Democrats may equate the name Palin with the sound of sharp nails clawing a chalkboard but so much the better, says Miller, a show business pro who understands a thing or two about shtick and the art of pushing peoples’ buttons.

“I mean, she drives the right people crazy,” he told O’Reilly. “Do I think she’s going to outsmart you? No. But do I think that, in some way, she has an appeal with people that practiced politicians might never have? Yes, I do.”

If you judge by the numbers, there’s no debate he’s right about that. Palin’s upcoming memoir Rogue is ranked No. 1 both on the Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble bestseller lists – and this, still a full month and a half before the book is scheduled to go on sale.

As they look to 2012, the Republicans already have a media superstar in their stable. The one caveat: Palin remains a lightening rod for controversy. So it was that after readers responded to our post reporting the advance success of Rogue, I came across a post by one person who goes by the handle “two-cats.” He wrote: “Comic book, soap opera baloney is more like it. I shall not be reading anything by this woman…not interested in anything she has to say (or, rather had written for her) and it infuriates me that a ding-a-ling like her gets so much media attention.”

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