Did Palin Miss an Opportunity?
In an appearance on Fox News Monday, Sarah Palin accused liberals and the media of trying to silence her. It was her first comments on the tragedy in Tucson since she released a video last Wednesday that first responded to her critics.
"I will continue to speak out. They're not going to shut me up," the former Alaska governor told Fox News' Sean Hannity Monday.
But with just 30 percent of Americans in a recent ABC-Washington Post poll approving of her video response to the Arizona shooting, should Palin have just shut up?
That's the question CBS News' Jan Crawford posed to conservative commentator Amy Holmes on Tuesday's "Washington Unplugged."
"I think it would have served her better to simply look forward and move forward," Holmes, co-host of "America's News Morning" syndicated on Washington Times radio, said.
"She wanted to go defend and vindicate herself," Holmes said, but also missed an opportunity "elevate the conversation beyond just being in the trenches and having this bunker mentality."
Holmes characterized Palin's comments on Fox News, where she is also a paid consultant, as "wallowing."
"She said 'this isn't about me' and yet so much of that interview was about Sarah Palin being attacked," Holmes added. "Instead of taking that moment to turn the conversation to 'so what do we do next,' 'what do we do to prevent another Jared Loughner?'"
Politico national political reporter Andy Barr agreed that Palin "absolutely" missed an opportunity.
"The narrative on this was beginning to shift last week," he said. "If she had been the bigger person and let this pass, she would have gotten out of this." Instead Barr said it was "very negative" for her.
Palin also said Monday there were parts of President Obama's University of Arizona speech that "really hit home," but the setting was "a bit bizarre."
"Hitting the president is just unwise," Barr said. "It's a grieving community, it's a small community, how they react is not really for the political betterment or anything for the president."
Holmes and Barr also discussed Palin's presidential aspirations on Tuesday's "Washington Unplugged." Watch the full roundtable in the video above.
Christine Delargy is an associate producer for CBSNews.com. You can read more of her posts here. You can also follow her on Twitter here: http://www.twitter.com/cbswashunplug.
