent examples, but go back, and you’ll find these starting a few months ago.

Sorry, Mrs. Palin. You aren’t a candidate. It’s time for you to either help the movemnent forward or shut up. But she doesn’t want to. She got used to the popularity that she once had, and the personality cult that was built around her. Look, when she was first catapulted into national politics, I believe she was a humble lady who was truly honored to be granted this privilege. But now? Now she’s more like Obama, in thinking that this is her moment. This is her right. And anybody who challenges her is taking something from her.

She’s been stringing her supporters along this whole time. She needs to tell them to go support another candidate. Endorse Herman Cain or Rick Perry. Those are the two conservative candidates (Ronald Reagan supported freaking amnesty, so no nonsense about Perry her, please) in this race. If she wants to remain relevant, graciously endorse one of those and stop playing games with everybody in order to try to maintain your own cult. I’m tired of it. The movement is tired of it.

Mrs. Palin, you had a tremendous amount of political goodwill in this movement and in the Republican Party. You spoiled it. It’s your own fault, and Erick Erickson is absolutely justified in mocking you and pointing this out.