John Cameron Swayze
Way back when. Can’t remember the year but I do remember the man and I do remember the words - very vividly to tell you the truth. I didn’t know back then as I watched John Cameron Swayze pick up and examine the undamaged watch dropped from an airplane that Mr. Swayze was also describing an attribute of a controversial future politician.

The words of Mr. Swayze, a successful news commentator during most of the 1940s and 1950s, “It takes a licking and keeps on ticking,” were spoken as a spokesman for Timex.

Strange thing though. As vividly as I recall the commercial, I can’t find any reference to it online. I find many others but not the airplane drop. Could it be my vivid memory has become a little distorted over the years?

Could be but, still, the words were always the same regardless of the particular torture test applied to the watch.

Enter Sarah Palin
In similar words, I like this: She takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

Mrs. Palin has been beat up ad nauseam but she doesn’t pick herself up and make a comeback. Instead, from what I see, she keeps on going without breaking stride.

(This seems like the right place to explain I’m extremely biased toward Mrs. Palin. Similar to how I’m extremely biased against our president’s policies. I mention this so you will know this is not an objective writing but a very subjective writing. Still, I write in good faith and with every attempt to write from both the heart and the head.)

Critics
We have two kinds of critics, maybe more. For certain, we have two.

• The genuine critic expresses views with accuracy, with verifiable information and does not intentionally mislead.

• The disingenuous critic is just the opposite and makes every attempt to discredit the subject by hook or by crook for nefarious reasons.

I’m interested to learn what we will hear from Mrs. Palin’s critics next month when they read her book, Going Rogue: An American Life, co-authored by Lynn Vincent. From what I read, the book is already number one on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble bestseller lists, some six weeks before seeing the shelves. Read

What to expect
The answer to the question of what we can expect is not hard to predict. It will be more of the same that we have seen during the past year.

Her disingenuous critics will, for reasons known only to them, continue attacking Mrs. Palin’s family, her troubled 2008 campaign with John McCain, and Mrs. Palin herself.

The genuine critic will bring up valid concerns about whether she is qualified to be our president and if she is up to doing a superb job, even though she has not yet announced she will run for the job.

Presidential qualifications
Although it’s too soon for me to form a serious opinion about whether Mrs. Palin will be qualified to become our president, I think she will and I will support her decision whichever way she goes. She might not even know herself. I don’t think she will announce her intentions either way until she decides:

• If she truly wants the job, a job most of us would not be able to handle,

• If she can handle the rigors of, in Glenn Beck’s words, talking to idiots,

• If she can serve our wants and needs more efficiently and more effectively than her challengers.

One thing is for certain. Her birthplace is known.

No, two things are certain. The other is that no matter what, she will keep on ticking.