Elites of either party look down on people who don't share their bona fides. For someone like Barbara Bush, Sarah Palin is simply not a member of her social class. Others who have paid in blood to join the political elite may also put down those who haven't made the climb yet. This is poor behavior in anybody, and bad party politics. It makes me think less of those who engage in it.
As for Ed Rollins, he represents all the has-beens and wannabes who think Palin would be fine as long as she hired him to be her puppetmaster. The fact that Palin doesn't need Rollins bugs him more than anything, so he talks her down. (Says she's no Reagan; except Reagan wasn't Reagan until he trounced his own party members who saw him as a dangerous flake.)
Then, of course, there are the other potential candidates, like Mitt Romney. You'd expect them to say a few things, praise her with faint damns, that sort of thing. If she wins the nomination, all that will dry up (unless she loses the election). But that's politics. As Disraeli said upon being named Prime Minister, "I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole."
Finally, there are all the conservatives who desire the approval of liberals. I know a lot of these. They loudly lay claim to conservative credentials, but they feel the need to throw somebody to the liberal wolves so they aren't seen as one of the great unwashed. They have the least excuse for their behavior of any of the Palin-bashers.
As for me, I like Palin. I don't know if she'll run for President or not. I don't know why anybody would want to be President. But I respect her. She's real, unlike the politicians and celebrities who simply reflect conventional wisdom and change with the opinion polls.
She's also the only politician I have ever heard or read who actually understands oil -- and that includes George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. She wants to develop resources, while at the same time her ethos and record on environmental issues is great. And she's made Big Oil live up to its promises.
She has shown she has the power to drive the debate in this country. Last year, when the health care debates were raging, she did more than anybody in the opposition to set the debate and attempt to head off the disaster we were saddled with. And she did it with a couple of Facebook posts. Newt Gingrich's idea factory can't say that. Karl Rove's columns and TV appearances didn't achieve that. The other GOP politicians, in and out of office, couldn't get any traction till she spoke up.
It's a little early to get on a Palin bandwagon; after all, we don't know if she'll run yet or not. But that also means it's way too early to start firing AT rounds at a bandwagon that hasn't even started yet. Taking those potshots says more about the fears of the one taking them than about the one on the receiving end of them.