I can't believe people take her seriously. simply put, she has that special kind of stupid. the deer caught in the headlights obliviousness.
Many people really like that about her. They feel like she is simple, unsophisticated, somewhat ignorant, say-it-like-you-mean-it, salt of the earth, and out-of-the-loop. I think a faction of Americans want that kind of (you say
stupid, they might say
unpolitical) kind of person in politics. Maybe they are frustrated with the nature of politics (the deals, the sausage making) and want someone who literally doesn't have a clue in office so that government a fresh start. I think that's a big theme of the teabaggers.
This is not new. To some degree, I think that's what got Jimmy Carter elected (the Georgia outsider) in reaction to Watergate and the political maneuvering associated with the Vietnam War and the Great Society of the 1960s. Carter was a good man (in my opinion), but he was rather "caught in the headlights" with his presidency. That laid the ground work for a Reagan to come in with a
get things done agenda four years later.